#wait I remember it was a flying squirrel

[hero-of-the-wolf]

Hey Emmie! If you feel like it, I was wondering if you could share your personal headcanons on what you think all the LU boys would be, if they were animals. If you have any ☺�� I know you have opossum Hyrule (which I love so much) and I was wondering if you had any thoughts on the other boys? If not, that's completely fine! 🩵

I still really love the vibe of Time’s form being a kestrel, esp when he was just a lil guy. Tiny, ready to throw hands, adorable, just like Mask :)

I believe in Swan Wars superiority 🙌🏼

Twilight is… a wolf

Maybe controversial, but Legend would be a little pink bunny rabbit :)

OPOSSUM HYRULE OPOSSUM HYRULE OPOSSUM HYRULE MY ABSOLUTE BELOVED

I’m still trying to decide on Sky 🤔 definitely some sort of majestic and dangerous bird

Four fr vibes like a little mouse. he’s just so little guy coded

SEAGULL WIND. He’d have the time of his life flying around and causing chaos 🫶

I genuinely can’t remember what I’ve said before for Wild but I really love the vibe of a stag for him

[bluelocksource]

Alexis Ness’ trivia (src: EGOIST BIBLE 2)

☆ Character's color: Magical Purple.

☆ Weapon : Illusion Cross.

☆ Birthday: 16th March.

☆ Current age: 18 (at the start of NEL).

☆ Zodiac: Pisces.

☆ Nickname: "The Magician"

☆ Birthplace: Hamburg, Germany.

☆ Family: Father. Mother. Older brother. Older Sister. Himself.

☆ Current height: 181 cm.

☆ Foot size: 28 cm.

☆ Dominant foot: Right.

☆ Blood type: AB.

☆ Visual acuity: 1.0

☆ Grip strength: 53 kg.

☆ Motto: "Magic resides in those who believe."

☆ Team: Bastard München.

☆ Starts playing football: At age 8. "First time I saw it in a stadium. I will never forget that football magic."

☆ Hobby: Discovering magic. "The world is filled with all kinds of magic!"

☆ Favorite food: Sachertorte. "The combo with whipped cream and coffee is the best!"

☆ Dislike/hated food: Herring pie. "My mom isn’t a great cook, and this one is especially terrible."

☆ What goes best with rice:  "Cheese curry, maybe. "

☆ Favorite animal: Flying squirrel. "It's cute and can fly—how fantastical!"

☆ Favorite season: Winter. "A clear winter sky makes feel like I could fly."

☆ Favorite movie: The Notebook.

☆ Favorite music: "The Rose" by Bette Midler.

☆ Favorite football player: Michael Kaiser.

☆ Favorite subject: Ethics & P.E.

☆ Weak subject: Maths & Physics.

☆ Mushroom shoots vs Bamboo shoots: "Probably mushroom. They have cute shape!"

☆ Ideal type: "A strong person who can control their solitude."

☆ Fixation: Lonely expressions. "It makes me feel like I can understand their solitude."

☆ What would make him happy: "When others share in my excitement."

☆ What would make him upset: "The denial of magic I believed in." 

☆ What he thinks his strength is: Valuing the invisible (feelings, wishes, thoughts).

☆ What he thinks his weakness is: Stubbornness. "Not bending on what I believe in (though I don’t really think of it as a weakness)."

☆ What made him cry recently: “I can’t remember. I cry often. My tear ducts are very sensitive... Hehe ♪”

☆ Usual sleeping hour: 6.5 hours.

☆ Number of chocolates received from previous Valentine: 10. "It seems they were delivered to my team! Thank you!"

☆ Place he washes first when taking a bath: His arms.

☆ What will he do if received 100 million yen: "I’d probably consult with Kaiser. I might say something like “I don’t need this crap,” though!"

☆ At what age he stops receiving presents from Santa: "I didn’t have that kind of thing at home. So I prepared my own stockings. Not that he ever came."

☆ What was his last wish from Santa: "Anything was fine. Anything at all."

☆ How he spent his holiday:  "Training with Kaiser. Eating with Kaiser. Shopping with Kaiser. With Kaiser... etc."

☆ What will he do during his last day on Earth: "I hope for a miracle so that day won’t actually be the last."

☆ Favorite historical figure: Joan of Arc.

☆ If he hadn't encountered soccer, what will he be doing: "I wonder if I would still believe in magic."

☆ If he could only take one thing to a deserted island, what would it be: "Kaiser. Wait, is a human not allowed? Then I don’t need anything."

☆ If he had a time machine, would he go to the past or the future: The past. "I would hug my younger self, who believed in magic and cried alone, and tell them, “It’s okay to be just as you are.”"

note: i want to apologize in advance for any mistake made in the translation!

[lialucis]

Based on this

Specifically the bottom Nikolai and his sharp teethies. @shyravenns I blame this on your good art. And @panchulien for unknowingly giving me the thoughts of a golden eyes Nikolai.

~ 🐻 ~

Just imagine, being shown around by a large man smelling of fish and raw meat and gun powder. Something that tickles your nose. The way he keeps stepping closer, brushing against you. Large hands grazing your sides. The constant off handed comments about the two of you getting lunch. Offering you some manner of jerky he has in his flight jacket. A bear of a man, all teeth and grins at you. Your own gaze reflected back in his black sunglasses. Unable to see his gaze but knowing he's watching you.

Another recruit stepping to close, and you'd feel one of those paws grab a handful of flesh through your puffy coat. Pulling you close, a strained smile as he nodded at the recruit. This angle offering you a glance up to see the mans narrowed eyes. You thought he had brown eyes not- a blink and his gaze would be back on you. A friendlier smile as he loosens his grip, large hand -paw- brushing against your side as you step back.

An apology and another offered snack, you find yourself compelled to take it this time. Nibbling on the piece of smoked meat, it's better then you expected. Missing the way the man preens as you accept it. Chewing on the tough meat as the two continue walking, wondering what all your 'assistant' roll will entail. This man, 'Nikokai', had introduced himself as. Only a smile when you tilted your head at the lack of last name.

Even making a joke at 'Nikokai no-last-name', earning a loud bone rattling laugh. Your gaze snapping to his sharp teeth, explains why he didn't fight the jerky as much as you. His big -paw-hand, ruffling your head and messing with your hood. Your gaze flicking up to the fog that escaped his mouth, and to the cloudy sky slowly beginning to try and snow between the torrent of rain. Winter was getting closer.

The days pass and the work is easy, clearly not even needed. Fuel records, cataloguing flying hours. Keeping an eye on Nikolai 'no-last-name's cigar and vodka stash. As well as budgeting in, as if the man even cared what a budget was, the shipments of dried goods and meats and fruits. Always coming back to your little desk next to where he worked with a treat on it waiting for you. Always changing but most consistently, sliced peaches in heavy syrup, salmon jerky. And a fresh apple every now and again.

The man becoming happier and laughing more, much more affectionate when you eat the snacks. Even more so when you asked him *once* for a bite of what he was chewing on. And scowling and pouting, even getting a bit more grumbly to the other soldiers when you didn't eat it. Or tried to squirrel it away in an empty desk drawer for later. The excuse you were gaining weight from all the treats, only making them much more common.

Poking fun at the man when he dozes off in a meeting, still only wearing his flight jacket. His bigger one, more worn out and fitting his bigger frame much easier. You had mentioned him needing a coat cause of the temperature dropping, only to be yanked into a bear hug. The man practically a furnace! His large paw patting your head whenever you step closer to steal some warmth.

Everything begins to change when the first snowfall finally sticks. Seven inches you distinctly remember. Nikolai had been more groggy, more grumbly, and extra clingy. Actually lashing out when a recruit got to close, asked for your number. A hand grazing far to close to your rear. And a sound almost like a roar deafening your ears, the recruit hitting the snow. Bleeding and writhing in pain. The large bleeding paw of the man wrapping around your arm, leading you back to the hanger. Swearing in Russian to fast for you to pick up. Only aware you had to get your go bag and get in the plane, it was time to go. Assistant's have to follow their boss, right?

But on vacation? Looking up and trying to ask about the rural air strip. Private and not so well kept. The bear of a man crowding you, leading you to a wooden cabin. Snow above your ankles, half way up your calves. Following the trudging man as he easily cut through the snow.

Shoving a piece of meat, you quickly learn is seal (isn't that illegal?), into your mouth to keep you quiet.

The man shrugging off his flight jacket that seemed even smaller from the last time you checked. The man rolling his sleeves up exposing hairier thicker arms. As he ruffled his hair in annoyance. Sitting down and growling for you to come closer as he spread out on the worn couch. Large paw grasping your arm, yanking the oversized winter coat off. His sunglasses discarded, and brown eyes looking you over. Paws brushing against you before pulling you into his lap despite your confused protests. He was always affectionate, but this. This felt different.

Very different as his eyes raked over you again, a scowl on his face as his large thumb ran over your forearm. Commenting on how you could use more fattening up. Pulling you closer and running his nose against your hair, bringing your fingers up to kiss the pad of each one. Leaving you a flustered mess. And suddenly a very confused one as you're crushed against the man. One arm wrapped around your waist holding you as close as possible. Tired mumbling reaching your ears as he nosed your arm.

A sharp pain choking off a startled yelp as he sank his teeth, his fangs, into your arm. Drawing blood and leaving a large mark. Hushing you and licking up the blood as he presses kisses to the fleshy imprint. Has to make sure no one else thinks his little mate is on the market. He's spent much to long fattening the pretty little thing up for winter. Gold eyes flicking up to meet yours before he noses yours and presses a bloody peck to your lips. He'll take good care of you malyshka, just let Papa bear Nik take care of everything.

[milkbobatyun]

petrichor

pairing: sugawara x reader

genre: fluff

summary: it's your final year of school, so your boyfriend helps you fulfil a long-time dream

word count: 566

a/n: literally so self-indulgent istg ദ്ദി ꒦ິ꒳꒦ິ )✧ (no i am not delulu ok maybe a little) it's my last year of school and im still waiting for someone to do this w me plsplspls TT either way, eat well children >:3

the humid heat crackled with electricity. the warm air was heavy with oncoming rain as rolling grey clouds covered the smiling sun, bringing brief respite to the ground, baked dry by the summer heat.

the gentle whir of the fan overhead blended in with the soft music playing from your headphones as you studied in the library, waiting for your boyfriend as he finished volleyball training.

just as you had placed down your pen, exchanging the boring pages of your assignment for the view of cascading rain, your peace was disturbed by the sliding door to the library being flung open and a flash of silver hair flying in.

before your brain can process the intrusion into the tranquil environment, you were grabbed like the last stocked item on sale and dragged out of the library and downstairs, towards the entrance of the school.

under the cover of the front porch, sugawara finally stopped and gave you a breather.

with a devious smile and stars in his eyes so bright they could rival the galaxy, he told you the reason why he pulled you outside so abruptly after his training session finished.

“i remember you telling me, when we were first years, that in your final year of school, the thing you wanted to experience the most was to dance with the one you loved, under the rain.”

he paused, trying to catch his own breath. “so, let’s fulfil your wish today.”

with that, he grasped both your hands in his, dragging you into the rain with him.

the rain was cool against your skin, sticky from the summer heat during the day. the world around you had been blurred and smudged into fuzziness by the rainfall.

even amidst all the fog, sugawara was warm beneath your touch, his smile bright. in this moment, there was only the two of you, dancing together in the rain. the world faded into nothing as the two of you forgot your worries, caught up in each other’s eyes.

years on from now, sugawara would swear up and down that he had never seen you grin so brightly, laugh so prettily. not even graduating and leaving the hell called school could compare to how euphoric you felt that day.

as the heavy rainfall thinned out into a light drizzle, the laughter ringing throughout the school campus slowly faded away. the wind blew through your wet clothes, sending chills running down your spine.

sugawara noticed you wrap your arms around yourself as goosebumps littered your skin. he gently led you towards where he had discarded his sports bag on the steps and reached into the depths of his bag, pulling out a spare club jacket he had squirrelled away for emergencies.

without hesitation, he threw the jacket over your shoulders and bundled you warmly.

“aren’t you cold though?” you questioned, worry coating your tone.

“i’m warm just by looking at you.” he grinned cheekily.

threading your arms into the sleeves that were much too long for you, you engulfed him into a hug, trying to keep him warm as well.

with a cheshire grin stretching from ear to ear, sugawara relished in the warmth your hug gave, secretly hoping this moment never ended.

that is, until a certain boisterous orange haired first year and his brooding friend stumbled upon the scene and caused a ruckus. immediately, the romantic scene was shattered.

taglist (open): @leehanscorydora, @pastelmitzuki

∧,,,∧ ( ̳• · • ̳)  © curated with love by milkbobatyun 2025 / づ ♡

[lari-the-dragon]

RTV Tour: The Endgame

(Blood writting, -No drawings sadly- , also a lot of swears-)

Lari started to enter into another crisis, despite trying to maintain control of the situation and calm herself down, which didn’t seem to be working very well. After all, her current concern was enormous, since here was "His head, his rules". She remembers when Mr.Crystal put her in the TV Dimension for the first time as a form of "Time-Out" and she literally broke her way out of his head...But could she do the same with RTV??? He had the power of the five stars, and to make matters even worse, she didn’t have the same strength or power she had back at her place-! WHAT A BULLSH-!

Suddenly, she feels something gently bumping against her shoulder and snaps back to reality, looking at the Razorwhip who was looking right back at her. She gazes her for a moment, and all of a sudden, that irritating intrusive voice starts talking again. "CUTE! MUST- P E T! PEEET THE DRAGON!!!" The eyes of her mask seemed to be in between one of confusion and one of cuteness...Urgh...At this point, she considers it a curse to want to pet anything she finds adorable...Anyway, why Marie was...Oh- heh..."Ya comforting me Marie?" she thought, a slight smile appearing behind her mask as the dragon seemed to do the same.

Then his voice echoed in the place, making her immediately tense up and look up in his direction.

“Why Hello my not-so-dear tour participants...Glad to see you all here! Whether you came through willingly...and some...Who needed a push...to come through."

“Excuse me to interrupt you Mr.Puzzles, what if I told you I had something revolutionary,would you be interested in any chances traveling to unknown universes?”

Out of nowhere a blonde woman floated towards him, did she have a death wish or what?? Not even she would have the courage to have so much nerve-

“Let me present to you my gizmos or stars.”

The woman continued now taking out of her pocket a blue star...Wait- she won't do what she think she's gonna do...right?

 “I promise I’m not here to scam anyone, I do indeed know my ‘name’ may cause some suspicions. But it is just a direct translation of my family name ‘De La Escroquerie'.Actually my family were scammed by those filthy scammers but that's just an unimportant detail. ”

While the woman was making her presentation, the eyes of her mask seemed a little confused and even a bit perplexed by this, the pupils of her mask eyes slowly looking at RTV screen that seemed to be giving more of a warning with that smile that he didn't give two fucks to that.

“As you can see the interdimensional portal has indeed worked. Huh, it looks just like you,what are the odds? Sadly I can’t sell you mine since you know, you  have to be linked to it and I forgot how to create them, but there are the instructions at my base on my computer,and the only possible way to go there at the moment is by my very own VESPA that is parked outside of your STUDIO...Do we have a deal?”

Her mask eyes widened now, how could someone-? THAT WOMAN REALLY WANTED TO MAKE A DEAL??? WITH HIM??? Oh for the love of-

“Cute. But that’s a NO.”

And with that he flicked the woman, sending her flying to the side, Lari just slapped her mask at the scene.

“Oh, and for your INFORMATION: I can already reach other universes just fine MYSELF. Maybe remember that before placing portals in MY studio...”

...She thought everyone here knew that...Looks like she was wrong...

Then he leaned down towards the little squirrel she saw going with the other group to the Health Department, and by the looks of it, she seemed...Worried...Well how could she not be? Everyone here was basically about to tear each other apart if he decided to attack or vice versa. Soon after he started to say something softly...HOLD UP- THIS SMELL LIKE TROUBLE-

Lari narrowed her eyes at the two, and in the next second she saw the squirrel eyes go static...Oh...Oh no...The pupils on her mask got a bit empty again...One more for his collection...Afterwards she saw the same small creature turning around, before taking place on one of the TVs, observing them...That was bad.

“Now, as I said, Nobody here is leaving. Not before we made some things CLEAR. Some of you chose to side with SMG4, complicated everything! And guess what happened. One tour-”

He was interrupted by crying and sniffing sounds, she quickly tried to find the source and saw...A cookie? Well not exactly a walking cookie, but a familiar looking one being held by the ribbon girl...Bruh- she needed to know her name, because that wasn't exactly a good nickname to call someone all the tim-

A huge *CR a cK* of chewing was heard, the pupils of her mask eyes returned to normal again as she stared at the cookie that now had a huge bite on its head, making her hold back a laugh..."Don't laugh please that would be very rude, please don't laugh-" Her mask eyes twitched a little before closing for a moment...Please that Marie don't give her a tail whip to keep her in line because it will definitely hurt-

“YOUR GODBOX-FORSAKEN AI KILLED MY FRIEND, YOU A**HOLE!”

Her eyes snapped open again, her hair fluffing up for a moment at the sudden loud voice-

At that moment she swung at him and punched his face, sending him staggering back.

“WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF, HUH?!”

The girl screamed at him, her anger definitely bubbling out as she looked like she wanted to kill him right there, sad for her that the punch didn't have the same effect as out of the TV dimension, looking at RTV again she saw that unsympathetic grimace of a smile as he suddenly dashed forward, grabbing her by the neck.

“Your friend killed HIMSELF by putting his nose in things that don’t concern him.”

“You bastard-! YOU TAKE THAT BACK- “

Then he proceeded to yeet her at full force back, making her fly into the depths of the tunnel...Damn bro-

"Anyone else?"

Lari slowly looked between him and the now very far away participant, then to the others, and Marie. She kept doing that with a unsure gaze for a while, until her eyes landed on SMG4, the man seemed very...Very pissed.

“Tsk Tsk, Now? As I was SAYING, because of the fault of some of you supporting SMG4, everyone will Pay. And I'll repeat, because of his intrusion, One tour participant less in the group from the original 57... Although...”

She saw him growing into a giant and looked at the...UH- Twins? Doubles?? It was a girl- I MEAN girls- foxes? They seemed to have mechanical parts- other bots in between them maybe?

"Not sure what I missed while I was out, but I suppose that covers the 57th participant. Must've overlooked, but oh well."

He shrugged before mumbling something and looking back at the group...She tensed up again, gosh, she hated that feeling of being so vulnerable, she still had her magic sure, but it probably wouldn't be enough to actually cause serious damage to him..."I guess it's better for me to just stay on the defensive and-"

She got out of her thoughts when she saw RTV quickly shift his gaze, she looked to where he was focusing and saw SMG4 and Animsay...With no TV on her head? Huh- I hope this isn't causing any side effects on her, hmm, why she took it off after all? I wonder-

And suddenly the meme guardian lunged forward with the help of Animsay who gave him an additional push... She almost screamed a loud "NO!" when she saw this, taking a quick step forward as she saw their "grand" plan.

“Tsk.”

RTV raised an arm, blocking the hit with little difficulty, before pushing SMG4 back, sending him flying with a bloody nose, and thankfully for him, Animsay managed to grab him in time by his hoodie to avoid he going to the unknown.

Lari stared at SMG4 for a moment, his bloody nose sparkling something inside of her that she couldn't explain, her hands slowly turned into fists as the pupils of her mask got a sharp appearence, so making a loud huff that seemed to release a bit of smoke from the sides of her mask, she turns towards RTV.

"no one...and when i say...NO ONE...Will hurt this version of SMG4- ON. MY. WATCH!"

She hissed, increasing her voice while summoning her crystals and preparing to fight...The Razorwhip seemed to prepare the spikes of her tail already, making her give a quick glance at her, she still couldn't believe she ended up along side Marie. So giving another smile, she glanced back towards RTV.

“Morons…”

Lari quickly moved a bit away from Marie and took the chance he was occupied with Smiley to aim the crystals towards his chest, but sadly for her, he sized down and even managed to dodge two of the crystals, 3 of them tho- managed to make crystal like holes in his coat.

She felt his gaze locking on her and freezed for a moment before shaking her head and dashing at full speed in his direction, but something catch the attention of the upper eyes of her mask as they looked to the side and saw....T H E L E V I A T H A N ? NO- not the time for that...The upper eyes turned they attetion back to RTV.

He managed to dodge Sci attack, grabbing her by the collar soon after, and then tossing her to the side. Lari made a high jump ignoring the laws of physics as usual and prepared to give him a powerfull kick in his TV head, just to same TV quick switch around to avoid her attack...Sneaky bastard.

When she missed the hit she didn't hesitated to summon more crystals behind her in a attempt to hit his head this time...Is not like this would be enough to kill him anyway, but at least it will keep him away for a while...She stared at him furiously while preparing herself.

“It looks like we are simply MEANT to cross paths...Allow me to get RID of that though.”

He snapped his fingers and the moment she was going to aim the crystals on him...They disintegrated...She looked back and saw they quickly turning into dust and disappearing...oh...OH FUCK-

Her hair fluffed up at the now realization that her magic could no longer be used... She quickly moved away from him and got into a defensive position, only to see the ribbon girl- MAN SHE HAD TO KNOW HER NAME URGENTLY- anyway, it seemed like she wouldn't have to worry about RTV now since the girl took her place and attacked him with her sick tentacles, making him retreat, and now that he was away she could start panicking.

She began to desperately try to summon them, but nothing, she even began to snap her fingers again and again…But the result was the same, she looked at the purple crystal she was carrying in her neck, taking a better look at it…It had a static color…He really blocked her magic, now if she already didn't stand a chance against him before, NOW SHE DEFINITELY DOESN'T!

The pupils of her mask eyes started to get a little frantic, almost not noticing RTV growing again and Marie attacking him, that until she heard "NIRA!" out loud and finally came back to reality again, she needed to stop doing this at times like this-

Another finger snap echoed, she started hearing bone cracking sounds and quickly looked at the TVs, seeing mini versions of the oversized idiot appearing now…"THIS IS BAD, REALLY BAD-" She started desperately using all the eyes of her mask to locate the position of each of them…But she failed to see Nira approaching Sci and touching her face with her little black hands beside her, why she was-

Another second later the fish body went slack, eyes rolling back as she lost consciousness and her previous movement turned into an uncontrolled spin-

"Shit-"

She attempted to dodge but Sci was to close, hitting Lari and sending her floating back. Her mask eyes closed for a moment from the impact just to open again and look at her side and see...

A finger pointing right at her...Her eyes narrowed a bit at the bright electric light as she unconsciously moved a arm towards her chest, to protect it...And then it hit.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

The power of the electricity was so strong that despite her regeneration, several red lines appeared on her arm up to her neck in a matter of milliseconds. The eyes of her mask glowed a bright white, making her roll her eyes behind it as she screamed at a volume that echoed slightly... Her body trembled as she felt she was being burned from the inside out, that is until she felt something holding her from behind, she could barely see what or who it was…

Her body was almost paralyzed, even though now she was in motion. She could barely breathe properly, damn, if he had hit her heart, maybe the damage would have been a thousand times worse... Her ears were making an unbearable ringing inside her head, her breathing was fast as if she were searching for oxygen that wasn’t even there. But then she seemed to catch something reflecting in the corner of her vision, making her stop and focus on what she was seeing...It looked like metal under the sun... Wait a-

Her regeneration started to take effect, allowing her to slightly turn back, noticing she was being held in the mouth of a Razorwhip, who seemed quite worried about the condition of her small ally, her wings gliding in the air while her tail was already ready to attack the now countless clones of the TV head…Sigh- Looks like Marie was officially her live savior at this point… She really didn't want to cause this much trouble to her-

Her breathing began to stabilize as she continued being carried by Marie, who landed a little ahead where it seemed safer despite the numerous clones that had appeared around, then placing her on the ground, already preparing to defend her despite barely knowing her. Lari noticed this and immediately forced herself to stand up, to Marie’s surprise, there was no way she would let Marie face this alone after everything that had happened.

Lari slowly stood up, staggering a bit in the process, the dragon responded with a worried sound as Lari quickly managed to raise a hand up to try and reassure her.

"Calm down- arGh- Everything is alright ok? I'm fine- see?"

She lowered her hand and looked at her arm, slightly null with marks of electricity, which seemed to quickly disappear and return to how it was before, even Lari herself raised her arm and analyzed it for a moment before giving a relieved sigh and looking back at the dragon.

"I'll live don't worry, it takes more than a shock to kill me!"

Lari spoke with a somewhat proud tone despite the near-death situation she had just been through...Marie seemed to look at her from head to toe, not buying that at all... Lari herself was confused by this and decided to take a second look at her own condition and... Now she understood that look...The sleeve of one of her arms, the one she used to defend herself against RTV, was completely wrecked, not to mention a few holes here and there in her vest, aside from the bullet hole in the back of her shoulder. How did she not noticed all of this? Good thing at least she was wearing a shirt underneath this vest, that was quite resistant to damage...Quality stuff really makes all the difference-

She noticed movement of a few clones approaching them, making Marie immediately get alarmed and ready herself for battle...Lari gave a quick glance at her own hand, opening and closing her palm until long black claws appeared...Transformation...Seems like this is the only thing she could use right now to fight...Time to be good for once.

So giving a quick turn towards Marie, she spoke in a loud enough voice for her to hear despite the growls she was giving at the clones.

"MARIE!- Take care of the others! I'll try to create a passage for yall-"

Lari said, preparing to transform and destroy as many of these things as she could, but Marie didn’t like that plan at all, since she lowered her head towards Lari, making the same take a small step back as she watched the dragon let out a loud growl.

"Wha- COME ON! You are literally one of the only people here, that I saw, who have all the capacity to protect the others easily, you already saved my ass in a beat 2 times now! Let me be the tank for you now will ya?"

The dragon responded by giving her a strong smack with her tail on the back of her head, a piece of metal hitting your head definitely hurt.

"OuCH- okay OKAY FINE-!"

Lari grunted as she prepared for battle, shifting her form to something close to RTV’s original height, though still a bit shorter by around 1–2 feet. She grew crossed horns and long deer-like ears, huge claws, and a long snake-like tail with a crystal stinger at the end… She quickly shook her hair a bit, making it stand up before relaxing again. Marie seemed somewhat perplexed by what she had just witnessed.

"So...Are you ready?"

She said while raising both her hands close to her chest, her tail giving a strong slap on the floor as she smiled at Marie...The Razorwhip let out an amused huff while staying in a fighting position...The clones preparing to attack them.

"That the best BEAST WINS!"

Lari slammed her knuckles together forcefully three times for effect, while Marie spread her wings and raised the spikes on her tail, preparing to cut down those damn grinning foes just like she had done with Wr3n’s bots... And then, they prepared their fingers...Time for the dragons to shine.

Both let out a roar and charged to their respective sides, Lari going one way while Marie went another, dodging some of the shots fired at them by the Mini RTVs… Lari sprinted toward them with everything and then leaped forward, landing on all fours, suddenly increasing her speed. She locked onto one target and slammed into his stomach with her head, then stomped firmly on the ground and lifted her head upward with full force while he was still on top of her, leading him to orbit.

GAME!

Refocusing on the other clones, she quickly positioned her mask to take a shot that hit it directly, but instead of damaging her, it energized her mask, making her hair stand on as the tips lifted slightly, just for a moment, she resembled a porcupine. She then took advantage of the electricity in her mask and dashed toward the clone, attempting to transfer the electricity to it and knock him out. However, the clone dodged her charge, only to see her quickly spin and whip it with her tail, striking its side and knocking him down.

He didn’t die, and was already getting back up, and as Lari was preparing to finish him off, she suddenly felt something grabbing her from behind in a chokehold and forcefully stepping on her tail, making her let out a loud yelp. She struggled, placing her hands on the arm that was around her neck, but then she quickly dropped down and repositioned her body, throwing her attacker forward. He tried to grasp onto her side, but ended up falling instead, giving her the perfect opportunity to stomp on its screen, finishing him once and for all.

Only to receive a harsh uppercut straight to her chin, making her stagger backward, lifting her head up as blood dripped from her mouth due to the impact, her tail tried to stabilize her so she wouldn’t fall or be sent flying, and as she turned her head forward, she then received a jab right on her mask, making her be thrown back. "Dammit, those things actually knows how to fight!-" She grunted, trying to take control of the situation, managing to support herself back onto the ground… Then, the clone dashed forward, preparing another punch, just to her caught it with her palm, struggling slightly as she smiled at him. He didn’t hesitate to try hitting her with his other hand, only for her to catch it too with her free hand. Lari arms trembled slightly as she clenched her fists and abruptly yanked the clone toward her, raising her head, then bringing it down with full force, slamming it into the top of its head. The sound of cracking glass echoed as she followed through with a frontal kick, sending it flying backward…Seems like that one wouldn’t be getting up anymore.

She breathed heavily, struggling a bit as she wiped the blood from her mouth, her body quickly regenerating from the blows she had just received. Turning toward Marie to check if she had better luck, she noticed her focused on a group of clones in front and to one side of her. Marie didn’t seem to see one of them trying to sneak up behind her, preparing a shot… Lari eyes widened, and she huffed- "OH NO YOU DON'T!"

Lari began running like a beast toward the clone that was nearly ready to fire, shouting loudly to gets his attention and distract him from his target.

"HERE I COME!"

The clone looked in her direction with a grin, only for that same grin quickly vanish and turn into worry one as it seemed to attempt redirecting the shot toward her, but it was already too late.

(Puts gift cutely, and yes Lari did exactly that :3)

She jumped towards him, mouth open, biting into his TV head, causing both to roll several meters ahead. He missed the shot, and Lari took advantage of that, clenching her teeth into his screen and back head, the easiest part for her to bite, and tightened her grip, shards of glass entered her mouth as she managed to rip his head off… erGH- she spat out some of the glass and ran her tongue over the back of her teeth to check if it was all gone. Then, she quickly turned her attention back to the fight, grabbing the clone carcass with both hands and lifting it up as a shield while electric sounds crackled… His body trembled as if trying to come back to life, bizarre.

Looking behind her, she noticed she was now taking care of Marie back, who had already taken care of the other clones surrounding her before jumpscaring the other one. That made Lari grin with excitement as she shifted her mask eyes back to the clones still firing at the corpse she was using as a shield… Combo time!

With that, she threw the clone body upward and whipped it hard with her tail, sending it flying towards the two clones shooting at her. Lari heard a strong metal sound cutting something off and then saw debris floating through the air. "Oh-" she blinked before quickly dropping to all fours to dodge a tail strike that sent sharp spikes at the trapped clones, effortlessly impaling them.

"OOOoOO nice!"

She turned to Marie, watching her give a powerful wing strike that sliced some of the clones in half. Their bodies floated as pieces of metal scattered through the air, their fingers losing the electrical charge they'd been preparing, Lari took the opportunity of Marie still partially open wing to leap onto it.

"TOSS ME!"

Thanks to Marie powerfull wings and Lari relatively light weight despite her new form, the Razorwhip swiftly lifted her wing upward, launching Lari high into the air. Taking advantage of the space-like gravity, she simply adjusted her stance, preparing to propel herself, just like she did back at the Void when she needed to float to attack or escape.

And with that she began to spin, transforming herself a little into a ball (Sonic style) and going with everything back to the ground, right where the clone was… Marie released another fire blow but ended up missing, making the Mini RTV prepare to shoot her, but the Razorwhip took a quick look up and noticed the black ball quickly approaching and gave a quick dash back, keeping her body sideways to the clone, who didn't seem to understand why and continued charging his attack, only for Lari to uncurl and give him a strong tail slam, breaking him in half.

She landed with a loud THUD her tail positioned like a scorpion’s, eyes locking onto Marie, who scanned the area, it seemed they had got rid of all the clones in that area.

"HAHA! GG! Ya know, this actually IS a bit fun! Ignoring the parts where I get beated up of course...Cough cough."

Lari said in an amused tone, before lowering her voice at the last part and letting out a fake cough, covering her mouth while taking another glance at the destruction they had caused. Until more of them appeared, circling them…

"Are you kidding me...Just HOW MANY CLONES DOES THIS BASTARD HAVE?!?!"

She shouted, raising both hands slightly in frustration, looks like RTV have an automatic farm somewhere here in the TV dimension…That until RTV voice echoed so loudly that even the deafest person would hear it.

"ENOUGH!!! Now, ALL OF YOU! You had all your fun here enough. CONGRATS! You and your abilities, resourcefulness, teamwork and... sneaky...unheard talents...I'm impressed... well, half, Impressed."

She glanced between RTV and his clones for a moment, unwilling to let them catch her and Marie off guard, then she started hissing loudly at them, hearing the metal spikes on Marie’s tail preparing for more strikes.

"H-Hey, leave them all alone...It's me you want!"

Wait, after everything, NOW YOU ARE!- urgh, she wasn't about to let this happen after all that.

"Hm… perhaps a little too late, dear SMG4. The fault of one is the fault of all of them. Besides, THIS kind of behavior is exactly why I'm not letting you go."

Lari eyed the clones again as they closed in, her hissing growing louder, while her hair fluffled up like a snake.

"Again... as for... you two...Do you think that little stunt was to show me up?" 

What did they did? She was to busy fighting with Marie to notice her surroudings- then she heard Marie growling at the clones too, ready to attack-

"Hm... not much of a talker? And even after back at the Film Department? Now... people as high as I, have their secrets, and you two are the first in line to hear it...Well... My secret?"

She curiously stopped hissing to tilt her head a bit in curiosity, her ears tilting a bit, man she really needed to work in that-

"Sometimes... QUIET PEOPLE PISS ME OFF!"

Welp i'm dammed then-

however one of them started growing up, breaking free from his grip.

"W-What. Are. YOU???"

The big one took advantage of his surprise to grab her other version out of his grip and run away…Marie also got this chance to attack the RTVs with her spikes, making Lari go for it and run towards them, grabbing one of the spikes from the ground and piercing into the clone chest, fighting time!

Holding the clone with the spike lodged in its chest, she threw it upwards only for Marie to jump, flapping her wings to make her higher while taking advantage of the lack of gravity, and with a powerful whip strike, Marie sent it crashing into the others, some of them dodged. Lari quickly glanced at Marie’s tail and had a funny idea, jumping and suddenly holding her tail, causing Marie to look at her mid-flight.

"BERSEKER STYLE!"

Marie understood what she meant and spun around while she was still flying, throwing her with full-force towards the clones, one of them widened his eyes as she turned into a ball and detonated him, Marie took the chance and flew quickly downwards, opening her wings and cutting through the middle of the nearby clones, landing right next to her...Unfortunately for both of them, there were still many others.

Suddenly, a loud gunshot echoed, a sound she knew all too well in this case...Then one of a shattering TV, what just happened?

"No... 'REAL MEEEE'!!!!!!!”

Lari turned to witness the larger version of that mechanical fox taking a massive shot to the chest, red blood pouring out, however it was slowly shifting to blue as it floated alongside what appeared to be cards, the mini version of herself approached, crying.

"56 now...,”

“I-It's been nice... meeting you all. T-thanks, for the tour....O-Other... you,... You better return home in my place, yes?," 

Then she seemed to go limp, releasing a umbrella she had been holding…RTV crossed his arms, and then people around started crying, once again in shock.

"'Real'... 'REAL'?! Real... No... Please... What am I going to do?"

Lari just watched the scene with a neutral look, she was never the type to cry over the death of someone she didn't know or had no connection with, and… Death… wasn’t exactly unfamiliar to her...So she just focused on everyone's reactions, glancing at Marie who also seemed in shock.

"This feels wrong… Replacing the original? This… has to be a dream? It has to…”

Hmm…Was she too indifferent for not reacting? She continued observing the crowd, keeping track of the clones and the massive RTV.

“Do you realize... how she was enjoying the tour?”

"Something feels off." Lari muttered only for herself to hear, narrowing her mask eyes at the robotic fox...Why did this all seem so strange? She swore she had heard that tone somewhere before…

"Seeing her memories... So many good things... How....."

She sniffled, crying a bit more...UhH- Somethings tells her that this seemed forced and genuine at the same time...Was she pretending?

“How she learned to grow, how it took her a long time to adjust and make friends, despite being on the spectrum…”

The fox placed a blanket on her now dead self, holding her close..."I- SUPPOSE- i'm a bit soulless." Lari thought, not really getting emotional as she was probably supposed too, maybe because is wasn't to her or anyone she knew? Or because despite the fact that now 2 people died she somehow didn't considered herself in great danger? EVEN AFTER MANAGING TO DEFEND HERSELF IN THE LAST SECOND FROM RTV SHOT???? Maybe that's a reason of her acting like this right now...Maybe shielding that attack boosted a bit of her non existent ego-

"She enjoyed all the departments... getting a compliment for how she looked... how she interacted with the SMG3 Gang... Oh. The last time she saw the latter,... was that they were a lot... happier than before she met them. Did... did  she do something more special?... Like the green drink, the peculiar game, or the anime she was given the honors to pick? Was she …like a second Axol, to them?" 

"What is she talking about-" Lari said in mind, the pupils of her mask getting confused, she glanced at Marie again, noticing her empathetic about this all...Had [Redacted] affected her that deeply?

“She... she...She even cleaned your clothes when you were down..., and not even once, attacked you physically. She never had the intention to, b-because-...S-she was just a visitor, wanting to enjoy it all. Have a good time. And she did... Now she's gone... all that is left is a carbon copy... Knowing her, do you know what she would say... after what happened? Since I'm her...Mr Puzzles, I forgive you."

Lari noticed a subtle movement in RTV, she noticed he balling his fist...She then looked up at his face, he had that calm expression, but he seemed to hold himself back.

“It was her great day... It was a great day…”

It was a great day until i came here to see RTV face, and i'm greatly regretting not being on my bed sleeping right now.

​​“It was indeed a GREAT day…until someone had to mess it up. Shame.”

He spoke, his voice apathetic...Lari started couting the seconds for him to snap "3...2...1-"

“ENOUGH OF THIS SOB STORY!”

Lari blinked each of her eye mask lazily, until they widened up when RTV started to seized up, looming over everyone, hand grabbing TV’s on the side with such force that dents were left behind.

“You think you can BEAT me here? In MY world?!”

"Yes." Lari said boldly as always while raising one hand, Marie looked at her and seemed to cluckle a bit at her sudden declaration.

He now pointed a finger at the dead Rayas.

“THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU!”

"Hopefully not-" Lari voice at this point was like a hater in the back of the crown giving critics or responding like that was a question and not a real estantment...Then he let out a crackle that slowly turned lower and lower until his screen switched to a cold sneer.

“You’re right. Why TALK it out when you can FIGHT it out?”

A small smile now was settled on his face, as he slightly bowed down, hand on his chest.

“Well, it appears you’ve made your decision and I’ve made MINE...56 participants to go...Sorry, but I’m not hiring for a movie sequel. This ends here and NOW.”

Both Lari and Marie got surprised when the clones decided to attack them recklessly...And sadly for Lari, she got a huge hit on the stomach that send her flying backward, crashing into Marie and then into a massive TV that immediately began pulling both of them in with intense force as Lari begins to panic.

"NONONONONONO-"

And just like that, she entered the TV, static filling everything in sight…Her head started aching, forcing her back into her original form, the pupils of her mask vanishing as voices echoed in her mind, a conversation from a long-buried memory.

...

"Where- where am I??"

"Your new home."

"W-why am i-I gLi TcHiN g?? Why does it h U R T!- WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!?!"

...

"...What had to be done."

The memory ended as she landed on what felt like grass, her mask eyes shutting completely while she quickly got up, shaking her head slightly and placing a hand over her mask, trying to process what she had just remembered. "Dammit, why remembering this now?" she thought, before realizing that it was probably triggered by the static that reminded her of the Forgotten Zone.

Lari started piecing the situation together and then realized something- EXTREMELY important: she had hit Marie.

That made her quickly turn toward the dragon, who was partially lying down, lifting herself up slightly and shaking off from the impact. In a flash, Lari rushed toward her, waving her hands in an embarrassed manner.

"I'M SO SORRY!- I DIDN'T MEAN TO HIT YA-"

Marie responded by giving a reassuring sound, but suddenly stopped and stepped forward quickly…Huh? Lari looked up, almost blinded by the brightness, but not completely, thanks to her mask protecting her real eyes, then she realized they were surrounded by…Vikings?

There were other people with them, like the little ghost with wing-shaped earrings and a tail with a blue line from earlier, and pausing to notice this one more closely, she seemed to resemble a dragon, making Lari subtly narrow her real eyes behind her mask at her, almost as if examining her. However, her focus soon shifted to other individuals, like a one-eyed creature, the guy with the hat and pinkish hair, the smiley maniac, and a…What the- Is that a ball of hair?- oh wait- it’s a person-

More people started gathering, including the meme guardian itself...She then noticed the Vikings taking a combat stance, prompting her to quickly reopen her mask eyes to give her better visibility in case of another fight.

“We…come in peace?”

SMG4 tried to reason with the scared and angry Vikings, she gave a little peek at the Razorwhip, who seemed quite wary of her surroundings.

“In peace, you have a dragon with you!”

Stoick the Vast...This one would be hard to convince, she looked where he pointed and was got a bit more alert when it was towards Marie and the little ghost, already preparing to change form if necessary.

“Well…”

While SMG4 searched for words, she heard something unusual and glanced back at Marie, only to see her transforming into another dragon within seconds…A Whispering Death, thin and long body with enormous spikes and a mouth full of rotating mandibles. Seeing one up close was both cool and slightly terrifying…She took a few steps back, watching as Marie swiftly dug a tunnel with impressive speed.

“Quick!”

He yelled to the group before jumping into the hole, sliding rapidly down into the darkness. Lari simply shrugged and leaped in after him, falling into the shadows, her mask pupils glowed in the dim environment as she followed the meme guardian, hearing the distant echoes of digging…A few lights flickered behind her, probably from flashlights, good thing she was used to the dark and could see just fine.

She took a moment to glance at the others again, putting both hands into her vest pockets, some of them seemed uncertain, even a little scared, not that she could blame them. Noticing the grinning one, he looked…Uhh- she wasn’t sure how to describe it, but something about him felt off, despite the massive smile he was giving. Should she thank him for saving her earlier?- hmm…Nah…

...

Maybe? She’d figure that out when she gets home-

Eventually the tunnel led upwards until sunlight could be seen lighting through, showing Marie made the breakthrough. Lari gived some quick steps now climbing back up to the surface, realizing they were now surrounded by the woods…"Wait- where is-"

She glanced back, spotting the Whispering Death hiding from the brightness. "Ah…Almost forgot-" She moved closer to the hole, ready to provide cover if needed…Others began gathering.

“Alright, everyone here? Let’s find a portal and move on to the next channel. If we are lucky, we aren’t too far from 999…”

A deep growl made her instantly alert, looking the source of the sound was…Toothless? "Oh yeah, of course." he started showing off row of teeth.

“Ah great…Hey, we don’t want any trouble. In fact, we will be right out of your scales-”

Lari saw Marie peeking from the tunnel, causing the Night Fury growls to intensify..."Oh fu--" She remembered that in the series, those two were rivals-

In the next second both of them started to grow more agitated with toothless now instantly changing into a attack position, maw opening...Lari braced herself to step in-

“Toothless, wait!”

A boy now came skipping from the side to the night fury’s side, quickly turning his head in the other direction...Lari narrowed her mask eyes, then widened them, Hiccup had entered the scene.

“What are you doing?!”

Then he turned his gaze to them...Now that's a bit awkward.

“You have one too…?”

Marie showed no sign of easing down, nor did the smaller black dragon too.

“Yeah…No worries though, she’s 100% harmless...Listen, we can’t exactly stay here and I don’t think the majority wants us here anyway…You don’t happen to have seen a black and white square?”

I don't think this is gonna work out SMG4-

“Oh! Yeah, me and Toothless saw it some time ago, but didn’t get very close.”

Nevermind-

“What is it exactly?”

Hiccup curiously asked, Lari just slowly started shaking her head like she was saying "buddy you don't wanna know."

“Our way home...Where is it located?”

“I can show you!”

“...or that.”

They watched Hiccup jump in Toothless back that didn't seemed very fond of the idea and began to take flight.

“Hey! We can’t all fly!”

“Oh, right…”

After following Hiccup and Toothless for a while, they spotted the portal located at a cliff along the coast...Taking a look at her back she saw the ground rising, proof of Marie moving through the ground due to the sunlight.

“That’s it...I actually had so many more questions to ask. Like how did you meet your dragon? And who are these other people? You know, the…not human looking ones.”

SMG4 rubbed his neck, giving a glance to Marie.

“You could say we ran into each other and now are sticking together to survive...Alright, let’s go guys!”

Lari nodded and went with the others…Taking a long breath and entering the portal, and once again static, another memory coming… But a different voice this time.

"Does this all is just a game for you?!"

"A good history can't have just rainbows and butterflies in it all right? For it to have T A S T E, It needs a bit suffering and pain."

"YOU ARE [Redacted] PEOPLE!-"

"Oh don't be dramatic- what fun would it have if everything was easy?"

Memory ended as she crossed the portal, giving her head a light tap to return to normal…"This is weird…I don't usually remember these things." Lari noticed the place, the broad dark hallway. The pupils of her mask turned into spirals as she quickly closed her eyes again. Taking a quick look around she searched for the Whispering Death, only to realize that it was nowhere in sight, she took another quick look in all directions and then realized that Marie had returned to normal, she gave a relieved sigh when she saw her…She was probably dizzy.

“Oh hey, you’re alive as well.”

“Where did you end up?”

“How to train your dragon. You?

“Hell.”

PFFFFFFF- DAMN BRO- she almost laughed out loud at that, hopefully it wasn't the literal hell.

“If we are all together again we may as well continue.”

“Right…”

Everyone now continued through the black hallways much similar to that of a generic house...Then at the end of the hallway, a door, opening it revealed a kid's room. And a giant TV placed at the back of the wall, displaying static.

She honestly don't want to have more flashbacks...

But then SMG4 stepped through, soon the others following...She sighed and looked a bit around, giving a long breath in and out and entering.

"What is the meaning of this...?"

"Specify.."

"THIS [Redacted]!!!"

"Ah...This-...Well, I just got...a bit mad."

Another memory with another voice, but what the hell was going on huh? Was RTV playing with her now? No, no...There must be something here that is triggering them, not just the static from the portals...Right?...And speaking of portals, the one behind them disappeared.

“It’s a loop?”

“Only one way to find out.”

They walked to another portal, Lari hearing voices in her head again…But this time they were lower.

"Do you undestand what you're doing here?!"

"Yes i do, giving everyone here a reason to NOT mess with me."

Other voices, but besides them some muffled ones of two people fighting could be heard from one of the doors, Animsay decided to open it only to reveal an empty living room…Although the sounds were still coming out of there.

“Getting major horror flick vibes here…”

“The Conjuring maybe?”

Another portal into the kid's room, and there we go once more.

Everything repeated, but while the voices in her head began to fade, the sounds of the environment grew louder, something she was oddly grateful for. Yet this time, instead of the fighting, there was a door being slammed.

Another portal, and they repeated the same process again. Now, it was clear that a male voice was screaming, though the words were too muffled to understand.

Once more… She caught something from the corner of her eye, but she couldn’t quite make out what it was in the kid’s room.

Again, and this time, a clear image formed of a familiar silhouette of Puzzles leaving the room, walking straight through the crowd before vanishing into the shadows…That made her tense up a little, her mask eyes still shut.

One more time, and now an ominous trail of static liquid led to the room they kept entering again and again…SMG4 pushed open the door, and instead of a giant TV waiting for them…A much smaller one, stuffed into the body of a child.

The same static liquid was dripping from the screen, onto its shoulders and floor...

"So this is how you feel about your past, huh? How…Sad…You really had nothing good in your past, did you? For you to want to erase it and replace it with false memories. Yes… That would actually be wonderful, wouldn’t it? To erase all of yours mistakes." Lari slowly raised a hand, staring at it, while distant screams echoed inside her mind…Then she swiftly shook her head, making them stop.

"Meh, who wouldn’t want that, honestly-" Lari simply shrugged, speaking to herself inside her head. "I mean, I’m already sick of remembering the delicious slice of Red Velvet cake I dropped years ago because I turned around too fast…Aw, my poor cake- F for you." Her mask released a single black tear from one of her bottom eyes, which she dramatically wiped away with a finger.

Something tells you she's making that up...She stares at a wall for a moment.

"Hmmm…Now that I think about it, are we really that different? I mean…We both have our own rules in our respective dimensions. Our own thoughts about basically everything…And even…[Redacted]."

Hahahah…I can already imagine what you’d say if you knew "what I am." You would look at me with that annoying grin of yours and say, “You are nothing more than a HYPOCRITE.”

Lari glanced around…Observing everyone’s reactions. "After all this, will any of us try to stay in touch? I know I need to do something about that one." She turned toward the floating smile guy… Then let out a long sigh, briefly eyeing Marie. "…If she knows what I had done in my dimension… Would she still want to talk to me?" She stared for a while longer before shifting her focus back to the kid. "I doubt it…But i'm still owing her for everytime she saved me." She began counting on her fingers how many times Marie had defended her.

Suddenly, she snapped out of her thoughts, stopping mid-count when she saw the little Puzzles stir and back away…He was alive? In that state? Man, he had to be in so much pain right now.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay…I’m SMG4.”

SMG4 said, kneeling down infront of him and offering a hand, the kid seemed to be very scared of them, but eventually reached forward, giving his hand a small shake, before quickly letting go again...She just stared at this.

“Nice to meet you too, dude...Look, me and my friends are trying to find a way out. Do you happen to know the way to Channel 999?”

The kid gived a quick nod then suddenly walked past them, grabbing the hand of the first person that was standing to the side, the leviathan, so she simply watched him pulling her along...The same fish didn't seemed very sure of that but allowed her to led by the kid who was now walking back into the hallway and opened another door.

It seemed very small at first but the more people entered, the more it seemed to expand...It remembered a bit of her house in her dimension, but it worked waaay differently that this, making her curiously look around...Noticing a saw lying on the floor right in front of another portal...She looked at it for a while...More screams echoing in her head as she forced herself to look away...Entering yet...Another portal.

"Why do you give up so easily?"

"I just can't keep up..."

"Or maybe it's because you prefer to choose the easiest option."

URGH- That was louder this time, a flash of a dark and white figure lurking in the shadows…Shit even here she was chasing her? Hah...That's so her.

But she quickly turned her focus to the now massive RTV, his TV head leaning on his hand as he eyed them with barely hidden contempt…The small squirrel, who she now learned was named "Nira"was standing next to the portal, her eyes flickering with static, a clear sign she was definitely not to be trusted.

“It took you a while, maybe even LONGER than the crew.”

RTV now drawled, his gaze briefly landing on SMG4 before shifting to the little version of himself, who immediately noticed and tried to hide behind Sci. A chuckle escaped RTV, though it seemed more hysterical than usual.

“Ah and OF COURSE you once again couldn’t help to stay away from things that don’t CONCERN you.”

He now straightened, hands placed next to the portal as the colorful maniacal smile now popped up on his screen.

“So…who’s ready for the FINALE?”

Everything turned upside down when people started attacking, Lari instantly shifted into her previous form, scanning for ways to handle the maniac despite her obvious disadvantage…What was here that could be used against him? She couldn't transform into her biggest's forms because she wasn't in her dimension, and to make matters worse, her magic got blocked, making a second option of transforming into something big go straight down into the pit.

She blinks a bit and look at her sides..."Hang on"...Whe began scanning the area quickly despite all the chaos.

"Marie?"

She spoke in a low voice, starting to grow restless as she frantically scanned her surroundings- oh shit shit SHIT-

Out of nowhere, a massive leviathan emerged, charging straight at RTV… She watched the enormous being wield its trident against the grinning idiot…But after a moment of admiration, she snapped back to her mission: finding Marie!

After weaving through some participants, she heard a sound that was oddly familiar… Quickly dropping to all fours and picking up her pace, she rushed behind a rock and caught sight of a gigantic white tail spinning downward before vanishing in a tunnel.

"Was that…THE G O A T?" Lari faintly heard the sound of something being destroyed beneath her, almost like a mini earthquake…It clearly was the dragon she was thinking.

Lari swiftly climbed the rocks just in time to see the big Leviathan being knocked down by RTV, only for an enormous albino dragon resembling a Whispering Death to erupt from the ground and bite into his arm, spinning him around before launching him into a rock formation.

"OH MY GAAAAWD-"

She putted both hands on her head, impressed by the action. If this wasn’t a life-or-death situation, she’d have loved to grab a chair, pop some popcorn, and watch from the sidelines…HOWEVER! She had to do something, anything that could help them. She stared at her own hands for a moment. "Maybe this will work, but it won’t do much."

She altered her form even further, taking on a more draconic appearance while pressing both hands to her mask, which seemed to merge into her body before vanishing. When she looked again, she was slightly taller than before, four white eyes with black pupils, and a nose of a snake, her entire body darkened to pitch black, her hair turning white, along with the three iconic dots below one pair of eyes…She steadied herself on the rock, preparing for a jump...

"Yolo."

With that, she leaped extremely high, she wished she could fly now, but that would probably be more of a hindrance at this moment. Landing on the ground, she bolted across the rocky terrain, closing in on the battling titans ahead…The whole scenario was almost hilarious, there were three massive beings clashing, and suddenly, a lizard decided to join the brawl…She climbed one of the rocks, opened her mouth, and fired a blast at him, striking his screen. He glanced at her momentarily, and she prepared another blast, only for his screen to absorb it…Oh, come on- SERIOUSLY? She jumped back down, sprinting toward them.

At least she was fast, that was a win in all this, wait a- RIGHT! She turned invisible as she darted behind the rocks…Weaving her way through and dodging scattered debris, including white spikes, she managed to reach RTV, leaping onto his leg and swiftly climbing upward, her claws sinking into the fabric as she spiraled her way toward his torso. Upon reaching it, she jumped onto his functional arm, extending her sharp fangs outward and biting into the rigid metal…However, this instantly made her visible again, her body reappearing as she attempted to inflict some damage on him, her tail trying to coil around his arm. She didn’t notice his hand reaching in, and gripping her torso firmly before tearing her off his arm, some small teeth left lodged in it due to the speed… She quickly regenerated them while looking up at him.

"You SOMEHOW are more FOOLISH than the other one."

"HISSSSSSSSS!"

Lari showed her fangs at him as her stinger attempted to pierce his arm, making him glance at her with an expression of sheer disgust.

"Disgusting."

Then he began to squeeze her, bone cracking sounds were heard, causing her to scream and struggle as blood spilled from her mouth. Her head drooped for a moment, fighting to breathe and loosen herself from his grip…Until she slowly lifted her head again, speaking in a sharp, aggressive voice, staring him while blood still dripped from her mouth.

"Go...To hell."

"This isn’t the first time I hear that...Now do me a favor and PERISH!"

And with that his hand moved back just to throw her with everything towards the rocks… She flew for a while, not being able to look back until she heard another huge crack, colliding with a rock as she rolled to the ground…More blood falling from her mouth as her back was broken, shit… She tried to get up, only to tremble and fail miserably, her body struggling to regenerate, she was running out of power to be able to keep do it…

"Was...really that all I was able...to do?" She mumbled while coughing more blood..."Hah...How pathetic...I guess i really shouldn't have tried anything." Her eyes slowly started to close...filling her vision with nothing but the pitch black.

"Choosing the easiest path again?"

Lari opened her eyes again…Only to find a dark silhouette watching her, the countless white eyes with pupils that seemed to pierce through them, staring at her fixedly…She didn't seem to be in the void of the Puzzles dimension now, but in another void.

"I-....I- c-can't do much."

"This is not a excuse."

The creature hissed at her, Lari only looked at it defeated...Making it roll it's numberous eyes and said coldly.

"So this is it huh? What about Marie and SMG4 huh? Are you really willing to let them get hurt, after you was all proud and excited on the earliers fights? Are you willing to let them die because you wasn't strong enough to get up?"

That got a reaction on Lari, making her struggle a bit while slowly beginning to move her arms and legs to get up.

"no-"

"THEN GET UP AND FIGHT! USE ALL THAT POWER YOU STILL HAVE AND DO SOMETHING UNTIL YOU ARE NO LONGER CAPABLE OF DOING ANYTHING ELSE!!! AND IF YOU DIE- at least you will die as a fighter."

She gritted her teeth as her regeneration slowly worked to heal her. Gradually, she pushed herself up on all fours, wobbling slightly, her vision shifting from complete darkness back to the void of the TV dimension, her tail struggled to support her as she leaned against the rock beside her…Her breathing was heavy, every inhale requiring force to keep herself standing. Huffing, with caused to smoke come out of her various nostrils at once, she sharpened her gaze back at the silhouette before her, which gave a wide grin.

"Now we are talking! NOW GO THERE AND HELP THE OTHERS!"

"AYE AYE [Redacted]!"

Lari was now fully healed, though she realized she wouldn’t be able to keep doing this for much longer, it was draining too much of her energy. She then started walking toward the battling titans…But before she moved forward, she stopped and looked back. The creature was no longer there. She gave a soft smile and continued, determined to do something to stop the TV maniac…But what could she do? Most of her attacks were useless…UNLESS INSTEAD OF FIGHTING HIM, SHE ACTED AS A DISTRACTION!! THAT COULD WORK!

(Theme inside her head)

Lari sprinted forward like a wild creature toward them, but quickly changed her path to dart behind the rocks, turning invisible so he wouldn’t notice her, suddenly she halted when she spotted an oddly small stalagmite yet large enough for her to carry with her tail like a club. Opening her mouth, she fired at its base, breaking it free from the ground and coiling her tail around the thinner part. She then returned running, watching the giants battle as she maneuvered behind them, climbing a high rock formation and preparing for a jump…Reappearing from view.

She was behind RTV, now all she had to do was- JUMP- launching herself high and rolling slightly, still gripping the stalagmite with her tail while spinning to gain more speed, she started to descended rapidly and-

BONK!

She smacked him hard with the stalagmite, making him to turn quickly and see her falling infront of him, she gave a timid wave as he attempted to grab her, only for her to vanish, his grip missing her by an inch.

As soon as she hit the ground, she make way toward another tall formation… Reappearing and deciding to poke the bear with a short stick.

"HA! YOU CAN'T CATCH ME!~"

The weird little black and white lizard grinned with excitement while taunting RTV, who turned toward her, part of his screen glitched.

"Tch- like if I want to waste my time in capturing a vermin."

"Okay, he took the bait- time to annoy him a little." She thought.

"Uhum right...like you definitely didn’t wasted a LOT of that just attempting to capture a certain blue guy, a rat and even a kid- and still FAILED!!! What silly me to think you had any chances in catching me~"

She gived a little flick in her own head with one claw, while her tail started wagging to one side and another teasingly.

"Because obviously you can't do that even in your own dimension...do you really need yours guards for everything? Damn you're pathetic- have you considered training? It may help that lack of skills-"

RTV seemed to tilt his eyes and she almost sure she hitted a nerve, making her give him a long smug smile, however that same smile quickly dropped when RTV started running towards her.

"It was at this moment she knew...She fucked up."

Desperately she whipped around to run and nearly slipped off the rocks, hearing rapid footsteps closing in on her.

"NOW YOU COME HERE PEST!"

She quickly glanced back, realizing not only had he obliterated the rock she was standing on, but he was also showing that terrifying expression and closing the gap at an alarming speed…Making her let out a seagull meme scream before running even faster.

"fuck Fuck FUCK FUCK- I DIDN’T ACTUALLY EXPECTED HIM TO GET THAT MAD!-" She heard a massive stomp, momentarily lifting her off the ground before she barely managed to land again and barely dodged a kick.

Apparently, the more she dodged him, the angrier he gets, because she was almost sure his speed was increasing by the second.

"OK [Redacted] TIME TO LOCK IN, ONE MORE TIME!! PLEASE, THAT I HAVE ENOUGH ENERGY AND POWER TO DISTRACT HIM UNTIL THE OTHERS GET THEMSELVES READY!!" With that, she kept running, catching a glimpse with her back eyes that he was preparing up another strike…Instinctively, she turned invisible to avoid the hit, and he appeared to slow down, looking at his surroundings irritably…Time to play tag.

__________

@rtv-puzzlevision-studios

Ok that got WAAAAAAAAAAY too long lmao-

I was planning in making drawings, but sadly my laziness attacked and you know- (I'll prob draw them later in a better way)

@fenicearts420 ... Don't die Deadly noodle.

Victims: @leirom71000 @niranutcake @grinnames @lrayasostripes @purpdrawsthings @scimagic @alelathedragon @theclosetcreature @change-name-later @purplehairball

- She’s going to keep running in a direction away from the others, turning invisible every time he gets too close or prepares a hit.

- She surprisingly can keep up with RTV in terms of speed, but he’ll definitely outpace her eventually, because she’s smaller, meaning she has to dodge more obstacles while he charges straight through them, forcing her to stay invisible to avoid him.

- If someone else takes the lead and attacks him, she may climb or join in for a few strikes, but most will be fire blasts since claws, punches, kicks, bites, and tail strikes won’t deal any damage.

- If she realizes she’s not being much help, she’ll retreat back to SMG4 and the others…Staying on guard to protect them in case of danger.

(If you want feel free to use those lol)

Phrases she can say if he miss:

"MISS ME~"

"Are you even trying buddy?"

"DAMN! YOU REALLY SUCK!"

"Is this really all the power those 5 stars gives you? Jeez- what a wasted time."

Phrases she can say to get his attention if he loses sight of her:

"HEY LAMPPOST! I'M RIGHT HEREEE!"

"SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK!!! You know what i said? YOU SLOW AS F#CK!!!"

"SCREEEEEEEEEEE-" *Creature noises*

"Cough cough- Hiiii RTV!~"

[yhwhsdaughter]

Yoon Bum x Female Reader

It was Chuseok.

Of course most people spent time with their families, a celebration of gratitude.

Bum’s family was nonexistent at this point. Instead, he grasped the flyers to his chest as he attempted to pass them out to passerby.

He was ignored, and one man even knocked down the flyer in his hand as Bum extended it towards him. An hour had passed and Bum had only managed to give out a few— some of which, were now in the trash. Couldn’t they even wait till they were out of view before throwing them?

They weren’t even being charged. Flyers were free, for crying out loud! Bum felt frustration gnawing at his gut. Or perhaps that was just the hunger in his tummy.

He sat down in an empty bench, settling the wrinkled flyers (he’d clutched them too hard) next to him, and took out a roll of gimbap. It was simple. It had carrot, a bit of egg, and danmuji.

Before he could even place them in his mouth, a gust of wind sent most of the pile flying. Bum couldn’t even ponder on the irony of the flyers flying. In a useless attempt to grasp them, he let go of his meal. So now, he was down to half of the flyers—which he needed to pass out for work, promoting the opening of a restaurant—but his gimbap roll was on the ground. His boss had told him to not come back until he’d passed out every single flyer and Bum was doing a miserable job of it.

With trembling hands, he picked up his fallen roll, dusting the dirt off, and took a big bite. His vision became blurry with tears so he only managed to see a hand reaching for the fallen flyers and approach him.

“Are these yours?”

The voice sounded familiar. Too familiar.

Immediately wiping his tears, Bum looked up at your smiling face. He didn’t know you found it cute how he resembled a squirrel, with his cheeks full. With a slightly painful gulp, he swallowed the gimbap in his mouth, hurried to answer so he wouldn’t seem rude. “..Yes!”

“What are these for?”

It was rather obvious if you’d read the print on the paper, but, you wanted to make conversation.

It’s not like you were a stranger to Bum. No, not at all. In fact, the two of you had attended high school together. You two ran in different circles— not like Yoon Bum had a circle. No, he was always alone. You, on the other hand, were quite popular. And pretty. Very pretty. He could hardly look at you that time when the two of you were paired for a project.

He could still remember the kindness of your smile, and the gentle way in which you spoke to him. Honestly, you treated him like you treated everyone else. There didn’t seem to be a mean bone in your body, not like the rest who acted as if he was trash.

It’s something Bum had never managed to forget. He had a crush on you. But, who didn’t at the time?

It’s then that he realized he’d just been staring at you stupidly. “..Uhm!” Even now, you were patient with him. You smiled still, as he rushed to explain.

“These are just…” he tried not to deflate at how he hadn’t had success in distributing them. “For work. Nothing important. Just, a store opening soon…”

“Ahh..” you nodded and stared at the stack.

“Want me to help you pass them out?”

Yoon Bum looked at you like you’d grown another head. Not rudely, just.. surprised. Why? Why would you? Didn’t you have other things, better things to do?

“You…you really..?”

Maybe it was a joke, right ? You weren’t like that though. You could have changed.. his brain argued, trying to reason why you’d simply offer to do this.

Instead, you shrugged casually. “Yeah. There’s lots of people around so it should be done in no time.” You smiled encouragingly. Was it truly that easy as you said? Bum had been trying for an hour but no such luck. Perhaps things would be different, better with you.

Your eyes glanced down at his roll, which was semi wrapped in a crinkled aluminum. “Are you on break?”

He nodded. “..Mm. I was resting for a bit.” In reality his ankles ached after walking for an hour, but he wasn’t going to tell you that. It was a sensitive topic for him.

You joined him on the bench, “What’re you eating?” To anyone else, this would have seemed blatant and at this point, rather annoying. But to Bum, it was touching. All night he’d come across many people and most didn’t even glance at him. A few took the flyers in hopes he wouldn’t follow them. Others looked at him with contempt, downright disgust. So the fact that you were clearly trying, to make conversation, to comfort him? Well, it was touching.

There was a fluttering in his chest.

Again, Bum had to remind himself to not keep staring at you like some lovestruck idiot. He didn’t want to scare you off. “Gimbap. Nothing special.”

It really was nothing special. It’s all he could afford right now. His landlord had been dogging him for the missing rent so Bum had to sustain himself off cheap alternatives. “It’s not that good though..” he mumbled. The gimbap was stale, probably a few days old which would explain why he got it so cheaply.

“Hm?” You leaned closer, not catching what he’d muttered.

Red bloomed on his cheek at the sudden closeness. “W-What?”

“Is it good?”

The thundering in his chest subsided just a bit when he realized she had not heard him. “Oh. Not really..no.” It was pathetic, really. Here he was, talking with his longtime crush and he couldn’t even seem decent.

“Oh..”

You seemed to be in thought before looking back at him. “How about we treat ourselves once we finish with the flyers?” You suggested. Bum didn’t have the heart to turn you down because just you being here, keeping him company was enough…

He didn’t have the money for it, but he nodded, a tender smile on his face, mirroring your own. It quickly died down the moment you asked, “So what’s your name?”

Uh..

I guess he shouldn’t be too surprised you wouldn’t remember him. Why would you? He was just another face in the crowd. And high school had been nearly ten years ago.

“Bum. Yoon Bum.” As if to add a sense of familiarity, he blurted out, “But you can call me Bum Bum..”

He immediately wanted to bury himself out of embarrassment. Bum Bum?? No one called him that. Why did he say that.. he closed his eyes when he heard you laugh softly.

“Bum Bum, then.”

His cheeks burned but he could see that you weren’t being malicious.

After you introduced yourself, which he already knew, you turned to him, “Should we go?” His gimbap forgotten, Bum nodded and followed you like a puppy would follow its master. “Y-Yes, I’ll go with you.” To the ends of the earth if you wished.

He was surprised as the fastness of which you both—mostly you—handed out the flyers. Bum shuffled shyly, extending his hands nearby while you almost shoved the paper in people’s direction. They looked a bit startled but your pleasant smile made them take the slightly-crumbled paper.

You were done first, heading over when Bum was still struggling. He felt like you were his savior when you took the diminishing stack from his hands and began to hand them out. He merely stuck to you, observing as you did this with ease, charming people along. A few guys even smiled back, eyeing you.

Soon enough, the flyers were gone.

“We did it!”

You held out your hand. Bum couldn’t help the small smile that crept onto his lips as he slowly raised his own hand to touch yours, “We did it..”

Not exactly a high five but his fingers grazing yours left a tingle behind. Why did he feel like a shy schoolgirl after passing out the flyers with you? It was just cheap labor for extra money.

His sudden giddiness faltered. How pathetic of him.. why were you truly doing this? It felt cruel. How could you act like it was nothing? As if doing this with him, on Chuseok, was fun ?

You should be with family, not a nobody like him. He couldn’t even hand out the stupid papers without your help.

“What’s wrong?” you tilted your head, almost innocently, not able to hear the turmoil inside his head.

“M-mm.. nothing..”

“Should we get something to eat now?”

The little money he’d earned would go to paying for this meal. Back during those terrible years, a few of the popular kids intermingled with the school thugs, they’d drag take him to a place and make him pay the bill after eating. Bum had to remind himself it wasn’t like that with you.

He nodded.

On the walk to a small restaurant, he kept his head down. This felt like a date. How many times had he dreamed of this when he was younger? This was probably the same dream that a lot of guys had in high school.

Bum really wished he had enough money to treat you to something nice, like you deserved.

You didn’t seem to mind though, sitting down as you looked over to him. “The japchae here is pretty good.” There was several people occupying the rest of the tables, so it was a bit crowded. “The portion serving is quite large too so maybe we could share?” Bum was trying to process your proposal as you continued, “I also want songpyeon so maybe we can share that too.”

“Ah, I’ll be paying so don’t have any reservations and just order what you want…” you rambled, looking a bit embarrassed.

Bum blinked, his cheeks colored pink.

Cute.

“Y-Yeah, we can order japchae and songpyeon.”

You found him to be very agreeable. Not once had he actually went against anything you said, even prior in coming to eat. This just made you wonder about a lot of things.

The idea of sharing anything with you was fine with him. More than fine actually. He found it endearing when you clanked his glass with yours after the food was served.

“To new opportunities.”

He did the same, digging in after you.

His day had been rough but it had taken a pleasant course throughout the night. Being here with you… it was nice.

“Mm..! What did you get?”

You showed your share of songpyeon, which were filled with chestnuts and honey. His had sesame seeds and jujubes.

After paying, you accompanied Bum back to his job, originally forgetting the main purpose of why you helped him out.

“Ha! That was good!” you sighed, one hand rubbing your belly. Bum watched you from the corner of his eye. You’d actually, nearly fought him for the bill.

He had decided to just pay for you both. He’d only managed to get rid of the flyers because of your help so it would be unfair of him to make you pay, but when the owner brought the bill—you insisted and wouldn’t let him do so.

He had the urge to hug you and cling on.

Bum entered the small shop to collect his money while you waited outside. The area was a bit darker and calmer than other parts. You leaned against the wall, feeling the food settling down in your stomach. Good food always tasted better with good company.

There wasn’t much light either, except for the street lamps and the neon lights of the small restaurant that had yet to open.

“Perfect place to get robbed..”

Not like you had anything. The little cash you carried had been spent on the meal which you both shared. At this, your cheeks warmed. It was worth it.

Bum probably didn’t remember you, so you had to take the oblivious route. It would’ve been weird if you had approached him with familiarity and risk getting an odd look. Not that you thought Bum would react like that. He was nice…

You chuckled, “Bum Bum..”

What a cutie. No one called him that. Had he just blurted that or did he really want you to call him that? No matter.

“I hope he only lets me call him that..”

Seeing as he was taking a bit long, you peeked over the corner. The sight made you frown. The owner of the shop had an angry face, throwing the money on the ground as he spoke with a raised voice. You couldn’t really make out what he was saying but it sure didn’t sound like he was congratulating him.

Bum had bent down to pick up the bills.

The door bell chimed softly as you entered, causing the two men to look at you.

“Uhm, excuse me..” you took out a folded flyer from your back pocket. “Is this the restaurant that’s being advertised?”

The man was a bit taken aback. He hadn’t expected anyone to show up as it was clearly not opening hours. All the little tables had the chairs on top and there was no one there except for them.

He cleared his throat, “Yes.”

Your expression cleared into faux happiness, “I just w-wanted to say that I’m really excited for it. This young man really convinced me to come here but..” you laughed, “I guess I came too early, didn’t I?”

Disgusting. How could anyone fall for that act?

Bum obviously knew you were trying to help him but his wide eyes made you think that your performance was really selling. You pressed down a smirk.

Still got it.

“Is that so?” The man grinned and you fought the urge to make a face as he then changed his attitude, slapping Bum in the back as if they were buddies. “Bum! Why didn’t you tell me you were an excellent salesman! Getting me customers this early..” he chuckled. “Here. The rest of your pay.”

So he was withholding money from Bum!?

Your fingers twitched in annoyance. Although you had an idea what was going on, you didn’t think someone would actively try to take advantage of Bum like that.

It shouldn’t come as a shock though. People in high school were the same. To this day you regret not sticking up for him then.

You waved to the man, stupid smile in place as you waited for Bum. Upon exiting the sh-tty place, your face settled into a frown. “What a jerk..”

Head swiveling towards Bum, you asked, “Did he really give you all the money?” He nodded.

Bum had yet to say anything and you worried you may have made things worse. In reality, he was shocked and grateful. Yet again, you’d helped him.

If he kept track of all the nice actions you’d done towards him, he would lose count relatively quickly. He wanted to kiss you. But that was too much right?

“Truth is..” you rubbed your neck awkwardly. This would work better if you were honest. “We actually went to high school together. It’s been a while so I understand if you don’t remember—”

“I do.”

Bum flushed when you turned to look at him. “I-I do remember you.”

The smile you gave him was genuine, that much he knew. And it made him happy. He had witnessed you act fake towards his boss, and it reminded him many times of when people pretended to be nice towards him… the difference was, that you didn’t seem to be pretending with Bum. He could tell. Probably.

It was not like you had hidden intentions. Why go through all this trouble, just for him?

Well, that’s what he thought anyway.

“Walk me home?” The two of you had been walking straight without direction. He was snapped out of his thoughts, letting out a muffled sound which made you laugh.

“Walk you home?” you offered when he didn’t reply.

For the nth time, his cheeks blossomed with pink. The day was nearly over and you still wanted to spend more time with him?

“Uh.. yeah.”

You laughed again.

It’s been a while since you’ve laughed so much.

Both of you walked for a few minutes, reaching a darker and shadier area with lots of trash and a cluster of shabby residences.

It’s where Bum lived.

He didn’t expect you to walk him to the door, especially because it was kind of embarrassing.

What he really didn’t expect, was for you to wave and walk across a few jjokbang. His facial expression said what he was thinking.

“I live here too.”

—

To be continued, lol.

[fenicearts420]

The Finale | RTV Tour Script 6

INT. TV DIMENSION - ???

The group of participants are floating in RTV's TV Dimension, waiting with baited breath for what's to come next. Marie floats close to Lari. After everything that's happened so far, she has come to trust her as an ally.

MARIE (in her head, shakily): "Al-Alright. Whatever this bastard has in store for us, we'll be ready for it."

Marie looks over to Lari and gives her a smile until one of the bigger TVs start to grow a body, signaling that RTV is now here.

There are dark pixels along the side of his screen face. He looks over into the reflection of a switched off TV before turning back to face the participants.

RTV (with a sneer in his voice): “Why Hello my not-so-dear tour participants. Glad to see you all here! Whether you came through willingly… and some, who needed a push… to come through."

Marie's tail spikes raise up in fear at RTV's voice. Whatever happens next, she's not going down without a proper fight. And she can tell most of the other participants feel the same way.

THE SCAMMER: “Excuse me to interrupt you Mr. Puzzles, what if I told you I had something revolutionary, would you be interested in any chances traveling to unknown universes?”

Like I said, most…

A blonde woman floats up to RTV with the intention of giving him an offer.

THE SCAMMER: “Let me present to you my gizmos or stars.”

She takes a blue star out of her pocket.

MARIE (in her head, concerned): "What is she doing?!"

THE SCAMMER: “I promise I’m not here to scam anyone, I do indeed know my ‘name’ may cause some suspicions. But it is just a direct translation of my family name ‘De La Escroquerie.'Actually my family were scammed by those filthy scammers but that's just an unimportant detail.”

RTV's expression turns into an obvious sneer at the blonde woman's attempt to strike him a deal. However, he allows her to continue her pitch as she somehow places the star flat on nothing and it opens. The Scammer sticks her hand through the portal and pulls out a Mr. Puzzles figurine.

THE SCAMMER: “As you can see the interdimensional portal has indeed worked. Huh, it looks just like you, what are the odds? Sadly I can’t sell you mine since you know, you have to be linked to it and I forgot how to create them, but there are the instructions at my base on my computer, and the only possible way to go there at the moment is by my very own VESPA that is parked outside of your STUDIO.”

She takes out a contract with a pen.

THE SCAMMER: “Do we have a deal?”

If Marie was in human form, she would've facepalmed herself. Instead, she only watches in terror (with her eye twitching slightly) as this woman seriously attempts to bargain with this business man slash MANIAC in order to get out of here. RTV takes a glance at the contract before responding with an amused snort.

RTV: "Cute. But that's a NO."

With that, RTV sends The Scammer flying off to the side with the flick of his hands.

MARIE (in her head): "Oh f*ck…"

RTV: “Oh, and for your INFORMATION: I can already reach other universes just fine MYSELF. Maybe remember that before placing portals in MY studio…”

Marie starts to panic in her head as RTV manipulates Nira into being mind-controlled.

RTV: “Move to the sidelines until further orders.”

Nira nods then takes her place on one of the TVs before looking back towards the group. Marie nervously eyes the white squirrel and inadvertently tunes out RTV. She only manages to look towards RTV after the commotion between him and the red-ribboned participant starts as he grabs her by the neck and throws her across the dimension.

RTV: "Anyone else?"

Marie became more tense as RTV's gaze lands back on the group. Her tail swishes back and forth, waiting for him to do something else.

RTV: “Tsk Tsk, Now? As I was SAYING,-"

Despite the situation requiring her full attention, Marie can't help but get lost in her thoughts.

MARIE (in her head): "How the hell are all of us gonna get out of here? Let alone take down this psycho?!?! Ok, ok, ok. Calm down. From what my world's Puzzles told me, there's a channel that's supposed to be the exit, right? We just gotta find that and we'll at least have a chance."

She's torn from her thoughts at the sound of SMG4 and what looks like Animsay without her TV head getting pushed back by RTV after trying to get a hit on him.

MARIE (in her head): "Oh no he didn't…what am I saying of course he did."

She looks over to Lari to see her pissed off based on her now sharper appreance and the smoke coming out of her mask.

LARI: "No one…and when I say…NO ONE…Will hurt this version of SMG4- ON. MY. WATCH!"

As Lari summons her crystals, Marie gets into her Razorwhip style battle stance before lunging forward with her. She's right by Lari's side as RTV sizes down and Lari shoots her crystals through his cape. As Lari moves slightly away from her, Marie goes to make circles around them, waiting for the opportunity to attack. Lari and Sci, who had joined her side, go to attack RTV and he manages to dodge both of them with his digital eyes locking onto Lari. Marie's eyes narrow at that.

RTV: “It looks like we are simply MEANT to cross paths."

He snaps his fingers.

RTV: “Allow me to get RID of that though.”

Lari's crystals suddenly disappear which makes Lari's hair stand up, quickly slipping back into defense.

MARIE (in her head): "YOU DICK!"

Marie goes to shoot him with her spikes as RTV sizes back up again after the ribbon girl slashes at him with her two tentacles. RTV shields himself from Marie's spikes with his hand and uses it to try and mow down the group with them quickly scattering. As Marie continues to circle RTV, looking for a chance to attack again, she sees Sci accidentally knock Lari right in front of RTV's finger gun.

MARIE (in her head): "LARI!!"

RTV shoots Lari who just manages to block his attack with her arm. Lari screams from the shot and Marie swoops in, grabs her by the clothes with her mouth, and flies her out of sight of RTV. Marie looks at Lari's electrical scars along her arm and neck with a worried expression.

MARIE (in her head): "Please live, please live, please live, please live, PLEASE LIVE!"

She lands in a safe place, ready to defend Lari from the clones that are approaching them before Lari slowly gets up, staggering a little bit. Marie makes a worried sound at Lari before she raises her hand at her.

LARI: "Calm down- arGh- Everything is alright ok? I'm fine- see?"

Lari shows Marie her arm and how the scars being to quickly disappear. Marie is confused. Lari looks at her arm and breaths a sigh of relief before looking back at Marie.

LARI (proudly): "I'll live don't worry, it takes more than a shock to kill me!"

Marie looks at Lari from head to toe, not believing her. They both look back as the clones approach them. Marie becomes alarmed and gets back into her battle stance.

LARI: "MARIE!- Take care of the others! I'll try to create a passage for yall-"

Marie looks back towards Lari as she says that.

MARIE (in her head): "What?! No, I'm not leaving you here by yourself!"

Marie lowers her head slightly towards Lari and growls, making her step back.

LARI: "Wha- COME ON! You are literally one of the only people here, that I saw, who have all the capacity to protect the others easily, you already saved my ass in a beat 2 times now! Let me be the tank for you now will ya?"

MARIE: "…"

Marie responds by giving Lari a tail whip right behind her head.

LARI: "OuCH- okay OKAY FINE-!"

With that, Lari changes growing taller, growing crossed horns, long deer-like ears, huge claws, and a long snake like tail with a crystal stinger at the end. Marie looks at Lari, perplexed.

LARI: "So…Are you ready?"

After Lari asks that, she strongly slaps her tail on the ground and smiles at Marie. She gives an amused huff at Lari before getting back into fighting position, ready to attack the clones closing in on them.

LARI: "That the best BEAST WINS!"

Marie nods at that before spreading her wings and raising her tail spikes. They both roar at the clones and split up to each take on half of the ones surrounding them. She manages to cut a few of them up before facing off with some more, not noticing one of them sneaking up behind her preparing a shot.

LARI: "HERE I COME!"

Marie quickly turns towards the sound of Lari's voice as she jumps on the clone's face and rolls with him a few meters ahead. As the other clones are distracted by Lari, Marie takes the chance to quickly fly up before diving back down, following the short line of clones, slicing them in half with her wings before landing again. When she looks back again, she sees Lari with the clone she attacked without a head. Lari uses it as a shield to cover Marie's back from the other clones attacks before tossing it up and tail whipping it towards the other clones who were shooting at them, pinning them to the ground. Using the opportunity, Marie shoots several spikes at the clones, nearly missing Lari while impaling the clones she aimed for.

LARI: "OOOoOO nice!"

Lari turns towards Marie while she moved onto slicing more clones with her wings. With one of Marie's wings half open, Lari takes the opportunity to jump on top of it. Luckily, she is surprisingly light despite her form.

LARI: "TOSS ME!"

Marie nods at Lari before quickly raising her wing upward, tossing Lari into the air. Marie proceeded to shoot a fire attack at one of the clones, but just missed. As the clone prepares to shoot her, Marie looks up to see Lari in the shape of a black ball similar to Sonic the Hedgehog and proceeds to dash back, keeping her body sideways to the clone before Lari slams her tail down into it and splits it in half. Lari lands with a loud thud and turns to look at Marie. Marie looks around them to see there are no more clones to fight at the moment.

LARI: "HAHA! GG! Ya know, this actually IS a bit fun! Ignoring the parts where I get beat up of course…Cough cough."

Marie gives a soft huff at Lari and shakes her head a bit before more RTV clones appeared and surrounded them.

MARIE (in her head): "REALLY?!"

LARI: "Are you kidding me…Just HOW MANY CLONES DOES THIS BASTARD HAVE?!?!"

Maire takes a deep breath, ready to take on more clones until the original RTV raises his voice.

RTV: "ENOUGH!!!"

Marie looks up to see RTV with the two fox girls in his grasp. Her eyes widen.

RTV: "Now, ALL OF YOU! You had all your fun here enough. CONGRATS! You and your abilities, resourcefulness, teamwork and… sneaky… unheard talents.”

RTV glares at the fox girls in his grip with it tightening it, slightly.

RTV: "I'm impressed…well, half, impressed."

While RTV goes about talking, Marie watches the two Rayas in his grip with panic forming, especially as RTV goes to tighten his grip. Marie turns her gaze back to the clones, raising her tail spikes to attack them once again. She hears the sound of Lari hissing at the clones which in turns prompts Marie to join in, growling at them. All of a sudden she stops to see one of the Rayas grow in size, breaking out of RTV's grip.

MARIE (in her head): "What?"

RTV: "W-What. Are. YOU???"

With that, the sized up Rayas grabs the normal sized one and dashes away. With that, Marie turns her focus back to the clones, quickly launching her spikes at them with her tail. Lari then charges to grab a spike and stab one of the clones with it. Lari throws the clone up and Marie jumps up, flapping her wings before she tail whips it, sending it flying into some of the other clones. She jumps slightly as she feels Lari's hand grab her while she's in the air.

LARI: "BERSERKER STYLE!"

Marie lights up at the reference made and starts spinning around while still flying, throwing Lari towards the clones, destroying one of them in the process. Marie then dives down and opens her wings, cutting through the middle of some more clones nearby, landing right next to Lari. Marie looks to see more clones, sighing in her head while raising her tail and wings to fight some more. Before they can, the sight of the bigger Rayas being shot by RTV catches Marie's attention, making her stop in her tracks.

RAYAS: "No… 'REAL MEEEE'!!!!!!!”

RTV: "56 now…,”

As the other Rayas holds the original one, Marie looks on in horror at the sight of yet other participant's corpse.

MARIE (in her head): "Oh god…not again…"

She can't help but feel empathetic towards Rayas, even if she barely knew her. After Rayas' speech, RTV speaks up again.

RTV: ​“It was indeed a GREAT day…until someone had to mess it up. Shame.”

Marie looks up at RTV and where there had been fear was now replaced with rage.

MARIE (in her head): "You…monster."

RTV: “ENOUGH OF THIS SOB STORY!”

RTV looms over the participants, grabbing TV's on the side leaving them with dents from his grip.

RTV: “You think you can BEAT me here? In MY world?!"

LARI: "Yes."

Marie looks at Lari and chuckles slightly, momentarily distracted by the gruesome scene.

He points a finger at the dead Rayas.

RTV: “THAT’S WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU!”

LARI: "Hopefully not-"

He lets out a cackle before his expression turns into a sneer.

RTV: “You’re right. Why TALK it out when you can FIGHT it out?"

He puts his hand on his chest.

RTV: “Well, it appears you’ve made your decision and I’ve made MINE.”

​​He snaps his fingers and they light up with electricity.

RTV: “56 participants to go. Sorry, but I’m not hiring for a movie sequel. This ends here and NOW.”

The clones begin surrounding them again. Marie manages to cut a few to pieces before two of them tackle her and try to keep her pinned to the ground. Suddenly, Marie hears a yell in her direction coming from SMG4, telling her to follow them into the channels. With the two clones distracted by SMG4, Marie knocks them off and away from her before going to follow SMG4 and the other group members. Once she does, however, one of the clones gives Lari a brutal gut punch, sending her backwards and barreling towards Marie. Before Marie can react, Lari crashes into her, sending them both into the channels.

-

EXT. BERK - DAY

The group lands into some grass, having just escaped into the channels. Marie's eyes slowly open after having just crash landed along with Lari and the others. She goes to stand up a little bit, shaking herself off. Lari approaches her waving her hands in an embarrassed manner.

LARI: "I'M SO SORRY!- I DIDN'T MEAN TO HIT YA-"

Just as Marie goes to reassure Lari that she's alright, she takes notice of crowd of people surrounding them. She quickly recognized them as the vikings from the movie her powers embody: How To Train Your Dragon. She also quickly takes notice of the chief standing at the front of the tribe who she knew to be Stoick the Vast himself.

MARIE (in her head): "Ah shit…"

She stands up close to Lari, watching the vikings with wariness as SMG4 tries to reason with them.

SMG4 (nervous): "We…come in peace?"

STOICK: "In peace, you have a dragon with you!"

Stoick points at Marie as well as the boo-like participant who tries to teleport away, only for it to not work.

SMG4: "Well…"

MARIE (in her head): "This isn't gonna work. You can't reason with these people in a situation like this, 4. I should know. We can't keep fighting. We need an escape route."

Marie looks around, trying to find a way out of the situation. She looks back down at the ground and an idea comes to her. Stepping away from the group, she jumps up into the air and transforms from a Razorwhip into the snake-like boulder class dragon she and these vikings knew as the Whispering Death. Using her strong, rotating teeth, she quickly dives into the ground, creating a make-shift tunnel for her and the other participants to escape. She can barely hear the sounds of everything else behind her from the sounds of digging and tearing up dirt, rocks, and tree roots. After a while of tunneling, Marie breaks through to the surface. She feels a sudden pain and hisses as the sunlight shining into her eyes catches her off guard. She slinks back into the dark tunnel away from the sun, leaving enough room for everyone else climb out themselves.

SMG4: “Alright, everyone here? sigh Let’s find a portal and move on to the next channel. If we are lucky, we aren’t too far from 999…”

The sound of a loud deep growl catches Marie's attention. She'd recognize that growl anywhere.

SMG4: “Ah great…Hey, we don’t want any trouble. In fact, we will be right out of your scales-”

Marie peeks out over the tunnel to confirm her suspicions and she saw him. Toothless, the Night Fury. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. Becoming triggered due to past events in her life, she grows agitated towards him, growling and hissing loudly with Toothless following suit before readying himself to fire a plasma blast at the her.

HICCUP: "Toothless, wait!"

Before Toothless fires, Hiccup shows up, running to Toothless' side and turning his head away from the group. Toothless continues to growl as Hiccup tries to calm him down.

HICCUP: “What are you doing?!”

He turns his gaze towards the group and then towards Marie. Marie lowers her head down slightly as Hiccup locks eyes with her. He then turns his attention towards SMG4 while still keeping his hands on Toothless to keep him calm. Marie keeps her eyes locked with Toothless glare, ready to defend the group should he try anything. As much as she loves this movie, her goal right now to protect everyone here and help them get out alive.

HICCUP: “You have one too…?”

SMG4: “Yeah…No worries though, she’s 100% harmless. Listen, we can’t exactly stay here and I don’t think the majority wants us here anyway…”

SMG4 glances at Toothless before continuing.

SMG4: “You don’t happen to have seen a black and white square?”

HICCUP: “Oh! Yeah, me and Toothless saw it some time ago, but didn’t get very close. What is it exactly?”

SMG4: “Our way home. Where is it located?”

HICCUP: “I can show you!”

SMG4: "…or that."

Despite SMG4 and Toothless' hesitancy, Hiccup hops onto Toothless' back and they take off into the air.

SMG4: "Hey! We can't all fly!"

HICCUP: "Oh, right…"

With that, the group follows the dragon and his rider with Marie taking to tunneling again to avoid the sunlight. She keeps up with the rest of the group as best as she can when they reach a cliff along the coast. Marie tunnels out on the side of the cliff that's casting a shadow in order to avoid the sunlight and joins the rest of the group while Hiccup and Toothless land next to the portal.

HICCUP: “That’s it. I actually had so many more questions to ask. Like how did you meet your dragon? And who are these other people? You know, the…not human looking ones.”

SMG4 rubs his neck before glancing at Marie who looked back at him after Hiccup asked his question.

SMG4: “You could say we ran into each other and now are sticking together to survive.”

Marie tilts her head a little at that but quickly brushes it off. He was telling the truth after all. Hiccup nods his head before he and Toothless step to the side of the portal for the group to enter through.

SMG4: “Alright, let’s go guys!”

SMG4 steps into the portal with everyone else following. Marie lets everyone else go through first so she can bring up the rear. She glances over at the boy and his dragon, tensing up a little at the night fury before making her way into the portal.

-

INT. ??? - ???

Upon entering the portal, the group comes across a broad, dark hallway. As Marie enters through, she takes note of the size of the hallway and shifts back into her human form to accommodate herself and everyone else. She takes deep breathes trying to keep herself standing and regaining some energy from all the fighting and digging. Looking up, she sees the other half of the group that went into the channels with Ani taking the lead.

SMG4: “Oh hey, you’re alive as well.”

ANI: “Where did you end up?”

SMG4: “How to train your dragon. You?

ANI: "Hell."

Marie grows a concerned look on her face before Ani speaks up again.

ANI: “If we are all together again we may as well continue.”

SMG4: “Right…”

With all the participants, or what was left of them, back together they make their way through the creepy hallway. Marie stays close to Lari as they walk. Marie wraps her arms around herself from the anxiety forming from the uneasiness of the hallway. When they reach the end of the hallway, they see what looks like a child's bedroom with a huge TV sitting at the back of the wall showing nothing but static.

MARIE (in her head): "Oooh, I don't like that. That's what you see in horror movies and scary games before you get brutally murdered!"

Since they don't have much of a choice, SMG4 takes a step through the portal and everyone follows suit. The other side seems to show the same hallway they were just in.

ANI: "It's a loop?"

SMG4 shrugs.

SMG4: “Only one way to find out.”

MARIE (in her head): "Oh, great. We're playing P.T. now. Fantastic."

The group repeats the same actions of going through the portal and coming back on the other side with each loop being different from the last. After seven loops, the group comes across a trail of liquid static leading to the bedroom. When SMG4 opens the door, instead of there being a big TV, there was only a smaller one placed on a small child's body with liquid static dripping down from the screen and where the metal met flesh. Marie's eyes widen and holds back a gasp, putting her hands over her mouth. She remembers the Mr. Puzzles from her world telling her a bit about his past and the events that led to him becoming his TV-headed self, but it was much more horrifying to truly see it for herself. She feels the warmth of tears welling up in her eyes. This may be RTV's past self, but this is still a child.

ANI: “Puzzles really doesn’t like his past self, does he?”

GRINNAMES: “We must proceed with caution, you can’t trust creepy little children! I would know because I was a creepy little child once-”

Grinnames halts before perking up.

GRINNAMES: “Wait…what if this is Mr. Puzzles’ secret love child? We could use this to our advantage…”

Marie doesn't move. She can't take her eyes off the horrific sight before what SMG4 says pulls her away for a moment.

SMG4: “I don’t think he’s alive."

Two of the participants, a child and a red robot bunny approach little Mr. Puzzles' body.

ANI: “Be careful. If this really a part of his subconscious or something then I don’t wanna know how messed up it can get.”

The two participants carefully tap against the kid's head before lightly shaking him by the shoulders. They immediately stumble back as the kid with the TV head straightens and looks towards the group.

SMG4: “…I guess that settles that.”

SMG4 slowly approaches the kid which only causes them to move closer to the wall.

SMG4: “Hey, hey, it’s okay…”

SMG4 kneels down to their level.

SMG4: “I’m SMG4.”

He hesitantly holds out his hand for the kid to take. The kid reaches for it and shakes it before letting go.

SMG4 (giving a small smile): “Nice to meet you too, dude. Look, me and my friends are trying to find a way out. Do you happen to know the way to Channel 999?”

The kid quickly nods his head at the question before making his way towards Sci and grabbing her hand, leading her towards the hallway and to another door leading down into a basement. As the group enters the basement it expands to accommodate everyone before they come across another portal with a saw lying right in front of it. The kid stops and looks at the group in confusion before tugging on Sci's hand and stepping halfway through the portal. The group tears there eyes away from the saw and follows the kid into the portal.

-

Channel 999

The group is now in a dark, rocky void that leads up to the portal that's meant to be their way out. RTV looms over the portal with his TV head leaning on his hand. The white squirrel who got mind controlled earlier is standing next to the portal awaiting orders. Marie's heart starts racing again.

MARIE (in her head): "Of course he's here. Why wouldn't he be."

RTV: “It took you a while, maybe even LONGER than the crew.”

RTV's eyes land on SMG4 before taking notice of his past self who hides behind Sci as soon as he sees his intimidating form. Marie looks towards his past self before looking back at RTV, panic slowly growing inside her. A hysterical chuckle escapes him sending a chill down Marie's spine.

RTV: “Ah and OF COURSE you once again couldn’t help to stay away from things that don’t CONCERN you.”

RTV straightens himself before placing both hands next to the portal and a maniacal smile shows up on his screen.

RTV: “So…who’s ready for the FINALE?”

Marie stands frozen in fear of what's to come next until she suddenly hears a metallic shrill echo through the void. She turns towards the cause of the noise to see Sci now holding a trident pointed directly at RTV, ready to protect the child hiding behind her. Marie's fear is momentarily swayed at the sight before everything turns to chaos. RTV and some of the other participants start attacking. Marie loses track of Lari in the chaos and ducks behind a rock formation to collect herself. Almost everyone else seems to know what they need to do here. However, Marie is stuck. Unlike beforehand with the Wr3n bots and the clones, she just feels lost. Her breathing becomes heavier as she's trembling and she tries to rack her brain to figure out what to do.

MARIE (in her head): "Shit, shit, shit, SHIT!! What would work here?! May-maybe I could knock him over as a Quaken or Rumblehorn? No, that won't work. What about using Deathgripper acid on him? No, frick! They're not stealthy enough! Typhoomerang? Deathsong?! Hell, what about a Dramillion?! No, no, no, no, no, no-"

She's pulled from her thoughts by the rumbling of something big that hadn't been there before. Marie peeks her head out a little from behind the rock formation to see Sci in her leviathan form taking on RTV.

MARIE (in her head): "Woah…"

She continues to watch them for a few moments before she notices Sci starting to struggle against RTV. She takes a sharp breath in and thinks back to everything that's happened so far, including running into Hiccup and Toothless and then another idea comes to her. She then looks towards the portal, then the participants, then back at Sci and RTV. Looking around, she remembers part of the reason she came on this tour in the first place, to help protect everyone else.

MARIE (in her head): "That's right. We can't beat him in here. But we just need to escape. I can at least make sure everyone else gets out of here alive."

She hesitates while gripping a part of the rock formation.

MARIE (in her head, sadly): "Okra…MY Mr. Puzzles…I hope y'all know I love you and care about you…but I have to do this."

Marie takes a deep breath in and out, waits until RTV isn't looking, and uses the rest of her strength to shift into one of the largest dragons in the boulder class, the Screaming Death. Her body becomes long and spikey again like the Whispering Death. Only this time, she's bigger, meaner, and has snow white scales with solid blood red eyes. Using the opportunity to catch him of guard, Marie dives down into the ground and starts tunneling, her body rotating and making the sound of a whip in the process. While Marie is tunneling, RTV manages to get the drop on Sci during the fight. With a sick grin on his face, he has his working finger gun loaded and pointed directly at Sci, ready to shoot. Before he can, Marie breaks through the ground and grabs him by the arm with her sword-like teeth. She then spins around before letting go and throwing RTV against another rock formation. RTV looks up and, for a second, is shocked to see the face of the Screaming Death. Marie looks over to Sci and nods at her before turning her attention back towards RTV whose expression now shows him seething with rage. Marie narrows her eyes at him.

MARIE (in her head): "I'm gonna make sure you see me in your nightmares, COUYON!"

With that, Marie now joins the fight alongside Sci.

-

@rtv-puzzlevision-studios

NOTE: The drawing shown is not meant to be an accurate depiction of the scene. I literally just made it cuz it'd be a cool way to end off the tour for my response.

Had some help for this last one from @scimagic and @lari-the-dragon

People mentioned: @leirom71000, @niranutcake, @lrayasostripes, @grinnames, @entityarts, @alelathedragon, @selfshippinglover, and @the-masked-astro

Ani, props to you and your writing skills cuz this tour was a roller-coaster of lore and character interactions! I had a lot of fun doing this and I'm excited to see the final chapter to this event! X)

(And see RTV get his shit rocked hehehe)

[somanyratsinthewalls]

Burning Hearts Chapter 1

HI WELCOME TO MY FAVORITE PROJECT! This series is what my fic Prescribed Medicine was loosely based on. I've decided to bring it to life in a multi part series! This chapter is sfw and building background. I will probably post to AO3 since the series lovers live there.

Pairing: Wyvern Devil Fruit Reader (female) x Law

Burning Hearts Chapter 1: A Heated End. A Cold Beginning.

Summary: You were teleported across the globe in an instant, away from your crew. Your body was badly broken and beaten, thrust into the harsh landscape of a Northern island. You are discovered by the Heart Pirates and brought back to health. Startled upon waking up in a foreign place with an unfamiliar crew, you are shocked with the news that you’ll be spending two years there. Trafalgar Law, the captain of the Heart Pirates has made a promise to train you, but will it become something more than a mentor relationship?

Background: O/C (Rito Daisy) is a Strawhat Pirate. Long hair, dark brown with a streak of grey hair coming from the crown. Heterochromia, one eye brown and the other grey. O/C (Daisy) has a Zoan devil fruit power, although she is unaware what type of creature it came from. She was forced to ingest the fruit as a slave, therefore is resentful and only uses it when completely necessary. The only powers she has harnessed are black, bat like wings, and refuses to explore her powers further. O/C joined the Straw Hat Pirates a brief time before the Water 7 Arc. 

— —

Chapter 1: A Heated End. A Cold Beginning. 

Milky, iridescent ribbons of northern lights swirled quickly across your range of vision. Were you laying on the ground? You felt your long hair tickling your back, nothing impeding it. With nothing above or behind you, you were whizzing through space and time. You tried to move your hands. 

Your feet. 

Your wings. 

Nothing. You couldn’t move an inch. Your head spun with dizziness and confusion. What happened? Where were you? The last thing you remembered was-

“Wait Sanji-!” You called out after being face to face with the padded paw of Bartholomew Kuma on Sabaody Archipelago. 

“Don’t touch her you brute!” Sanji’s eyes flared with aggression as he aimed a kick towards your attacker. 

And that was the last thing you saw. You had been bested badly by Kizaru and Kuma, just as the rest of your crew had. You knew you had broken bones. You realized this now that the adrenaline had worn off and you could finally feel your injuries. The delicate tissue of your wings was ripped to shreds and you felt it deep in your flesh. You couldn’t even retract your wings and resume your full human form. You were helpless in your involuntary stasis. How long had you been flying away? The northern lights begin to meld together in your vision and your eyelids flutter closed again… 

— — — 

*WOOOOSH* *CRASH*

Your body crashed into the side of a snowy mountain like a dropped bomb. Pine branches snapped. Squirrels and foxes scampered away quickly. Boulders shattered at the sheer force of the impact. For a moment you were able to open your eyes. 

You were blinded by bright white. After a few moments of believing you had died and were ascending into the heavens, the craggy mountainside came into view. But before you could fully assess your situation, the rock face beneath you gave way and you were falling again. 

You scream but your mouth was quickly covered with snow from the incoming avalanche. You feel more of your bones snap. The pain is unbearable. Your head spins… 

— — — 

“Way too fuckin’ cold…” Penguin struggles to lift his legs from the knee deep snow as he trudges towards the woods on the mountain. 

“Captain said to get wood. You wanna tell him you were ‘too cold,’ Penguin?” Ikkaku snapped at her exploration partner while she too, struggled to move through the snow. 

“I’d like to see him out here in this shit! I can barely tell my hand from my dick in this blizzard!” Penguin shot back. 

“That’s probably because you can barely see your- Ooof!” Ikkaku trips over something in her path and takes a nose dive into the fresh powder in front of her. 

“Hah! Karma, bitch!” Penguin laughs and pulls his hat back. Upon clearing his vision, he sees what his crew mate had tumbled over. A pair of denim clad thighs and a slim waist. “Wait… Ikkaku…” 

“What is it? Help me up already!” 

“It’s… it’s a girl!” 

“What?” Ikkaku shakes her head to shake off the snow. 

“There’s some lady buried in the snow! We gotta get her out!” Penguin panics and starts scraping heaps of snow off the frozen body. 

“Oh shit, you’re right. Let’s pull her out.” Ikkaku reaches through the snow until she feels a lifeless skull lolling around. She places a gentle hand behind the body’s neck and pulls it out of the snow. It was a beautiful woman, long brown hair braided with flowers and vines that had been frozen and wilted in the snow, a large grey streak spread from a corner of her forehead. Ikkaku grabs the shoulders while Penguin grabbed the legs of the lifeless form. 

“Why isn’t it moving?” Penguin pulls on the legs. 

“Hmmph! It’s stuck on something… Hmmmpph!” Ikkaku tries to jostle the body free of the ice and snow. The duo pull and push on the body until something finally gives and it is released from the grip of the mountain. Suddenly, on one side of the body, a tattered black wing breaks free from the ice and flops back down. The second wing followed and slumped lifelessly next to the unconscious form. 

“What the hell is this thing?!?” Penguin exclaims. 

“I don’t know…” Ikkaku looks down at the strange person. “But Captain is definitely gonna wanna see this…” 

The two wordlessly agree to carry the body back down to the Heart Pirate safe house at the bottom of the mountain. 

— — 

“Captain! Law! Hurry!” Penguin yells as he runs into the base backwards carrying the legs of the unknown body. 

“Bring it to the med bay, if there’s any chance it’s still alive he’s going to want it in there.” Ikkaku hurries Penguin down the hallway to Captain Trafalgar Law’s surgery room that connected to his secluded office. 

Doors swinging open quickly, the pirates hoist the winged figure up onto the surgery table. The body laid lifelessly on the table while the shredded wings flopped lazily at its sides, tips nearly hitting the floor. Penguin collapsed against the wall behind him, breath heavy from the long, arduous journey back from the mountain with their new addition. 

The door to the adjoining office was flung open. 

“What the hell is this?” Law burst in and began pulling on a pair of blue rubber gloves. 

D, E, A, T, H.

H, T, A, E, D.

He slipped the gloves over each finger and moved towards the surgery table. 

“We found it on the mountain, Captain.” Ikkaku responds. “Under a blizzard and a landslide. I doubt it’s still alive.” 

Law wordlessly peruses the body. He stops by it’s neck and presses two fingers against it’s pulse point. 

E, A.

“There’s a pulse. She’s alive.” 

Ikkaku and Penguin look at each other and their eyes widen. 

“Bepo!” Law shouts. 

“Yes, Captain?” A large polar bear in an orange jump suit enters the operating suite. 

“Ready the surgery room.” Law eyes Penguin and Ikkaku gawking at each other. “You two, prepare for a procedure. Get Shachi too. This won’t be easy.” 

“Aye, Captain!” The duo immediately went to change their uniforms and scrub up for the procedure. 

—- —- —- —- 

“I need more stitches, Bepo.” Law states, muffled by the surgical mask in front of his nose and mouth. 

Law sits on a doctor’s stool sewing up the sinewy flesh on the being’s wings. It had taken him 2 hours, but Dr Trafalgar Law had already sewn up one wing and was finishing the other. It didn’t look good, even Law could admit that. He was just trying to stop the bleeding from the micro veins and tissue in the wing webbing. Bepo had hooked up the creature to machines to monitor its breathing and heart rate. 

“I-It’s a vampire. W-we should have left it out there.” Penguin says from the corner of the operating room. 

“If you can’t be helpful, leave.” Law states calmly without looking up from his work. 

“It’s not a vampire, you idiot.” Shachi remarks from his spot next to the body. “It’s that Straw Hat girl. You guys don’t remember her from the auction house?” 

This peaked Law’s interest. 

“Straw Hat? She’s with his crew?” Law takes a moment from his hunched position over the wing to look at the body’s unconscious face. He notices her button nose, full bottom lip, and her frostbitten skin. Law cocks his head. He remembers her from Sabaody now. She was with the young man in the Straw Hat. He recalls the information on her wanted poster. They had only left the chaos a few days earlier. 

“The botanist…” He mumbles under his breath. 

“Yeah! That’s it! They call her the Earthly Devil… Rito Daisy I think..” Shachi confirms. 

“Daisy…” Law says pensively. He looks at your peaceful face. His gaze lingers for a moment before returning to his work stitching up the flesh of his new patient. 

“Must be a Zoan type.” Bepo says from over Law’s shoulder. “She’s certainly no mink. The question is what kind of Zoan type makes wings like that…” The bear has worry and concern his voice. Law sighs and rises from his chair. 

“It’s not important right now.” He ties off his stitches and moves towards the body’s torso. “We need to set the bones. If we don’t do it now, it’ll be a lot more painful when she’s awake.” 

Law cracks his knuckles.

D, D, E, E, A, A, T, T, H, H. 

His crew members look at him expectantly.

“Well, let’s do it.” 

— —  

Burning. Bright. Fluorescent. 

“Ow… my eyes…” You mumble as you wake from a deep slumber. All you could see was artificial lights and steel ceilings. You knew you were not on the Sunny anymore, ToTo. You try to reach your arm to rub your eyes and found that both of them were shackled to the table you were laying on. 

You were a prisoner. 

Again. 

You heart throbbed in your chest. Your stomach dropped through your whole body. Someone had taken you captive again. How could this happen? You had aligned yourself with the strongest pirates the worst generation had to offer and yet here you were, strapped to a strangers ship just like was 8 years ago. 

“Hey…” You try to sit up.

“HEY!” You pull your body up further. 

“GET ME THE FUCK OUT OF HERE! HEY! HEEEEEY!” You try to lurch your body forward but you were met by sharp, extreme pain throughout your whole being. 

“Hey woah hold on relax it’s okay! We’re going to help you!” 

A voice comes from the corner of the room you couldn’t see due to your restraints. 

“Who… who are you! Get away from me! Let me go!” You shouted. 

“I know you’re freaking out right now but I promise we-“ 

You see who the voice was coming from. 

It was an 11 foot tall real-life anthropomorphic polar bear wearing an orange jumpsuit. Your eyes crossed in shock. 

“GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME YOU FUCKING CARNIVORE DON’T FUCKING TOUCH ME!” You pull at your restraints, ignoring the searing pain in your body. 

“No no! I wouldn’t! Please stop!” The bear raises his hands in front of his chest to signify he meant no harm, but you would’t believe it. You scream.

“AAAAH!” The metal restraints holding you down to the table broke under your strength, the material melting slightly. 

“CAPTAIN!!!! HELP!!!” The bear shrieked and cowered. 

“DON’T TOUCH ME!” You shouted and pushed yourself off the operating table and into the cabinet across the room, breaking the glass. You honed your eyes in on the polar bear. 

You spread your broken wings and they crash against the furniture in the cramped operating room, knocking over carts full of medical equipment. 

“Shit!” You groan in pain. 

“ROOM.” 

Suddenly, the air around you tuned light blue. You spun your head around, trying to see where the voice came from. 

“Shambles.”

You felt a body behind you. You breathed hard in suspense. 

“Shit, that burns!” An arm around around your torso pulls back. 

“Wha-?” You felt a sharp jab in your neck and then your eyelids closed. 

Three fingers pushed down the plunger of a syringe.

E, A, T. 

— — — —- —- -

“I have to go to Marine Ford. Picking up a patient. You stay here and make sure this patient stays sedated.” 

It had been a week and Law had been taking care of his new patient in his medical bay at the Heart Pirates safe house. Law had made sure that Daisy would stay unconscious during this time, pumping her full of sedatives. He needed the patient’s bones to heal. 

“Keep her sedated. I’ve left the exact measurements of medications in the folder on the desk. Make sure she stays unconscious. If she were to wake up now, the sheer volume of her broken bones would send her into another shock-like state.” Law gives the instructions to Shachi and Penguin. 

“G-got it Captain! You can leave it to us!” Penguin nods at his captain. 

“It might be a few days. Call only if it’s an emergency.” Law tosses Shachi a transponder snail and heads out of the base towards where the Polar Tang was docked, Bepo at his heels. 

“Great. What did you do that landed us in charge of the vampire girl? If she wakes up we are so fucked.” Penguin remarks at Shachi. 

“She won’t wake up. If we keep giving her meds, we’re in there like swim wear. It’s an easy gig.” Shachi laughs. “And if she does, so what? We just shoot her full of one of these…” Shachi grabs a syringe from a medical cart and squirts it into the air. “So what if she’s a Straw Hat? She’s their gardener. She’s about as dangerous as their damn musician. No real threat.” 

“I don’t feel real great about this, Shach…” Penguin remarks while rubbing his brow. 

[bell-swamp-fitzjames]

Oops all Captains! for the Terror (2018) playlists

Well, I was thinking of putting the two playlist posts I made last night back together for ease of everything but if Dave K can release two hickey playlists (which are killing me btw) I think I can keep my posts seperate. Oops all women! will be coming at you all later today!! I'm adding a secret tasty little playlist to that post and want to give it one more look over. For now, here is Sir John Franklin, James Fitzjames, and Francis Crozier!!!

I had such a blast making these playlists <3 thank u for coming along with me in this journey & shout out to those who've helped me bounce ideas off of, ur help is invaluable to me & im immensely grateful to everyone <3 yippee! Especially for Crozier's on this one, not only would it not be done, two ppl directly helped me by sharing their thoughts on what a crozier playlist might look like. And a happy davechella!!

Sir John Franklin [LINK]

I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City by Harry Nilsson || Dear God- Remastered 2001 by XTC || I Started A Joke by Bee Gees || I Fall Pieces - Single Version by Patsy Cline, The Jordanaires || You Must Meet My Wife by Terry Trotter || Let's Move To The Country by Smog || Golden Boy by The Mountain Goats || Crying by Roy Orbison || Never On Sunday by Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons || Daydream by The Lovin' Spoonful || Overture to Die Fleidermaus Op. 362 by Royal Philharmonic Orchestra || Miss You So Badly by Jimmy Buffet || Fly me To The Moon by Tom Jones || Who Could Ever Doubt My Love by Diana Ross & The Supremes || Hallelujah I Love Her So by The Animals || (Ummmm, Oh Yeah) Dearest by Buddy Holly || The Crooked Kind by Radical Face || Miles From Nowhere by Yusuf / Cat Stevens || Love Is All Around by The Troggs || I'm in Love With A Big Blue Frog by Peter, Paul and Mary

FRM Crozier [LINK]

Depression by Human Zoo, Pandapaws, Bobby Doc || Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now by The Smiths || Put Me Down by The Cranberries || Sucker's Prayer by The Decemberists || I Luv The Valley OH! by Xiu Xiu || Don't Depend On Me by James Hand || Not Your Prey by Squirrel Flower || Dark & Stormy by Broes || Is There Anyone Home by Gordon Lightfoot || Man Like You by Tom Misch || The Fight Is Over (feat. Patrick McHale) by Over The Garden Wall, The Blasting Company, Patrick McHale || No Children- Ska by Sad Snack || Sorrow by The National || Just Wait Til Next Year by John Maus || Guilty Cocker Spaniels by Modest Mouse || DENIAL IS A RIVER by Doechii || Death Machine by AJJ || The Loneliest Moments by The Tumbling Wheels || Oro Mo Bhaidin by Mary O'Hara || Lonely People by America

James Fitzjames [LINK]

Merry Happy Kate Nash || Babooshka - 2018 Remaster by Kate Bush || Cut Yr Teeth by Kississippi || Skin Marika Hackman || Crimson & Clover by The Shacks || Paul- 2023 Remaster by Big Thief || The Winning Side - Bonus Track by The Airborne Toxic Event || The Poodle by Kabaret Sybarit || Remember My Name by Mitski || Rough by VIAL || Fit As A Fiddle (And Ready For Love) by Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor || Pop It by Anamanaguchi, meesh || Shampain by MARINA || Puttin' on the Ritz by Taco || I Go To Sleep by Anika || Rapture by Emily Axford || How I Get Myself Killed by Indigo De Souza || The Dress Looks Nice On You by Sufjan Stevens || Grace Kelly by MIKA || W.U.G. by Chris Fleming

[zweetpea]

Freedom or Anarchy? Part 1 of 2 (hopefully)

You guys wanted this you better read it cw: there’s some swears, and allusion to sleep drugs

The air was so crisp, the so grass vibrant, the sun was warm on your skin as you took in the scenery before you. The crystal blue of Starfell lake was gorgeous, and the fish were flipping about in the water; even the squirrels and Crains seemed at peace. Despite this lovely picture you were panicking.

“Heh, POV got sucked into your favorite video game and you don’t know if you’ll ever get home.” you shrug. “Guess I’ll die!” You walk over to a tree and pull on a branch. “I suppose that I should try to defend myself.”

As you say that three pyro slimes appear and chase you down the hill towards Venti’s Statue. “Hehehe, Why are you running? Why are you running?” You walk up to the statue and touch it, but nothing happens. “Wow! Honestly, I thought as a bard you would understand the mentality of “I F’ed my way into this mess, and I’ll F my way out”. Not gonna give me a vision, a shitty knock off of your power, a sword?” As you sat yelling at a lifeless statue (a/n: WTF WERE YOU THINKING? THAT IT WOULD TALK BACK?!) you heard something coming towards you. You looked to the sky and saw Dvalin flying straight toward you. “Oh shit…” You say as storm terror land next to you and rawrs in your face. “Haha, I’m in danger.” He brings his face towards you and you begin to shake  in fear. “Mr. Stark I don’t feel so good.” You whisper to yourself as tears of fear and regret stream down your face. 

Dvalin inches closer and you close your eyes only to feel something cold and wet on your face. You open your eyes only to close them again as Dvalin licks you. “Ew! Slobber!” He whimpered. You hold your hand out to pet the poor baby. “Oh it’s okay. Just let me clean up first.” You wipe off your face and go back to Dvalin. You go to pet him and a beautiful light shines from your fingers and flows through his fur. 

“Dvalin!” Someone called to him and he picked you with his tail and curled it around you so you’d be hidden and sage as he took to the sky. 

“Wait! Wasn’t that Venti? Don’t you like him?” He took to the sky and bounced you around unintentionally. 

After about 20 minutes you were finally released and found yourself in stormterrors lair. “What have you brought back?” A distorted voice echoed as a cryo abyss mage entered. 

“She is the special. She can heal me.” Dvalin responded. (A/n: do you guys remember that? Dvalin spoke) 

“You fool! Only the abyss Order can save you!” 

As the two fight you try to sneak away but you step on a twig and they look at you. Dvalin quickly pulls you by your hoodie back to his side. “I agreed to help you because the Archons abandoned me as they’ve abandoned you. I still will but it doesn’t seem like you all have found a way to cure me. I need to be at full strength to fight for you.” 

“Dvalin? I thought you liked Venti.” 

“Venti, is that what the barn calls himself now? I used to, I know that he cares for me but he didn’t ever try to help me. I have suffered for 500 years and he now shows his face. Khaenri’ah was destroyed simply because they chose to forsake the Archons. Why should we care for them?” 

You looked down, not knowing what to say. “How am I supposed to help?” You finally said.

“You can heal me.” 

“But if I do, you’ll hurt the innocent people of Mondstadt. Listen, the Tsarista is plotting a rebellion against Celestia. Celestia’s the real villain here.”

“Even so the Archons still chose to destroy Khaenri’ah.” 

“Then take it up with them, please. Those people have nothing to do with it. I’ll help you in anyway I can but please for their sake don’t hurt them. If not for them then for me.” 

“If it’s what the adored one desires then I shall deliver it unto you.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” You asked suspiciously. 

“Funny. Now heal him if you REALLY can!” The abyss mage, snarked from the corner. You climbed on top of Dvalin and put your hands on his horn. White light erupted and Dvalin’s head fell to the ground as he’d passed out. You fell off and the abyss mage ran out of the room screaming about how the day of reckoning was upon them or something. You fell asleep nuzzled into Dvalin’s side and dreamt of lots of yummy food. 

When you woke up you found a pyro abyss mage, and hydro abyss mage cooking some kind of fowl meat. Over a makeshift campfire. The pyro abyss mage brings it over to your and the hydro abyss mage hands you the food and some water. “Is this clean?” You ask the two and they nod.  You take the food and water and start to eat. “Thanks.” You say after you’re finished. 

“Dvalin. Do you want to head out somewhere?” 

“Where would you like to go, Adored one?” 

“Would you hate me if I said Dragonspine?” 

“If that’s what you wish.” He picks you up and flies you over there. 

You direct him to a cave in the side of the mountain. 

“Honey! I’m home!” You say as you saunter into the cave. “Albedo? I guess he’s not here.” You say as you turn to leave. 

“Incredible. Stormterror sitting right outside of my Laboratory.” He only roars at the blonde. 

“Sir Albedo?” You inquire as you step out of his lab. You pet Dvalin to put him at ease.

“Hello, may I help you?”

“Sorry I don’t mean to snoop in your lab, I was just wondering if you were here. I have a bit of a conundrum.” 

“You wish to go home.” 

“How did you-” 

“How did I know?” He cuts you off. “I’ll explain in due time. Please step into my laboratory, I’ll get you some tea. Word of advice though, it can get kinda cold out here so you might want to send Stormterror away before he gets cold.” 

Dvalin growled. “I’ll be fine. You can come get me later tonight okay?” He nodded and flew off. It was about noon so you figured that you had a while before the twins would steal the harp and try to take down Dvalin. 

“How did you manage to tame him?” Albedo asked, as you sat on a stool near a campfire. 

“I healed him somehow.” 

“So Gold’s stories were true.” 

“Rhinedottir knows about this?” 

“Yes, she’s the one who told me. Someone would come down from Celestia and they’d tame the beasts of Teyvat as well as the members of the Abyss Order.” He hands you the Tea and you drink it. 

“I still don’t understand how you knew I’m not from here.” 

“I just told you Gold told me you’re from Celestia. Unless of course, you aren’t.” 

“Dvalin referred to me as the Adored One. Do you know what that means?” 

“Adored throughout Teyvat and the realm above. You are the honored one no?” 

“I don’t… what…?” You started to get lightheaded. “Albedo?” You sloshed as you fell off your seat. 

“I’m sorry Adored One, but I have to put Klee first. Now that you’ve heeled Stormterror you’re a threat to the people of Mondstadt. I’m going to hand you over to the knights for terrorism and endangering the public.” 

[arowizards]

tagged by @butchboromir HI JACK!!!!!! yay :]

favourite colour: dont make me pick. but its #272736

last song: wollen wir trinken by dartagnan but i did play fegefeuer by feuerschwanz like 7 times in a row while writing this post and i do just want to mention that too. this also functions as a second shoutout. hi jack ur tunes serve me well

last movie: good fucking question i have no idea. probably like an mlp movie @milkteahoneyyy put on vc months ago. i dont do a lot

last tv show: critical role campaign 2 who could've guessed. jester just got sprinkle. love and absolutely no peace ever on planet exandria

sweet, spicy, savory? SAVORY !!!!!!! love of my life

i thought the relationship status question was boring* so instead im changing it to two things i aspen arowizards find very interesting

1. three animals that match ur vibe? or however many as u want doesnt rlly matter. my answers are stoat flying squirrel and long-tailed tit

2. favorite "unpopular" animal? i like deep sea fish a lot <3 viperfish are my favs & stoplight loosejaws are also high up there

last google search: "tumblr find tags" <- i was trying to see if i could use findtags (which i didnt remember the name of or have in my bookmarks) to check how i tag original posts that are for tag games bc i didnt feel like waiting for original post finder to do its thing. but im just not going to bother. who cares abt whatever precedent ive set previously :P

current obsessions: critical role & the used as im sure you all know very well by now. i also think im going to start a third spiritfarer 100% soon and that WILL take over my life very fast

looking forward to: aforementioned spiritfarer save, soon-to-resume anime night vcs, GOOD TIME SOCIETY BLOOD ON THE CLOCKTOWER!!!!

tagging: @wizardnuke @mareastrorum @aq2003 @g1ngerbeer @jadeandquartzes @grasslandgirl @compnion @skeletonthecreator @iotaqizm @mordaurum @ulysses-but-somehow-more-transer @pseudospectre @stripeyzebra ?? idk lets go with that. and anyone else who wants to obv. mwah <3

[echantedtoon]

Demonstober Day 28 Driad

A dryad is a tree nymph or tree spirit in Greek mythology; Drys (δρῦς) signifies "oak" in Greek. 

Tagging: @lavenderdropp @six-eyed-samurai @trancylovecraft @shadyd3ar @cherrysuzaku

@nousija @mspurpl3

Remember if you want to be added to the spooktober taglist lemme know

"You came back."

You smile at the young boy offering his own smile at you in return.

"I did."

You still remember the first time you met the mysterious spirit of the old birch forest. It was a few months ago. Your father worked as a lumberjack and together both you and him would go out and start collecting wood from the nearby forest . However since his leg injury it's been solely on you to make ends meat and go get the wood yourself. It wasn't an easy feat. To help save yourself the trip, instead of going up the mountain to get the regular oaks and maple trees and bring them all the way down the mountain, you decided to go towards the nearby Birch tree forest. Your father did warn you before about the place-

"Do you ever know why we never go near those woods, Y/n?"

"No. Why?"

"Because it's haunted."

"Haunted? Haunted how?"

"Many years ago, there was a group of lumberjacks who were ran out. They saw their axes went flying, the trees spoke, and one of them even went missing. I'm telling you that place is nothing but trouble."

You never took him seriously of course. You've never heard of such things from anyone else who you spoke too. So you decided ond day as your father was still healing, you grabbed the axe and made your way out down the valley instead of up the mountain. Until you came across the first of the White tree line. You weren't very strong by yourself so you decided to venture inwards until you found one thing enough to chop down and easily carry back. The moment you stepped past the treeline-

It was as if no other life was there.

The singing birds stopped singing. No squirrels ran up the trees. And there wasn't a single insect in sight. Only the grass and the white trees. Odd certainly but not really too out of the ordinary in your mind however it almost felt like you were being watched. Nah that was crazy. You were just paranoid from the ghost stories. Eventually you found a good enough tree. A few years old at most and the tree you walked forward to was very thin. It'd make quick but thin firewood you could quickly sell for cheap. Stopping a yard away from the thin trunk, you sat the heavy axe down very quick to roll your sore shoulder from carrying it for so long. Before gripping it tightly, swinging it high above your head-

You froze solid.

Standing before your eyes ...was a young boy.

He couldn't have been older than eleven as he stood there staring at you with a concerned look. You stood there also staring at him and blinking before slowly lowering your axe to the ground.

"Where did you come from?.. Y'know you shouldn't approach strangers especially ones carrying weapons. That's dangerous and it's especially dangerous to get in front of someone who's trying to chop down a tree."

"I don't want you to cut down my trees," he answered bluntly making you blink.

"Oh. Am I trespassing on someone's property?"

"Yes!"

"I see. Where's your parents then?" You looked around but you didn't see anyone else besides the boy. Did you pass someone's house and missed it?

"They're..still asleep. But you can't come here! You don't have permission to take these trees!" He pointed behind you with a stern look. "Go away!"

You didn't know what to make out of it...but if this part of someone's property then maybe you shouldn't cause trouble. "Alright." You hoisted the axe back back over your shoulder. "I don't want to cause trouble so I'll leave."

He seemed surprised. "Wait. Really? Usually I have to chase everyone out."

"No. I'll leave. You just make sure you get on home too. Ok?"

He nodded still looking surprised by you and you left. You felt disappointed by your luck but figured it was better than starting a fight with an unknown family. Your father was surprised when you got home and asked why you were back so soon. When you told him he went extremely red with anger.

"You encountered a Driad?!"

You blinked confused. "Driad?"

"Tree fae! That's what haunts those woods! Didn't I warn you?," he scolded you with a frown, "You're lucky that spirit let you go with just a warning. What if he had made a tree fall on you? Or he followed you home to haunt us? Next time I tell you about something listen to me!

You did. You really did. For the next month you went up the mountain to get wood instead of of the birch woods and thankfully nothing happened but you couldn't help but feel guilty about what happened. You felt like you disturbed a sacred area and now you had to right the wrongs. Despite your father's warnings and your better judgement, you decided to go back but this time with offerings. Some food, money, and incense since that's what spirits like right?

The pattern repeated itself. You went back to the Birch forest only this time without the axe and like before you felt like you were being watched the moment you stepped into the woods. White trees surrounded your body as you walked swiveling your head this way and that making your way back to where you first saw the spirit. You'd just leave it by the tree he was defending and leave-

"What are you doing back here?"

You jumped with a gasp whirling around and coming face to face back with him. he stared at your wide eyes with that curious stare he had before.

You sighed in relief before smiling and holding out the basket towards him bowing. "Im not here to cut down anything I swear! I came to apologize!"

There was silence as you didn't dare look up, however you felt the basket leave your hands and there was silence still.

"..Thank you." You looked up. He was still there holding the basket but now smiling and looking at the food and money in awe. "This is very kind of you. What is your name?"

"Y/n. What's yours?"

"Muichiro! Do you wanna come play with me?"

You blinked before smiling wider. "Sure."

[crusaderguy]

Aight so here's some stuff that I expect Marvel Rivals to do when Ghost Rider gets added:

Add Johnny, Danny, and Robbie all on the same day so that I can still play as one of them in case someone instalocks the other.

Make Robbie DPS and have the other two be tanks.

Have Jeff do barely any damage to any of them, I'm talking 1% damage to Ghost Rider. Also give Jeff damage whenever he uses his ult against Ghost Rider because I don't know if you guys know this but eating fire kinda burns and when you get burned you get hurt so Jeff should take damage from eating Ghost Rider.

Make Ghost Rider one shot Jeff. Also give him two ults, one for the motorcycle or car, the other one is the penance stare and it can only be used against Jeff players.

Have Jeff die from Ghost Rider's mere presence. It doesn't even matter if the Jeff player is near Ghost Rider just have Jeff die the minute someone decides to play Ghost Rider so it forces them to play another strategist.

Uuuuuuuuuh idk nerf Jeff's self healing, when he starts swimming under the floor just make his healing take 10-50 years to get himself back to full health.

Nerf Adam's speed by ×9,000 and buff Moon Knight's ult and have it cover the whole map.

Make the Marvel Ultimate Alliance games backwards compatible and make Xbox exclusive remasters too.

Put Master Chief in Marvel Rivals and retcon Halo 5 from existence saying that Halo 4 is actually a reboot and put me in charge of the franchise.

I dunno a Fing Fang Foom boss fight could be pretty cool like have a group of players be the heroes and villains and shit and then have another player be Fing Fang Foom.

Put Godzilla in the game and give it a basketball gamemode.

Nerf Jeff to oblivion.

Remove Squirrel girl's ult.

I got nothing to put here.

Mind control players to ship Robbie and Luna.

Nerf Jeff again.

Y'know I once heard that NetEase has no plans to add War Machine and She-Hulk to the game because they think they would play too similarly to Iron man and Hulk. I'm not sure if that's true but if it is, I can understand She-Hulk idk maybe just make her DPS, but I refuse to believe that War Machine would be too similar to Iron man, just make Rhodey a literal flying tank, just give him the power of flight and make play like Punisher or Star Lord, problem solved.

Give Jeff bone cancer while in DOOM match.

Make the painting in DOOM match with Dr. Strange and his ghost dog indestructible because it makes me feel bad when ghost dog is looking at where the painting is supposed be to just for him to be looking at a wall. :(

I just remembered that She-Hulk is a lawyer so just have her throw briefcases at her enemies.

Just make DR. DOOM (ALL CAPS when you spell the man's name) playable already!

Whatever Marvel Rivals does they better not give Ultron the same personality he had in the MCU, I want a Next Avengers: Heroes of tomorrow type of Ultron.

Wait hold on this started off as what I expect for Ghost Rider.

Uuuuh give Robbie air Jordans or something idk.

Nerf Iron fist so that he stops killing me.

"Jarvis add one billion more white women to the game."

Again, nerf Jeff please.

[steviewashere]

No One You Can Save That Can't Be Saved (Love)

Rating: Teen and Up CW: Lots of talk around death, Vague suicidal thoughts (seriously very vague) Tags: Post-Canon, Post-Season 4, Established Relationship, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Steve Harrington has Nightmares, Panic Attack, Eddie Munson is a Sweetheart, Eddie Munson Takes Care of Steve Harrington, Cuddling & Snuggling, Steve Harrington is a Sweetheart, Introspective, Fear of Death

I don't know what this is. I wrote the opening poem and then wrote the rest. Enjoy, I guess? Title is from "All You Need is Love" by The Beatles.

This is also on ao3, but it's not showing up currently in the Steddie tag. If you'd like to read this in full on ao3 instead, Here's the Link!

💕—————💕 I’ve had no desire to die. None in my body. But if you told me to die, I’d ask: Who for? Where should I lay my body? Like this? I’d perfect it. I’d make a gala out of it. I’d win. Blood on my hands and flesh between my teeth; I am not dead. But— Death is intimate with me. I have no desire to die.

——— The grass pearls with early morning dew. Tacky soil shapes to the bottom of his left sneaker. He takes a step forward, the imprint of his posture a temporary fixture in the lawn. If it rains again, the divots of his soles will collect water like cupped palms. Though the day will surely pass while he stays inside, working the nightmare from his musk scented skin, and he’ll return home dead on his feet. Ready to lay himself bare to a cooling bedsheet.

Tapping his sneakers on the doorway of his vehicle is the first thing he does fresh from his house. Shake the dew from his feet, shuffle inside until his legs are tucked gently under the steering wheel, slam the door shut, turn the engine over, and wait for the radio to croon. If he had the time, he’d pick a tape. But on mornings like these, he backs out of the driveway. One arm on the headrest of the passenger seat. Head peering over his shoulder.

One time he hit the neighbor’s mailbox. His cheeks remember the anger radiating from his father. If even one tire begins to turn incorrectly, he pulls back in and tries again.

Desolate roads are his favorite bit of scenery. Morning drives where people are between waking up and already at work. Long stretches of asphalt against his tires and breeze icing his cheek. It’s the quiet, too. Silences in lulls. Reaching out and holding him.

Today is different. His sneakers are wiped and his legs are burrowed and the cold air reaches his cheek. But today is like no other. Heart racing, blood chilling in his wrists, fingers going numb. The tendrils of a nightmare wrapping around his brain like thorned vines on dungeon walls. He is a prisoner to himself and his surroundings. And he can’t take a deep breath. It’s like drowning, but nothing is like drowning. Drowning is death. This isn’t death. Everything is death.

It’s death in the way his breath tastes like finality. Mouth dry of saliva and teeth as specters, rotting and decaying before he has time to fully swallow. The heave before the storm. Before the vomit goes beige on his thighs and chunky to the floor of his car. And it’s death in the sense there’s blood every time he blinks. He’s reminded of the way he played role as emergency room technician. Two hands on a slim chest, ribs crackling under his palms—the sounds similar to that of heavy tree branches downed in an Indiana snow storm. He is numb in the fingers, but cold on the palms. And it’s the darting in his eyes, sign of life somewhere, sign of life nowhere. The road stretches forever this morning.

It’s death in the harrowing way. A car beelining for the side of a road. Parked in the means to brake, but not to settle. He is thirty seconds away from a crash. Turbulent planes flying overhead, he is an unsuspecting tree. The cat between his front two tires. Mushed traces of squirrel guts half a foot from the base of a robin’s nest; crushed eggs fallen to the floor. It’s death because there is the phantom tail of a bat pinning him to the headrest of his seat. Wrapped to the two metal bars below the bottom of his skull. And his hands are tingling, heavy on his lap. Kicking his legs, feet lurching into the brake, a squeal when his car takes the movement as instruction. He’s not ready to go.

But he can’t escape. And he can’t move. Can’t blink unless the road crumbles below him.

He is trapped. This is death because he’s dying and he’s got the black spots in his vision to prove it, but there is an overbearing glow of a white light like a cone on his peripheral. He is trapped—a dog free from the vet.

Clinking on his window draws him to look left. Blearily. The slow drag of his eyeballs. Two weather vanes in stilted, hazy, sticky summer stillness. Muffled. This is death because he’s forgotten what urgent care sounds like, but this is a near thing.

He’s not ready to go.

It’s death because there is warmth and gentleness. He cries—though it isn’t felt—because there is love. And while love is not absent, he had been chasing it. Longing and yearning. Giving himself in ways not even God would approve of. This time, though, it makes sense he had to die for it.

“You’re not dying, sweetheart,” a pleasant voice says. If Death is speaking, then he is listening. Death has two hands and warm breath and a husk gargled in his throat like sucking down cigarettes on and off for four hours. The stale smell of one smoked swirls in his nostrils. “Not dying, you’re just far away. And scared,” Pleasant Voice speaks again. It’s accompanied by a faint tickle under his eye. He closes up, lost in the sensation.

It’s death because he doesn’t desire, but he is persuaded. God, it’s sweet.

He takes a deep breath. The hurt is temporary as it seems like shards shed from his lungs. Nosing at his headrest, the perfumed scent of floral shampoo and fragrant salty sweat and those cigarettes. It relaxes him slightly, the tail away from his throat. The breathing comes easier and the black spots begin to dissipate. He’s reminded of the aftermath of torture, sleeping fitfully in bed, but alive. And he chases his nose to the left, body twisting around on his seat, hands limp on his legs still.

Pleasant Voice seems to hum. Murmuring low, raspier than before, “Easy, you’ll be okay. Doing a good job relaxing. I’ve got you, sweetheart.” Another careful pet to underneath his eye. “I’m here. I’ve got you.” And a caress through his hair, two hands cupping him like water. He ripples with contentment. Crumpling against the pleather seat. He swallows. An uneasy emotion, a vapor, noxious poison billowing through his nose.

His eyes flutter open again. In front of him, two brown irises. Both gentle and concerned, deathly afraid and lowering their haunches. He blinks. Clarity. And he had expected to die, but it’s like drinking ice cold water, coming back to life from the warmth of an early summer’s day. “Eddie?” Steve chokes. “What’re—Eddie?”

Eddie—not Death—smiles a sad thing. Two frowning corners, but the gentle uptick of his lips. His eyes don’t crinkle. And his nose remains stagnant. “It’s me,” he whispers. “I was on my way into town from the trailer and I saw you on the side of the road. Looked like—Thought you were—I was half expecting your skin to be green when I came closer.”

“What does that—“

“I thought you were dead, Steve,” he answers bluntly. His hand tightens on Steve’s jaw, the other pressing closer to his scalp. “Baby, that was horrifying. I wasn’t ready—Why are you out here driving?”

Steve shakes his head. The low ruffle of his hair like two pieces of paper being scrubbed together. “I don’t remember,” he mutters, “I woke up and—My throat was aching and I thought that—Woke up with blood behind my eyelids, Eds.” He tries to swallow again, but the emotion rises. Bile. Pleasantly like bile. Then, he bursts. Crying and keening. Hiccuping through his gasps and breathing as if there are rocks on his tongue. And he isn’t sure where to put his hands, but the rest of his body falls forward into Eddie’s. Though, maybe it was on purpose. An expectancy. Because Eddie wraps back fiercely, tugging, half-climbing inside of Steve’s car. Making the room for this coagulated form of welling fear and quelled calm, the body shivers and sudden blood to his cheeks, a cough caught somewhere between a sob and an expel. It’s death because he’s frightened, Eddie is in there somewhere, too.

Eddie keeps tugging until they’re comfortable in the back of his van. Him on his lap, curled inwards in the fetal position, secured warmly between Eddie’s lithe arms. Somehow containing him. He’s not strong, he’s not weak, but he’s enough to keep Steve’s pieces all mushed in together. Not completely whole, but not spiraling like thread between lengths of road.

He’s worn when he pulls back. Eyes as two cement blocks taped above his cheeks. “Thought I was dying,” he finally croaks.

With a somber gentleness, Eddie pushes back strings of his hair. Whispers, “I know, baby. You kept telling me in your car.”

“I was afraid.”

“I know, baby.”

“I think a part of me thought you were dying, too.”

Eddie hums. “Did you have a nightmare about…About having to save me?” He quietly asks. He’s never breeched the subject before, but it’s different. Today’s different. It’s death because he has to answer.

“Yeah,” Steve murmurs. Sniffles noisily. The carnage stuffed high between his brain and sinus cavity. “I couldn’t feel my hands. Back in the car. They were completely numb. But—No, that’s not right. My palms were cold like your skin. And I couldn’t hear you at first, just your ribs. And then I—“ He stops to shake his head. Tilting it down towards his chest. Plucking at the hem of Eddie’s t-shirt. He’s fully dressed in casual wear in comparison to Steve’s outfit. Still worn down to his stained Hawkins High gym shirt from early last year, the fall of his senior year, and his red tartan fleece pajama pants. “Think I was searching for you and just didn’t make it.”

“I’m here now,” Eddie simply responds. He pets again at Steve’s face. He likes to do that. Never condescending. As if part of him can’t believe he gets to touch. Or another part can read just how much Steve needs it. It’s death because he’s known. “How about I get you home? Back in bed?”

“Don’t think I’ll sleep.”

“Okay,” he mutters, nodding. “Okay, how about you sit with me today back at the trailer? I’ve got to fill out some job applications. It’ll be quiet. You can bring a few tapes from your car, play them if you like. And I’ll make you hot chocolate. Does that sound…?” Steve’s nodding before he can even finish the question. “Alright, baby. You’ll be okay, you know that? I’m here right now. And you’ll be with me.”

“I’ll be with you,” Steve murmurs.

“Yeah, sweetheart. And if you need a reminder, you can just look at me. Or…Ask me to tell you a story. You like that, don’t you?” Steve nods again. Eddie pets the crest of his head, down to the tuft of hair on the back of his neck, dipping into his t-shirt to settle his palm between his taut shoulder blades. He twitches when he fully sets his palm. “You have your thinking face on. What’s going on up here?” He asks, tapping at Steve’s left temple.

Steve swallows. “I—I’m afraid of death.”

“I know, sweetheart. That’s okay, you—“

“But I’m more afraid of everybody else dying,” he admits. “I’d die for you. I’d…I think part of me died for you.”

A sharp intake of breath. “Baby, I don’t like that.”

“I don’t like it either. But it’s true. Feels like…I feel like a lot of me has died. For everybody around me.” His voice is shameful, but flat. Tepid and shaking. “But I let it happen. I wasn’t fighting against the urge. It just—I allowed myself to experience death. Either it was my own or somebody else’s. At every turn, I was expecting to be incinerated. Dissolved. Turned over in the ground like recycled soil. I don’t—“ He sighs through his nose. Confesses, “I’d do it again.”

“I really don’t like that, Steve. Is this—Are you asking for help? What do you need, sweetheart?” He’s not sure what Eddie’s eyes look like right now. There’s an infliction, though. A steady storm of concern and mild trepidation. Hands flat and pressing as if he’s willing them to stay rooted to their spots in the back of his van.

Steve doesn’t answer immediately. Blinking and exhaling and shoving the images that haunted him into early morning to just…die, oddly. Allowing Eddie’s gentle touch to soothe his frayed nerves. He collapses further in the lap underneath him. “Don’t go. I’m not ready for you to go.” 

He toys his hands in his lap now. Fingers picking and prodding at healed scabs. Hangnails that were chewed short by his fingernails. Knuckles that have scarred over and over, time and time again. “Don’t go,” he reiterates, whispering. His voice is keening. And he knows that it’s sort of childish, what he’s requesting. Tugging on Eddie’s pant let and wrapping his limbs around his ankle. Thumb in cheek and eyes wet. But though the events of the last few years have manhandled him and stretched him thin like a mushed ball of murky colored Play-Doh, he is immature still. He can beg if he wants to.

And thankfully, Eddie appeases. Pressing again into Steve. In a way, he’s afraid, too. “I won’t, Steve. I promise that I won’t go willingly. But you have to promise me back.”

“I promise,” he immediately mutters.

“Okay,” Eddie says. A default in conversations like these. 

‘I have a migraine.’ ‘Okay.’ ‘Just need silent company.’ ‘Okay.’ ‘Don’t die again.’ ‘Okay.’ 

He holds Steve tighter. Bending in a prairie dog way to kiss his forehead. Murmuring sticky wet against the skin, “Love you, sweetheart.”

Steve sighs through his nose. This is all going to come up again and again. He’s sure of it. Later today, he’s sure. When he’s half there and half in the dark crevices, the depths of his brain, caverns without crystals. And Eddie will be there, too. As a rescue team, sent far down with nothing but a pickaxe and harsh, yellow rope. They’ll have to talk about it. What he means about doing it again, even though he didn’t die. That significant emptiness that shapes itself like craters in his chest. Or how it all coincides with facing so much with such little time, his self worth and respect like forks in a garbage disposal; clinking and whirring and dancing, then shredding and grating and screeching, and so irreversibly broken, they can’t be eaten off of anymore. And then he’ll probably have to see a therapist, explain what he told Eddie, and listen to suggestions.

For now, he dips forward until his forehead is on Eddie’s shoulder. Nose crushed against his shirt. He closes his eyes as he takes in the scent of an alive and well Eddie. A part of him wants to apologize for all this mess he’s left construed about. But knows the moment he even tries, he will soothed into much needed silence. “Will you hold my hand while you drive?” He murmurs into the base of Eddie’s neck. He’s still crumpled and misshapen, but somehow also held. Held in a way that reminds him of being a little kid. Cherished through fear in both parties. He supposes that’s what he is. Brain still exploring like he’s seventeen, before the demogorgon. A child in a sense. An overgrown weed.

“I will,” Eddie promises.

And so Steve nods. “I love you, too.” He wraps his arms around Eddie’s waist, encircling barely, air still able to travel in the gap he creates where his bare skin doesn’t touch the cotton of Eddie’s shirt. Tangling his hands loosely. Not exactly grasping for something, but the suggestion of it. “I love you,” he murmurs once more. The words like white noise, but true.

He’ll say it more later. Curled on one end of Eddie’s couch while he sits on the other side. No space between them because Steve refuses to move his legs, the bottoms of his feet, socked and dry, shaped firmly to the soft give of Eddie’s thigh. In between moments, he’ll whisper the words. As a tape plays and the beats are bright and jingling, while he’s melancholy and still to the soft cushion. When Eddie mutters something indistinguishable, chewing on the end of his ballpoint pen. Over a plain turkey and American cheese sandwich, mayo smeared on his bottom lip, and Eddie wiping away the residue. A reverence focused on him like soft spotlight.

It’s death because he knows they won’t have forever.

He loves, though, and that’s enough to quell the fear that floods him.

He wades in Eddie’s soft touch. In his sticky lips. The lulls.

“I’m going to play my Beatles ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ album,” he tells Eddie. Because, much like the end of the album, love is all you need. He’s afraid. But he can be brave in Eddie’s arms, his warmth, his deserved life.

💕—————💕

[atsadi-shenanigans]

Feeding Alligators 55 - Love Shack

Y'all get caught in the rain. Oh look! A barn!

On AO3.

You sleep like the dead. Don’t even remember conking out. Just the part where you wake up to the scent of woodsmoke, tea, and sausages.

Whatever high you were on yesterday is faded. You feel wrecked. Physically, mentally, like you got hit by a bus, dragged along for a mile, and then run through a meat grinder and repackaged into a human shape again.

The sausages don’t look all that appealing.

You sip tea as the others finish eating and packing. Thick clouds fly overhead, edging silver in the sunlight. Must be some strong winds up there. Hopefully, it don’t start to rain.

There ain’t much critters around. Occasional squirrel. The caw of a crow. But the rest is weirdly silent. Or maybe not so weird as the wind shifts and the rot and piss stink of the town washes over y’all.

The goblin camp is about an hour north, Mr. Eloquent said. You’ll have to track back through that village to get to the road.

“I don’t like the look of those clouds,” Gale says.

And if he don’t turn out to be right. Y’all’ve crossed about halfway through the rest of the village when the wind gusts moisture onto your face. Then the first drops fall. You get to hope for about thirty seconds that’s all it’s gonna do.

Then the sky opens and it dumps.

“Ah shit” you say.

“We need to find shelter,” Wyll says. “Storms like this will pass swiftly, but it’ll soak us through in moments.”

Karlach, sizzling as the rain hits her and immediately bursts into steam, lifts her arms and spins in a circle. “Rain! I haven’t seen proper rain in ages! Look! It’s not even blood!”

…huh.

The houses here are all half-collapsed, with no clear way inside. The lot of you jog up the hill, and spot some low building. A shack or a barn. It looks structurally sound.

“That one?” you say.

“That should do,” Wyll says.

Y’all boot-scoot over. The torrent gets worse. Turns the air silver. Water already streams down your face and you sputter to clear your mouth and nose.

The rush of it is so loud, you don’t even notice the sounds until you’re reaching for the doors. A low moaning, like some kinda cow or buffalo lowing for food.

“Did somebody leave their animals—”

Then there’s rhythmic grunting. Too low and…and too snarly to be human, but there’s some kinda words in there and the other…animal? It moans again. Cause that is a moan and your brain finally puts two and two together and sticks the solution into the square hole.

You step back.

“What’s wrong?” Gale says. He has to raise his voice to be heard over the din of the storm.

“Um,” you say.

Something thumps and bangs.

“Go on then,” Astarion’s voice right beside you. You do not jump. He stands a foot away, peering intently at that door. Fucker knows what’s going on in there. “We’re all getting soaked, dear. What are you waiting for?”

Bastard. He makes no move, offers no guidance; just stands there, arms crossed, looking bored.

The rain is cold.

“Fuck,” you say. Brace yourself. Push on them doors.

The scene will haunt you.

An ogre (ogress?) kneels on all floors, flopping tits bare, grass skirt hiked up over her hips. Behind her, some kinda man-wolf thrusts away. They both spot you and Man-Wolf pulls out, covering himself. But not before you get an accidental eyeful.

“Ah!” Gale all but yelps in horror.

“No,” Karlach says.

Shadowheart looks like she just accidentally swallowed a bug.

But Astarion, the fucking shithead, grins like the douchebag he is.

“What…what the hells are you doing here?!” Man-Wolf says, still overing himself. You don’t see no pants anywhere.

It’s not the floppy tits or the sex that gets you. Logically, ogres don’t just sprout out of the ground like cabbages, and sex always looks weird and super undignified to you. But the glimpse you saw of Man-Wolf showed what you assume is an average-sized, humanoid cock. Nothing like, abnormal about it. But that ogress is the height of the barn. And your brain, always the asshole, shoves its way to the front of the line to cut off common sense.

“How does that even work?” you say.

“What the fuck?” Man-Wolf says.

“The, you know, size discrepancy? How’re you even…does she even notice?” You really should stop talking. Ogress scowls and Man-Wolf has real big fangs. But the horror twines around with your scientific curiosity, and all you can think about is how a vet has to shove their whole arm up a cow to do like, bovine ultrasound. Man-Wolf wasn’t arm-sized.

“Ain’t you too small?” you say.

Astarion sputters and spins away.

“I think I’ll wait out in the rain,” Shadowheart says.

“I—you!” Man-Wolf sputters.

“Gragh!” the ogress bellows, and yeah, that’s why you shoulda kept your mouth shut. She glares down at you as she hauls herself up. “Moment over! Passion ruined!”

There’s something underneath her. A splash of color. That’s clothes. That’s a fresh corpse.

“Uh,” Karlach says as the ogress looms over y’all.

Only the big girl don’t lift a foot to squash your guts outta your mouth like a tube of toothpaste. She turns to Man-Wolf. “We go.”

“But, my sweet—” he says. Still don’t got his pants nowhere.

“We go.”

And ogress lumbers right off into the rain, tits swaying, just as the downpour eases up.

Man-Wolf’s ears pin back. He throws you a nasty glare and scurries out after his paramour.

Leaving all you in the barn, which smells weirdly musty.

“That…really happened,” Wyll say. “I’m not hallucinating?”

Astarion, curled into a ball, wheezes.

“I very much wish it were,” Gale says and rubs his eyes.

You stare out after the couple. Ruin a hand down your face. “How does that even work?” Notice the others staring at you. “What?”

“That’s what you’re focused on?” Shadowheart says.

“They’re two entirely different species! They shouldn’t even be compatible! It’d be like…like a dog trying to mount a heifer!”

Karlach actually grimaces. “There’s a visual I didn’t need. Thanks, soldier.”

“But it don’t make sense. You can breed a donkey and a horse because they’re similar enough, but…I mean…that? Is that a thing here?”

Lae’zel ignores the whole conversation to go search the corpse the two were literally fucking over (gross).

“Like,” you say. Your gaze lands on Astarion as he stands and wipes his eyes. “Elves exist, and so do humans, so do y’all have half-and-halves?”

“I’m a half-elf,” Shadowheart says. And oh. Her ears are shorter than Astarion’s. You never really made that connection, huh?

“But that means both species are genetically compatible. And, you know, physically. Is everything here like that? Because that’s fucking weird, y’all. That’d indicate a common ancestor way, way far back, which’d actually make them two closer to a pig mounting a bear—”

Gale claps your shoulder with one hand. And with a pain-filled grimace, says, “While I always appreciate the pursuit of knowledge, even I believe there are limits.”

And…they all look a bit green around the gills.

And you realize it ain’t about the evolutionary or sociological implications of inter-species fucking. You squint. “Are y’all seriously having a collective tizzy cause you saw them fucking?”

Wyll looks like he bit into a lemon.

“You’re not?” Karlach says.

You ain’t never had sex with someone else. You was raised to think that the literal worst thing somebody could do, the filthiest thing somebody could be. It made you disgusting, made you worthless. Then you got to the secular world and learned that not having sex made you a cringey weirdo.

So to spite the both of them, you learned about it. You learned all about it, because fuck the shame, fuck the farmstead, and fuck everybody (but not literally).

They got no idea how funny this conversation is for you. So it’s with a little bit of bravado, a lot a bit of truth, and a dash of gremlin in you that says, “No? It’s just sex?”

“I…think I’ll check the outer perimeter,” Wyll says. And leaves.

You survey the field—Shadowheart and Gale all uneasy, Lae’zel snooping through barrels, and Karlach wincing.

Ha.

“You’re full of surprises, aren’t you?” Astarion clears his throat and tugs his poofy shirt vest down.

You made the man outright wheeze. Your mouth opens, so ready to fall back into the banter of days before. God, it would be so easy to riff off him. He ain’t bothered by the whole display y’all walked in on, and he’d absolutely join you in horrifying the others.

But y’all are keeping distance, ain’t you? You got the keep the walls up. You can’t go around encouraging him. You got to suffocate that ember before it flames, for his sake and yours.

So you only give him a nod, and turn to the others. “Let’s get outta the fuck barn, huh?”

Previous - Index - Next Chapter

[wr1t3w1tm3]

The Outsiders Vampire AU - V4

Oh boy, it's been a while. I need something to do that isn't studying or crocheting (which I turned into a side hustle whoospie).

@crow2222 and @marmaladedcroissant. It is finished. Enjoy.

No one knows when. They only know it was Paul. That it was probably before their parents died.

He'd explained that they continued aging until 25, but from there any further "aging" was really shapeshifting.

He was never sure whether he'd really agreed to it or if Paul had just gone and done it any who. It must've been around his senior year of high school, because he remembers drinking with Paul and a bunch of his Soc buddies. That was back when he'd dressed like 'em, though his pants were dirt cheap, and the sweaters hand knit by a grandmother in Minneapolis. There was a bonfire and laughter and plenty of fun...

The next thing he's certain of was Paul waking him up, and the world was too bright and too loud and it hurt awful bad to sit up.

He's inclined to believe he drunkely agreed, because for what felt like an eternity in a moment, Paul taught him how to thrive. He gave him a charm that warded away the sun, he taught him to shift his appearance and even shape. He showed him how to hunt. Showed him a family that didn't fight, that played hard and looked out for each other.

Then he lost his parents and was forced to tend to his own. And when he had to drop out of college, and he couldn't go out every night for parties and hunts and took up not one, but two jobs, he was left alone. A monster with two children in his charge.

One year an adult. A monster. Alone.

Soda made it easier for him. He dropped out of school, got a job, and stayed away most the time. With two jobs he wasn't in the house very often either, but that meant he wasn't eating consistently. More often than he was comfortable he found himself watching Ponyboy's neck when he swallowed, how the veins popped when he got fed up with a problem or when he laughed at the stupidity of the latest stories protagonist.

He'd nearly lost control a few times. More times than he was comfortable. He'd kick himself, he'd waited to long but how couldn't he? He had to work and take care of his brothers and go get the groceries and, and, and...!

Rage crawled under his skin for months. He was angry at his parents for dying on him. Angry at Ponyboy for not taking things seriously. The boy was thirteen going on fourteen and couldn't get his damn head outta the clouds. Even angry at Soda, for staying with that no good "girl" a' his. Sandy. Yeah, he'll marry her when he can walk back out under the sun unaided again.

He was scared from the moment his parents died. Scared the state would take his brothers. Scared they'd find out what he'd turned himself into. Scared that he'd loose control. How'd they make rent this month? Oh himself. He's scared of and for him and his own.

He could hear their hearts beating. Every night when he laid in his bed - no longer able to sleep - he'd key into their hearts, to the blood flowing through their veins. He couldn't always do it, it had to be especially quiet, and he had to concentrate very, very hard. It made the short nights long and the long ones fly by. Before he knew it his eternal enemy would peak from under the window and Pony would roll out of bed to the shower. He'd make breakfast and hurry his kid brothers out the door, then search for his own breakfast if he had the time.

Living in the city sucked sometimes. He couldn't take people - though he had with Paul - but there wasn't anything big enough to satisfy him. A couple squirrels, somebodies' stray dog.

God, he hated it sometimes. But it had to be done.

He'd still see Paul on occasion. If he worked near the West side and Paul was blowing class to day drink, a blue Mustang would more often than not fly through their job site. It'd rile up the guys, and Paul would catch his cold eyes with his laughing ones.

He remained stone faced, unwilling to give Paul his jimmies.

One day, Paul's buddies drove by without him, sloshing liquor on them and hootin' and a hoolerin'. He'd watched them sternly as they drove off and returned to work as he'd always done. Except this time, they got off early. This time, he went home.

This time, Ponyboy got jumped.

Soda, Steve, and Two-Bit got there first. Just a few doors down. Johnny stopped short, nearly trippin' him. Dally dropped in, coming from the direction of the reformatory. He threw a tree branch as the Soc's drove off.

Soda gets to Pony first. "They didn't get you too bad, did they?" Pony shakes his head. There's a nick just under his chin. The scent finally wafts his direction.

Darry swallows and steps forward to console them. He scolds Pony for walking home alone. For not carrying a blade. "Yeah, that'd give the Soc's even more reason to cut him up there."

He snaps "If I wanted my kid brother to tell me how to handle my other kid brother I'd ask, kid brother." He storms inside, swallowing again. He'd eaten that morning. He wasn't satisfied, but he shouldn't be this hungry.

Being angry didn't help.

He manages to cool off, listening to the rest of the conversation. Soda made plans without telling him, of course. That Steve, who he's sure hates Pony from the way he's heard him talk to Soda, is going with, and invites Dally. But his girl two-timed him in jail again. He'd figured.

After he finally pulls himself together, he calls to Pony through the front door. "You've got homework," he reminds. Damn kid don't get it. He's gotta get his head outta the clouds.

The next day he goes to the drive in with Dally. Then Dally shows up, licking his wounds from a fight with Tim Sheppard, that son of a bitch. Pony isn't with him. Eleven o'clock comes and goes, at midnight the tv stops broadcasting. Near one he calls Tim and gets Curly, asking if he'd seen Pony. Curly says he ain't.

Soda comes in about then. "You seen Ponyboy?"

He shrugs. "Nah. He went to the Dingo with Dal n' Johnny."

Darry bristles, running his tongue of his teeth. "Dally was just over here. Tim got back at him for his tires."

"Sheesh." Soda steps into the bathroom.

"Dally ain't seen 'im since the Dingo. Sheppard ain't seen 'im either."

"Relax, Dare, he's probably at the lot 'er somethin'. He'll be back."

He snorts. "He better."

Pony wobbles in about two. He smells like woodsmoke and cigarettes. Soda's asleep on the couch. He shouldn't have been out this late... too damn late...

"Where the hell have you been?"

"I was with Johnny. We got to talkin' an' I feel asleep in the lot."

"You know what time it is?" He snaps "Well it's two o'clock in the morning kiddo."

His octave rises with the next line, and he spirals about how he'd almost called the police. How they'd've thrown him n' Soda into a boys home so quick their heads woulda spun! And where would that leave him, huh? Alone. A monster. Really alone this time. No one to care for. No one to keep him in check. He'd... he'd...!

He hadn't eaten. He was starving. Pony tried to squeak past to the bathroom. Soda yells, he's not sure what. He smells blood on Pony, not his, he'll realize later, and he goes to grab Pony's shoulders.

He manages to grapple his senses and only pushes his littlest brother. He topples to the floor, a heap. Soda freezes, panting. He realizes he's panting.

He'd hit Ponyboy.

No.

He'd almost eaten him.

He stammers, as if an apology will do any good. "Pony..."

The kid bolts. Rightfully so. He follows him to the door, the cold breeze breaks through to his hot head. He takes a deep breath.

What has he done.

Soda pushes up next to him on the porch. Would he still stand there if he knew what he'd almost done? Or would he run away too? God, had Pony seen anything? His eyes? His teeth maybe? Shit shit shit!!!

He starts towards the steps. A hand grabs his shoulder. "Give 'em a minute."

Darry scoffs. "Yur right," he admits, turning to Sodapop. "I... I'm sorry."

Soda shakes his head. His eyes are sad, there look to be tears near the creases. "Ain't me you should be 'pologizin' too."

And he's right. He'll just have to wait for Ponyboy to come home.

Except he doesn't. Soda slips off to sleep around three, when he assures him when Pony gets back he'll wake him up. Not long after, he slips out, searching for something to eat.

The scent of blood is strangely forthwith. It puts him on edge. He slips through the neighborhood, searching for the source.

It's a Soc, lying next to the fountain a couple blocks from their house. He's very dead. But his body ain't more than a couple hours that way.

He glances around and listens closely. A dog barks several blocks away, and everyone else around is sleeping soundly. Except one, who grumbles about Mickey Mouse and is probably Two-Bit a block away.

Plenty of time. Darry takes up the body, and finds the notch in his neck that felled the boy. It's a Soc he recognizes - Bob. Somebody Paul used to pal around with. A part of him doesn't want to take from Bob. There's not much, and he's probably got time to find something larger if he hustles. Wait. Has anybody reported this? What if the cops are on there way right now?

But here it is, and here is he. He can be quick. There isn't much left.

He is able to use the stab wound, leaving no trace of his interference. When he stands there is blood on his jeans. He growls, wipping the corner of his mouth. He pauses, listens. Nothing is out of the ordinary. All is well.

Darry sprints home, back in just a few seconds.

Still no sign of Ponyboy.

The next morning someone bangs at the door. He goes to answer and is met by Dally with bloodshot eyes. Damn, he hasn't slept well.

"What's wrong Dallas?" He turns the latch on the screen. Dally bursts in, his eyes careening around the house. Searching for something.

He stops to listen, and nearby, there is clamor. They must've found the body at the fountain. He shuts the door, watching Dally. "Whats wrong?" He crosses his arms.

Dally shrugs, toppling into the armchair he usually uses. "Nothin' man. Just... was at a party most a' da night. Didn't get much sleep."

Soda comes out, half dressed and anxious. "Pony's not back."

"I know, Pepsi Cola..."

"He never came home?!" Soda's voice shoots up an octave.

"Now hold on..."

"Easy Sodapop," Dally intervenes, which angers Darry. "He was with Two-Bit 'n Johnny at the Dingo when I left. He prolly just ended up at 'Bit's..."

"He ran away," Soda cuts him off, "Darry pushed 'im an'..."

Someone raps loudly at the door. A dog down the street begins barking its head off. Its a straight shot to the door, so they all see the two officers standing at the door.

Darry's stomach falls. Dally mutters "shit" when Darry steps up to the door, opening the screen. "Officers?"

"Is Dallas Winston here?"

Darry stops. Surely they would've checked Buck Merril's place first, right? That was where he rented a room... Did they see him walk in? Shit, if Dally got them wrapped up in...

"Gentlemen," Dally steps up behind him, smirking at the cops from over his shoulder. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

He lights up as the taller officer speaks, "We've got some questions for you at the station Dallas. And you'll come along peaceful now or you know right where you'll end up."

"Yeah, yeah," he puffs out into Darry's face. "I'll come. I'm comin'." He pushes Darry out of the way and follows the officers to their patrol car. Its parked right in front of the house. They saw him walk in then. Shit. Just great.

It's only after Two-Bit drops by looking for Pony and Johnny that they realize why Dally was brought in. He must be related to their disappearances. Darry drills Dallas as soon as he decides to reappear back at his house, but Dally's lips are sealed tighter than a clam. Darry tries to press, and Dally leaves.

The next morning, Steve drops by to grab Soda and brings with him the morning paper. On the front page are Johnny and Pony's picture day photos. And in bold, capital letters:

LOCAL DELINQUENTS WANTED IN SATURDAY NIGHT KILLING CASE

The article relates what is believed to have happened to Bob Evans. How Johnny Cade and Ponyboy Curtis attacked the boy and killed him. His friends talk about how they were just driving by, and the boys dragged Bob from the car and tried to drown him. Then, how Johnny had drawn a blade and killed him.

"Cade and Curtis are believed to have fled south, to Texas," Darry reads, "If the public has any information, they are encouraged to contact police. There is a 250 dollar reward for such information that would lead to their capture."

"Well, we know where they're headin'," Soda shoots up. Two-Bit with him, twirlin' the keys to his piece of shit Plymouth."

"Like Hell you are!" Darry shouts. He slams the front door. Two-Bit jumps in his face.

"Come on man, move!"

"No! Do you have any idea what'll happen if I loose Pony and Soda? They'll throw you in a boys home before you get back!"

Soda protests. "They're gonna throw Pony in jail if they catch 'im!"

"You lookin' to lead 'em to him?" Darry shouts.

"Whoa, easy. Easy." Dally, slips between Darry and the two boys. Two bit stumbles back a step. Darry notices he looks rather pale. Shit. Did... did his eyes...?

He hopes he didn't just betray himself. It's likely Two-Bit didn't see anything, but... but he does look awful pale now, doesn't he.

"...I have it on good authority that Johnny' n' Pony are safe. Ya dig?"

"N' how are we supposed to believe you, Dallas?" Steve butts in, hot headed as always.

Darry jumps in too. "Know somethin' we don't?"

"Maybe I do," Dally smirks, glancing at him, then at Soda. "Or maybe I don't. Any hows, I ain't 'nclined ta tell ya nothin', either."

So Dally pawns with them for the rest of the week. The papers continue to cover the story, but luckily it gets smaller and smaller, and moves closer to the back page. Maybe once everything lets up Dally will finally let onto just what he knows.

It's a rather rough week for all of them, but Darry especially struggles. He'd been the reason Pony went an' ran off. He's the reason he's missing, though the state people don't know that. Everyone knows something it seems, but nobodies telling anybody anything. The stupid web is fraught with lies and Darry'd much rather cut his way out, but he can't. His nerves dance all week as he tries to focus on work, but between Pony disappearin' and him being starvin' half the time, he can barely concentrate enough to keep from ripping somebodies head off.

Then they get a call from the hospital, telling them a Ponyboy Curtis has been brought in for smoke inhalation and minor burns. He's alive. He's alive!

Darry hauls ass in that pick-up the same way he used to when he'd raced with Paul an' his friends. The whole time, his thoughts are frought with worry. What'll Pony think? Does he still blame him for that? He'd been mad, and he knew that was no excuse... and Pony had been out when he shouldn't've been. What would the state people say? Had Pony seen him? His eyes were what would give him away, surely...

Soda hurries inside to find Pony, and Darry promises to find him after he calls the state people. He finds a payphone and dials that number he'd been given by the cops for if Pony ever showed up.

"Yeah... he's just been brought into the hospital. They're treatin' 'im for ah, burns and the likes."

"Very well. He'll be allowed to remain in your custody for the time being. We'll contact you in the next week with details pertaining to his court case."

"Right now." Darry inhales sharply. He should've seen it coming. "You have a good night."

"You as well, Mr. Curtis. Good night."

He licks his lips when he puts up the reciever. That's what everyone called his dad. It didn't sound right on him.

He turns to head to the waiting room and see if the nurse can give him Pony's room number. In the smack-dab-center of the hall are Soda and Pony, embracing fiercly. The flourescent flickers above them. Pony's fine. Pony's alright. He can hear his heart beat, even feel it against his chest. He's warm in his arms, and so is Sodapop.

The Curtis brothers embrace, and Darry breaths through tears the only fear bigger than that of himself "I thought we lost you."

The poor boy is exhuasted. He falls alseep on the way home, and Darry carries the boy to his bed. He's weighs nothing, even dead as a doornail, and Darry's stronger now than he'd ever been when his heart beat.

Monsters didn't have hearts, then why did he care for his kid brothers so much?

The next day is the rumble. It's worried him the whole week. There's been whispers that Paul might be there, even though the rumbles mostly with the highschool age kids. He sure as hell ain't in highschool age though, and neither is Two-Bit, even if he still attends. Dally won't be joining because he's still in the hospital, and he already knew Johnny wouldn't fight. Tim Sheppard drops in early that morning to speak with him.

His eyes are natural when he arrives. The black where they should be white and red where they should be brown. That is how they naturally appear, and they're ears also point like the elves in the books Ponyboy likes to read. But the eyes are more subtle, easier to signal with.

Darry lets his guard fall, and for a moment, his eyes match Tims. To his knowledge, he was also born this way, same as Paul; except he was born only recently, and he was the only one in his family. Angela and Curly both were normal, just like Ponyboy and Sodapop.

"What are the odds?" Tim asks, flipping open the newspaper he grabbed from the driveway.

"Should be 'bout even. Your outfit, mine, and the Brumley Boys," Darry rubs his neck, mulling over how odd it is to claim the little group of misfits he mother gooses around as an outfit. "Any others?"

"Other outfits?" Tim raises an eyebrow.

"Others like us," Darry hisses. Tim smirks. Unlike Darry, he's accepted his lot in life. Maybe because he didn't have anything too miss.

"I don't know which of Paul's buddies are gonna be there. You got your blade?"

He flips the page. Darry nods, heading back to his bedroom. "Yeah, I got it."

He grabs it from under his pillow. It's magic, from the Phillipines or somethin'. Tim called it a butterfly knife cause it was precise enough to chop a butterfly's wings clear off.

He hadn't been very careful after his parents died. Just a couple months deep Tim had caught him outside of town, hunting near a cattle yard or something. He couldn't remember now. Tim was the first vamp he'd met that wasn't a Soc. Still, he was born with it, same as Paul.

Unlike him, Tim hunted humans. Whatever he could scrounge up downtown. Something about him being a vamp and a greaser must've instantly allied them.

When he turns to leave, he hears Tim talking to Ponyboy. He tells him that Johnny might die. He'd been hoping to avoid that conversation.

He waits, hovering near the door. Should Tim mention what he fears, he'll be ready.

Luckily, he doesn't.

Pony makes breakfast, and everyone else practically breaks in and takes over his tv. Steve eats cake for no good reason, and Two-Bit settles in with the rest of the cake and a beer to watch Mickey Mouse. The whole time, Pony's on his feet, but he ain't quiet right. He looks too pale. When he really tries, he can tell his heartbeat is faster than it should be.

He tells Pony he shouldn't go to the rumble. Pony points out that, in fact, they are severel men down and they need him.

"Maybe I oughta take the day off."

Pony outright refuses, and he's right. They can't afford him taking a day off right now.

He grabs his tool belt, hangs the pendent from his neck, and warns Ponyboy against smoking more than a pack that day. He has the audacity to shoot back that Darry best not carry more than 1 bundle of shingles at a time.

Kid'll smoke himself to death yet.

He prepares dinner for everyone, and Pony comes home late, of course. Darry does what he can to prepare: he worked out after work, made sure to high tale it out to the cattle yard to eat. He wears a tight shirt that shows off his muscles and stretches out. Of all the outfits showing up, he's probably the biggest guy, so he's sure he'll be asked to start things.

If Paul's there, he'll be fighting him.

Pony comes in late, after he's cooked dinner. He can still eat normal food just fine, though he can't pass it anymore so he'll have to throw up before the rumble. He gets a chance with the excuse to take out the trash. Then he changes out of his work clothes and finds a shirt that will show off his physique. He knows he's built well, but he tries not to be vain about it. Rumbles are about the only time he shows himself off. Its an advantage, and they need every advantage they can get in a rumble.

Before he's done, Ponyboy asks him why he likes to fight. Soda answers for him, saying its because he likes to show off his muscles. He follows the ebb and flow of the pre-rumble banter and tells Soda he'll "show them off on you, little buddy, if you get any mouthier". But he does wonder. Pony moves on to ask Two-Bit, and Darry wonders what he would've said if Soda hadn't interuptted. Maybe he'd have said it was a good way to blow off steam. Rumbles had always been that way for him, but especially now. When he couldn't show anyone what he was and he had to be so, so careful.

He still had to be careful in a rumble, but he could be a hell of a lot less careful.

They leave for the rumble in a holler, doing acrobatics he taught them several summers ago, before he was a monster. Two-Bit cracks a beer and Darry catches Pony watching with distain. He really doesn't like that he's there, but they do need everyman they can get. Even if he counts for two and Tim two more, there's not telling how many guys will show up, and if the soc's will have anyone like him and Tim on their side.

"Sodapop, Ponyboy, if the cops show, you two beat it out of here. We'll get jailed but you'll get the boys home."

"Ain't nobody gonna call the fuzz in this neighborhood!" Steve howls, and they sprint the rest of the way to the park.

The Brumbly Boys and Shepards downtown outfit await them, already asembled. Many drink, Darry notices, and Tim draws close to his brother, confirming it was infact him and Johnny who killed the Soc. When they filter out to await the Soc's, Darry shoots daggers from his icey eyes and whispers too quiet for anyone but him and Tim "Don't try anything". Tim shrugs and there's not more time. The soc's have arrived.

Paul leads them. Darry doesn't recognize anyone else from their high school days, and Tim glances over and nods. He doesn't see any other vampires. He knows more than Darry does, but he isn't sure which ones know them.

"Darrel."

"Paul". He crosses his arms. He will not let Paul see how perturbed he is.

"I'll take you".

Two Bit tells someone he and Paul used to pall around in high school. Play football. Look at what you don't know.

And it begins.

They circle each other for a minute, studying. Paul blacks his eyes for a split second. Darry will not grant him the satisfaction. No matter how compelled he feels. No matter how his brain screams at him to obey.

Paul smirks. Darry snaps. He goes low, just like football. The rumble's on. He's taller than Paul, stronger than Paul, more fit. But Paul's been around hundreds of years. He has a tactical advantage.

But has he fought in a rumble? Darry gets him on the ground and fights to keep him from wriggle away in the mud. The skies have let fourth their fury and he is not about to let Paul get away this quick. This easy.

He lands an awkward right hammer fist to Paul's arm. He puts all his strength into it. Paul yells. He's hurt him. His fist stings, it radiates up his arm. He tries to regrip Paul's jacket. Paul gets away, wriggling just out of reach and standing. Darry scrambles up and Paul sprints into him, throwing him ten feet. He slides through the mud another ten. There's a trough through the ground between him and Paul.

Paul cackles, throwing his back as if to catch and drink the rain. Darry clambers up. He hears Ponyboy squeal. One of the Soc's is on top of him.

"Pony!" He's there in three steps. He rips, really rips, the Soc off his kid brother. He tosses the boy aside and bends to lift Pony. But Paul plows into him and throws him into the merry go round. It smarts in his spine. He graps a bar to help him stand, and realizes the thing is dented around him.

Paul's eyes are black again, he's not sure he's hiding his anymore. "Get up Darrel! Come on! Fight me like a man!" Darry jumps up at that. To his chagrin, Paul's smirk breaks as he chuckles. "Oh. Wait!"

Darry charges at Paul, and he ducks. Darry's waist collides with his shoulders and Paul thrust himself upright, twisting Darry over his shoulder, onto his back. The wind is knocked out of him, which is an odd sensation considering he doesn't need to breath anymore.

Paul yelps and there's a wet squealch. He hears Tim growling. Darry's slow to sit up. Paul throws Tim over his body like a rag doll, and hurdles him to boot. That's when he finally gathers the gumption to stand.

Tims eyes are blacked. He grimaces as he tries to keep Paul's fists at bay. "Paul!"

He turns around. Tim rolls out of the way, mudding himself all the way up. Paul smirks. "Bring it on Milk Man!"

Darry doesn't get the joke until later. He compacts as much as he can when he charges at Paul. Paul scrunches like he had the last time Darry charged. This time, Darry's prepared. He uses Paul's left shoulder like a pummel horse and swings around behind him. As soon as he's mounted, he kicks out his leg, sweeping Paul's legs out from under. He collapses to the ground, and Darry sicks on him.

He punches. Right hook, left hook. A knee to the gut when he shimmies. Left, right, left hook. He thinks he broke Pauls nose, even if he's a vampire.

When Paul quits moving, he stands, and begins to kick him. The gut, groin, face, wherever his foot falls. It will never be enough. Nothing can be punishment enough for allow Paul to turn him into a monster. Maybe it would've been different if his parents were still alive. Probably not. He'd still hate himself, he's sure. Mud flies up with his kicks. He vaguely hears Tim Sheppard tell him to quit it.

"Like hell!" He snaps.

"Darry!" One kid brother shouts.

"Darry! Their runnin'!" His other one, his little buddy Sodapop shouts. Someone grabs his bicep. He whirls his around, throwing them into the mud. It's Soda.

"Darrel!" That'd be Dally. The only one brave enough to use his real name. "Quit it man! You're killin' him!"

"Am not!" He shouts. He rolls Paul with his foot. He starts in on his back.

Two-Bit latches onto his left arm. Soda grabs his right and Dally gets him in a choke hold. Ha! Little good that'll do! He steps back, trying to whirl them off.

They're screaming. Everyone's screaming and there's thunder and lightening. A thunderstorm. How fighting.

A bottle smashes against the back of his head despite the shouts of protest from his gang. It wouldn't draw blood anyway. Not much. He'll dig out shards later, but he'll never bleed. He feels Two-Bit slip off, and he tries to push off Soda - who is still screaming his head off and bawlin' like a goddamn baby - when Tim shouts for them to brace and suddenly he's on his side in the mud, on top of somebodies leg. Dally splatters every curse imaginable with the rain, but manages to wriggle his leg out.

He's rolled onto his back and Tim Sheppards knee set on his sternum. His eyes blacked, fists balled, he warns Darry not to try anything. "They're runnin' man! We won. Calm down ol' boy! You gotta getta holda yourself!"

He freezes. He sucks in a breath. He centers around that. He feels something lodged in his arm. Someone grabs his ankles. He jerks his head up and spots Steve. He looks like a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. He lulls his head to the right. Soda stares right back at him, his eyes pleading. Tears track down his cheeks. leaving trails in the mud on them.

Tim grabs his hair with one hand and yanks his head up. He acts as if to scalp Darry, and his eyes are blacked and iris' red as he pants, and pants.

"Got your big head back on those broad shoulders a yours, superdope?" Tim snarks.

But Darry is looking past him. Between Tim's leg and Dally's torso to his left. Two-Bit is standing there, caked in mud, suddenly sobered up. He clutches someone to his chest. A little boy, a month older than fourteen, with peroxide blonde hair and a sickley paleness to him.

Dear God. It's Ponyboy.

What has he done?

Soda's voice cracks as he begs "Darry. Darry? Please. You're scarrin' Ponyboy."

Ponyboy. Sodapop.

Dear God.

"Wha...?"

Tim cuts him off, pushing off Darry's sternum. "You worked 'im up real good, Curtis, that you did. Can't tell if you killed 'im or just gave him the worst lickin' of his life."

Dally rolls away, and Soda has disappeared as he watched Tim. Tim yanks him up by the colar, and points to the motionless Paul. "You did him up real good, Darrel. And there'll be hell to pay for that."

Darry swallow. "He... he can't be dead."

"He shouldn't be," Tim pushes him forward. Darry manages to catch himself and he turns while Tim continues. "But I know as much as you now..."

No. Paul had told him. They could only be killed by rare magic or a wooden stake to the heart. They could badly injury each other, but never kill.

"...I know is that you gotta disappear. Now! His folk's'll be after you by tomorra an' I ain't real keen to find out just how many vamps are in this city!"

"Vamps?" Steve has of course weasled his way out of the wood work just now. He looks to be holdin' Soda, but neither of his kid brothers will hold eye contact. There's a nice purpling to his upper arm. He wonders if he colored it.

"Darry, you gotta go. Now," Tim shoves him. He falls this time, unprepared. "Go on! Get! If they find you here, they'll kill you an' the rest of you that's left!"

Darry shoots up, getting right in Tim's face "And if I don't?"

"They ain't gonna kill ur brothers if they think they don' know," he whirls around at the gang "An' you don't know nothin', you got it?"

Nobody nods. They're all staring at Darry. And Tim. Staring at both of them.

Tim claps his shoulder "Get yourself a fresh change a' clothes, some cash, and split big man. I'll watch your littles 'till the heat dies down."

Suddenly, it all comes rushing in. Where are the Brumbly Boys? He hasn't seen them since before the rumble. Did he scare them off? Shit. Shit. Shit! Paul's parents are vampires, they'll find him in no time and he cannot let that happen. They cannot find his brothers.

What'll happen to his kid brothers?

"They'll be fine!" Tim shouts, catching where he's looking. "You gotta go now! He'll come to any minute!"

He shoves him once more time, and Darry lets the momentum take him. He runs. Runs past his house, towards the country. He's got his wallet on him so he'll have that. It's not like he needs normal food and he's impervious to all that nature's got to throw at him any how.

What has he become? He finally realizes this sometime around the Oklahoma/Kansas border. Has... has he...

He's become a monster.

There is no doubt about it.

This is gonna get a part two. I just need to finish the plan and write it. Happy finals week all. Thinking about making audio recordings of myself reading these to include with future projects, as well as past projects. What do we think? Maybe a bit where I reread my old stuff and go through and edit, but like, a video? Am I gonna be a YouTuber? Stay tuned!