#villain Wrangler

[mygeekcorner]

Someone told me there's stories on ao3 too

I wonder if, in superhero universes, the villains ever get contacted by those “Make a Wish Foundation” and similar people.

I mean, the heroes do, of course they do, kids who want to meet Spiderman or Superman or get to be carried by the Flash as he runs through Central City for just thirty seconds.

But surely there are also the kids, who - because they are kids and sometimes kids are just weird - decide that what they really, really want is to meet a supervillain. Because he’s scary or she’s awesome or that freeze ray is just really, really cool, you know?

[lilhawkeye3]

Danny & Babs spotted at a Gotham gala 📸

[formari]

THIS IS SO OMINOUS?????

but The Villain Wrangler has finally updated and i’m so excited!!!!!!!!

[ladydisdain81]

(well I finally wrote part 2)

The Villain Wrangler (pt II.)

It was 10:30am. That meant he had to stop stalling.

Jason took a deep breath and gently knocked on the door to room 427 of the children’s ICU.

The door was opened by a small girl. She was maybe 12 or 13 with dark eyes and hair. She looked very tired.

Jason put on his pleasant smile. “Are you Emily?” he asked.

“No,” she said flatly.

“Sarah, who is that?” another called voice from inside the room.

Jason looked past Sarah to see a couple sitting in the room.

“My name is Jason. I’m with Wishes Granted. I'm here to see Emily Baxter.”

Sarah moved aside to let him in. She went to curl up into her own chair next to the patient bed.

When Jason looked at the patient in the bed it was like getting gut-punched.

Emily couldn’t have been more than 7. She was laying in a bed that was far too big for her. Bandages covered her head and face. Her neck was in a brace. She had a set of tubes going into her nose and another in her mouth. It looked like machines were breathing for her.

Oh God.

He turned to the parents. He now read the fear, exhaustion and hurt in their eyes. Mom had a bandage around her wrist. Dad had some minor cuts on his face.

“If you don’t mind me asking, could you tell me what happened?”

Mom’s eyes drifted to the floor. Dad put an arm around her shoulders.

“Car accident,” Mr. Baxter said. “T-boned at an intersection.” His voice was toneless but Jason could see the boiling rage he was barely holding in check.

“What happened to the other driver?”

“Don’t know. Hit and run.”

Oh God.

While it would be easy for Jason to breakdown for or with this family, that was not his job. His job was to talk to the kid who requested the hero, make sure the request was legit and then get the hero to pay a visit.

“Well Mr. and Mrs. Baxter, I really do hope Emily gets better. I can still try to get her Wishes request granted.”

Mr. Baxter now looked confused.

“What request?”

“Her request to meet a super... hero.” Jason answered. He did not want to tell these parents their little girl had actually requested to a meet a super villain. He would have to tell them eventually but not right now.

“Emily’s been in a coma since the accident. There's no way she made the request.”

“I made a the request.”

They all turned to Sarah, sitting next to Emily’s bed.

“I asked for Emily,” she said, her chin held high.

Jason did not see any injuries on her. She must have been very lucky.

At first Jason had thought this girl was very sad. And she was. But now that he was really looking at her he could see that she was angry. She had that same boiling rage her father but with less control.

Jason instantly knew there was something going on here that wasn’t being said. He needed to talk to Sarah.

But a grown man asking to a have a private conversation with a 12 year old is all kinds of weird.

“You made the request? You asked for a super... hero?” He raised an eyebrow at her.

Sarah looked at Jason for a long moment and then turned to her parents.

“Mom? Dad? I’m going to go get a soda.”

They nodded. Mom had gone back staring at her other daughter while tears slowly streamed down her face.

“Mr. Jason? Will you come with me?”

Jason nodded and followed her out of the room.

They walked down a hall to a deserted cafeteria. They were far enough away from anyone that they could talk without being heard.

Now Sarah looked up at him. She squared her shoulders.

“I made the request. I want to meet Brain Power.”

Her face was determined. It would have been adorable if Jason couldn’t see that she was barely holding it together.

“Why?”

“Because he’s psychic. No other superhero is. The doctor's are saying that Emily might not wake up. Ever. He can talk to her. Get her to wake up.”

Jason blinked for a second.

That... actually was kind of a brilliant idea. Aside from the super villain part.

There were no psychic heroes. There were a couple that had mental abilities but it was more like various forms of telekinesis. Brain Power was the only known psychic.

He was classified as a villain. He wasn’t the most wanted villain. Jason wasn't sure he had even made any top 10 wanted list in the last several years. Most of his crimes consisted of wrecking science type companies he didn't like. He did rob the occasional bank... now that Jason was thinking about it, Brain Power had never been accused of murder. Any deaths attributed to him had been deemed indirect collateral from hero confrontation.

What was he thinking?!

He was not seriously considering this.

The Gentleman Bastard was one thing.

But this?!

This was going way over his paygrade.

“But he’s a villain. What about someone who would actually be willing to help? Like Captain Righteous or Storm Que-”

“What are they gonna do? They’re not psychic. Flying and having a cool cape does not help my sister.”

Jason pulled out a chair and sat down to be at eye level with her.

“Look, kid-”

“I'm not a ki-”

“Yes, you are. And you are asking me to risk my life, your life, your sister’s life, your parent's lives and potentially the lives of everyone in this hospital, to bring you a super villain who may or may not give you what you want. You ever think about that?”

She blinked at him. He could see that she had not been thinking about that. Not that he blamed her. She was in an awful situation right now.

“If you want me to go get Brain Power, talk me into it. Convince me.”

She took a moment to answer.

“'Emily is dying by inches. That’s what the doctor said when he thought I couldn't hear. She is dying because her brain isn't doing what it's supposed to do. There is a complicated word for it but I don't remember it. If she wakes up she will probably live. But she isn't waking up.

“Mom keeps saying she’s strong but that’s bullshit. She's 7 years old. Whatever the doctor's are doing isn't working. I don't think they know what to do.

“But out there, somewhere,” Sarah pointed to the windows on the far side of the cafeteria. “Is a psychic man. He could actually get through to my sister. Talk to her. Maybe she doesn’t understand. Maybe she just needs to be told to wake up.

“Okay, Brain Power is technically a super villain but almost everything he has done has been to stop even worse people from doing something very bad with science stuff. And he has never killed anyone directly. Is that great? No. But it’s definitely better than someone like Dreadnought.

“And yes, this is probably a crazy plan but it’s better than nothing.”

She looked Jason straight in the eye.

“What if she was your sister? What would you do to save her?”

Jason sighed.

Dammit.

“Okay, Sarah, I am going to very honest with you about this,” he said.

Her face fell.

“No, no, don’t do that. I didn't say no.”

She raised her eyebrows.

“I don’t know if I can get Brain Power to visit your sister. But I can try. I can ask. I don't know how long it will take. I won't make a promise I can't follow through on.

“But here is the catch that comes with this: if it means putting you, your sister, or any other civilian in real danger—deal’s off. I can't help anyone if I'm dead. Fair?”

Sarah thought on it for a long moment and then finally nodded.

“But you’ll actually, like, try to ask him? For real?”

“For real. I will ask.”

She broke into a smile and threw her arms around his neck. Jason gently patted her back.

“Okay, let’s get you back to your parents.”

She let go of him. She seemed a little happier, not much, but a little.

They walked back to Emily’s room.

Jason collected their contact information and spun some lie about going to ask a superhero to pay a visit.

The Baxter’s seemed indifferent to it. They just continued to stare at Emily.

Jason excused himself. He went to his car, got in and sighed loudly.

Again.

_________

After as much research as he could stand (Sarah’s information had been pretty spot on) he did the only thing he could think of.

Jason put on a jacket and baseball hat and went to stake out Hattie’s Pub for the Gentleman Bastard.

He lucked out. Beaumont showed later that night.

Jason walked into the seedy bar. He spotted Thomas Beaumont sitting alone, drinking and watching the ancient TV. Much like in the first time Jason had met him.

Except that time Jason had mouthed off and Beaumont had shoved a gun to his head. Jason had been extremely lucky to get out of that.

He sat down next to Beaumont and ordered a round for the both of them. The bartender silently gave them their drinks.

Beaumont turned to Jason. He took a sip of his new drink and smiled slightly.

Jason kept his cool. This man was dangerous. Provoking him a second time would not end well.

“You again,” the older man said with a very slight French accent.

“Yes, sir.”

“Mark?” he asked hesitantly.

“He fine,” Jason answered. “Still in treatment but fine. The doctor’s are liking his progress. They are hoping for remission.”

Beaumont nodded, relieved.

Mark had been a kid who several months ago asked to have the Gentleman Bastard pay him a visit.

“Then what brings you by, boy?”

“I was hoping to consult your expertise, sir. I got another... unusual request.”

Beaumont raised an eyebrow. “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah. Damned if I know how I’m gonna pull this off. Truthfully sir, you are the only person I thought I could even ask about this.”

He took another drink. “Well, son. Now you’ve got me intrigued. Ask.”

Might as well just go for it, Jason thought.

“Do you know Brain Power?”

Beaumont actually choked on his drink. He nearly spit it across the bar.

“What?!”

Jason said nothing. He sat there enjoying the show of the Gentleman being flustered. It was pretty funny although Jason did nothing to indicate this. He enjoyed being alive.

“Brain Pow—why would someone want—Why?!”

Now Jason did crack a smile. “That was also my response. But yeah. A little girl was in a car crash with her family. She’s in a coma. Her sister thinks that Brain Power can talk to her and help wake her up. It's a very long shot but its something.”

Beaumont looked at his drink silently then back to Jason.

“Is the request legit?”

“Yes.”

“And it’s not a set up?”

“No sir.”

“How long does the little girl have?”

Now Jason stared at his own drink.

“A week... maybe.”

The Gentleman sighed. “I don’t know Brain Power. But I know someone who does.”

Jason’s eyebrows rose just slightly.

“I’ll get him to contact you.”

“Who is this person?” Jason asked.

The Gentleman paused and then smirked... kind of evilly.

“I had better not say. They like their privacy. And you won’t like the answer.”

Jason’s stomach dropped.

What did that mean?

Beaumont downed the rest of his drink and stood.

“Time to get going. If my contact comes through I’ll text you.”

Jason just nodded.

He really wanted to know who this contact was...

But at the same time, he was pretty sure he didn’t want to know.

Shit.

He felt a hand slap him on the back.

“See you around, kid.”

“Sir?”

Beaumont turned to look at him.

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet.”

_________

As Jason drove home, in a mild state terror, wondering who might end up contacting him, he realized he had never given the Gentleman Bastard his number.

He probably didn’t need it to find Jason.

Which was another terrifying thought.

Jason decided to run some errands to get his mind off of... everything.

_________

It was after dark when Jason got back to his apartment. He had several shopping bags hanging from his arms as he let himself in.

When he flicked the light switch nothing happened.

Dammit.

Well, he probably had extra light bulbs somewhere.

Someone was sitting in his arm chair looking at him in the dark.

Jason jumped, all of the bags fell to the floor but he managed to not let out a high pitched shriek.

The... person? was sitting in the chair was tall and lanky. Some light from the window behind them highlighted their silhouette. They seemed to be wrapped in bandages head to toe. Almost like a mummy but these bandages were black.

There was only 1 person this could be.

The Crimson Moon. The deadliest assassin in the world.

“You are Jason?” they asked. Their voice was quiet and without accent.

Jason nodded. “Did the Gentleman Bastard send you?”

The assassin nodded.

Jason unclenched ever so slightly. This had to be the contact the Gentleman Bastard had mentioned.

He was still terrified but the logical part of his brain was telling him this was how he was going to get the job done. Besides there was no way he warranted being murdered by Crimson Moon. Jason was not that important. This person probably didn’t even get out of bed for less then 10 million.

“Well,” Jason manged to keep his voice from breaking. “I’ll get to the point. I work for Wishes Granted. There is a little girl who is requesting to meet Brain Power. How might I get in contact with him for this request?”

Crimson Moon did not move for several seconds.

Neither did Jason. He was too scared.

“You are serious,” the assassin said.

“Yes,” Jason answered.

Crimson Moon stood and moved toward a window that Jason now noticed was open.

How had they gotten in? The apartment was on the 11th floor and there was no outside fire escape. How were they going to get out? Jason was standing in front of the only exit.

“I will relay this request,” Crimson Moon said as they quietly as climbed out of the window.

Jason’s heart jumped into his throat. He didn't want to do it but he had to.

“Wait!”

The assassin stopped.

“Look, if Brain Power doesn’t want to help that's fine. I just don't want any innocent people getting hurt.”

Crimson Moon looked at him for a long time again.

Damn, that stare made Jason uncomfortable and he couldn’t even see it.

“Brain Power does not plot against innocent civilians,” the assassin said.

And on that cryptic note, the Crimson Moon dropped out of the window.

Jason waited 30 seconds. He didn’t hear a thud or any screaming.

He ran to the window and looked out. The street below was going about its usual business. He looked up to the buildings around his block.

He saw nothing.

Jesus flippin' Christ. He hadn't been that scared since the Gentleman Bastard had put a gun to his head.

A loud beep caused him to jump and smack the back of his head into the open window.

He hissed as he rubbed the fresh bump on his head and pulled out his phone.

It was a text message from Thomas.

Jason knew only 1 Thomas.

Thomas: My contact agreed to talk to you tonight.

Jason: Yeah. Already happened... a warning would have been nice, Jason answered back. He received an answer a few seconds later.

Thomas: lol but less entertaining. How did it go?

Jason scowled. At least his terror was amusing someone. He sat down on his couch.

Jason: He said he would relay the message.... I have a question.

Thomas: Yes?

Jason: Is this safe? For the little girl? For her family? For the hospital?

For me? he thought to himself.

Jason watched the “typing” bubble while his stomach tied itself in knots.

Thomas: If this were anything else I would say no. But as long as you don’t do anything too stupid, it'll be fine.

This did not make Jason feel any better.

What in hell was he doing? Why was he doing this? This was dangerous! This was suicide!

Emily is dying by inches, Sarah said in his head.

Jason sighed, stood, and began to clean up his spilled groceries.

_________

JASON!

He bolted up awake.

The room was silent and dark. There was no one there. The place felt empty.

But someone had yelled at him.

There was a sudden pressure in his head. Not painful per se. Like there was one too many people trying to occupy the same space.

Come up to the roof. I would speak with you.

He took several deep breaths to try and slow his heart. The roof, cool, cool, cool.

Jason got out of bed, threw on an old shirt, a pair of shorts and sneakers sans socks. Normally when going to meet with a prospective... client, yeah let’s use that word, he might have dressed more formally out of deference to them.

But if they were going to invade his brain and wake him up in the middle of the night, they got a ratty Aerosmith shirt.

Your appearance does not matter to me.

“Some privacy please?” he snapped. “I’ll be up in a minute.”

If Brain Power didn’t want any snark, he could have show up during normal business hours.

The pressure in his brain immediately stopped. Jason took a moment to splash some water on his face and run his hands through his hair. He grabbed his keys and headed up to the roof to meet with a super villain.

The night air was cool as Jason stepped out on to the roof. Buildings and lights stretched to the horizon. The sounds of cars and sirens seemed softer up here.

Standing to one side of the roof with his hands behind his back was a tall and very thin man. Even with his tailored clothes Jason could see he was almost a stick.

Jason slowly walked over to him trying to be as not silent as possible. He stopped several feet away from the man.

“Please forgive the heavy handed mental intrusion but you are a deep sleeper.”

His voice was very normal sounding but his words were clipped. It was almost an accent.

He turned around.

Jason hadn’t expected him to be so average looking. Like an overworked office exec. He had short dark hair that receded at the temples. His eyes were dark with bags under them and set over a nose and chin that were a little too pointy.

There was a long ragged scar going across his forehead.

Jason glanced at it and then made a very conscious effort to only look him in the eye.

“I was told that you have a request for me.”

Jason took a long breath.

Here goes.

“I work for Wishes Granted. I was contacted by a girl named Sarah. Here little sister Emily is in a coma from a car accident. Sarah thinks that since you are psychic you can help in Emily’s recovery.”

Jason noticed that Brain Power’s eye ticked when he said the word coma. In his research, he had learned that Brain Power had gained his powers while he was in a coma. Or at least that was the main theory on how it happened. There were no actual records that could be checked. No one knew Brain Power's real name.

“What exactly does this child think I can do? I do not possess healing abilities.”

Jason shrugged. “Sarah seems to think that if someone could talk to her sister it might get her to wake up. The doctor’s haven't been able to manage it.”

Brain Power turned away from Jason, looking out at the city skyline. He had gone from a relaxed pose to very tense.

It was several moments before the villain said anything.

“Do you know what it’s like to be in a coma, Jason?”

“No sir, I don’t.”

“Let me assure you, it is awful. Waking up from it is just as awful. It is not like waking up from a nap. That is what people do not understand.”

He stared out into a the middle distance before continuing.

“There is so much that is not understood about the human brain and consciousness.”

“Could you yell her awake like you just did me?” Jason asked.

Brain Power scoffed. “Would that I could, Jason.”

He could sworn he heard a bit of regret in Brain Power’s answer.

“Well, I guess that would be nice. Look Mr... um... I’m sorry but I don't know your name, so Mr. Brain Power, if you feel you can't help it's okay. I can tell Sarah what you told me. It was a long shot anyway.”

Brain Power turned and looked at Jason quizzically.

“I did not refuse the request. I simply stated the unlikelihood of my interaction having the intended affect.”

Jason blinked several times. “Oh, well... okay then. As long as you agree not to hurt anyone.”

“There is one other condition,”

Jason felt his stomach sink.

“I will visit this patient as long as you are present.”

Okay, that wasn’t so bad.

“And you promise the not harm anyone?” Jason needed to be sure.

“As long as I am not attacked.”

He guessed that was fair.

“Okay then. You meet with the patient and her sister, I will be there, no one gets hurts and everyone else leaves you alone. When can you go to the hospital?”

“Tomorrow. I will contact you when I am ready to arrive.”

“Uh... okay. Do you want my number?”

Brain Power scoffed bemusedly. “Jason, I do not need a phone to contact you. See you tomorrow.”

Jason blinked and he was gone. Actually he was standing in his bedroom again.

When had he gotten off the roof? How had he gotten off the roof?

He was still wearing his shoes.

Whatever Brain Power had done had made Jason walk from the roof, down 4 flights of stairs and back into his own apartment.

That wasn’t terrifying at all.

Jason decided to not think about it. He kicked off his shoes and got into the bed.

_________

Jason arrived at Emily’s room at 10:00am the next day. Her parents were still sitting by her side. Mom was holding her little hand. Sarah was sitting on the other side of bed.

She turned and sat up a little straighter when Jason walked in.

He gave her a slight smile.

Mom and Dad gave him a glance.

“Mr. and Mrs. Baxter, Sarah, I spoke with the hero. They said they would try to stop by today.”

Sarah’s face changed from dejected to a little hopeful.

“Would it be alright if I stayed for a bit. Just till they come by?”

The parents nodded slowly.

Jason looked at Sarah.

“I’ll wait out in the hall.”

He turned, left the room, closing the door behind him. Out in the hallway, it was like many other hospitals Jason had been to. Pristine, white and smelled of cleaning supplies. There were some colorful shapes painted on the wall that did not make this place cheerful.

There was a nurse station down the hall where staff, visitors and some of the more mobile patients were going to and from.

He found a bench near the door. He sat and prepped himself for a long wait. He had no idea when Brain Power would be coming so he pulled a paperback out of his pocket and began to read.

After a few minutes, he saw Sarah sit down next to him.

“Is he coming?” she asked quietly.

“He said he would be here today.” He closed his book and turned to Sarah. He spoke gently and calmly.

“Sarah, I told him what you were asking. I have to honest here, he said that he did not think he could do what you are hoping for.”

Sarah pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them tightly. She furrowed her eyebrows and tried to keep herself under control.

“They’ve tried everything else. She’s still not awake. I just thought…” she trailed off.

The sudden quiet made Jason look up. Something was off. Hospitals were never silent.

It took him a moment but when he saw it, a chill ran down his spine.

Every single person was not moving. They stood or sat very still with blank expressions, staring straight ahead.

Sarah’s eyes were wide and frightened.

“I think he’s here,” Jason said.

“Why aren’t they moving?” she whispered.

“Probably so no one will see him.”

On cue, the elevator at the end of the hall dinged and opened.

Brain Power stepped out wearing a dark suit and tie and began to walk toward them.

Jason stood up and turned toward him. He felt Sarah clutch his hand. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

The gravity of what she asked for seemed to have just really hit her.

Brain Power walked up to them and stopped.

“Hello again, Jason.”

“Hello, sir. Think you for coming.”

Brain Power looked down at Sarah. His face softened and he gave her a very slight smile.

“Are you the young lady who requested my visit?”

She nodded as she clenched Jason’s hand tightly.

“What is your name?”

“Sarah,” she squeaked.

“Sarah, I promise you have nothing to fear from me.”

She glanced behind him at the unmoving people and then back to Brain Power.

“They are in no danger. It is simply a precaution so that no one knows I am here. I cannot attempt to speak with your sister if there is a SWAT team trying to arrest me. They will return to normal, with no memory lapse, once I am out of sight.”

She glanced up at Jason. He nodded reassuringly to her. If Brain Power could make him walk from his apartment roof back down to his bedroom and make it seem instant, he was sure Brain Power make it seem like nothing happened for a couple minutes.

Sarah glanced at the door to her sister’s room and then back to Brain Power. She took a deep breath as she stood up straighter. She looked him right in the eye as she spoke.

“My little sister’s in a coma and can’t wake up. I’m hoping you can get through to her and help her wake up. She’s 7 years old.”

Brain Power bent down on one knee to be more at eye level with her.

“Sarah, I will be very honest with you. I do not know if I can help your sister. But I will see if there is anything I can do.”

She nodded.

Brain Power stood up. “Let’s get started, shall we?”

He opened the door to Emily’s room and went in. Jason and Sarah followed him.

The Baxter parent’s look up when they entered. Immediately their eyes glazed over and their expressions slackened. In unison, they stood up, walked into the hallway and closed the room door.

“They should not see me,” Brain Power explained. “They will be fine.”

He turned to look at the small patient in the bed..

Jason watched as several emotions passed over the villain’s face. Sadness, pain, anger and compassion.

“What is her name?” Brain Power asked quietly.

“Emily,” Jason answered.

“Alright, let us begin.”

The super villain walked over to the bed and sat down in the chair were Mom had been sitting. He closed his eyes.

Jason and Sarah stood at the foot of the bed. They made no noise. They both looked back and forth between Brain Power and Emily, looking for a sign of anything. A twitch, a change in heartbeat, something that showed that he was getting through.

Jason did not know how long they stood there. Time seemed to stretch. He did not think it was Brain Power affecting them. Just the tension and hope of the situation.

Finally, Brain Power opened his eyes. He turned to look at Sarah.

Jason knew that it did not work.

“I am very sorry Sarah but Emily is gon-”

“NO!” she screamed. She ran over to Brain Power as he stood up. Tears began falling down her face. She grabbed his jacket in both hands.

“No! She has to be in there! You have to wake her up! Please! Please wake her up!”

Jason moved to pull Sarah off Brain Power but the villain held up his hand to stop him.

Brain Power stood very still as he looked down at Sarah. The same expression of sadness and compassion when he had seen Emily was turned on Sarah.

“Sarah, she is gone. There is nothing there to contact,” he said gently.

“B-B-But she’s s-s-still alive!” she cried through her sobs.

“Her body is alive for now. But the part that was your sister is gone. I’m sorry but I cannot do anything for her.”

Now Sarah fully broke down. She fell to her knees and wept.

This had been the one thing she had been hanging on to. The long shot that might have worked when nothing else had. Jason’s own tears begin to fall.

“I’m sorry!” Sarah cried out. “God, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. Please make her okay!”

She didn’t mean to?

Brain Power and Jason both glanced at each other.

What was she saying?

It sounded like this was Sarah’s fault. But the family had been hit by another driver. She was only 12, there was no way she could have been driving.

How could this possibly have been her fault?

Brain Power knelt down took Sarah’s hands. He gently pulled her up to stand.

She had eyes squeezed shut, her face was grimace. She was in agony.

“SARAH.”

Brain Power’s voice cut through everything. She stopped and looked up at him. Her face slackened, just as her parents had, and she stopped crying.

“What are you doing?” Jason asked.

Without looking at him Brain Power answered “Finding out what really happened. Sarah, explain.”

Sarah spoke tonelessly, halfway between being sleepy and spaced out.

“We were going to Aunt June’s house. I didn’t want to go. I was arguing with dad while he was driving. I made him not pay attention and we crashed. It’s my fault Emily is dying.”

Brain Power paused and then closed his eyes again.

Jason saw movement under his eyelids, like he was dreaming. Sarah did not move, her expression did not change.

What was going on? Should stop it? How?

As Brain Power opened his eyes Sarah’s expression returned back to normal.

She sort of began to cry again but looked like she was trying to get herself back under control while also looking very confused.

“Sarah,” Brain Power said with a sad smile. “I wish I could help your sister but I cannot. But I can offer you something. Do you see it?”

She nodded.

“Remember it. Tell the police and they will track down the driver that caused this and he will pay. Do you understand?”

She sniffed and nodded again.

“Good. Now remember this Sarah Baxter,” Brain Power looked her right in the eyes. He spoke gently but intently. “This was not your fault. I saw the accident through your memories. It is not your fault. Do not blame yourself.”

Sarah’s face began to crumble again, her lip quivered but she nodded.

Brain Power patted her on the shoulder. He turned to Jason and spoke in his head.

I must go. Make sure she gets any help she needs.

Jason nodded.

He blinked and Brain Power was gone.

Sarah stood next to her sister, staring down at her.

“What did you see? What did he show you? Jason asked.

“The license plate of the car that hit us,” she answered quietly. “I couldn’t remember it because it happened too fast. But he made it so I could see it and remember it.”

The door to the room opened. Mr. and Mrs. Baxter walked in. Sarah ran to her mom and hugged her. Both parents hugged her back.

Jason quietly left the room.

He wasn't sure if what had happened was a good or a bad thing. But he knew that family did not need him there.

He could check back on Sarah later. If the Baxter’s needed any help after the loss of their daughter, he could offer his available resources to them.

Out in the hall, everything was back to normal. Everyone was carrying on like nothing had happened. There was no evidence that Brain Power had ever been there.

Jason needed a drink.

He drove to Hattie’s.

_________

When he arrived at the bar, he noticed it was only a little after 11:00am.

That whole incident had taken less then an hour.

Jason felt like a week had passed.

There were very few people in the bar this early. They glanced at him and went back to minding their business.

He sat down at the bar.

Hattie herself, a middle aged, hard looking woman with gray hair was minding the bar today.

“You alright, kid?” she asked.

“Not really. Can I get a screwdriver, please?”

She pulled out a glass, made the drink, pushed it over to him and asked no questions.

He drank half the contents in one pull, set the glass down and covered his face with his hands.

The alcohol hit his churning stomach and did not make him feel better.

Why had he done that?

Why had he agreed to that?

Was it good that it had happened?

He didn’t think it was bad, but he still felt awful for Sarah and her family.

That poor girl.

How long had she been walking around with that guilt?

Had Brain Power gotten through to her?

Maybe he should quit working for-

“You shouldn’t drink alone when you’re going though something, kid.”

Jason looked up.

The Gentleman Bastard, Thomas Beaumont, was sitting on the next stool over. He was dressed in business casual and drinking coffee.

“Uh… what are you doing here?… sir?”

“Hattie called saying you were here. I guess the little girl didn’t make it.”

“It’s complicated but basically she’s not going to make it.”

Beaumont winced.

Jason turned to him. “Could you do me a favor?”

He raised a questioning eyebrow.

“I’m pretty sure the driver is going to be found. If it’s not too much trouble, could you make sure that he actually gets convicted and serves his time?”

Jason knew that the Gentleman Bastard had connections everywhere. Given his history with both sides of the law, he could easily make it happen.

“Funny you should ask that. Mr… Powers has already made that request. He explained the situation and believe me, that guy is never going to see the light of day ever again.”

“He… he asked you to help?”

Jason was surprised. He had thought that Brain Power had done his part and that was it.

“Oh yes,” the Gentleman said as he took another sip of his coffee. “He also asked me to make sure you were okay. I heard it was quite the ordeal.”

Now Jason took another sip of his drink. He didn’t really want it anymore.

Knowing that there was going to be at least some justice at the end of this made him feel a little better.

“Yeah, it’s been a hell of a week.”

__________

Jason got the news of Emily’s death 2 days later. He attended the funeral, sitting in the back, keeping to himself. He also kept his distance at the burial.

Afterwards, while everyone was leaving, Sarah saw him. She left her parents and walked over to him.

He saw that her eyes were red and puffy but she was managing as best she could.

“Hi Sarah,” he said.

“Hi. They arrested the guy the other day. He had been drunk and blew through a light.”

“I’m glad they caught him. I have it on good authority that he will be serving a long sentence for what he did.”

Sarah looked down at the ground and kicked a rock. “I’d rather have my sister back.”

“I know.”

She looked back up at him. “Will you tell him thank you for me?”

“I will.”

She gave him a small smile and walked back to her parents.

Jason walked back to his car. There was a tall, thin man in dark suit standing next to it, watching the procession.

“How is she doing?” Brain Power asked.

“Well, she’s getting more closure and justice than a lot of other people get. I think she’ll be okay… in time. She wanted me to tell you thank you for what you did.”

Brain Power smiled, just a little.

_________

A week after the funeral, Jason was part of a group text from Mark Wilson.

“In remission, bitches! Going home next week. SUCK IT CANCER.”

Jason replied with a ton of emojis and gifs.

That’s what kids did these days right?

_________

Jason’s computer dinged a reminder at him. He sighed.

He stood up, went to Deloris’ office and knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

He didn’t want to but he did anyway.

“Ah, Jason, yes.” Deloris indicated for him to sit down. He sat.

She pulled out a file and laid it open on her desk.

Jason saw the label BAXTER.

Here we go.

“Well,” she said. “It seems you were not able to complete the request made by the Baxter’s.”

“Nope.”

“And yet it is marked on the satisfaction form that is filled out by the client that the request was completed. You were given 5 stars and a comment stating,” she picked up one of the forms and read in a deadpan tone “We are totally not paying Jason enough. Like, seriously.”

Jason smiled to himself. Sarah wasn’t wrong.

Deloris gave him a long look.

“So if I’m understanding this correctly, according to the records you submitted, you did not complete a request, the client states that you did, gave a glowing review and suggested we give you a raise. Is that the case?”

“I don’t know what to tell you, Deloris. It is what it is.”

She looked at him with narrowed eyes for a long time.

“Uh-huh,” she said finally. “Fine. We have another unusual request.”

She handed him a new file.

Please ask for a hero, please ask for the a hero, for the love of God. I don’t know if I can go through that again.

He opened the file.

“OH COME ON!”

Deloris gave him a smile of vengeful delight.

“Good luck.”

The Villain Wrangler (part 1)

Based on this post

An origin story maybe?

 - - -

“You’re serious?”

The kid nodded.

Jason could only stare.

How the hell was he supposed to pull this off?

How the hell was he supposed to pull this off without getting killed?

Maybe Jason could reason with him. He seemed mature for his age.

“That would be pretty dangerous. For a lot of people. What about Captain Righteous? He’s almost a regular at this hospital.”

The kid’s face fell. For a moment he looked sad then a little… angry?

“Nevermind  I don’t want anything.”

Jason felt like he had been punched in the gut. His eyes fell on the kid’s chart.

He couldn’t pronounce the diagnosis even if he wanted to.

All he knew was that Mark Wilson was 12 years old with a malignant brain tumor and he was getting blasted in the head with radiation so that he could live.

Jason stood up.

“You know what? I won’t promise you that I’ll get him but I promise that I will do my damnedest.”

Keep reading

[autumnmobile12]

My Hero Academia AU: I Know How It Works

An Ambush Simulation Sequel. Minor trigger warning for self-deprecating PTSD references.

Legend has it Mr. Compress still can't find his way out of the woods. But give him credit for calling for help even though he knew Dabi was probably gonna be an ass about it.

Aizawa was my favorite part of drawing this one.  Dabi may not be a villain in this AU, but he’s still an exhausting person to deal with, and the job seems to have been once again delegated to the usual crazy person wrangler.

"Kid, who hurt you? Give me a name."

...

If you missed Part 1 of Ambush Simulation and are confused about the orange fire instead of the blue, Dabi has gone and turned the temp down for the purposes of not being identified.

The relative humidity and the soil moisture are both factors that affect forest fires. Happy, hydrated plants don't burn easily.

There is also a method to the madness behind the forest fire aside from scare tactic.  After UA’s summer camp, the Wild, Wild Pussycats are planning on hosting a class on forest restoration after wildfires for people with plant-based Quirks.  So they were planning on burning part of the forest down anyway.

...

Aizawa:  So…your brother——

Shouto:  What I can tell you is he has no fear, no sense, and no restraint, but otherwise my oldest brother is an enigma my family has given up on trying to understand, and it’s probably best if the rest of the world follows our lead.

[ace-and-sleepdeprived]

ahem, i’m starting to see people try to vilify javi for some of the choices he made, so i’m here to defend my boy.

“he purposefully put kate back into a triggering atmosphere and got mad at her for appropriately panicking!” first of all, he didn’t get mad at her when they didn’t get the full scan of the first tornado because kate freaked out - he visibly got frustrated, yes, but he didn’t lash out at her. if anything he probably felt awful for putting her in that situation, but he had to be professional cause of storm par, and second of all, he understands that she’s traumatized because he’s traumatized too!! just because javi wasn’t in the fucking tornado with the rest of the tamers does NOT mean he isn’t JUST as traumatized as kate is from losing three of his best friends in a freak storm. just because his way of coping with the trauma is more like jo’s in the original doesn’t mean he doesn’t harbor the same guilt kate does.

“he still has the storm par truck at the end so he’s just gonna continue being an opposing force to kate and the wranglers!” i think javi still having the lion truck doesn’t explicitly mean he’s still with storm par - as he tells scott in the scene where he dumps him that he’s done with storm par and with riggs - he likely either bought the truck from them or already has ownership of it [kate apologizing for stealing his truck], so he’s pretty plausibly not connected with storm par anymore. hell, it’s even heavily implied that javi’s working with the wranglers now, given his interactions with tyler at the airport.

“javi should’ve died in the movie!” so you want kate to have even MORE trauma on top of what she already has?? if javi had died that would’ve meant ALL of kate’s friends from the tornado tamers would be dead from tornadoes. i don’t know about you, but that would fuck SEVERELY with anybody’s psyche regarding tornadoes. in that situation, kate would be completely justified in going back to new york and never coming back, since oklahoma would be the place where four of the most important people in her life died horrific deaths. it’s GOOD that javi didn’t die and got to have a good ending alongside her, even if he was led astray because of his own guilt and didn’t make the wisest choices in who to connect himself with. he DESERVES a good ending as much as kate does, even if he coped with the trauma in not the best way.

this is just my two cents, but i HAD to talk about this because i don’t want to see people try to paint javi as the villain when he clearly isn’t.

[arseniy-arsenicum33]

Season 9 Hermits as DND heroes and villains... (Mostly villains)...

The Dungeon Master... The Warden Wrangler... The Frost Warlock... TangoTek...

The Gorgon King... The Statues Sourseress... The Undead Sculptress... ZombieCleo...

The Immortal King... The Forgotten Ruler... The Wealth Hoarder... Ren the King...

The Bone Mage... Axe of The Screaming Void Wielder... The Musical Necromancer... XisumaVoid...

The Vampire Lord... The Treacherous Backstabber... The Keeper of Vaults... Mumbo Killsalot Jumbo...

The Cursed Knight... The Honourable Hero... And His Inner Demon... WelsKnight...

The Elven Archer... The Magical Baker... The Mattress Store Owner... GoodTimesWithScar...

The Dwarven Warrior... The Realm Liberator... The King Slayer... ImpulseSV...

The Forest Protector... The King Maker... The Leshy... BdoubleO100... This whole project started long ago with an ask by @theshadiertwin two months ago... Shockingly, the Idea of using a DND-character creator for creating actual DND-characters instead of little vignettes never occured to me... But I really wanted to model every Hermit first... If you have any ideas of what class each hermit can be, please tell! And I will be making a part 2 someday... Bdubs one has a little bit of a backstory... It's conceptually based on this model of Inscription-Leshy Bdubs by my good friend @randomtotallyrealgirl... But made more akin to slavic view of Leshy as a Forest Guardian... It's not a cultural appropriation, if it's my culture... Rens also from slavic folklore, he was inspired by Koschey the Immortal who conquered death, hoarded enormous amounts of wealth and spent his forever life by withering over it... You can use them freely, play as them, put them as npcs in your homebrew, come up with stats and character builds, go nuts! And there are some nice secrets, if you view them in 3D... I just need to add them to the growing google doc of my models... And actually post said doc on my blog... Yeah... Soon...

[kittycatcomander]

AU where SBI are villains, and Kristin is the villain wrangler making sure all the kids who get counseling in her office get a chance to meet who ever they want, even if they’re wanted dead by the hero commission.

Cue meet-cute(?) between Kristin and Phil, where she spends weeks tracking down the infamous “ Crowfather, killer of heroes and hater of the system” because some little kid wanted see him, and she stands tall and totally not terrified (/s) on a rooftop waiting for him.

And Phil is faced with this woman who spent hours and hours researching his routines not to arrest him but to let a little kid meet him, and he just falls for her.

So they exchange numbers, and everytime from there on out when Kristin has a kid who wants to meet The Blade or Orpheus or Nemesis she just casually shoots THE TOP VILLAIN a message, internally screaming, while Phil is kicking his feet on the air like a stereotypical teenager everytime his phone dings with a personalized ringtone.

Hero!Dream: I have finally confronted you, doer of evil! Today, our fight will be legend-

Crowfather!Phil: wait pause mate- OMG ITS HER 🥰🥰

Hero!Dream: wait wha-

Technoblade: I’ll take it from here

And so begins her getting really casual about the fact she personally texts the top villain.

I’m imagining some side stuff where she meets Tommy, a sidekick in desperate need of help (which she’s happy to provide), and a few others who’s relationship evolves with her over time.

Kirstin when first meeting the Blade: hooooooly smokes this guy is Dangerous, but if the kid wants to meet him… I’ll be prepared

Techno: uhhhhhh (struggling to interact with the receptionist, holds kids and swings them around gently like planes, lets them win fake fights)

Kristin: ok wait he’s like seven shaking puppies built like a brick house

She and Phil talk more and more as the arrangement continues, about everything and eventually life, and things shift from there. The first time that a villain tries hurting one of the kids also shifts their relationship…. especially since Kristin handles it as efficiently as she does.

There’s more, but in this AU I imagine Kristin to have a super dangerous power of her own (unregistered because teehee) that motivated her to work with troubled youth in need of help and kids working with a limited lifespan. I want her to be OP but just friendly and downplaying her ability since she was never in a situation to use it to the full extant.

Also there’d obviously be a CrimeBoys plot and adoption of Tommy into the family (bye bye Dream) which leads to her getting invited over to like. Family dinners and stuff, where the interactions are all completely cute and normal but undercut by her perspective reminding her of crimes they’ve all committed. Like-

“Phil, who had the most beautiful eyes but hands stained with the blood of approximately 3,791 people, passed her the salad with a bright smile. His son(?) continued the story of how he met a new friend. Kristin wasn’t sure if the story was in or out of masks, and she was scared to ask at this point.”

I especially want her to and Phil to reflect the two main approaches to changing the world, where you could either completely destroy the system in place (villains, anarchy) and forcefully restart, or you could tackle an issue at its lowest (if the world is full of corrupt people, change the people from a young age)

[ofstoriesandstardust]

can't take the home out of oklahoma - ii. (k.c.)

a/n: we're soooo back! this is filled with banter and found family and all the sweet angst! also, it's come to my attention through a third rewatch that i've actually been wrong the whole time and kate's last name is in fact carter. if you catch any of my slip-ups, whoopsies! thank you to @cottagecori for letting me ramble about this one the phone for hours and to @sometimesanalice for listening to all the personal lore. i actually ended up having part iii written before i start part ii but now i think it needs a rewrite so that should be up in a few days. comments and reblog are always appreciated!

part i.

summary: You and Kate build a friendship until you stand on the precipice of something more.

warnings: swearing, alcohol, tornadoes, concussions, angst, kissing, scott is actually the villain

word count: 10.7k

Kate pushes the barn door open, a piece of toast in her other hand. 

You’ve got another cup of coffee in hand as you follow Kate inside. She stops as you take the place in. 

“This is where the magic happens?” You ask, taking it all in. The model town, the polymer tucked up at the top, extra equipment for the truck strewn about through the place. 

“Just about.” She answers. 

She hangs by the door, as you walk around, taking it all in. 

Towards the back, where some of Kate’s papers sit, are photos. There’s some of the Wranglers, some of her Mom. Others of her and Tyler, some with her and Javi. 

You nudge one of them aside, looking at one of the pictures tucked in the very corner. 

It’s a picture of an obviously much younger Kate and Javi with three others you don’t recognize. 

You think you should maybe be surprised that it’s clear Javi and Kate go back so far but in thinking about what you’ve seen from them, it feels like the signs were always there. 

There’s a comfortable ease they have with each other that can only come with so much time of knowing someone, the same one Boone has with Tyler. 

“You know, I owe Javi a lot.” Kate comments, coming to stand next to you.

“Yeah?”

She nods. “Without him, there wouldn’t be all of this. He brought Tyler and I together in a way. If he’d never convinced me to come back to Oklahoma-“ She breaks off, shrugging. 

“I get what you mean.” You say softly. 

“He’s my best friend. We’d do anything for each other I think. No matter how far apart we go, he’ll always be there. He’ll always be in my orbit.” 

“You guys complement each other in a lot of ways.” You say softly and she nods. 

It’s quiet again as you think of the conversation you’d caught on the stairs last night. 

Javi, telling Kate she should give you another chance. 

Kate, saying she doesn’t want to get hurt again.

You want to ask about these three people you don’t recognize but you know well enough that Kate probably wouldn’t tell you, would probably get annoyed at you for not having the wherewithal to not ask. 

A knock against the wooden door of the barn pulls both your attention. It’s Javi, standing tentatively at the doors. 

“Owens says we’re gonna leave in about an hour, so to be ready by then.” You nod, going to step away and Kate gestures her head, beckoning Javi in. 

You wait as Javi walks over. “Just showing her all the grant stuff.” Kate says, gesturing to the messy table next to you. There’s a white board hung on the wall, grant and sponsor deadlines in a sprawling handwriting that screams Boone. 

“That’s right, we’ve got the deadline for the proposal to talk to the governor and the senators this Friday.” Javi says, picking up a binder. “Good thing California’s got the experience writing proposals.”

“Really?” Kate asks. 

You shrug. “Nothing too impressive, just research proposals. I haven’t written many as I’ve read them — comes with the territory of working in a Writing Center for four years.” 

“The hell’s a Writing Center?” Javi asks, flipping through the binders, presumably to figure out what they should take on the road with them. 

“Place to help students with their writing on college campuses. I spent two years one in my undergrad and then both years of my Masters.”

“You’ve got a Masters?” Kate asks. 

“Yeah but not in anything useful.” You say with a shrug. 

Kate clicks her tongue. “That’s okay. I don’t even think Javi knows how to spell the word conference, so we could use all the help we can get.” 

“Hey now!” Javi defends, snapping the binder shut. “I was in the same PhD program as you!” 

-

“Agh!” Kate shouts. 

You shut the door, hand flying up to cover your eyes. 

“Sorry!” You shout. “I thought you were still in the bathroom!”

You cringe, thinking of the scar running down’s Kate thigh you gotten sight of. You think of the picture tucked into the corner of the barn, the one with three people not around. 

Kate opens the door and you spin around. She rubs her cheeks, a dusty pink covering them. “Sorry.” She says. “You just scared me.” 

You shrug. “No, it was my fault.” 

You two both stand there like in the doorway, awkwardly looking at each other until you hear heavy footsteps. You both look down to see Tyler standing at the bottom of the staircase, hands on his hips. “We’re waiting on the both of you.” He says matter-of-factly. “Hurry up. I’ll leave you here.”

He turns on his heel and you can hear the front door shut behind him. 

“He will.” Kate says. “Leave us here. So we should probably-“ 

You nod, ducking into Kate’s room to grab your bag. She waits for you and then you both walk down the stairs, Kate shouting goodbye to her Mom as she does. Cathy meets her daughter at the door and you slip out, trying to not let your heart twinge at the sight of the obvious love and care Cathy has for Kate. 

Tyler tells you you’ll be riding with Lilly and you nod, climbing into the passenger seat of her van as Lilly whoops, shouting something to Javi about finally not having hot cheeto dust all over her radio and dashboard. 

Kate leaves the house a few minutes later and your eyes meet through the windshield. She gives you a tight smile and a small wave before climbing into the passenger seat of Tyler’s truck. 

“You okay?” Lilly asks and you startle, not having realized she had opened the door. 

“Fine.” You respond. She studies you for a minute before turning the key. 

“Let’s go chase some twisters then baby!”

-

You shoot up with a gasp, feeling the sweat drip down your back as your breath comes out in short pants. Tears sting at your eyes as you take in the darkened space. 

The Oklahoma rose nightlight sits in the corner, the grey cotton sheets beneath you familiar. 

Okay. Okay. You were in Kate’s room. You were okay. You were safe here. 

You press your palms into your eyes, trying to push back the tears as someone shifts next to you on the bed. 

“Are you okay?” She asks softly and you have to bite back a whimper at the humiliating knowledge that you’d gone and woken her up. 

“Fine.” You say, pulling your hands away from your eyes. She reaches over to her side of the bed, flicking her lamp on. “You don’t have to do that.” You say quietly. “I’m sorry for waking you. You can go back to sleep.” 

Kate shakes her head but doesn’t say anything as she moves to have her back be supported by her headboard. Finally, you sigh, moving to match her position as she waits. 

“You know, I used to get them all the time too.” She says, her twang a bit more prominent at this point of night. “The nightmares.”

“How do you deal with them?” You ask quietly, chancing a glance at her. 

She sighs, shaking her head. “I don’t know that I used to deal with them per se. When I first moved to New York after it happened, I used to stay up for days at a time until I was so tired I wouldn’t dream. Some nights I’d have to spend hours reminding myself what was and wasn’t real. They’ve only gotten better since I’ve started to deal with what happened head on.”

You want to ask her what it is exactly that happened, an incident everyone but you seems to know, but you can’t bring yourself to dare to ask. She must know the questions you have though because she keeps talking. 

“I see you look at that picture of them.” She says quietly. “The one in the barn. I’ve been waiting for you to ask.” 

“I didn’t think I should.” You say quietly. 

“Well, I don’t think I’ve ever made it clear you could.” She responds. “They were friends of Javi and I’s. That photo in there, it’s the last photo we ever took together. We were storm chasing that day; they were helping me with my dream.” She lets out a shaky breath. “The storm we ended up in was an EF-5, not the EF-1 we had been hoping for. We tried to hide under an overpass. Praveen was taken first, he never made it. Addy and I were trying to climb up when I got cut.” You think of the scar down Kate’s thigh, the one you’d only seen that one time on accident. “Addy got hit by debris right after. My boyfriend at the time, Jeb, he helped me get up, to cling to the metal piping. He was holding on to me until he wasn’t.” She swallows. “For years, I’d see them in my dreams. I’d wake up think Jeb was telling me we were going to be okay, that Addy was chasing one more storm with me, that Praveen was still there with his cautious concern. For years, I thought it was my fault.” 

“Kate, I’m so sorry.” You whisper. “I couldn’t- I couldn’t even imagine.” 

You think of Texas, of the horrors you’d seen there. And yet it almost can’t compare to the loss Kate’s lived through. 

“It’s why I’m glad you’re joining Javi and I in DC next month.” 

“How do you mean?”

She wraps her arms around herself, a tear trickling down her cheek. You resist the urge to reach out and wipe it off her face. 

“Praveen’s parents told me after the funeral that they could never be angry with me for what happened; that they knew their son had died doing what he loved. Praveen had gotten struck by lightening a few weeks before and I don’t know, I think they knew that those were the risks he was taking after he decided to keep going back out. Addy’s parents blamed me though. Said that I encouraged her recklessness, that Addy would’ve been safe if it hadn’t been for me.” She swallows. “But Jeb’s parents- they’ve got money, the degrees in science. They’re pretty prominent in the meteorology community but they’re not storm chasers in any form of the term. They didn’t just blame me for Jeb’s death, they blamed Javi.” Another tear drips down her face. “Javi never even got close to the storm. Jeb was dating me; he’s the one followed me into the storm. He never would’ve been there if it hadn’t been for me. But they put that stain on Javi’s name too, it’s why Javi had to fight so hard to get StormPar together, it’s why he had to bring Scott on. I’m terrified it’s gonna affect what we’re trying to do here too.” 

This time, you finally reach out for Kate. You take her hand, squeezing it. “Kate, you’re testing the unprecedented out here and it’s working. You’ve got the support of all the Wranglers, all their supporters. You’ve got this. You and Javi and Tyler - you guys are going to change the game, I’m sure of it. It doesn’t matter what they say, I see it every time you guys go out into the field and cause a storm to collapse. You’re going to change the world, I just know it.” 

She gives you a watery smile as you bite back the you don’t need me for that. 

“I hope DC is going to be good.”

“It’s going to be great.” 

She sniffs, taking her free hand to wipe at the nose. “Anyways, I didn’t mean to make it about me.”

“No, you didn’t-“

She cuts you off. “Just that if you ever want to share that stuff that’s haunting you, the stuff that keeps you up at night, I’d listen.” 

-

“You guys, I thought we had a no work at the dinner table rule.” Dani says. 

She shrugs, crowding over your phone with Javi. “Technically foods not here, so it’s not dinner time.” 

You’re inside with her Mom and Tyler and Dexter, getting ready to bring out all the food for dinner. Javi chuckles as they scroll through the outline you’d drawn up earlier in the day.  

Suddenly, your phone starts ringing with a call and her and Javi shoot back like they’ve been burned. 

She doesn’t recognize the name on your phone, but she knows you haven’t spoken of the life you’d left behind nor talked to anyone from that past. 

“What do we do?” She hisses.

“Kate, just decline it.” Lilly says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. 

It probably is, but it doesn’t save her from pressing the wrong button and answering the call. 

Her hands fly up to her mouth, looking around the table as they all fall silent. 

Hello? Hello? Are you there? 

She can hear a man say and she glances at Javi, wide-eyed, unsure of what to do. 

Sweetheart, can you hear me? Are you there? 

Javi’s hand darts out and ends the call. 

It feels like the table lets out a collective sigh of relief when the phone starts ringing again. 

Lilly reaches around Dani this time and ends the call. Javi picks up your phone again, going back to reading the outline. 

“Kate man, you’ve got all those fancy degrees and you’re telling me you don’t know how to decline a phone call?” Boone crows from the end of the table. 

“The question should really be are we going to say anything to her.” Dani says with a smirk on her face. 

“Oh please don’t.” She groans, letting her head fall into her palm. 

“Oh fuck.” Javi mutters from next to her and she steals a glance at the phone. “Kate can’t decline a call but apparently I can’t swipe away a voicemail notification either.” 

Out of her peripheral vision, she thinks Dani’s eyes flicker up over her head. 

“Hey guys, this feels like a real invasion of her privacy.” Lilly says and she’s right. Her Mom would wring her neck if she knew what her and Javi were reading right now but it’s like a bad car wreck they can’t look away from as the voicemail transcribes itself. 

“Hey guys, she’s coming back, I’d put it away.” Boone says, shifting closer to take the phone. 

“Okay, yeah, like put it away right now.” Dani says, scooping the phone up but it doesn’t make her forget what she’s seen and she knows Javi won’t either as they share an uneasy glance. “Here.” Dani says, offering you your phone as you slide the platter down in front of her and Javi. 

She swallows, chancing a glance at you as your confusion about the obvious fuss over the phone turns into a hard look, sliding the phone into your back pocket. 

You’re quiet through most of dinner as her and Javi keep looking at each other, both unable to participate in the conversation either. 

Hey, sweetheart, it’s me. It sounded like you picked up there for a minute but maybe it’s a fluke, I don’t know. 

I miss you, darling. I miss you so much. The last six weeks have been so hard without you and I just hope that you’re safe wherever it is you’ve gone. Your sister still calls me sometimes to ask where you’ve gone and I still listen to your favorite music hoping it’ll make you be there. 

I know you’ve said we’re done, that you didn’t want to be with me anymore, but if you ever want to come home, please let me know. I still love you baby, I always will you. You can come home whenever you’re ready.

-

“Man, California, what’s all this? It’s like an art project.” 

You look up at Javi from where you’re cutting out paper. 

“I’m getting the questions for tomorrow’s video ready.” You smack Javi’s hand that’s reaching out for the pile that has Boone’s name on it. “Stop it - you don’t get an advantage.” 

Javi hisses, retracting his hand as he glances at the kitchen. “And the cookies?” 

“I got drunk and made cookies. Kate’s Mom said I could.” You pause, looking up at him. “Well, the getting drunk was all me. But Cathy did say I could make cookies.” 

Javi chuckles. “Okay California, so what I’m hearing is I’ve got to catch up to you?” He asks, pulling another beer from the fridge. 

You shrug. “Sure, but you’ve got to help me pull the cookies out to cool.” 

He nods, sitting across from you at the table as he takes a draw from his beer. “So California, I gotta ask-“ You groan. “That voicemail.”

You sigh before reaching out for your own drink (a strong dirty Shirley Temple, Boone had teased you as you’d made them for you and Dani) and taking a long sip. “My ex.” 

“Sounded like you broke his heart.” 

“I probably did.” 

“Why?” 

You sigh again, looking over at your phone that had all the questions written down on it, the Sharpie squeaking against the cardstock you’d found shoved into one of the closets. 

“It just wasn’t working. The relationship wasn’t right anymore. It probably hadn’t been right for a while, maybe ever, but I wanted to make it work.” Javi waits for more information and you sigh, capping the pen. “He was in the Navy and-“

“C’mon California, don’t you know better than to date a military man? Coming from a former military man.”

You raise an eyebrow. “You? Actually, yeah, that tracks.” 

Javi chokes. “The fuck does that mean?” He says hotly but there’s no real malice behind his words, a wide grin on his face. 

You give an unimpressed look. “Do you really need me to explain it?” 

Javi laughs, shaking his head. “Nah, I get it.” 

You nod, uncapping the Sharpie again as you start on Kate’s questions. “Anyways, he was also eight years older than me.” 

Javi makes a noise through a laugh. “Hoohoo, so you mean to tell me you were the scandalously younger girlfriend?” 

“I wouldn’t say it was scandalous. I was 22 when we met.” 

“Making him 30. That’s pretty scandalous to me.” 

“We only went on two dates and then decided to be friends so by the time we did date I was almost 24 and he 32.”

“That’s still pretty scandalous.” 

You snort, setting Kate’s questions aside. “Yeah, well, my friends would agree with you there but honestly it never really phased me.” 

Javi takes another draw of his beer. “Yeah, cause you were being groomed.” 

The deathly look you give Javi sends him into a fit of laughter. 

“I was not!”

-

“What are you guys doing?” 

You look over at Kate and Tyler from where you’re laughing at the meme Javi’s showing you. You swallow the rest of your laughter, sliding off the kitchen counter like you’d been caught. 

“California and I got drunk. We’re bonding.” 

Tyler looks unimpressed as Kate steps into the kitchen, surveying the cookies. “Can I have one?” You nod. 

“Damn California.” Tyler whistles when he sees the amount of cookies sitting in Kate’s kitchen.

You give a nervous laugh, scrubbing your forehead with your wrist. “Yeah, I know. Its my Dad’s recipe — I always forget how much the recipe makes and I even halved it.” 

“So you disappeared from the barn to drunkenly make cookies?” Kate asks, not to you, but to Javi, and your face falls. 

Right.

Right, Javi had been in the barn with Dexter and Kate and Tyler to talk science stuff. You couldn’t find your place in the conversation with Boone and Lilly and Dani as they had s’mores, so you’d come inside to make cookies. 

Javi shrugs, a lopsided grin on his face as the alcohol paints his cheeks a rosy red. “Just trying to get to know our new team member, s’all.” 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to distract him.” 

Kate shrugs as she takes another bite. “Not like it’s hard.” She swallows. “He’s like a toddler — he gets distracted by food and shiny things.” 

“Hey now!” Javi says as you hear the front door open again. “Nah, California here was just telling me about her scandalous-“ Javi pauses as Boone and Lilly come through the kitchen, Dani behind them as they wait for him to finish his sentence. He must see something on your face cause he softens. “Nah California, that’ll just be between us.” 

You give him a tight smile before turning to Tyler as the newcomers realize there’s cookies. “Owens, what time are we leaving tomorrow?” 

“1. And we need to film that video for the YouTube channel, which is what I’m guessing this all is.” 

You nod as he gestures to the table with the stack of questions on it. 

“I hope Tyler loses again.” Lilly says and Tyler gives her a face in return. The group laughs at him, presumably thinking about after he had lost the game of Twisters last week, he’d had to feed Kate’s angry rooster Mr. Biscuits, who Tyler had, up until that point, thought was a dog.

“Hell no, I’m not doing that again.”

“Um,” You say as you pull the sleeves of your (Javi’s, though he doesn’t seem like he’s going to ask for it back at this point) pullover down your arms. “Can someone make sure the cookies get wrapped up? I think I’m gonna head to bed for the night.” 

“Wait, but we were gonna watch a movie!” Dani protests. 

You shrug. “Tired.” 

It’s a weak excuse as the energy shifts in the kitchen. 

Kate clears her throat. “I can. Make sure the cookies get put away.” 

You give Kate a small smile. “Thanks Kate.” 

“No problem.” 

You turn to leave the room, various calls of goodnight following you as you walk up towards the stairs. You sigh when you reach Kate’s room, shutting the door behind you. The sleeping bag you’d gotten had migrated its way inside as you always ended up falling asleep on Kate’s floor. 

She’d offered to share the bed again more times than you could count but ever since you’d awoken her from your nightmare, you’d elected to sleep on the floor in hopes to ride them out alone. 

You all but flop onto the floor, feeling your body protest as you do. As much as you dismissed the uncomfortable sleeping conditions to the group and especially to Kate, your body protested more than anything after sleeping on the wooden floors of Kate’s house. 

Your phone dings and your stomach drops as you look down at it.

Hope you’re safe wherever you are.

You swallow around a scream, seeing Jake’s name on your screen. Your fingers begin flying across your screen without your permission.

Jake gets blocked first, then Javy. Natasha and Bradley. Pete and Bob and Sophie, Elle and Sam following. Mickey and Julia and Reuben. 

Before you can even realize it, most of the people you knew who were wondering where you were now had been blocked. Maybe you should’ve done it before now, seeing as how desperate you were to leave those memories in Texas where they belonged. 

Angry tears sting at your eyes as you resist to throw your phone, deleting photos en masse. 

As you hear laughter from down the stairs, an ache settles in to your bones. 

Six weeks gone and it still sort of felt like you were always standing at the edge of this group, never quite able to find your place. They seemed to like you more now, Kate especially, but it still felt like the bonds they’ve woven together in the last year would always put you on the outs. 

A lot of the time it still felt like you’d never really run from the memories of Texas, your past life left behind. 

-

Kate says your name softly. “Are you awake?” 

You shift in the sleeping bag, turning to face her. “Kate?”

“I’m sorry.” She whispers. “Seeing that voicemail- that was wrong of us. We didn’t mean to.” 

You shrug, though you doubt she can see it. “Not your fault.” 

“I know you don’t want to talk about why you left but I- it sounded like he really cared about you.” 

“Caring about me doesn’t mean our relationship was right. Doesn’t mean I wasn’t unhappy for a while before I left.” 

Kate sighs. “I get what you mean. It just sounded like he really missed you.” 

You swallow, turning back over. “Yeah.” 

“I get that we can’t make you stay.” She whispers. “But I understand how someone could miss you that much. I think I’d miss you that much if you left.” 

Your tears are resurfacing but you can’t bring yourself to respond to Kate’s words. 

After a few minutes, when it becomes clear you’re not going to respond, Kate bids you a quiet goodnight and rolls back over. 

I think I’d miss you that much if you left. 

-

“Now, you might be wondering where our fearless leader Kate is today.” Boone says through the grainy feed of the live stream. 

“And her lovely sidekick Javi.” Lilly adds from her end. 

“Tyler, why don’t you tell the viewers at home where they are?” Boone prompts, facing the camera to Tyler. 

“Well folks, they’re in DC with our lovely social media manager to talk to the governor and Senators from a bunch of the states in Tornado Alley, particularly Oklahoma. They’ll be presenting the research we’ve been done out here in the last year in hopes of getting more state budgeting allocated to tornado research and relief.” Tyler informs the livestream and you grin as you type out a comment. 

Tyler wasn’t invited because he’s not smart enough. 

Boone lets out a bark of laughter, repeating the comment to Tyler. Tyler makes Boone gesture the camera over to him, getting real close as he drives. “I know where you sleep at night.”

Hello FBI, there’s been a threat made against my life. 

The group sets off into laughter as Boone struggles to relay the message to Tyler through his laughter. 

“What are you doing?” Kate asks, sitting down next to you, Javi across from you. 

“Causing chaos in the livestream chat.” You exit it, turning your phone off. “How come you guys aren’t eating?” 

“I think I’d throw up right about now.” Kate says, looking over to Javi, who does look much paler than normal. 

“You guys can’t seriously be nervous?” You ask around a mouthful of Cheerios. 

“You’re not?” Kate asks in disbelief.

You shrug. “I’m used to public speaking. Besides, I’ve been told I’m a pretty good presenter, if I do say so myself.” 

“Great, want to present all the data?” 

You blanch. “I wouldn’t be able to make heads or tails of that. All I gotta do is talk about Tyler and well, he makes that part pretty easy.”

-

“So, it’s like I was saying, when I backed out of StormPar, a lot of these guys came over because of Kate.” Javi says as he makes introductions of his team, the ones who’ve been out in the field, using the radars to collect the data from the tornados Kate and Tyler have collapsed. 

“Javi.” Someone says and the group turns. Javi’s face sours noticeably. 

“Scott.” Javi says with a grim face before turning to you. “This is Scott, my ex business partner.” 

His eyes gloss over you as they land on Kate. “See you’re still wasting your time with Carter here.” 

Javi’s eyebrows scrunch up but you put your hand out, stopping him. “Sorry, Simon, was it?” Javi snorts. 

“Scott.” 

“Right, Sonny. Sorry. I mean- do you like take pleasure in being an asshole? That’s not a very attractive personality trait.” 

“It worked for Owens, does it not?”

“Oh, Stephen, sweetie. The internet would never make thirst traps of you like they do him.” Javi has to cough in his fist to hide his laugh and Kate has a hint of a smile on her face. “Oh, I know! You must be jealous of Javi’s sauve charm or- no, it must be because you think Kate should be in the kitchen, cooking and cleaning right? Cause women can’t have degrees.” You snap your fingers. “That must be it.” 

Scott gives you a displeased smile, turning to Javi. “When did you two get a guard dog? Couldn’t face me on your own?” 

Javi introduces you. “She’s Tyler’s new social media manager, been out there giving us a hand.” 

Scott clicks his tongue. “Maybe she’d like to meet my new investors.” Scott turns, gesturing over a woman and man, and the sight of them must mean something to Javi and Kate as they both take a step back, their faces going pale. 

Scott introduces them to you with a smirk on his face. “She’s working for Javi and Kate, figured it might be good for you all to meet.” 

The woman, in particular, has strong displeasure written on her face. “So, you decide to follow these two into a tornado?” 

You give a half shrug. “Can’t seem to think of why the decisions of a stranger would matter all that much to you.” 

She raises an eyebrow, adjusting her purse. “I just think you should be careful.” 

“I think you should mind your own business.” You say sharply, catching sight of the aide opening the door for you guys down the hall. “If you’ll excuse us, we should be going.” You touch Javi and Kate’s arms, nudging them forward. 

“And when you die for them, will it be worth it?”

It’s the man this time. 

You turn. “Excuse me?” 

“When you die for Kate and Javi, for this- this- hypothetical they believe in, like the one our son died for, will it be worth it?” 

And suddenly it all makes sense. It all clicks into place.

Kate’s words come back to you, how Jeb’s parents who were meteorologists who had money, how Jeb’s parents blamed Javi and Kate for their son’s death. 

Javi says your name softly. “C’mon, they ain’t worth it.”

“Your son didn’t die for some hypothetical. He died for research that’s working.” You say sharply. Kate grabs your wrist, pulling you back. “Maybe you should watch the YouTube channel sometime. Sounds like you could stand to learn a thing or two.” 

The aide ushers you into the conference room after that. The presentation goes smoothly, no obvious signs of how much the encounter had rattled Javi or Kate, and it’s obvious that more than a few of them are impressed with what you had to tell them. 

Until Kate asks if anyone has any questions. 

“Ms. Carter, you’re from Salpulpa, Oklahoma, isn’t that correct?” The governor of South Dakota asks. 

Kate swallows. “Yeah. That’s right, I am.”

“And six years ago, you were caught in an EF-5, right? Working on this research with your business partner here?” 

She nods, hesitancy growing on both her and Javi. “That’s correct.”

“And this research, you were doing as part of your PhD? But there was a team of five, right? What happened to your three colleagues?” 

You frown as Kate glances at Javi. “They were killed, sir.” Javi answers for her. “In the EF-5.”

“Sorry, I just- Can I ask why that matters?” You interrupt.  

The governor shifts as the one of the senators from Oklahoma turns to him. “I’d like to know as well.” 

“Well, two of my constituents are directly connected to that incident, as their son Jeb was dating Ms. Carter at the time. And they’re raising a lot of concerns about this research you’re out here doing. I mean, how are you going to ask me to sacrifice more lives and money to your data that’s not even backed?” 

Kate seems stunned, Javi too. “Well, sir-“

“Sorry, what are you implying here?” You say, cutting Javi off. 

“I’m saying that this research is led by two people who have a known history of being responsible for the death of my constituents and I simply won’t put any more time forth on this.” The governor stands, snapping his folder shut. “We’re done here.”

“So you’re saying Kate and Javi are responsible and at fault for the deaths of three equally educated researchers who willingly chose, by no influence of Javi or Kate, to go in the storm that day six years ago? Because I think that is incredibly gross and inappropriate.” 

Javi reaches out for your arm. “Stop.” He whispers. “It’s fine, we can take it.” 

You shake your head. “No, no because you’re wrong. To insinuate that what we’re doing out there is anything less than helping the people these tornados target is wrong. We use the data from the radars Javi’s team sets up to understand how these tornados are collapsing and when we can’t get to a storm in time, we’re there, on the ground, giving out food and water and helping people dig through the rubble of their lives while you sit in your fancy office, removed from the everyday struggles of these people!” 

You finally breathe, taking a step back as you pray Javi and Kate can forgive you. 

“You’re new to this team, that’s right?” 

You nod. “Been here just under three months.” 

“And how did you find yourself here?” 

You shrug. “I’ve seen firsthand the destruction and death these tornadoes cause. I’ve seen what these people can do to help. All I’ve ever wanted is to make a difference. 

“And when you die, cutting your life short, for this research?” 

You glance at your friends. “Then I’ll die knowing I gave my life helping others to change the game. I’ll died knowing I did what I could to make a difference.”

-

Her and Javi sit in their hotel room, uneasy silence between them. 

They’d invited you to come with them but you’d seemed hesitant and had retreated to your room down the hall. 

“Can we talk about it?” Javi asks finally. 

“You ever think about that voicemail we saw?” 

Javi shrugs. “Not really, I guess.” He glances at her. “Do you?”

She shrugs, pulling her shorts down. “Sometimes. Just wonder what the hell she’s doing out here when she’s got people at home who seem to care about her that much.” 

Javi shrugs. “Whatever they did to force her to Oklahoma, that cut’s gotta run deep because oh boy, she seems to be loyal something fierce.” There’s a knock on the door and Javi slides off the bed. “That’ll be our room service!” He jogs to the door, getting the food and thanking the person. He shoves a fry in his mouth, moaning around it, before he talks again. “I mean, she had the balls to stand up to the governor of South Dakota for us.” She doesn’t say anything response, running her fingers over the starchy fabric beneath her. “Kate.” 

She glances up at him. “What?” 

“C’mon, talk to me. What’re you thinking?”

“I can’t ask someone else to sacrifice their life for this.” She says softly. 

Javi sighs, sitting back down on the bed. “That’s the thing I think you’re missing Kate. You’re not asking. She’s offering.”

“But why?” She croaks. “What is any of this worth to her?”

Javi shakes his head. “That’s the part I can’t quite figure out. I don’t know, Kate.” 

-

Your head meets the table as Cathy slides a plate down in front of you. “I need three naps and an IV full of Diet Coke.” You mumble and Dani laughs into her coffee from her seat next to you. 

“So, c’mon tell us about DC.” Boone says excitedly. “You said you’d say over breakfast.” 

You can hear Javi sigh from across the kitchen at the coffee pot. “It didn’t go well.” 

“What happened?” Lilly asks around a mouthful of food. “Javi stumble over his words or something?”

“Well, for starters, we saw Scott.” Javi says as you lift your head from the table. There’s various groans and boos from the group as Javi’s grins grows. “Yeah, but she was mean to him.” 

You snort. “Yeah, I said the internet would never make thirst traps of him and he must think women belong in the kitchen. Oh, and that he must be jealous of Javi’s charm.” 

“We also saw Jeb’s parents.” Kate softly, immediately sobering your friend’s laughter. Cathy frowns, reaching out for her daughter. 

“They’re Scott’s new investors.” Javi explains as Kate looks at you. 

“They asked her if dying for me like Jeb did would be worth it.” 

Tyler scoffs. “That’s bullshit. You told them that was bullshit right?” 

You sigh. “Them and the governor of South Dakota, whose pocket they’re in. Told him it’s was gross and inappropriate to ever say Kate and Javi were responsible for the deaths of their friends.” You sigh, standing up from the table. “Sides, I know my words won’t make any difference to men like him but they didn’t go into that storm for Kate. They did it with Kate. This was something they believed in and it’s something I believe in too.” You push your food towards Boone. “Here, you can have it, I need to go to bed.” 

-

She sighs and Javi tosses her an irritating look.  

“Alright Carter, cough it up. What’s bugging you?” 

She shrugs. “Nothing.” 

“Kate, do you really take me for an idiot?” She gives him a curious look. “Look, I see how you are with her. The looks you give her when you think none of us notice. The way you’re always trying to include her in conversation, the way you always want her to be around. What gives?” 

She scuffs her heel against the asphalt of the parking lot. “Do you think she’s got a thing for T?” 

Javi sighs, rubbing his hands together. “No, I don’t.” He nudges her. “I mean that genuinely. I ain’t just saying it cause I know it’s what you want to hear.”

They both look at where you’re sitting, crowded up into Tyler’s personal space. Tyler’s arm is resting on your head obnoxiously, a cross look on your face as you elbow Ty in the ribs. To an outsider’s perspective, she could see how someone would mistake you two for something more but she knew the truth. 

Tyler Owens saw you nothing more than the little sister he had never had and had always wanted. Tyler was protective of his team, it was a given, but with you he was different. There was an innate, inherent bond between the two of you different from everyone else. And if Kate had to guess, it stemmed from where your pasts intertwined, even if they didn’t know how. 

But maybe it would be better if you did have something with Tyler. 

“Better how?” 

She blinks, turning to look at Javi. “Didn’t realize I said that out loud.” 

Javi studies her for a minute before standing. “C’mon, I need to get a jacket, come with me.” She follows as Javi shouts that they’ll be right back to the group and she catches your curious look from across the fire. 

Only once the motel door of Javi and Boone’s bedroom is shut, Javi looks at her.  “Kate, what’s up?” 

She looks at her friend before sinking to sit down on the bed. “I didn’t- I didn’t think I could ever love someone again after Jeb.” Javi’s eyebrows raise. “Ty showed me it could be possible.” She swallows, feeling tears sting at her eyes. “But I can’t ask her to love me back and to die for it in return.” 

“Wait, Kate, hang on.” Javi says, raising his hand. “You’re- Are you saying you’re in love with her?” She nods slowly. “Kate, that’s- that’s amazing.” He breathes. 

“No, it’s not Javi!” She nearly shouts and he flinches back. “Tyler nearly died for it and I saved him from that fate. But Jeb died because I loved him and so will she!” 

Javi sighs, running a hand down his face before moving to sit next to her on the bed. He’s quiet for a minute as their knees knock together. 

“Kate, look at me.” She does only to meet with a flurry of emotions. Concern like she might be spooked by his next words, love and care woven into the proudness that’s written there. “Kate, just because- just because they died doesn’t mean that we don’t deserve to love afterwards. Just because Jeb died doesn’t mean you have to suffer and pay the price for that.”

“Their deaths are my sins, their blood is on my hands.” 

Javi shakes his head, taking her hands in his own. “No it ain’t. Would you say their blood is on my hands?” 

“Never.” 

“Then you need to understand that it isn’t on yours either. What happened was a terrible stroke of luck, maybe fate. I’d give anything to have them back with us, to have stopped it from ever happening. But we can’t go back, we can’t make our homes in the past. We’ll miss what’s right in front of us. And Kate, you deserve a love as soft as hers.”

She lets out a shaky breath, feeling her shoulders let some of the tension bleed out from them. For the first time, she doesn’t have the heart to argue with Javi, to tell him that he was wrong. She wasn’t sure she could when he looked so sure and absolute in his words. 

-

You watch as Kate and Javi walk up the steps when Boone reaches over and nudges you. 

“California, when are you gonna admit you got a thing for Kate?” 

Your eyes slide over to him, giving a cool look. “Whenever you admit to the thing you’ve got going with Javi.” 

The group lets out a bunch ohs and Tyler cackles. “She’s got you there Booney baby.” 

“It’s just stress relief!” 

You look back at Boone. “You know no one believes that right?” 

“Man, stop deflecting, I was asking about you and Kate first!” 

You roll your eyes as Dani breaks into silent laughter from across the fire, Lilly’s shoulders shaking as she works on the drone in her lap. 

Tyler climbs off the truck, moving to stand behind you. You glance up at him as he does. “C’mon though. Seriously, what is going on with you and Sapulpa?” 

“Nothing.”

Tyler sighs. “C’mon California, you really expect me to believe that little lie?” 

You shrug. “It’s not a lie. I’m not denying anything I feel for her but I’m pretty sure Kate doesn’t like me in that way. Most days, I don’t even think she likes me period.”

“She likes you.” Lilly protests. 

“Kate’s just a harder read because of…” Boone trails off, looking to Tyler. 

“Because of what happened to Jeb, I know.” You say softly. “She told me.” 

“I just wasn’t- We weren’t sure.” Dani says gently. 

“But you guys always said she was a certain way with T right?” 

Dani hums. “Yeah, but they aren’t exactly who I’d take as example from considering-“ She glances at Tyler. “Well, considering their fling lasted all of three weeks before they nearly killed each other.” 

“Tyler, anything to contribute here?” Lilly says after a minute and you look back up at him. He’s got his hands on his hips, an unreadable look on his face. 

“I don’t know that I should be encouraging any inter-company dating here. Team dynamics and all of that.” 

Your eyes grow wide as you almost rocket out of your chair before gesturing to Lilly and Dani, who only laugh. You then turn to Boone, gesturing a hand at him. “Really?!”  You nearly yell. “You’re so full of shit Owens!” 

Tyler sighs. “California, I just don’t want to see anyone get hurt. I mean, if I tell you something wrong and it turns out to be a misstep, and shit goes wrong and one of you leaves, it’d be a huge blow.” 

Dexter shakes his head, finally speaking up. “Kate’s not leaving.” 

You can see the silent I know on the edge of Tyler’s lips, the It would be you leaving written in his eyes. 

“Hey guys,” Dani calls. “We’re all still here.  Wanna include us in whatever silent conversation’s happening over there?”

“I don’t want to get involved.” Tyler says with a wave of his hand. “Y’all are both too important to me for me to get this wrong.” 

You sigh, settling back in your chair as you see Javi’s door re-open, Kate and Javi emerging. Boone sighs, patting the spot next to him and you move, falling into the space next to him. 

“Boone, anyone ever tell you you need to shower more?” You mutter as Tyler meets Javi and Kate halfway, probably to bid them goodnight. 

“I’ll take the shot if you do.” He whispers back. You glance at him as Javi and Kate return to their original seats across the campfire. Javi’s got a strange look on his face at the sight of you and Boone and Kate’s eyes are watery as Dexter hands her a few Oreos. 

“You first.” You mutter. 

Boone gives you a wolfish grin before sliding a marshmallow into his mouth. “I’ll think about it.”  

-

“Guys, look.” Dani calls, and you and Tyler turn, seeing her hold a small puppy. 

You coo, walking over to her as she holds the dog out to you. 

“Where’d you find this little cutie?” You say, holding the little baby up, scratching underneath his chin. 

“Heard him whining under a bunch of wreckage a few blocks over. One of the firefighters helped me pull him out. EMTs said the elderly couple who lived there didn’t make it. Probably couldn’t get to safety fast enough.” 

You feel Tyler’s body deflate next to you as he kicks at a piece of wood at the ground. 

“Ty?” You ask softly as the puppy nuzzles into your collarbone. You can’t read his face but it doesn’t seem like Dani can either as he scrubs at his forehead with his wrist. 

“Could we keep him?” You ask softly. “You heard Dani.”

“We’ll find a shelter for him.”

Dani shakes her head. “Shelter here got destroyed; there’d be nowhere for him to go.” 

You turn a pleading look onto Tyler, who has a storm brewing behind his eyes. 

“We can’t have a dog on the road you guys. A dog, chasing after tornadoes? Really? Let’s use our brains here. Besides, I think Boone’s allergic.” Tyler snaps, hands falling to his hips. 

Your pout grows as you hold the puppy up to your face. “But Tyler, little Enid wants to come with us. Don’t you Enid?”

“Enid?” Tyler asks with a raised eyebrow. 

“Well, we found him in Enid so we should name him Enid.”

“First of all, that dog is not an Enid.” Dani chokes down a laugh at Tyler’s snark as he shoots her a look. “And we are not adopting a dog.” 

“I think we should do a group vote.” You say, turning on your heel in search of the team. 

“You can’t override me!” Tyler calls after you.

“Watch me!”

You find Lilly and Dexter first, handing food out. “Group poll - should we keep this little puppy? His owners passed away. Dani and I vote for yes. Tyler votes no.” You can hear Tyler walking behind you so you drop your voice to an over-exaggerated whisper. “For the record, Tyler’s vote is wrong. Vote yes.”

“This is not a democracy!” Tyler shouts. 

“Man, just let the girl have her fucking dog!” Lilly shouts back. 

“What dog?” Kate says, appearing from the back of the van. Her face softens. “This is such a cute little puppy.” She coos, bending down to scratch at his ears. 

“I think we should keep him and name him Enid. Tyler disagrees.” You explain as Kate fawns over the puppy. 

“He seems like such a sweet little guy, and you’d have so much fun on the road with us, wouldn’t you little Enid?” She coos, taking the dog from you. 

“So that’s an enthusiastic yes from Ms. Kate Cooper.” You say, hands falling to your hips.

“Once again, this is not a democracy.” Tyler says sharply. 

“It’s an Owens-acracy.” Javi calls from down the street. “Meaning Tyler does whatever the hell he wants.” 

“Javi - Yes or no on keeping the puppy?” You shout back. 

“Aw hell yeah! Our little storm chasing dog! Our little data dog!” 

“We are not keeping the dog.” Tyler says firmly, impatience growing. 

“Is Boone allergic?” You ask Lilly, who snorts and nods. 

“Yeah but that man would die so happy covered in dogs. He loves ‘em. Had bloodhounds growing up.” 

“A dog can’t stay in most motels.” Tyler reminds the group. 

“As if he couldn’t be snuck in.” You counter. “Besides, you’re telling me that after a long day of storm chasing, you wouldn’t want to cuddle up with this little puppy here?” 

The look Tyler gives you is answer enough. 

“Somebody go find Boone and ask him if he wants to keep this dog.” 

“Aw hell yeah, we’re getting a dog?” Boone crows, walking up behind you. 

“Boone, you’re allergic.” Tyler deadpans.

“Man, I grew up hunting with bloodhounds, I’ve got like a natural resistance by this point!” 

Kate holds up the dog, smile wide. “Boone, this is little Enid.” 

Tyler sighs, turning on his heel. “We are not taking that dog and we are certainly not naming him Enid!”

“Famous last words.” Lilly mutters.

Tyler flips you all off as you break into laughter. 

-

“Man would you stop pouting, you’re ruining my vibe!” Javi exclaims, which only causes you to sink further down in your chair. 

“This is fucking stupid.” You mutter, kicking at the dirt as you do. 

“I’m not happy about this either.” Tyler says from across the fire pit, begrudgingly looking down at the dog on his chest. 

“I’m the whole reason Enid came with us and who does he want to spend time with? Oh, Tyler of course!  Smoke practically came out of his ears when he saw Enid in the truck! But nooooo, that’s who the dog wants to be with!” 

Boone’s chair creaks as he leans over. “You kinda sound a little crazy, talking to yourself like that.” 

You shoot him a glare that has him withering back in his chair. 

“I’d want a cat, I think.” Kate says thoughtfully from her seat next to you. 

“I hate cats.” You mutter, crossing your arms. “I want a dog.” 

Javi lets out a long sigh from next to you. “This is gonna get real old.”

-

You’ve been with the team for four and a half months when it happens. 

You’re in some small town, just past the border of Oklahoma into Kansas, when the second storm cell you had all been tracking touches down. 

“Hey guys.” You call, panic starting to creep into your voice. “That saying with lightning, how it never strikes the same place twice? Does that apply to tornadoes too?” 

Moments after you finish your sentence, the winds kicks up, the sirens blaring. 

It’s almost like you’re rooted to the spot, staring at the beast coming towards you as Lilly shouts from down the street to follow her to the shelter. 

“California!” Tyler shouts. “What are you doing?!” 

You sweep your gaze to him, spotting the truck as you. The unmoored truck. 

He catches what you’re looking at and he shakes his head. “Don’t worry about it, come on!” 

“I got it, I’m right behind you!” You shout, already darting towards the truck. 

You think Tyler curses but then he’s off down the street after the group. “Damn it, Boone.” You mutter, brushing the cookie crumbs off the console that are preventing you from getting to the switch. “The snacks have got to stop.”

Once the button has been pressed and you can hear the gears start, you throw the truck door open, sliding down to follow  Tyler. 

Except one minute you’re standing and the next, you’re on the ground, groaning. 

You blink your eyes open to see debris scattering down the street and realize it must’ve taken your feet out from under you. You push yourself up and realize you don’t know where Tyler went. Your head hurts from its collision with the ground and through the pain, you can feel yourself start to panic. You roll over catching sight of the truck locked into the ground. 

The truck. 

The truck probably wouldn’t fly. The truck had harnesses. The truck had protected Kate once. 

You crawl to the truck in hopes to avoid catching any wind, pulling yourself up and slamming the door as quickly as you can. You tug the harness on, debris hitting the car as the wind speeds pick up.

From the bed of the truck, you can hear Enid let out a bark, climbing over the arm console to curl up in your lap. He lets out a whimper, nuzzling closer to your stomach. 

“It’ll be okay, Enid.” You whisper, letting your eyes shut as your hands curl in the dog’s shaggy fur. You guys really needed to take him to a groomer. “We’ll be okay.”

-

She watches her friends filter into the shelter, panic clawing at her as everyone from the town passed through the doors with no sight of you. 

Javi’s pushes his way through the doors and he collides with her, her fingers clutching in his jacket. “Javi!” 

“She isn’t with me Kate.” He breathes out, backing her up from the doors. 

Her breaths coming in stuttering gasps as she clings to him. “Can’t be.” 

“Kate, she’s probably with T, they were together. They’re coming, don’t worry.” Boone tries to soothe and Javi confirms his words, rubbing his hands up and down her shoulders. 

Until Tyler appears through the doors, the last of the crowd. 

“Where is she?!” She’s frantic now, a sob growing as she sees Tyler round the corner. “Tyler, where is she, I thought she was with you!”

Tyler glances over his shoulder, where they’re shutting the doors. “She- She was just supposed to nail the truck down.” 

Kate’s moving towards the doors before she realizes it but she doesn’t get very far before someone’s arms are pulling on her jacket. 

“Kate!” Javi shouts. “Kate, we can’t help her now!” She looks at him, feeling her eyes sting as she looks at his defeated face.

“It’s just like last time.” She chokes out into a whisper. 

“I know.” He says softly. “I know, but there’s nothing you can do for her right now. We just need to wait.” 

The mere minutes it takes for the storm to pass drag on, the tears unabashedly slipping down her face. 

How could this happen again? 

It’s maybe only 15 minutes later she’s standing outside in the clearing Oklahoma sky but it’s felt like a lifetime has passed and when the street is empty, save for their truck at the very far end of the street, it feels like it’ll all drag on for a lifetime more. 

Her team is beside her but all she can do is wipe at her face, unable to stop the salty tears against her tongue. 

“Kate…” Tyler says gently and she whips around, near snarling at him. 

“This is your fault! You should’ve taken care of the truck, it never should’ve been her! She should’ve come with us, you never should’ve let her out of your sight!” 

Tyler swallows, eyes growing glassy. “You don’t mean that.” He chokes out. 

She doesn’t and she knows she doesn’t. 

But this loss stings. 

Lilly reaches out a cautious hand, and when Kate doesn’t push her away, Lilly pulls her into a hug. Dani joins, Boone not far behind. She thinks she can even feel Dexter join at the edge as the tears slips down her cheeks. She clings to Lilly, the girl running a hand up and down her back. 

And then Javi shouts out. 

-

You finally breathe, blinking your eyes open as you do. 

You wince, your head throbbing as you begin to take the harness off and-

You pull on the door handle, tripping out of the truck as you start throwing up onto the gravel road. 

Tears sting at your eyes, the small rocks digging into your palms as you empty your breakfast onto the ground. 

“Yo!” Someone shouts from a ways away, but all you can focus on is the throbbing in your temple. 

A hand is on your shoulder, gently pulling you up. You blink, wincing as Javi comes into focus. 

“Javi?” You breathe out, leaning into him as the sound of footsteps running towards you gets closer. “Think I- head. My head hurts. Concussion.” 

Javi doesn’t respond as another body collides with you. It feels like the wind has been knocked out of your lungs as the person trembles against you. “Thought you were gone. Thought I lost you.” Kate whispers. 

“Kate, you’re gonna get vomit all over you.” 

“Don’t care.” She whispers, still holding you. “I know you probably have a concussion, I’ll take you to the EMT’s please just- just let me hold you for a little longer.” 

You nod. Despite how tight she’s holding you and the throbbing behind your eyes, it feels like you can finally catch your breath as she does. 

“How’d you even think to hide out in there?” Lilly asks and you blink your eyes open, seeing the team standing before you. You don’t let Kate go.

“I truly was right behind you T.” You say, locking eyes with Tyler. He looks devastated, the relief of seeing you unable to loosen the tension in his shoulders. “But one minute I was standing and the next I was on the ground and you were gone. I think some debris knocked my feet out from under me and I sort of panicked. I remembered how it had kept Kate safe and it was the only place I could think of in time.” 

“You gave us all quite the scare.” Dexter says. “Glad to see you safe.” 

“Me too.” You whisper, squeezing Kate. 

“Holy shit Enid! You been in there the whole time?” Boone shouts after a minute.

“My brain hurts. Paramedics now?” You ask. “Please?” 

Kate nods, stepping back. “Yeah. Right now.” 

-

“Stop looking at me like that.” 

Tyler scoffs. “You can’t even see me.” 

You’re laying on the RV bed, eyes closed. The lights are dim, the quiet conversation from outside barely audible. 

Tyler had shooed Kate out to get dinner and told her she actually had to sit outside and eat it or he’d remove her concussion watch entirely. 

“Yeah but I can feel it.” You reach a foot out, knocking Tyler’s knee. “T.” 

He takes your foot, but must think better of whatever jerk move he’s going to pull because he lets your feet fall on his thigh softly, hand resting over them. His thumb finds your ankle bones and he rubs over it softly. 

“That feel okay?” He asks quietly and you nod. The show of intimacy, however platonic, is nice as you sit there. 

“I’m real sorry for putting you in harm’s way kid.” 

You let out a breath through your nose, resisting the urge to open your eyes. You know Tyler will just get mad if you do. 

“You didn’t. It was an accident.” 

“Kate blames me. Hell, I blame myself. It would be okay if you blamed me too.” 

“Tyler.” You say firmly. “It was an accident. You never meant any harm to come to me. I am fine, nothing more than a wittle baby concussion. The paramedics checked me out and Dani’s been keeping an eye on me the whole drive. I am fine.”

“You’re not fine!” Tyler snaps and you wince at the loudness in his voice. “Sorry, sorry. I just- You have a concussion, not to mention the bruises and cuts you’ve saddled yourself with. That’s not fine in my book.” 

“Tyler, I got hit by a car in college. What’s a little debris?” 

A smile tugs at your lips as you remember the way Dani and Javi’s eyes had gone wide as they’d sat with you as the EMTs check out you when you’d told the paramedics that story. 

They’d told you it was incredible that this was the situation you’d ended up with a low grade concussion and the other only a sprained wrist. 

“A tornado and a car are hardly the same.” 

“Technically, the tornado never hit me. Just debris.” 

“Semantics.” 

“The semantics are keeping Kate’s sanity in tact so please don’t make the difference in front of her.” You say quietly and Tyler sighs again. 

“She really cares about you, you know?” 

“Thought you weren’t getting involved?” 

“I’m not.” 

“Then stop talking.” 

Tyler pushes your feet away, scooting closer to you. “Your loss would’ve devastated her.” He says softly. 

“So I’ll be more careful next time.” 

He sighs. “You’re not listening to what I’m saying.” 

You crack an eye open. “Tyler, my brain hurts too much for this conversation. Can you please get to the point?” 

Tyler’s point never gets made as the RV door opens, Javi telling him that Dani had pulled him off concussion watch too. 

You suspected Javi just wanted to be around you but you’d take his presence over Tyler’s interrogation. Javi sits next to you on the bed as you close your eyes again. 

“Can I get you anything?” 

“No, though I wish I could call my freshman year room mate and annoy her like she did me.” 

Javi chuckles. “How do you mean?”

“She got a concussion in a skiing accident and made me talk to her for hours because she was bored and couldn’t do anything. I need payback.” 

-

Kate wrings her hands, eyes flickering around the room nervously. 

“Kate?” You say cautiously. “Are you okay?” 

“I just- I mean, are you sure you’re gonna be okay here? By yourself, you know, I could stay with you?” Her eyes roam over your body. “No, I think I should stay. I’m going to- I’ll go tell Tyler right now. I-“

You grab Kate’s wrist, cutting her off. “Kate.” You say softly. “It’s fine. It’s a baby concussion. I’m going to sit here for a few days and force Enid to snuggle me. It’ll be fine.” 

She sighs. “I don’t know, I still think I should stay.” 

“Kate, you are no use to anyone here. Anything I need, your Mom can get for me. I’ll be fine.” 

Your heart clenches at the concern swimming in your friend’s eyes and it’s going to take every minute of each one of those day to remind yourself that that concerns is only because of the losses in Kate’s past. 

She’s lost three friends before, she doesn’t want to lose a fourth.

She sighs, taking a step back. “You’re right. But- you call me if anything changes, okay?” You nod and so she takes another step back. 

You can hear Tyler shout up the stairs for the third time in fifteen minutes. “Tyler’s gonna get mad, you should just go.” You say, already taking a step back towards her bed though your eyes never leave hers. 

“Yeah, I should-“ With one last look, she slips back out the bedroom door. You sigh, pressing your hands to your eyes, willing yourself to get it together. 

“It doesn’t mean anything.” You mutter to yourself. The door creaks open and you glance up, seeing Kate stride through the door. “Kate?” 

Kate crosses the room in three steps, pulling you into a kiss. Before you can even process what she’s doing, she’s pulled back. 

Her hands fly to her mouth, a shocked expression on her face. “I can’t believe I just did that! Oh, I’m so sorry- Mmph.” 

You cut her off, crowding her space before pulling her lips back to yours.

Your hands slide down to her hips as she cradles your head in your hands. Only does she break away when Tyler shouts up the stairs, heavy footsteps on the wood. 

“I really should go this time.” She breathes. 

“You’ll come back right?” You ask, nudging your nose with hers. “I want to talk about this, I want to make this work with you.” 

She nods. “I’ll always come back for you.”

iii.

[fabricated-misslieness]

ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢ: tyler owens x cowboy male reader

ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ: there's a new cowboy at the rodeo tyler used to ride for, and tyler's itching to get to know him.

ᴡᴏʀᴅ ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛ: 4.06k

ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢꜱ: plenty swearing, implied death in an acted play

ᴍᴀʏʙ'ꜱ ɴᴏᴛᴇ: cowboy slang vocabulary

☾⋆☆⋆☽

Rodeos are basically a second home for the famous Tornado Wrangler, Tyler Owens. This particular one he visits as often as he can, on weekend evenings to watch the show he used to ride for.

Sometimes, he misses it. He misses the blinding lights that make him forget he's in a glorified pit rather than a stage, and the whistling cheers and claps as he's fighting for his life on the back of a bull; most of all, he misses seeing his cowboy friends damn near every day for practice, especially the old rats that twister-signals him every time they spot each other.

Speaking of, he always tries to waive the fee for his ticket, and when he's too stubborn to accept, they bump down the $15 dollar price to a $3. Not that he ever agrees to that, either. He wants to support them.

All that history means he can always tell when they hire a new cowboy for the show, and this one, well, whew. Isn't he a looker?

Probably, anyway. The cowboy poncho's doing nothin' for his figure, and he's got his scarf up over his nose like the less pleasurable corona's still going around, but he's always had a little thing for cowboys with rat tails and hats over their eyes. Silly little things they are to want to act a mystery–fellers'll often get exposed one way or another–but there's just something about you that lassoes him in.

When Liam sees him walking over after the show, a purposeful look in his eye, he has to ask if he's coming back. "You finally quittin' your storm chaser business, cowpoke? We're startin' to miss ya."

"No, not today. Maybe when I'm forty." Tyler indulges him with a far off idea, like he always does to make small talk, but today he just can't wait to get to the point. "Who's the tenderfoot?"

"Oh, (Y/N)?" Liam chuckles, like a pleasant memory already brightens his mind just from the name. "He's good, ain't he?"

"Yeah, y'all train 'em for three months beforehand." Tyler brushes it off. He was good, but that wasn't the point, and–

"He's a total Bronc Buster, actually."

"Yeah, yeah," He dismisses it once more. "why the scarf? And the hat over his eyes?"

"We're starting a new thing next week." Liam strikes him with that famous excited grin of his, the one that often makes you forget how stern he can get, "Theatre plays on horseback."

"Plays on horseback–?"

"Yeah!" He replies with a nod like it's nothing. "Well, it's just regular plays without a stage, proper backdrops or a light crew," He lists off, then realizes just how depressive that must sound, "and real horses."

"Yeah, that's great, Liam, but why does that matter, exactly?" Tyler still had that one objective in mind, and that's finding out the mystery behind the newest cowboy on horseback.

"He's playin' the villain, of course. Gotta tease the man before we premier the show, builds up the anticipation, obviously."

"Right, right..." Though he trails off, he tries to act as though he knew the obvious marketing strategy, because obviously you put a man in a poncho and obstruct his vision so he looks like a good villain—that aside, he can't deny it worked.

"Look, dabster," Liam's the one waving him off this time, "he'll do fine, we'll do fine! We've rehearsed a lot, and we're sure it's a good idea."

"Uh-huh?"

"Just make sure to come on Friday rather than the weekend." Liam digs his finger into Tyler's chest, looking him in the eye so the man knows he's serious. "I mean it. We're only airing this thing on Fridays, it's long as all hell, Ty."

"How long?" Tyler deadpans.

"Pfft." Liam waves it off, "Long. Like Broadway up north. Lotta acting, intermission to push our food sales, then more acting. Climax, boom, tears and victory."

"Y'know the famous ones like Hamilton run for under three hours, right?" Tyler raises a brow. "Like a movie?"

"Like they say, you can't rush art, Tyler." Liam pats Tyler's shoulder twice reassuringly before he's pushing past and calling out his goodbyes with a yell. He had to leave with a one-liner, huh?

The buckaroo's just yammering, Tyler thinks to himself as he watches his old friend walk off. He only notices that he didn't get to ask for the new guy's number when his faraway figure gets to the size of a bean.

☾⋆☆⋆☽

"Flee, Danika, flee!" You shout to your horse as you barrel dive into cover. She does as promised, fleeing just far enough away that she'll hear your whistle once you've dealt with these bad, bad men.

With your back pressed against a rock and bullets just wooshin' past, you let the empty shells fall from your chamber to the ground and replace them. One by one, pressure's on, your fingers twitch, but they don't hesitate.

You'll get out of here alive, you always do.

You heave a breath, then another, a steady stream of inhales n' exhales, you're calming your heartbeat and will shoot with its rhythm.

Three, two...

Leaning over the edge of the rock, you aim.

Three, two, one.

Three men gone, off their horses and thudding against the harsh, hard ground, but there's more, ridin' in from the east and already prepping their aim. You scramble to get off your ass and into proper cover, the hay shed will do.

There's sweat over your face, it's making your scarf stick. You can't think about taking it off now, lest any of those boys make it out alive and see your face.

As the beat of the hooves comes to a stop, you peak 'round the open side of the shed and shoot.

Three, two, click, click, click.

Gods be damned, you've run out of bullets. You rush to flick open the chamber and empty the shells to replace them; the process is as natural as breathing to you, but not quite as fast.

A man rounds the corner, and you instinctively whip your revolver at his head to result in a crack that sounds all too real.

As the man thuds behind you, you peek around the corner with fresh bullets.

"We'll get you, you sonuvah gun!" The last of the reinforces is a coward, or a scout, as he's now ridin' away on his horse, but he's too gracious a host to consider leaving you without a parting gift.

The bullet that was meant for his head gets the dynamite that's gliding its way towards you, catching it mid air and detonating it early, before it gets you.

The force of the faroff explosion nearly knocks your hat off your head and your ass to the ground, if you hadn't already been there.

"Lord almighty..." You let your revolver fall to the ground harmlessly–which bounces off a little more than it's really meant to–and sigh.

The hat comes off, then the scarf, and you breathe, breathe, breathe.

You're alive, and you've got more enemies. Oh, who cares? What's a few more names to the list?

☾⋆☆⋆☽

As the crowd finally sees the villain's face for the first time, people whistle and ooh at the him.

Tyler's gut feeling was right: he is a looker.

That aside, the storm chaser had to admit, old Liam was onto something, even with the noticeably fake props. The only thing he's wondering is why it's been one hour and the regular rodeo show is resuming as usual. It's not intermission, cause they're not pushing food marketing as Liam said they would.

He doesn't have to ponder very long as he meets up with his old friend again.

"I took your advice to heart, actually. I knew the ol' star would be exhausted after all of it, so I thought we'd split it over a month, and play the same section all weekend. More ticket sales."

Tyler raised a brow at the mention of the protagonist, "Ol' star? He had one scene."

"Not him," Liam says it like he should know, like they're both back in front of the drawing board again, "(Y/N)."

"The villain's the star?" Tyler deadpans.

Liam chuckles in turn, "Didn't you hear the crowd when we finally revealed his face?"

"Oh." Tyler shakes his head, "Well, ain't he dyin' later? Stars don't die."

"Ehhh..." Liam waves his hand and shakes his head side to side in a kind of gesture. "It's implied."

"It's implied?"

"Endings are best left up to interpretation!" The man flourishes with a grand gesture, heaving more energy around than Tyler's used to seeing from him. This thing must really be a passion project. "Don't ruin it, for me, son."

Tyler raises both his hands in surrender at that. "You won't see nothin' from me, old man."

Tyler lets him walk off this time, he deserves that much; only then does he realize that he hasn't got the new guy's number. Again.

☾⋆☆⋆☽

"Negotiations? I don't do negotiations." You're huddled behind cover, hidden from view as you talk with the alleged big huncho of the mining camp. He brought reinforcement, nothing you can't handle, but it could still spell trouble.

"I like to look at a man when I'm talkin' to him."

You scoff. "Like hell I'll peek. You'll blow my head clean off if I try."

"I'm a man of my word." He insists, his deep jazzy voice just screaming a man of wealth and contracts.

"And so am I, but you wouldn't trust that." Idly, you check the chamber of your revolver, having learned from your mistakes. Six bullets, not shells, ready to be fired.

"Touché, good sir."

"Good sir?"

"As I understand it," The man says, his voice is strong to reach your ears but it ain't threatening, "you just want a cut of my money."

"And if I do?" You click the chamber back in place, listening for out of place sounds like footsteps.

"I'm willing to pay." Oh, that haughty bastard really thinks he's gonna get you with that?

"Like hell you are." You laugh, a loud thing so you make sure he hears that you're not gullible.

As the big man begins to speak again, surely more lies that are meant to coerce you into taking the bait, you throw a stray wood chip up into the air.

Bang!

The split second after it sees the light of day, the wood chip is shot to splinters, right as you'd expected.

"I think negotiations are over, sir..?"

"Cornwall." The man sighs out his name. "Good day to you, sir."

"Good day, sir Cornwall."

☾⋆☆⋆☽

As he often finds himself doing nowadays, Tyler goes around searching for Liam to talk about a particular someone. Little does he know that where he usually finds his old friend, he'll finds someone else.

"Excuse me," He begins politely, not recognizing the man from behind. "have you seen Liam?"

When you turn around to reply instead of another cowboy he might know, his little stunned gaze makes your words take on a confused tone. "He's playing his part in the pit..?"

"Oh." Tyler has barely any time to register that Liam's actually taking part in the acting biz before he's scrambling to greet you properly. "You're (Y/N), right? The new guy?"

"That's me." You nod your head and take a sip from your bottle. In a couple minutes you'll be back in the show again, so you're making the most of your small break. "And you?"

"Um, Tyler. Tyler Owens. Does Liam not talk about me?"

As the star of the million-follower YouTube channel Tornado Wranglers, Tyler thinks he's kind of a big deal around Oklahoma, especially around here as he used to ride for the local rodeo. He's usually not an arrogant guy, unless he decides to play it up for the competition, but...he finds that his ego is a little bruised now.

"I'm just playin' with you, poppet. Liam never stops singing his praises 'bout you." You offer your hand for a shake, a well placed gesture if you hadn't just called him poppet.

Tyler flushes a little, because, well, poppet's quite an endearing term and you're hot and there's something about men that are sweaty and out of breath. He manages to shake your hand without making a fool of himself anyway. "What does Liam say about me?"

"He said that you've taken a million kicks from bulls and you still managed to go an get yourself a fancy degree, that you're tough as nails and can always tell when he slips you belly wash." You list off a couple of less than good things about him in detail so excrutiating that Tyler knows Liam's said them time and time again. "Oh, and that you always rode pretty well."

Tyler comes out of it a little embarrassed, and his voice therefore comes out meek, like he hasn't spoken for a while. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." You laugh and pat his shoulder. "You know how Liam is, he'll point out how you're a hill of beans and then praise ya."

His shoulders deflate with relief and he laughs along with you. "Yeah, I know 'im."

"Truth be told, it's kinda nice to hear about the real man as opposed to the Tornado Cowboy persona." You say it kind of sheepishly, which is rather nice to see when he's only ever had a cocky you to compare to.

Plus, you'd just admitted that you watch his videos, making his grin widen. "You a fan?"

"Don't get too full o' yourself, cowboy." You point a finger at him, huffing a laugh. "I see you in the stands every week."

He could just say it's because this play is an ongoing thing with a new sorta 'episode' each week, which is the truth, or he could flirt along. "You caught me," He hisses like it's a big deal and it's embarrassing to be caught. "I am your biggest fan."

"You like anti-heroes, do ya?" You chuckle, narrowing your eyes at him.

"I'm as gullible as everyone else, darlin'. I'll like any villain so long as they're hot n' ride good." He sends a wink over, because there ain't no subtlety when there's a crowd just a ways away you've gotta shout over.

You wolf-whistle in turn, "Is that so, poppet?"

"I'm being simon-pure." He insists, tipping his hat for extra measure.

This is going well for Tyler, you're responsive to his flirting and you can match it too. Unfortunately, good things always have to come to an end.

"Listen, Tyler," You indulge him with a laugh but unfortunately point towards the stage. "I don't wanna miss my cue, so I've got to...well, you know. What I'm saying is..."

"Wanna grab a root later?" Tyler takes the opportunity to ask first, eagerly at that.

"Yeah," You smile, grateful that he took the opportunity. "yeah, uh, want my number?"

It's the fourth week in a row Tyler watches another figure walk off on a Friday evening, but this time he's got his prize secured, and he's left more hopeful than regretful.

☾⋆☆⋆☽

These stubborn miners are just setting up more and more defenses, to the point where you're pondering what marks the difference between a mining camp and a Pinkerton camp. Is it gun count or armed miner count?

You settle into prone on a ridge overlooking the camp to make your figure less noticeable amidst the bright sky–earning you a couple strange bird caws from onlooking eagles–and scout out with your binoculars.

"Tall fences," You begin to mutter under your breath. "sniper outposts on the roof, a guard at the wagon rail, no, two; several on each little path in and out."

And...is that a Gatling gun? "Ugh, seriously?"

"What is it, my darling?" Your sweetheart calls from behind you. Before you can answer, she's rolling you over onto your back and settling half on your lap. The geese in V-formation above caw louder.

"Nothing to worry your pretty little head about." You assure, a nice smile on your face as you steady the gal.

You couldn't worry her, no, you're doing this all for her, after all. It's not her fault her daddy got their family into a deep, six foot grave kind of debt before the man got himself killed in a fishing trip gone wrong, after all.

"There is always somethin' to worry over." She giggles, hands trailing over your chest, pulling your attention away for the moment.

"I know, poppet, but–"

"You're worryin' right now." She points out, drawing circles over your heart with her pointer.

You sigh, "I know."

"Let me take your handsome lil' mind off it, can I?"

She's already leaning down before you can even say no.

☾⋆☆⋆☽

As soon as you start kissing up that pretty girl in that pit you take for a stage, Tyler looks down at his phone. He taps the screen impatiently, almost as if you'll answer him right now while you're up there, all busy.

Hey, it's Tyler. It was nice meeting you.

How does six at the Hay Shed sound?

"He ghosted me." Tyler groans. It's covered up by the sound of the ooh-ing crowd, but he doesn't much care if it's heard or not. "Seriously, I find a man as fine as cream gravy, and he ghosts me?"

It was too good to be true. You're hot, you called him poppet, and you were receptive to his flirting; too good to be true.

...

"Liam, hey! Can I borrow a horse?"

Nothing's better for clearing the mind than a good horse ride right before sunset, it's like long walks at the beach. Tyler often found that it was also great for dealing with break ups or, in this situation, not even making it to the talking stage.

He doesn't check his phone, doesn't even realize it's vibrating in place with it in the saddle bag. Instead, his eyes are straight ahead.

He's riding towards the sunset like it's the end of a movie, and what a poor, short movie it is.

It's fine. It's fine, it really is. It's not like he was already mashed, anyway, no sir! He's just disappointed. It's a big cavernous feeling in his chest like it's empty, when it's really filled with something none too good.

"Ah," Tyler sighs out, hopefully exhaling all them feelings. He pats the horse, watches its ears twitch as he talks. "You understand me, big guy?"

He's too caught up in feeling sorry for himself to hear someone else riding up beside him.

"Perfect spot for a first date, huh?"

"Holy shit, what the fuck?" Tyler damn near falls off his horse. He has to hold onto the reigns with white knuckles in order not to.

"You done airin' your lungs, poppet?" You only grin in return, pointing out your shirt pocket, at your phone. "I shot you a text."

Tyler huddles closer to his horse's neck. Though he's still heaving recovering breaths, he finds the sass to say, "About a week late."

"Yeah, 'm sorry about that." You rub the back of your neck, your smile melting with shame. "I'm kind of a busy man."

"Oh, yeah?" He shoots back with furrowed brows and a scowl.

"Yeah, I totally deserve that." You bow your head a little, "It's just, I work the show all weekend, and I was so exhausted comin' back in on Tuesday that it totally slipped my mind."

Oh.

"Let me make it up to you?" You ask hopefully, looking at him with those sheep's eyes, and it makes him feel a little guilty.

"I'm sorry." Tyler says quickly, straightening up and all and mirroring your apologetic look.

"No, no, it's totally fine!"

"I mean, I totally didn't realize–"

So there you both are, spewing excuses to be sorry for each other, guilt eating away at you like worms do a book. There seems to be no end to it. Your pseudo-argument stretches as far as the horizon, up until the sun sets below it.

"Seriously, let me make it up to you." Before he can even reply, you continue. "You said the Hay Shed, yeah? I'll buy our dinner, no big deal."

"I–" Tyler starts up, but you shoot him a pointed look, quieting him down. "Okay."

"Okay, good." That nice, charming smile of yours builds up again, and he almost swoons.

"Race you?" He smiles back, tipping his head forward.

You're already shifting into proper form. "Oh, you're on, cowboy."

☾⋆☆⋆☽

You're sitting in your porch in that old rocking chair of yours, your white hair sweeping off your forehead as an easy breeze blows past. Your fingers tap to the rhythm of your boy playing the guitar and his mother singing along. Ranch life has treated both you and Danika well. The old girl gets to snack on sugar cubes every day while you got to lock your revolvers away and sip on fine liquor every night after dinner.

It's been a good life, you think as you watch the sun set. Your sins are long behind you.

...this isn't how you planned to die.

No, not in this damn cave away from your girl, slowly choking on fumes, trapped in by a cave in.

Somewhere, distantly, you can hear that good for nothing hero laughing like old Saint Nick himself, shouting to the world his victory.

It's not even his, you think stubbornly, because you won't give him the victory of thinking your death is his to brag about, it's this damned fire and these damned rocks.

You were so, so close. You've killed dozens of men just to get in this gods-damned gold mine and steal a couple nuggets for your girl, and you almost made it out.

This is how you'll die, all alone here choked by a fire.

Oh hells. If you're going to die you might as well die by the hands of a man who's actually worthy of the kill.

Shakily, you lift your hand.

This world was shit. Hope the next is greener.

☾⋆☆⋆☽

"Ah, oh god, fuck off!" Tyler shouts, and despite all that fight to shove your lips off his chin and his face, he's laughing.

"What, am I not pretty enough for ya, darlin'?" You pull him closer with warm–noticeably not scalding–hands at his waist, puckering your lips playfully at him.

There's black makeup, soot, over your face: on your cheeks, 'round your eyes, on your forehead, everywhere.

"Go boil your shirt!" With one shove, he pushes you so hard you fall into your vanity chair. The flimsy old thing rocks from side to side before settling back down with your weight on it.

You roll your eyes, picking up a makeup wipe once stabilized to begin cleaning yourself off. "If you didn't like me, you just had to say so."

"Don't be like that." Before you can answer, he's turning your chair and sitting on your lap, though when you try to kiss him, he pushes you away again. "You're not done yet, cowpoke."

You huff and whine, and you'd kick your feet if you could, like it's the worst shame in the world.

"Don't pitch a fit at me." He points a finger at you and you laugh in turn.

"No, of course not, darling."

Tyler waits patiently as you wipe the makeup off, realizing as he does that he's been through worse shit: the biggest tornadoes, the harshest thunder storms, and the stickiest mud. Although to be fair, he hasn't had mud that transfers as easily as this cheap makeup does on his face before.

"That good enough?" He shakes his head, prompting you to huff and wipe your face again. "Now?"

It's still not good enough for him. Fortunately, he snatches up the wipe and passes it over your face himself. It feels as rough as a cat's tongue or your dad hosing you down after you tracked mud around the house, and you're fixing to speak your mind about it.

"There you are." Tyler's face emerges from behind the wipe, a wide, teasing smile on his face that tells you he was wiping you off longer than he needed to. "Apple-pie order."

His lips are on yours right after that, drowning you with a toad strangler of love. Your complaints die out right on your tongue, because how could you ever be mad at him?

Answer is: you can't.

☾⋆☆⋆☽

ɴᴏᴛᴇ: i watched this movie in spanish so i don't know what tyler's cowboy nickname is in english and i've also forgotten some details in the movie (ex: if it was mentioned that scott and javi are ex-boyfriends, i literally did not notice until i read the wiki)

[seaslugfanclub]

Hello!! I love your Disney holo!villains, your writing style is just absolutely lovely!

Could I please request the reader fixing a meet-n-greet gone wrong with some of the less popular villains of your choice?? Can't imagine they take very well to being disregarded or unacknowledged...

No pressure and have a lovely day! 😁

It makes my day when one of my favorite Disney villain blogs asks for a request 😭 I hope I delivered!

Meet-N-Greet gone wrong

————————————————————————

It’s Meet-n-greet day at Disney! A perfect day for the resident narcissists to get their daily praise in!

(Y/N), who was assigned to supervise the event wasn’t concerned about the panel. Usually all the Villains acted on their best behavior, happy to receive any compliments from annoying millennials in $50 mouse ears.

This Meet-n-greet was a special event, where all villains including lesser known members where present. And even though they were to prideful to admit it, villains like Alameda, Medusa, Rourke, and Sykes where looking forwards to the event.

Before the panel, (Y/N) walked by their dressing rooms and noticed the extra care they took into getting ready.

Alameda pulling on a new pair of suede chaps, Medusa perming her hair as she did her nails, Rourke spritzed some of his favorite cologne, and Sykes made sure to choose some of his finest cufflinks. All minor details, but (Y/N) could tell how excited they where to receive some attention.

Unfortunately the meet-n-greet went like any other, with guests only being interested in the big bads. Cooing over their favorites, asking for autographs and photos. The whole works. All the while the other villains where cast to the sidelines, getting increasingly frustrated as the event went on.

(Y/N), taking notice of this, tried to bring a group of park goers over to the others, both as a way to keep the mainline villains from getting overwhelmed and to get some attention on the lesser known characters.

Unfortunately the guests where not interested..

“And this here is Alameda Slim! A master cow wrangler and genius yodeler from the 2004 film ‘Home on the Range’! He also tried to burn down a local Texas road house!” (Y/N) motioned up at the cowboy, who tilted his hat in pride.

“…what? Yodeling? That’s one of the worst sounds known to man, can we go back to the others, I wanna meet Jafar!” Some person in the group spoke up, with the others murmuring in agreement.

“Wuh- worst sounds!? I’LL SHOW YA WORST SOUNDS YOU LITTLE-”

The meet-n-greet dissolved into chaos as Alameda tried to lunge at the rude guest, who by some miracle didn’t get choked out as (Y/N) held him back with the combined effort of Rourke and Sykes.

Needless to say the panel ended early, with the excuse of the heat getting to the villains. Villains like Cruella and Gaston where pissed the praise ended so soon, while others like Hook and Hades were glad finally to be left alone.

Later that night, Alameda was brought out of his brooding when a quick knock came from his door, which revealed a smiling (Y/N).

(Y/N) dragged him downstairs into the employee break room, where he was met with his fellow villains, all sharing the same confused expression.

“Listen, I know that today was a shit show. And I’m sorry that it seems like no one acknowledges you. But I wanted to show you all something…”

(Y/N) proceeded to pull out their laptop from their work bag, opening it up as they motioned the villains to gather round.

“I wanted to show you all that there are people who love you guys, they’re entire blogs dedicated to you all from people across the world. I’m actually apart of some.”

Alameda and the others where shocked as (Y/N) shared with them all the fanart, ramblings, and imagines about them. Medusa jumped up and down in place pressing close to (Y/N) to get a better look at the screen. Rourke, who was never a fan of the internet grumbled to himself, but had an amused grin on his face.

Alameda felt the frustration of the day fade into obscurity as he guffawed at the things people where writing about him. At one point Sykes began to gag at some of the more.. suggestive content, which only led to more laughter from the group

The entire night was spent scrolling through the countless blogs, laughing and cringing until the laptop ran out of battery

————————————————————————

This was a little love letter to our community, you all are such talented creators and I’m so lucky to be apart of this small corner of the internet!

I feel like we would both traumatize and flatter Disney Villains if they saw what we write about them 🤣 Frollo would probably turn to dust

[mleemwyvern]

Vote TangoTek for MCYTblr Sexyman!

- the personification of a cartoon villain

- evil dungeon master (twice)

- fandom assigned Creature

- team rancher

- so much fanart that makes people go feral

- orange cat energy

- makes so so many Noises

- probably bites

- makes death games for fun

- pro ravager wrangler

- have yall SEEN the fanart

- ice and fire. hes got range.

- is so good for angst and drama in aus but in canon he is just a silly

- ok yeah he definitely bites

- i have seen so much variety in tango designs and the only constant is that none of them are human

- and we love a creatureguy here on tumblr!

- constantly on the verge of a villain arc and would probably do one if he wasnt so busy constructing and maintaining massive deathtrap minigames

- hes insane

[lilhawkeye3]

Gotham Night Out: Part 1 📸

The Sirens have finally convinced Danny (The Villain Wrangler) to tag along on one of their girl’s nights out on the town— stay tuned as Danny chronicles the experience👀

[ineffableobikin]

This LADbible interview/game that Hayden and Ewan did together: I’m sure there was discussion about this a year ago when it came out, but I wasn’t here then so let’s talk about it now!!

Hayden remembering the lightsaber wrangler’s name (“Thomas!”) surprises and delights Ewan:

Hayden telling Ewan he’ll make him a pineapple jalapeño pizza and bring him to the dark side:

Hayden defending the honor of Obi-Wan’s space mullet (and Ewan saying he looked like a Bee Gee):

Both of them agreeing Darth Vader is the best movie villain ever (Hayden: “Well played.”):

In conclusion, your honor, they are adorable in this and I love them.

[tossawary]

Metatags and Subtags on AO3

If you're an experienced Archive Of Our Own user, you probably know how these work. They are both super useful and intuitive. Years ago, even after using the site for a while, I still found a clear and direct explanation of parent tags, synonym tags, child tags, metatags, and subtags super helpful for improving the way that I tag my fics and the way that I search for fics (both including and excluding tags).

This is a little long, but I wanted to be thorough laying things out point by point, and include lots of images for visualization purposes. (I have included image descriptions in alt text, but have limited them to the relevant text of the screenshots rather than everything.)

Disclaimer: I am not a tag wrangler and have never been one. If you want the official introduction to tagging by the people who know what they're talking about, then you should visit the Archive's Frequently Asked Questions pages under the "About" menu.

There is an entire section on tags and how to use them. I didn't even screenshot all of it because I'm trying to save space.

Also under the "About" menu are the Wrangling Guidelines. These are written by tag wranglers for tag wranglers, available for anyone to read. The text can appear dense and full of jargon at first glance, but it's thorough, well-written, and very helpful to read through if you want to understand how the Archive volunteers sort tags.

The Wrangling Guidelines contain the official definitions of parent tags, child tags, synonym tags, metatags, child tags, and more. If you are interested in becoming a tag wrangler, the guidelines best explain the kind of work that the Archive's volunteers do.

What I am writing here is a more casual, amateur introduction from one user to another. This is an explanation with visuals included of what metatags and subtags are, how to find the metatags and subtags being used by other users, and how to use metatags and subtags to improve your own tagging and your searches.

You can't use or avoid tags that you don't know about, right? So, how are tags linked together? What is "tag nesting"?

I'm going to assume that you know what a tag is, how to tag a work, and how to search for works using a tag. And that you know about and that there's a difference between Media tags, Fandom tags, Relationship tags, Character tags, and Additional tags.

What are Parent Tags and Child Tags?

(Skip this section if you're only interested in metatags and subtags.)

There are two different "parent-child" systems within the Archive. The ones called "parent tags" and "child tags" are used to sort Fandom tags underneath Media tags, as well as Character, Relationship, and Additional tags underneath Fandom tags. The Archive FAQ page shows this nesting structure.

If you visit the tag page for the "The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System" Fandom tag, you will see that its parent tag is the "Books & Literature" Media tag.

This means that the "Scum Villain" fandom (child) shows up under the list of "Books & Literature" fandoms (parent).

It also means that when creating works or bookmarks, when typing tags into the search bar, canonical child tags (Characters, Relationships, Additional tags) of a parent tag (Fandom tag) appear first in the auto-complete options.

Browsing the child tags of the "Scum Villain" Fandom tag (or any Fandom tag) is actually really funny, honestly, because you get to see all the wild and sometimes kind of random things that people tag in their works specific to your fandom.

Synonym Tags (Tags with the same meaning)

On the tag page, you can also see all of the "synonym tags", listed under "tags with the same meaning". If anyone tags their works with these alternate ways of saying "The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System", then those works will still be sorted into the "Scum Villain" Fandom tag, because the tag wranglers have made these different tags synonyms to each other.

Synonym tags will also show up under searches using the canonical tag. Works tagged "Alt Verse" and works tagged "A bit AU" both show up when searching by the "Alternate Universe" tag.

Synonym tags mean that you don't have to know the precise canonical tag for every fandom or trope or alternate universe, because the tag wranglers are there to give you a little boost and add your tag to the right canonical tag if you didn't get it perfectly. I mean, I still think it's important to learn the basics of tagging and try your best not to make their lives harder, but you really, really don't have to stress about things being Perfect.

What are Metatags and Subtags?

The second "parent-child" system within the Archive are "metatags" and "subtags", which do not have to belong to a specific fandom. If you go to the "Alternate Universe" Additional tag page, then you will see that it is parented to "No Fandom".

These are the tag types that we're interested in right now!

Let's say that there are the Additional Tags of "Cookies" and "Baked Goods".

Tag wranglers will make "Cookies" a subtag of "Baked Goods" because cookies are a type of baked good.

"Baked Goods" is therefore now the metatag of "Cookies".

When you search for works using the "Baked Goods" Additional tag, all works tagged with "Cookies" will show up even if they aren't also tagged with "Baked Goods". Searching a tag will show you everything tagged with a subtag of that tag.

They aren't synonyms of each other, but they're related.

If you want to search the "Baked Goods" Additional tag because you want to read works tagged "Cakes" or "Pies" or other baked goods, but you don't want works tagged "Cookies" because you hate cookies, you will have to explicitly exclude that subtag using the search filters.

Here are the metatags and subtags of the "Cookies" Additional tag:

It's like "Food" is the parent, "Dessert & Sweets" is the child, "Baked Goods" is the grandchild, "Cookies" is the great-grandchild, and "Oreos" is the great-great-grandchild. They're all nested under each other.

Searching the "Food" Additional tag gives you the whole family nested here. Plus a whole bunch of other food-related subtags like "Cheeseburgers" and "Ice Cream".

Searching the "Cookies" Additional tag gives you just different types of cookies and no other types of food.

How can I use Metatags and Subtags?

Let's go to the tag cloud under the "Browse" menu. Go to the "Browse" menu and click on "Tags".

This will show you some of the most popular tags used on the Archive. I like to look at the tag cloud sometimes to help myself figure out what tags I should use on a work.

Let's say that I'm writing fanfiction that involves an intimate scene of two characters bathing together. (I was originally going to use a more serious tag as an example like "Abuse" but the screenshots of all the involved tags made me grimace, so let's go with "Bathing/Washing".) I'm going to click on the "Bathing/Washing" Additional tag. It's one of the tiny ones in the tag cloud above.

Click!

I am now being shown every work that has been tagged with "Bathing/Washing" or one of its subtags. I don't care about this right now. I want to see the metatags and subtags. I'm going to click on the underlined tag again at the top of this page, where it says "70,063 Works in Bathing/Washing".

Click!

Yes! Now I'm seeing parent tags (No Fandom) and tags with the same meaning. I'm going to scroll down to subtags.

Wow, there are a lot of sex tags in here, like "Hot Tub Sex" and "Shower Sex"! Unsurprising! But now I know that I can use both the "Bathing/Washing" metatag for what's generally happening and the "Bubble Bath" subtag if that's what specifically happening.

For a more serious tag like "Abuse", the tag page will show me subtags for all the different specific types of abuse that people regularly tag in their works. If I was writing fanfiction for some "Cinderella" fandom, then I might explore the "Abuse" metatag and decide to use the specific subtags "Verbal Abuse" and "Familial Abuse" to warn potential readers.

Maybe someone is able to read about physical abuse, but depictions of verbal abuse trigger them, so they might try to filter out "Verbal Abuse" specifically. And if someone is having a hard day and doesn't want to read about any kind of abuse, then filtering out the big "Abuse" metatag will remove all its subtags from search results including the specific tag of "Verbal Abuse".

You don't have to individually type out "Gaslighting" and "Domestic Violence" and "Dogfighting" one by one into the exclusion filters. They're all subtags of the "Abuse" metatag. Filtering out just one big tag gets rid of all of them.

If you figure out the big "boss" tags (the metatags), then you can make exclusion of tags more efficient. Or you can search across large groupings of loosely related tags more efficiently.

More examples of Metatags and Subtags

Filtering out the "Mental Health Issues" metatag will get rid of any work tagged with its subtags. This includes: "Depression" or "Mental Breakdown" or "Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder".

Or searching by the "Mental Health Issues" metatag will show you every work tagged with its subtags, if that's what you want to read about. Further examples of these subtags are "Bipolar Disorder" or "Schizophrenia".

Using the metatag "Alternate Universe - Science Fiction" will return works tagged with "Alternate Universe - Space" alongside works tagged with "Alternate Universe - Steampunk". Here are all the subtags of "Alternate Universe - Science Fiction":

I have used both "Alternate Universe - Science Fiction" and "Alternate Universe - Space Opera" on one work before, even though space opera is a subtag of sci-fi. I wanted to be specific about what kind of sci-fi it was, but I didn't think that everyone would know what a space opera was. I wanted to catch people who were looking specifically for Space Opera AUs as well as those generally browsing the metatag for all sorts of Science Fiction AUs.

A work tagged with "Alternate Universe - Flower Shop" will show up under "Alternate Universe - Retail". Retail AUs are subtags of the "Alternate Universe - Career" metatag. If you want to see your favorite characters working a (probably shitty modern) job, then searching by the metatag of "Alternate Universe - Career" will return to you Coffee Shop AUs, Teaching AUs, Nanny AUs, Journalism AUs, Hospital AUs, and anything else subtagged to that metatag.

The "Alternate Universe - Historical" tag has both "Alternate Universe - Ancient Greece" and "Alternate Universe - Regency" as subtags. Along with many, many more!

Using the metatag "Sexual Content" will bring me all the fics tagged specifically for any kind of sexual content. Excluding the metatag "Sexual Content" will banish every fic tagged with things like "Masturbation", "Blow Jobs", or even "Dirty Talk".

I find it useful to visit the tag cloud for ideas when I feel like there's a tag that my work needs that I'm forgetting. Like, oh, yes! There's "Substance Abuse" in my fic, so I will click on that for ideas on how to be more specific. There's a subtag called "Alcohol Abuse/Alcholism" and a subtag of that subtag called "Excessive Drinking". Perfect! There is excessive drinking in my story. Because I'm trying to use a limited number of tags for this particular fic and the story itself doesn't focus on the substance abuse being depicted, I will choose to only use the tag "Excessive Drinking" knowing that it will still show up under or be filtered out by its two metatags.

If I was writing a story that not only depicted excessive drinking but was specifically about substance abuse and alcoholism as the main subject matter, I might choose to use all three of those tags to underline the fact that this is a key, major element of my story.

Conclusion

Subtags and metatags can be great for conserving tag space. It can be like using five or more tags in just one tag! Your works have hidden tags that you may not have known about!

Using the tag cloud to search for interesting subtags can also be a cool way to find new and really specific works. Clicking on the "Alternate Universe" has taught me about cool AUs that I didn't know other people were writing in other fandoms! (It has also taught me about AUs that kind of weird me out. But that's life! Your kink is not my kink and that's okay.)

Yes, this all depends on whether or not people tag properly.

Yes, this depends on how the tag wranglers have organized things and it's an imperfect system led by its users. Sometimes tags are accidentally organized into the wrong metatag.

But it's pretty incredible that it works as well as it does. A big thank you to all of the Archive volunteers who make it work!

Seriously, go browse the "Alternate Universe" Additional tag page and look at all the subtags. Some of them are really funny. Did you know that there's a "Transmigration into Minecraft" Additional tag subtagged under "Alternate Universe"? I didn't. If I'd thought about it for long enough, based on what I know about the current popularity of Minecraft and Transmigration stories, I probably could have guessed that eventually. But I didn't! So I learned something today about what "the kids" are up to! I hope they're having fun.

[lilhawkeye3]

😇ehehehe

Currently reading the villain wrangler by lilhawkeye3 it’s good 🥹 I never thought I’d cry over FUCKING WEATHER WIZARD