#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

[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. 

[cloudseeker14]

Pink in The Night (Scaramouche x Fem!Reader)

Summary : After Teyvat had been wiped clear of the memories of the sixth harbinger, the Wanderer heads towards a place of thoughts of reminiscence; hoping to find the only one who'd ever understood him.

Genre : Angst, Romance

Scaramouche walked ahead, trodding a path of moss and grass. Squirrels scurried away with every step he took with his wide hat fluttering in the wind.

He had escaped from the Fatui, left behind his dire thirst for vengeance and was now a shell of the harbinger he had been with only memories of his exploits. Memories that only he would remember for the world has spun ahead without him.

He was a lone Wanderer, the nature was his humble abode. He had no name, no home and didn’t have anyone’s arms to go running into as the night grew cold.

Well, no one except her.

He could see a harbor appearing before him, huts rising beneath the clear night sky. Pin pricks of light shone as families slumbered inside, lost to the land of dreams.

Scaramouche hurried beneath the archway, his pathetic excuse of a heart growing warm at the thought of seeing her.

At the thought of hearing her laughter.

At the thought of feeling her touch as soft as the silk flowers that filled the air with their scent.

He turned around familiar alleyways, a path that his feet had lead to countless times; a haunting melody of his past.

Would she remember him? Remember the nights that they spent together and the rough kisses shared beneath the moonlight?

Scaramouche was afraid to find out the answer.

At last, he arrived at a house with rose vines that crawled along the rooftops, their alluring fragrance drawing him in.

Scaramouche took in deep breaths and cleared his throat, ignoring the way his chest seemed to tighten at the thought of seeing her face.

He knocked on the door thrice, loud and clear in sharp contrast to the flurry of questions flying across his head.

Does she still remember the love she had for me?

Scaramouche needed her to, for the notion of not being the object of her affections left him in a cold sweat. If she looked at him like a stranger even after holding him close to her chest at a past which seemed like it was an eternity ago, he wasn't sure what he'd do.

The door swung open with an ear piercing creak and there she stood, the woman that had once melted through the cold defenses of the sixth harbinger, locks of hair falling across her face.

Scaramouche gazed into her eyes, waiting, yearning and even pleading within himself for a sign of recognition.

Yet nothing came, only a look of confusion.

Y/N stared at the man before him, the way his blue eyes seemed to twinkle like the stars in the sky and the billowing clothes that adorned his frame.

"Excuse me, do I know you?" She asked, wariness evident on her features

It felt like a hole had been ripped open in the place where Scaramouche's heart should have been. Screams threatened to rip from his throat as memories of small hugs, shared chuckles and the way her hand had felt in his flashed past his eyes.

They were being set aflame, falling apart to ashes.

"Sir?" Y/N asked, eyebrows furrowed "Do you need anything?"

Scaramouche swallowed the bile that threatened to rise up his throat before replying. "I'm just a traveller and I'm very tired after my long journey. Do you know where I can find a place to rest?"

Please, laugh in my face right now and tell me you're joking. Tell me that you obviously remember me.

I can't lose you too, the only thing that made this tapestry of lies worth living.

"Just keep walking ahead and you'll find the Crescent Inn, it's a very comfortable place, I'm sure you'll like it."

He looked down, tears welling up at the rim of his eyes. His lips trembled as he forced himself to stare at the ground at his feet.

"Are you okay? Do you need a glass of water?"

There it was, that familiar concern that had drawn Scaramouche to her in the first place.

He met her questioning face. "No, it's just been a tough day. Thank you and I'm sorry if I bothered you."

Y/N smiled weakly before slamming the door on his face. Scaramouche turned around and left through her house's gate. The ground beneath him seemed to be tumbling down with every step he took.

He'd made it past her house before collapsing onto the ground, bellowing curses to the wind as tears ran down his porcelain face.

He damned the gods, their lies and torments and how with each of their intervention, they'd ripped apart any chance for him to hope in this world and had forced him to leave a trail of regrets.

Scaramouche had scoured marshes, crossed deserts and climbed the most ruggedy of mountains to find Y/N, only to lose her yet again.

"Scara, look at me."

"Why do you even care for me?" He asked haughtily "A mere mortal like you, do you really think you could satisfy me?"

"You and I both know you aren't fooling anyone with that rude act of yours."

Scaramouche stepped closer to her, brushing the hair from her face with his slender fingers. "Fine, then can you love a puppet, a broken creation like me? I don't even have a heart to give you."

"I love you just as you are, you're more than enough for me." Y/N held his hands, slowly caressing his palm

"Even if it meant tearing Teyvat apart, you're the only one for me. No one else could ever compare to you in my eyes." She continued, a light hue of pink sprinkled over her face.

"I'm not a good person, Y/N. I've killed so many people and I will have to keep doing so. I could harm you, maybe even ruin you and I don't want to do that to you."

"Scaramouche." She muttered, holding onto his hands even more tightly.

“Even my own creator, my mother didn’t want me. I’m not even sure if I’m capable of loving you to extent you deserve without a heart.”

“Enough.” She pulled Scaramouche into a tight embrace, engulfing him in her affection. “I don’t care about your mother or what the world would think of me if I stood by your side, all that matters is that I get to spend a lifetime with you.”

Scaramouche stiffened, muscles tensing as Y/N wrapped her arms around him. “A lifetime would never be enough for me. I would consider your death as the utmost betrayal.” He said, straining his voice to keep its composure.

The darkness of the night couldn’t hide the hurt that flickered on Y/N’s face.

“But at least let me have this.” He whispered, voice soft and vulnerable as the facade of the powerful harbinger shattered into pieces like shards of glass. Scaramouche buried his face into the crook of her neck, nuzzling against her soft skin.

"We can stay like this for as long as you want." Y/N hesitantly placed her hand atop Scaramouche's head, running her fingers through his hair. "As long as an ounce of life exists in my body, my heart will always beat for you."

The sixth harbinger pushed away, the thoughts behind those blue eyes unreadable as he allowed his gaze to wander. "Do you promise that?"

Scaramouche knew promises were worthless in the face of the monster known as time, but he still wanted to hear it.

"Of course I do." She smiled and with such a simple gesture, she managed to completely untether the course of Scaramouche's world.

He didn't know if it was the way the moonlight shone of her face or if it was the alcohol making his mind fuzzy that allowed him to even consider the daring thought that entered his head.

Perhaps he had lost his mind because he placed his lips upon hers, as tender as a fleeting butterfly.

She tasted like honey and Scaramouche allowed himself to drown in the feeling of her body against his and the way his hands fit perfectly against her waist. He’d never been a believer of the gods but at that moment, he couldn’t help but pray that this would last forever.

Scaramouche wanted to laugh at the wind, at the irony of it all. He certainly hadn’t grown wiser about trusting mortals after three betrayals.

Three betrayals and he still wanted to go crying into the arms of a human.

Three betrayals and he'd still allowed himself to let her escape from his grasp.

Every leaf and bird of the forest seemed to sing the words that Scaramouche had been terrified of saying when he was somebody that she used to know.

The breeze seemed to whisper in his ears, taunting him with the three words which if he'd said, might have changed everything.

I love you.

But it was too late and those words would forever remain sealed within Scaramouche, shut within the fortress of his unspoken desires.

[whatsyourcolor]

Psycho-Pass Providence Review (with major spoilers!!! Don’t read if you don’t want spoilers!!)

As promised, I went to see Psycho-Pass Providence at Nijo Toho Cinemas in Kyoto. They had a little merch at the theater. They also gave everyone a booklet with artwork that I’ll include at the end of this review. If you want to wait until you can see the movie, please stop reading now because I will be basically telling everything that happened, good and bad. I was glad to see more people coming to watch the movie because when I bought the tickets most seats were available! We are a small fandom, but we are loyal! Now, please understand I don’t know any Japanese, so a lot of the information here is things that happened, but I can’t tell you much about the dialogue. I’m dying for someone to translate it once the movie becomes available everywhere.

Spoilers below:

The movie starts in a ship off the coast of Kanagawa, Japan, that is being attacked by the infamous peace breakers led by Akira Ignatov, Kei’s strange brother. The men in the ship are SAD agents that are getting murdered left and right. What do the peacebreakers want? Get something from a woman named Stronoyka who is currently traveling in the ship. From the synopsis we know this woman holds a dossier that details how to destroy Sibyl (or something of the sort, can’t quite remember). Kogami is the first on the scene in a suit reminiscent of a flying squirrel, but unfortunately, he’s too late. He looks hot as hell though when he jumps in the water.

The intro with a song by Ling Tosite Sigure had me excited to be watching a Psycho-Pass movie in a movie theater and surrounded by Japanese fans of the movie. It was sweet!

To skip ahead, SAD and the MWPSB have to work together. Akane, Kogami, Ginoza, Sugo, Saiga and Frederica travel to Dejima to investigate, I think. Let’s get to the meat of what the fandom wants to know.

Kogami and Ginoza Reunited

Akane is talking to Frederica and as they’re walking towards Division 1 office, they find Ginoza grabbing Kogami by the collar and yelling at him while Sugo is trying to separate them. What was Ginoza saying? No idea, but he was probably getting back at Kogami for leaving or coming back, etc.

At some point, however, Kogami and Ginoza fight together against their enemies. There seems to be some will for reconciliation.

Akane and Kogami Reunited

Akane walks in the room with Frederica when Gino is yelling at Kogami. Ko says “Kanishkan” at some point, so I think he’s addressing Akane, but her reaction is…should I say, enigmatic? Indifferent? Maybe she’s controlling herself?

SAD and the aforementioned team travel together to Dejima, and Akane and Kogami barely talk on the way. Once there, Saiga and Kogami talk and at some point they mention Akane. Later Akane calls Kogami while he’s in his room. They both sound like they disagree about something or like something is awkward between them and Akane hangs up on him, surprising him.

The thing about this movie is that they gave Akane the cutest outfits. Especially one in a very crucial moment. I’m so glad they made her look so cute and beautiful in the movie.

At some point the infamous peacebreakers begin their attack, and in the famous explosion scene, Frederica, Saiga, Kogami and Akane are walking down a hallway when an explosion goes off. Kogami doesn’t even think once about protecting Saiga or Frederica, he straight up runs to Akane and they fall to the ground. There are some lines of dialogue here while he’s laying on top of her. This is the part when Akane gets her bruised cheek.

In another scene, after Akira basically gives himself up, Kogami is interrogating him and then another guy shows up and shoots at them. Kogami gets shot and he ends up in the hospital. Akane visits him and when he makes to start smoking, she takes the cigarette off his mouth. There’s a moment here where it seems like he’s teasing her, because he sits up on his bed and kinda leans towards her. Very cute moment between them.

Saiga

Saiga and Kogami have a long talk about many things (I assume, remember, I don’t know any Japanese) but at some point they mention Akane.

A very sad, traumatic moment for Akane. They get attacked by a specially unkillable peacebreaker and Saiga ends up being held hostage by the guy. In the last moment, what we feared happens. Saiga’s last words are for Akane. Our poor girl suffers a lot and Kogami is there to console her and help her push through. They look so good together!

Akira, Kei, Maiko, Arata and Arata’s Dad

Honestly, most of the plot escapes me. Akira at some point even fights himself. He seems to be controlled by an old man who appears to be creating his own version of Sibyl. Akane is actually invited to Kei and Maiko’s wedding and on the same night Arata’s dad, with whom she seemed to have a very good relationship (there’s a lot of dialogue between Arata’s dad and Akane), killls himself while holding a photo of his family.

Craziness Ensues

Akane agrees to meet the mastermind behind all these terror attacks while a tactical team formed by Frederica, Gino, Kogami and Sugo fighting lasers from the air attack the headquarters of the peacebreakers. Here we see for the first time the two old dudes that become obsessed with Kogami in Season 3.

While everyone is fighting and there are explosions and shooting everywhere, Akane has a dialogue with the mastermind. At some point she draws her dominator but his crime coefficient is around 40. The whole place begins to collapse and by then, the mastermind has shot Akane on the leg and has her cuffed. They discuss and debate when he shoots her again (that asshole!). By the time Kogami shows up to rescue her, the other man is pointing his gut right at Akane’s forehead while they debate. At some point Akane says something that irks the guy and he pistol whips her a little bit. Kogami shoots him and gets her out of there.

The craziest plot twist

They show Akane dressed in a ceremonial uniform (and she looks so beautiful!) while Kogami is confined to an isolation facility. He begins reading a letter she wrote to him. They show her at a ceremony where it seems she will be recognized for her achievements. It is here when Akane shoots Chief Kasei in front of everyone.

They show Mika running to arrest Akane for her crime and she yells at Akane with frustration for what she did. Akane offers no resistance. As Kogami is reading the letter he looks angry, frustrated and sad for what Akane did. Why did she do it? We will have to wait until someone translates the movie.

Akane’s face is plastered all over the news as the inspector who went crazy and killed her boss. They show a parallel of Kogami walking out of the isolation facility while Akane is walking in. They don’t cross paths, but once Akane is alone she completely breaks down sobbing uncontrollably. It was so sad to see her suffer like that! Then they show Kogami walking free on the street and he says something and then the movie ends. Did Akane go to jail because of Kogami?

I’ll write more thoughts tomorrow! Overall it was well made. Lots of CGI and explosions almost made me think at times that I was watching a Transformers movie.

[skylarsblue]

✦Soldier, Poet, King, Lord. ✦

(I had this idea for awhile as a little blurb. I could draw it, but I don’t have the patience. I wrote this with a headache so it’s not great but I hope you’ll be okay with it anyway) ✧Blurb, GN!reader, They/Them used, no Y/N, random callsign✧

Gaz lifted his head as he entered the common area, listening to some faint singing and some even quieter music. He leaned in carefully and looked around, eyes falling on his teammate. Their sniper, having joined the task force months prior. They had proved themselves quite capable and likable in a short span of time. Kind, strong willed, gently spoken and a good listener. Captain liked that most about them. Johnny liked their creativity, often sharing doodles and ideas for tattoos. Simon…well, he was an enigma, but it was safe to say he liked the new member now. Gaz certainly did.

He crossed his arms and leaned in the doorway, watching them make a cup of tea whilst singing to a song on the phone. He realized that he’d heard it before, they often hummed this tune when things felt too quiet. Occasionally, they could be heard quietly mumbling the lyrics when pulling an all-nighter. Johnny gave them a nickname based on it, and eventually tried to brainstorm call signs for the sniper. Throwing ideas back and forth. Lyre, harpy, songbird. The last one stuck around but was too long for a callsign. It was actually Price that landed on one.

Suddenly, the sniper was Siren.

It was certainly fitting, their voice was rather pleasant. Gaz had fallen asleep to it more than once, much to his embarrassment. He smiled as he listened to them pour the tea. He waited for them to set the kettle down before clearing his throat, startling them. “Jesus! Gaz, you prick, you scared the hell out of me.” Siren sighed, resting a hand over their chest, feeling their beating heart. Kyle chuckled and approached while giving an apology, raising his hands. He watched them add a single spoon of sugar, stirring it. “Good timing though, I finished your cup, it’s still warm.”

Gaz took his specific cup from their hand. Siren had insisted everyone had designated mugs, bought some themselves. Gaz was a forest green with a little cartoon owl on it. They insisted it was fitting for him.

“You’re smart, swift, and deceivingly approachable. People won’t see the danger coming. Plus the flying thing…”

He smiled and took it, sipping the beverage. It was coffee, not tea, and perfectly made to his tastes. It always warmed his soul when Siren remembered something so small about him. About all of them. “Thanks, dove. Those three for the rest of’em?” He asked as he motioned to three more cups, all sporting a specific animal. Siren always enjoyed using metaphors and symbols to represent people, a large sign of their creative side.

Ghost’s was black, sporting a cat with an angry expression. “Because he’s an introvert. Stealthy and sneaky, and dangerous.” Soap had received a red squirrel on a deep blue cup, which he’d managed to chip the edge of within a week of having it. “A small and feisty scavenger.” That was all Siren had said to explain it, which made the team laugh at Soap’s offense at the “small” comment. And the orange cup filled with the strongest, most bitter cup of coffee, displayed a fluffy bear. Siren had given it wordlessly, and when John have a questioning look, they moved on. Refusing to elaborate.

“The guys are getting done with sparring. Captain went pretty hard on Ghost & Soap, tea will probably make’em feel better.” Gaz praised. Siren grabbed their phone and paused the song. “I hope so, you all have been working so hard.” They smiled. Kyle waved his hand dismissively as he took another sip of his coffee. “Oh hush.” They laughed in reply. “I mean it! You guys really deserve a break.” This was something the rest of the team also enjoyed about their most recent teammate. The selflessness they showed, trying their best to make everything easier for those around them. It didn’t go unnoticed.

Siren went to speak again before their phone buzzed loudly. Kyle bit back a snicker as they juggled them device a bit from being startled, thankfully, they caught it. “Ah shit! I can’t stay to chat with you guys, the medic needs my help with some soldiers. Just make sure they get their cups before the drinks go cold, yeah?” Kyle reassured them he would and wished them luck, watching them sprint away.

Kyle sat and waited for the other three men to arrive. But as he waited, he finally noticed a closed book on the counter. A sketchbook. He’d seen Siren using it every now and then. He wasn’t intending to snoop, really, he wasn’t even thinking that much when he slid the book over to him. He opened it and scanned the first page, full of random doodles. Most of the pages were random sketches, some of landscapes, some of objects, a few that he recognized as tattoo designs Siren had proudly shown.

It was toward the middle that Gaz found a sketch of himself. A 3/4 profile of his face. He recognized the moment instantly. After a long mission coming back from a safe house in Siberia, they were picked up in a military issued truck. Gaz spent most of the time staring out the window at the rolling hills covered in snow. Kyle set the cup down and rested his chin on his hand, flipping the page. He found more sketches of his teammates. A bust profile of Soap with a large grin. A sketch from the waist up of their Lieutenant with his arms crossed. Kyle snorted at the drawing of Price, drawn in his typical ‘dad pose’, where he’d lean back and cross his arms.

Siren seemed to draw a lot of inspiration from their team and their life in combat. It was rather flattering, in all honesty. Kyle was so focused he almost missed the sounds of Soap, Ghost, and Price entering the common room. John was first to spot the cups on the counter, gunning for his. “Siren make these?” He asked before taking a drink, Kyle nodded. “What’cha lookin’ at, mate?” Soap asked as he sat beside the pilot, awkwardly stretching to grab his own mug. Simon grabbed his own, but he didn’t remove his mask to drink it, even if they had seen his face before.

“Siren left their sketchbook. Look, they’ve drawn us.” Kyle turned the book to show a page full of doodles of their faces. “Wow…” Soap said softly. “Certainly make my beard look better than it really is.” John complimented. Ghost tilted his head to better look at the pencil marks, gaze softening as he scanned the page. Soap reached for the book and turned the page. These set of drawings were different, and it caught the team’s eye particularly. “That’s Simon and I, yeah? Look like we walked outta fantasy show.” Soap commented as he looked closer. These drawings were more stylized. Johnny & Simon drawn in fantastical clothes and armor. The next page was the designs again, but this time with more movement. Showing both men back to back, Ghost with a sword, Soap with a molotov set ready to throw. “Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Johnny laughed. Gaz narrowed his gaze at the text on the page, carefully written in swirly handwriting.

“There will come a soldier who carried a mighty sword…” A familiar line situated by Simon’s head.

“He will tear your city down. Oh lei, oh lai, oh lord…” The line finished by Soap.

Kyle blinked and tapped the words. “These words, it’s the lyrics to that song they sing all the time!” He stated. It seemed to jog the memory of the rest of them. Price chuckled and looked at Soap & Ghost with a grin. “Suppose you’re the soldiers then. Soap’s certainly torn down some cities.” He commented. Kyle turned the page again and found himself once more, donning medieval fantasy clothing. Scrolls littered around him with a quill in hand, a book in the other. He dabbled in creative writing, mostly in high school. Very rarely did he ever share it with anyone however. But when he was stressed, feeling overwhelmed and in need of an outlet, he would write. He remembered being rather embarrassed when Siren accidentally found a poem he’d slapped together after a mission. Though, they weren’t judgmental, they’d been encouraging actually. But he didn’t think they’d truly remember it.

“There will come a poet who’s weapon is his word, he will slay you with his tongue. Oh lei, oh lai, oh lord…”

“Poet huh? You do like your words and metaphors, Gaz.” Simon said. Kyle flipped him off but it was all light hearted. He lingered on the drawing, unable to prevent himself from smiling. John continued to casually drink his coffee, but he wasn’t expecting himself on the next page. Dressed in robes, settled on a throne with a cigar, a crown boldly placed on his skull. With the second page once again showing this design more in depth. Crown fallen on the ground with a sword in hand, graphite smudged meant to express grime and blood. A stern and calculated look on his face.

“There will come a ruler who’s brown is laid in thorn. Smeared with oil like David’s boy, oh lei, oh lai, oh lord…”

It clearly meant a lot to their teammate, what the song represented and the team’s dynamic as a whole. So much so that it inspired them. The sentiment wasn’t lost on the four men either. Hence why Soap stole two pages of their sketchbook to make his own addition, taking suggestions from Ghost, Price, and Gaz as he drew Siren. Going away from the lyrics. They didn’t draw attention to it, making sure to leave the sketchbook in the place Siren had left it. Allowing for the sniper to pick it up before they went to bed. There was very little time to relax between errands, training, and missions. So, naturally, when lights out was called, Siren took out their pencil and book.

Humming their favorite song as they flipped past the pages. Breath catching in their throat. An image of themselves in Johnny’s drawing style, distinct from their own, but mimicking the layout they had. Decorated in flowing cloth and extravagant jewelry. Almost omnipresent. They knew the words weren’t written by Soap, the handwriting was too clean for that.

“There will come the lord, gently made on a battlefield. Oh lei, oh lai, oh love.”

[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.” 

[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

[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.

💕—————💕

[anitabighug]

❥ A Perfect Experiment : Wally x Reader (She/Her Pronouns, Named) ✿

Chapter Masterpost: [  ♡   ♡    ♡ ] Chapter Eleven; Obligatory Beach Episode

●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・● Today is the big day. Julie shoots up in bed, the ribbons and lace of her bedsheet set flying everywhere. It's today. She bounces on the balls of her feet as she packs the essentials into a bright yellow duffel bag. Its today! She shovels cereal into her mouth so fast she gets the hiccups. “TODAYS THE DAY!!!” Julie screams out to the neighbourhood after flinging her door wide open. You can almost hear a collective groan from the sleepy residents. Yes, today is the day. But it is also five in the morning, Julie. You sit up in bed, rubbing the sleep from your eyes… You can practically hear Julie slamming knocks onto Frank’s door from your bed. You take a quick look down at your sheets. You don’t quite remember how you got back to your bed last night, but it’s hard to ignore the way that your blankets were laid out one on top of the other, and how precisely you’d been tucked in. You wiggle a little in delight, enjoying the gesture for a moment longer before you finally get up. Julie wasn’t going to stop her assault anytime soon, and you did in fact need to get ready for the day. “Sunscreen, check. Sun hat, check,” You pat the hat on your head as you go over your checklist, Julie vibrating away in your doorway, groaning a ‘come onnnnn hurry uuuuup!’ “Please, Julie, a well prepared list is crucial when it comes to enjoying a trip.” You tell her, and the exhausted Frank on the other side of the doorway gives a knowing nod. “I mean, if I didn’t have this, I might forget the juice mix, or the radio, or even my swimsuit!” He continues to nod until the last one, where his eyes shoot open. He takes a deep breath, then turns back towards his own home, stomping off. Julie calls after him, but hes digging away in his bag already to find the suit he no doubt forgot at home. You giggle, setting your radio down on top of your load, “See? Like that! We can’t rush these things, Julie!” You finally check the last thing off your list, and Julie zooms past you, grabbing items in a frenzy and taking them outside to add to the growing pile on the pair of wagons the group was bringing with them on the walk. You certainly were surprised to hear there was a lake around here, and you couldn’t wait to take a few samples and squirrel them away in the cooler to bring home. You were even more surprised to hear that the post office and bodega were closing for beach day; though you supposed with no one else in town it would be an awfully boring day for the two of them anyways. You’d taken so long that at this point the other residents were starting to gather. Howdy had brought breakfast for everyone, along with a ginormous cooler he was dragging along behind him on the wheels. Eddie was carrying the bag for a tent on his back, along with a grocery bag full of marshmallows and firemaking supplies. It was obvious he was most excited for the camping and hiking aspect of the trip. The others trickled in slowly, either adding their items to the wagons or holding it themselves. Barnaby shows up last, already in his swimsuit, with his luggage being an impressive looking water gun strapped on his back. He lets out a loud, rumbling yawn, and starts to pull one of the wagons towards the forest. Julie lets out an excited squeal, and grabs the handle of the other wagon, starting to pull. It doesn’t budge, but she keeps pulling. You laugh and head up behind it, pushing it with her before she pops a joint. You take the opportunity to reach forwards, and flick your radio on, the batteries whirring it to life. [♫] Stuck - Caro Emerald “Stay close, it’s easy to get lost,” You hear Wally tell you idly as he strolls past you to walk with Barnaby. “Easy? Try guaranteed!” Poppy whines, trailing along at the back of the group to make sure no one gets separated, the bird on high alert. You can see why pretty quickly; within moments of being in the forest, you can no longer see the neighbourhood. It’s a little dim under the blanket of leaves, but the bouncy tunes from your radio keep the mood high as the group wanders deeper and deeper. It definitely didn’t look this thick from the outside, but such was the majesty of nature. You can hear Frank pointing out flora along the way, and what kinds of butterflies used it and in what ways. He’s strolling along somewhere in the middle of the group, Eddie holding his hand and leading him with the group so he doesn’t get distracted. It seemed like everyone was relying on the buddy system, thankfully. It took an hour or so to get through the woods, minus a short snack break in the middle where you split a peanut butter and jelly with Julie. Everyone starts to get excited out of nowhere, and you look up from your wagon pushing to see it finally coming into view. The lake isn’t huge; barely bigger than a pond, but nice and private and more than big enough for the group that had been brought. The side closest to you has a sand beach, with a fire pit right in front of you that had barely ever been used. The far side is lined with rocks and pebbles, and has a long pier with old lifeguard equipment still hanging off of. Julie lets out a squeal, and drops the pulley. Luckily, Poppy catches her and scoops her up before she can go jumping into the water in her street clothes. You help her gather the bags, and the girl’s group head into– what you assume are– the nearby bathrooms. There isn’t really much signage, but the inside is surprisingly clean and the light still works. You’re thankful that you can at least see while you change, and while Julie ties your hair up to keep it out of your face. She tries a few different styles before settling on just the right spot, high and tilted just so off to the side. The boys are ready by the time you leave the restrooms, and are already setting up home base. You hurry to Eddie’s side, gently lifting the instructions for setting up the tent out of his hand and flipping it over. He laughs, rubbing the back of his neck, and the two of you hurry to decipher the glyphs and set up the tent. Julie and Sally are blowing up floaties nearby, and are trying to land them over Frank’s head every time they finish one of the coloured rings. He continues to struggle with some sort of butterfly float, head whirling around to glare at the girls every time they manage to get one over him. You laugh to yourself, and turn back to Eddie as he clicks the last bar in place, and the two of you drape and pin the tent with ease. “Team work!” You exclaim, and Eddie holds out his hand for a high five, which you graciously accept. “Makes the dream work!” He finishes, and laughs heartily. You’re interrupted by a shrill whistle, and you stand at attention. What… Was that? Poppy ushers the rest of your friends to your side, setting you in line. Oh, safety lesson, right. She goes on a tirade, walking past each of you and telling you the dangers of UV, and squirting a giant puddle of sunscreen in each of your hands. She gets to Barnaby, who winces a little at the idea of getting sunscreen in his fur. When she insists, He shrugs, and lifts the person next to him in the air. This happens to be you, and you yelp in surprise. “‘Nuff ‘a this! Beach time!” He yells, running towards the water and tossing you in, shrieking all the way. Julie cheers, slapping what remained of her sunscreen left on her cheek and running after the pair of you. With a loud splash, beach day was officially open, and the festivities began. [♫] Doped Up Dollies on a One Way Ticket To Blood - Big D and the Kids Table ●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・● It was always so nice to see his friends having fun together. Wally strolled back to the towels and umbrellas that had been set up, humming all the way, and took the seat he’d probably be enjoying all day. It was difficult to have a whole new place like this, but the fact that he didn’t have to keep up the usual facade was helping a lot. Though he did wish Home could join them for this, it would love to watch some of these antics. He’d have to make it up to it somehow. He couldn’t feel too bad, however, as he took the time to enjoy the view himself. You’d finally pulled yourself out of the deep water, absolutely sopping wet at this point, and resigned yourself to discard your usual coverup on the shore, leaving you only in your frilly one piece. You could’ve ignored this, if you didn’t immediately catch Wally ogling you, a big smirk on his face, his head resting on one of his hands. You feel your cheeks get hot, but luckily justice is served quickly. Barnaby lifts the package up, and drops it without even hesitating. The water balloon explodes in dramatic fashion right over Wally’s unsuspecting head. And he looks FURIOUS. He turns his head without moving his pupils until his eyes meet Barnaby’s. His perfect hair was ruined, wet clumps sticking to his cheeks, half of his face practically covered. You and Barnaby are in stitches. He slowly stands, and cracks his knuckles, “I’m sure you know… This means war.” … Barnaby sprays him in the face with his soaker, and then books it to hurry out of the range of his fury. Wally digs around in the luggage until he finds a suitable weapon; a second water gun, smaller, but it would do. He gets some of the bags pretty wet in the process, and then stomps over to the edge of the water to fill the gun. You laugh under your breath, and wander over to steal the spot he’d left free with his antics, already ready to dry off. You’d sit this one out, thank you. Well, at least you hoped you would. Just as you start to get dry, you are suddenly absolutely drenched. Barnaby is behind you, losing his mind, and in front of you is a very shocked looking Wally, water gun pointed directly at you. It seemed that in the excitement, You’d been used as a shield. “... Wally.” “... I am. so. sorry.” You turn back to look at Barnaby. He lifts up a balloon to tempt you with the forbidden fruit. You hold out your hand for it. Wally is running as fast as he can to escape now, letting out a shrill scream, and you are in hot pursuit. His puppet butt was going to be yours whether he wanted it or not. Soon, you’ve cornered him, standing in front of one of the larger rocks at the far end of the lake. “Any last words, Wally Darling?” You ask darkly, rolling the balloon between your hands. “... Truce?” “And just what is in it for me? Hmm?” You examine him closely. His cheeks flush, and he lets out a slight whimper. “Anything. My eternal gratitude. My life. Anything.” He pleads. You let out a tiny sigh. You just can’t resist those eyes, something in his begging is warming your frozen heart. How did Barnaby get up there? He lifts the water balloon above his head. This one is super sized; threatening to break already in his hands, and aimed for a direct hit at Wally’s head. You react without thinking, calling out his name and shoving him out of the way. He hits the ground, and the balloon hits you square in the face. You hear Barnaby going ‘aw, what?’ at the betrayal, starting to climb down from his perch. “... Daisy…” Wally is breathless, staring up at you. He didn’t think you’d ever looked so beautiful. He stood up, “... You just saved my life. You’re… my hero.” He is SO dramatic. You wipe the water from your eyes, coughing and sputtering a little. He hurries forwards, scooping you into a hug and pressing dozens of kisses across your cheek. You try to protest, try to squirm out of his grip. “Wally– Wait– Get a grip– We gotta run–” Its too late. Barnaby lifts his soaker, and drenches the both of you. He rolls his eyes, shaking his head, “Gross. Get a room, you two.” With that, Barnaby leaves you two alone, setting his sights on someone else to annoy. It seemed to be Frank from the screaming you can soon hear. Wally is leaning his whole body weight against you, still whimpering pathetically about his hair. You roll your eyes, and reach up, brushing the locks from his eyes, “Oh, calm down. You look adorable.” “... Do you really think so?” “You always look adorable, Wally. This isn’t flirting, Its scientifically proven. We did a poll and everything.” You muse. He finally cracks, starting to laugh under his breath, pressing his forehead against yours.

●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●・○・●

@elegantkidfansoul @itsyoboysparkel

[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!

[innytoes]

Leverage Redemption 2.05

-Holy bad photoshop batman

-Proof sports are dangerous.

-Breanna I love you. Showercap of equality indeed.

-Harry you are also a good bean.

-STOP WALKING ON THE LAWN THERE IS A PERFECTLY GOOD STONE PATH ONE STEP TO THE LEFT

-Breanna’s hat is amazing.

-Flying squirrel Parker my beloved

-Okay so Baby Grifter Sophie learned how to take a car hit before she was 11 and Parker was a baby getaway driver at 11 and now I need the AU bb!criminal fic.

-100% was waiting for Parker to be like: yeah they hunt people for sport.

-Okay Eliot that’s a nice speech but you can be not-a-coward/a hero and still keep a running tally of the amount of times you were shot and bitch about it, I feel.

-Did the costume department really go like: let’s give these dudes a nice subtle KKK vibe.

-The rhythms of nature and fellowship of men... is this a gay orgy? Is it????

-Harry gets to be Eliot and his first instinct is to growl I’m dying.

-Okay I forgive the stupid speech now because Harry doing it is amazing (also adorable that he remembered it word for word.)

-Not gonna lie was waiting for frog lady to punch that dude.

-Candlelit beers with his boyfriend aww.

[pbandjesse]

Today was a really long day!! I am wildly exhausted. But I am feeling a lot better. Today was basically the best I have felt. Even with all the walking and exercising. It was a good day.

I didn't sleep amazing. I had crazy vivid and active dreams again. And woke up with chest pains that took a bit to go away.

Waking up was hard. James was sitting at the desk when I woke up and I asked for 5 more minutes. And they were impressed when I sat up moments before the alarm actually went off. I have a very good internal clock.

James sent me off to work with a kiss and hoping for a good day. And it would be a good day.

I got to camp at 8. And was very much looking forward to a fruit bagel. I said good morning to Sarah and she let me know there was a little confusion about where we were supposed to meet today. But I just let her know I was going to go get my rain gear (jacket and boots) and would walk back soon.

And that's exactly what I did. I got confirmation that we were going to the hacienda. And would gather a few others to walk with me. And it wasn't raining yet but it was humid. It would drizzle on and off all day. Thankfully never got to hot, just warm and humid but mostly just comfortable (thought damp).

I helped set up the breakfast they got us. There was some confusion about gluten free options but I got my fruit bagel and would also get an egg bagel. So I had one and a half bagels. I am so glad I'm able to eat again. But I ate bizarrely and to much today honestly. Which would make me not feel great later one. But I was just so excited.

I stood outside with Elizabeth and Sarah and commiserated about being annoyed about people not understanding simple instructions and how it's going to be so much more calm when it's just us again. And while I don't be there every single day, I will be there at least a few days a week for a bit. No real schedule yet but I am looking forward to some work days and more time to do other things. Specifically taking care of myself. I feel a little burnt out. Which is probably why I have fallen apart so hard the last few weeks. But I'm healing and things will be okay.

We would have a meeting with Alexi about the day. And I would send texts out to my specialty people about what I needed them to do today. I would grt pretty and ours with Kieran later when he tried to say specialty stuff didn't matter and he tried to say my staff was his because of some counselor needs this week and I had the office backing me up but man.

I went to art to do some cleaning and got rid of some lost and found and would eventually walk those to the nurses office.

I would continue the walk over to check on the specialty areas. Chatted with Geoff about what I needed form him since I knew he would be the most component person to lean on. And that worked out really well and I was very happy with what he would accomplish (with help from others) by the end of the long day. And it was a long day.

I went to the council ring to clean up trash before UBLaw came for their retreat. The AV guy would come over soon too and I would give him a tarp and chatted with him for a bit. And soon the almost lawyers were there!

And it was a fun day. We would be behind the scenes while they did their intro part. The boys were playing a silly punching game. We were all to got from the humidity. I was trying to stay positive but was pretty uncomfortable. I would have to take off my raincoat even when it was drizzling. But it was fine. Water finally doesn't taste horrible so I was able to be pretty hydrated today and that was a saving grace for sure.

Me, Sarah, and Nick were together with two groups for flying squirrel first. I helped with harnesses. And I was nervous about remembering how to do it but I got it quick. And it was a lot of fun. Lots of laughing and encouraging and we ran about 7 minutes over but that was alright. The other groups just waited and cheered too.

I took my half of the group over to the tipis kitchen area so we could sit on the benches. With both groups I had today I would have them talk about what team building and teamwork is. How each thing we did (even flying squirrel) uses the same concepts. Communication, trust, leadership, leaning on those who have experience, having a common goal, ECT. It was a good little conversation.

We would do extreme rock paper scissors first. And I would give stickers to the winner. And after debriefing that we spent the next 15 minutes doing a nature scavenger hunt. I would have them take pictures and it was fun. I think there was probably a better way to judge at the end. But I would talk about spending time searching. Talking through it with your partner. Going out of your comfort zone. It was a good time. Some of them are tough. Edible stuff. Fuzzy stuff. Birds. But it was a really fun time.

At the end we would debrief again and I would tell them thank you for hanging out with me and that I hoped they got something out of it. I got lots of thank yous. And it was nice.

The other groups were doing more physical things. I hope they didn't feel cheated because I didn't do those games. But we all did different things so I think there was a good mix of stuff that they can talk about later.

At lunch I was a little annoyed because Elizabeth had told us they were providing lunch but then didn't order it until like 1145. And so it wouldnt be to camp until after we were back with our groups. So the ten of us wouldn't get pizza and I was sad. Thankfully Callie had my back and would put two pieces on my desk in some tinfoil. But I wouldn't have that until after the group was done.

So in the mean time I went to the hacienda because there was leftover Chick-fil-A from yesterday. There was Mac and cheese and Capri suns that I could have. And honestly it was a really nice little lunch.

I would enjoy the AC and watch some videos. Eventually Elizabeth, Josephine, and Ann would come over to forage for food too. And I would walk with them to go get our afternoon groups.

There was some switching and so Sarah would go help at tower and me and Nick would be alone at squirrel. And thankfully I was still helpful (only fingers were nimble enough to get the frayed ends of the harnesses to double back) even though I couldn't help him on belay because I didn't want to be jostled so much. He understood and we were able to get everyone, who wanted to go, through.

The last team building was much of the same. And it was fun finding mushrooms and telling them about nature stuff. And when we were done I had a nice conversation with a few of them while I walked them to the picnic grove. Where they would get snowballs! I was very jealous. I wanted a snowball.

But I would just change my shoes back to my flip-flops and got into putting things away. A few others would join me to help out and I really appreciated the help.

Elizabeth would call me down to the office. Because I was getting a snowball! I got a sour blue raspberry one and sat on the porch with everyone to eat it and it was great. The sour seemed to make me feel a lot better. And Callie had saved with the pizza and I was feeling great.

I was starting to get tired though. There is going to be a lot of stuff I will have to do to sort in the art building but I felt like I was at my max for the day. So after the girls had finished the tasks I gave them I sent them to the next thing (helping to clean the lodge), I would put a few more things away. And sent a list to Elizabeth about what was done. And then I was ready to go.

I would still go to the office to say the same stuff I had texted. And chatted for a few minutes. I'll be back on Tuesday to lead nature hikes. And I'm looking forward to it.

I was also just really looking forward to going home. James would be here already when I got back.

I would go upstairs and we chatted for a little before they went to take a shower. I would eventually take a shower too. I started not feeling amazing though. I would lay on the couch and was sad for a long time. James made me a hoagie but the bread was to soft and I didn't like it. So they would eventually make me a grilled cheese instead. I also had water melon and lemon water. I would take my medication. It seems to take about two hours to work and I've been taking it around 5 every day. It seems like I start falling apart around 4. So from like 4 to 7 I am not doing amazing but hopefully it'll settle out.

I painted my toes. James hung a shelf I got. We have been hanging out and being together and it's been really nice. But man am I tried.

Tomorrow we just have a chill day off together. And I'm excited for that. I hope it's restful. I hope you all have a great day. Sleep well and be safe. I love you all

Goodnight

[asteroidtroglodyte]

There is a place near where I live. Once, men with Money sought to make more, and began Developing the land.

They hired other men to kill the trees and the bushes and the grasses. They evicted the things that flew and hopped and crawled through those leaves and branches. They broke the earth and filled in the rills and flattened the hills.

Then, far away, the Great Wall Street Cult of the Squiggly Line decreed that the Money belonged to new people, and the Development stopped. They put a low earthen wall around the scar, and put up signs that say “no trespassing” and “no dumping.” The signs and the wall are equally effective.

Nature has put in work to reclaim the land. The water has carved a new path. There are plants. This time of year, in this part of the world, the plants are brown, seemingly dead, their life hidden in their roots or their seeds as they wait for Rain. Rabbits can be seen sometimes.

Sadly, so many have not returned. Poppy cannot pop her seeds across roads and strip malls. Wilakal assumes an animal will brush by to disperse her. Squirrel cannot plant Oak if Oak is many miles away. Until Bluestem comes back, Finch and Sparrow will not bring Lupine. Only those carried by wind, Mustard and Dandelion and Bitter Lettuce, have found their way here.

I remember that I have good feet and good hands and good eyes. I walk, just before dawn, pupils cat-wide to drink the moonlight. My hands dance; a bag of seeds in one, the other hand grabs and flings and sprinkles. Seeds float and fling, rattle and rustle. My feet dance as well; short stomps and slides that kick up dirt, spread it, bury the seeds.

I thank the land; for the space and the stone, for the soil and the silt. For Life. I apologize for my fellow Humans; they know not what they do; I am sorry, so, so sorry. I brought Gifts; I brought flowers. I brought your flowers! I know you missed them. I brought as many as I could. Please, Have them all, they are yours.

I brought Poppy and Lupine and Sage, see? Coreopsis and Rudbeckia and Pentstemon are here too! I brought Grama and Bluestem! Please! Take it! Take it all! It is for you! Bluebell and Phacelia! Gaillardia and Sunflower! Please!

Please

Come back

Come back to Life

A Man cries, and dances, and seeds fall from his hands in a million teardrops of hope, a prayer made manifest in a million grains of Life. Maybe they will not sprout. Maybe it will not Change Anything. But A Man must Try.

The Birds, woken by the glow of the sun rising to the east, watch warily. They sing to each other, discuss the Man in their midst and the Food he throws away freely. They will Help. They will carry the seeds inside their bodies to other places. In return they will be nourished. It is good.

The Man smiles. The sun is up. He has Tried. Maybe, in the spring, the flowers will return. Maybe there will be places to live for the things that crawl and fly and hop.

Maybe.

It certainly feels good to Try.

[shegeekery]

Splintered — Chapter 2

Chapters: 2/5 Fandom: Doctor Who, Loki TV series (crossover) Rating: Not Rated Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: N/A, but I plan to keep it as friendly to both Lokius and Sylkie as I can. Characters: The Doctor, Ruby Sunday, Mobius, Ouroboros, B-15, Casey (Sylvie coming in later) Summary: The Doctor and Ruby find themselves in a strange universe where the timelines are controlled by the God of Mischief. Is it any surprise that the TVA needs help from a Time Lord?

Chapter Index: Chapter 1: I Have a Bad Feeling About This — Length: 2906 words Chapter 2: Ghost Squirrel (this post) — Length: 2738 words Chapter 3: Splintered — Length: 2852 words Chapter 4: Getting the Band Back Together — Length: 2496 words Chapter 5: Intervention — Length: 2496 words

“So, you knew Loki too, then?”

Ruby leaned on the promenade wall, gazing out over the futuristic city.

“Yeah,” Casey answered. “I liked him. Except, when he first got here, he threatened to ‘gut me like a fish’, only I didn’t know what a fish was.”

“How do you not know what a fish is?” Ruby asked in surprise.

“That’s exactly what he said!” Casey shrugged. “We don’t have fish at the TVA, so I had to look it up later. It turned out okay, though. At any rate, he settled down after he found out what he wanted was just junk here anyway.”

“And you’ve never been anywhere outside the TVA?”

Casey stood up a little straighter. “They gave me a promotion after I helped O.B. with all the science stuff and now they let me do a bit of field work once in a while, but before that, no. Well, I guess I did have a life on the timeline before they brought me here and wiped my memory ages ago, but I got a look at my file and…” He grimaced. “I think I like who I am here better.”

Ruby nodded, remembering what the Doctor had said about ‘Frank’. “Well, you seem like a lovely bloke to me.”

“Thanks,” he replied, with an embarrassed grin.

“So, do you have any idea what might be going on with the tree…what’s it called again?”

“Yggdrasil. I dunno. I don’t really know anything about magic. It doesn’t work at the TVA — well, unless they turn off the dampeners.”

“How did the timelines work before Loki created Yggdrasil?”

“We had this really big machine called the Loom, but it couldn’t support all the timelines after we stopped pruning them. We were about to try upgrading it, but then Loki just suddenly went out there on his own, wrecked the Loom, and replaced it.” Casey shook his head. “It was really weird. I can’t help feeling like I missed something.”

“So that wasn’t planned, then?”

“No. I mean, Loki must have had a reason, but I can’t understand why he didn’t let us try the upgrade first. He was totally on-board with the idea, and then…boom. Yggdrasil.”

Ruby considered this. “Loki’s a god, right? Can he time-travel?”

“Not that I — no, wait, he did have a problem for a while. O.B. called it timeslipping. He was just randomly appearing and disappearing in different moments in time. Nearly gave me a heart attack a couple of times. But O.B. built a temporal aura extractor and Mobius used it to stop Loki from timeslipping, and that was the end of it.”

“Is there any chance it happened again? Maybe Loki went out there because he already knew the upgrade wouldn’t work?”

“I…guess that’s possible. Makes about as much sense as anything else.”

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned traveling with the Doctor, it’s that time is a lot trickier than I ever thought.”

“You can say that ag—”

Casey was interrupted by screams from nearby pedestrians. Ruby whirled around just in time to see a ghostly squirrel, roughly the size of a Cocker Spaniel, running along the promenade wall and carrying a file folder in its teeth. As she watched, it swung its head and tossed the folder over the edge, papers flying out as the contents drifted down to the surface far below. The squirrel, glowing with an eerie green light, chittered to itself and ran along the wall past Ruby and Casey before it jumped onto a passing flying vehicle and disappeared from their sight.

“What was that?” Ruby exclaimed.

Casey shook his head, equally bewildered. “It looked like magic of some sort, but that’s impossible here. Well, unless the dampeners are malfunctioning. I think I’d better go talk to O.B.”

——————————————————————————————

“Casey! Good to see you. And Ruby! Sorry we were interrupted earlier.”

“Hey O.B.,” Casey said. “We just saw something really weird out on the promenade. Are the magic dampeners having problems, by any chance?”

O.B. shook his head. “Not that I know of. Why?”

“We just saw this weird looking creature. Kind of like a big rat, but with a bushy tail. Glowing.“ Casey began.

“A squirrel. A giant ghost squirrel,” Ruby clarified. She turned back to Casey. “You’ve never seen a squirrel either?”

Casey shook his head. “I guess I probably should get out more now that we’re not worried about creating branches.”

O.B. turned to his computer console. “Miss Minutes, can you run a diagnostic on the magic dampeners for me?”

A tangerine-colored holographic clock with a cartoonish face appeared above the counter. “Sure, boss! Is there anything in particular you want me to look for?”

Ruby smiled, amused by the clock’s American Southern belle accent.

O.B. paused for a moment, thinking. “Anything that might allow magic in the TVA, I suppose.”

“On it, boss!” The clock gave a little salute and disappeared with a cartoon flourish.

“What was that?” Ruby asked.

“Miss Minutes,” Casey said. “She’s the AI that helps keep this place running — but we’re not sure how much to trust her after she, well…”

“Tried to kill us all,” O.B. finished for him. “I reset her programming, so…fingers crossed.”

“Okay? Why did she want to kill you?”

Casey answered. “She was working for the guy who built this place originally. We were working for him, too, but we didn’t know it. After we found out and stopped doing his dirty work, she disappeared and we caught her helping him. Well, it was more complicated than that, but…”

“But now she’s working for you?”

“In theory,” O.B. answered, with a shrug.

Casey leaned in and stage-whispered, “Just between you and me, I think she has a crush on O.B. now. She always answers instantly when he calls for her. She makes the rest of us wait a bit.”

“A love-struck AI. Sounds dangerous,” Ruby said doubtfully.

Casey and O.B. both nodded vigorously.

Miss Minutes appeared again. “Hey boss, I finished the diagnostic. No problems with the dampeners. Is there anything else you need?”

“Is there any way magic could work in the TVA with the dampeners on?” Casey asked.

Miss Minutes turned to Casey, and Ruby thought she detected a bit of annoyance on the part of the AI — or maybe it was just her imagination.

“Well, it’s impossible to initiate magic inside the TVA, but I suppose, if the source was powerful enough, it could be created outside and sent in. It would have to be really powerful, though.”

“Really powerful…like a god, maybe?” The Doctor asked from behind them. B-15 was at his side.

“Yes, possibly,” Miss Minutes answered.

“We’ve been getting reports of some sort of ghost squirrel terrorizing people all over the TVA,” B-15 explained.

“I know,” Casey said. “Ruby and I saw it too.”

“I need to look into this…whatever it is,” B-15 went on. “In the meantime, O.B., I need you to help the Doctor here with whatever he needs to fix his ship. He’s going to try to get close to Yggdrasil and see what’s happening there. I’ve called Mobius in to help — he should be here shortly.”

“Almost like old times!” O.B. replied cheerfully.

B-15 smiled. “Almost, minus a couple of unruly gods. Okay, Ruby, you’re with me. The Doctor tells me you have some experience with this type of investigation.”

Ruby looked to the Doctor, who nodded reassuringly. “You have your phone on you?”

“Always,” she said. “Right, let’s get cracking. You boys stay out of trouble!”

The Doctor grinned. “Like that’s ever going to happen.”

——————————————————————————————

“Wow. Trans-dimensional engineering! I thought that was only science fiction!”

The Doctor watched as O.B. turned slowly around inside the Tardis. He never tired of seeing others’ reactions to it, but it was particularly fun when the visitor had at least a theoretical understanding of the science instead of assuming “magic”.

“Say,” O.B. went on. “If you can do this, you should be able to time-travel as well. Same principle, just applied to the time part of spacetime instead of the space part.”

“Way ahead of you,” the Doctor replied with a wink.

“No way! I mean, we have time-travel technology at the TVA of course, but it’s of a more limited kind. Time-doors and that sort of thing.”

“Yes way. But I wouldn’t try it just now. With the stabilizers on the blink and the whole different universe, different rules thing, we could wind up in serious trouble.”

They made their way to the console, and O.B. skipped and hopped around it, examining the controls and inspecting the underside. “Oh, yeah, I see what you mean. These fluid links don’t look so good. They’re a little different from what we use, but I should be able to cobble something together that would work for you and help with moving around in this universe.”

The Doctor nodded approvingly while surreptitiously scanning O.B. with the sonic screwdriver. Human. But clearly beyond genius-level. This fellow could out-engineer quite a few Time Lords I knew. I should probably get him out of here before he absorbs enough information to build his own Tardis.

O.B. disconnected one of the fluid links and stood up. “If it’s okay, I’ll just take this back to my workroom and see what I can do for you.”

“Sounds lovely,” the Doctor said with some relief. “I’ll stay here and do some recalibration on the sensors so I can get better data on Yggdrasil.”

There was a knock on the Tardis door. A middle-aged gentleman with silver hair and a mustache, dressed in swim shorts and a wetsuit top, stepped in hesitantly. “O.B.? They told me I might find you in this shed — holy mackerel!”

The man stared at the vast interior as if he couldn’t quite process what he was seeing. O.B. waved to him on his way out. “Mobius! Welcome back! Doctor, this is Mobius. Mobius, this is the Doctor.”

“Hey, O.B.” Mobius made his way up to the console and held out his hand. “Hi, nice to meet you, Doctor…uh?”

“Just the Doctor,” the Doctor replied, shaking his hand. “A pleasure. So you’re the ‘Loki-whisperer’ they were telling me about?”

“Well, I dunno about that, but I guess I do know him pretty well. As well as anyone can, anyway,” Mobius answered distractedly while continuing to gaze around the console room. Turning back to the Doctor, he added sheepishly, “Please excuse my attire. I was jet-skiing when they called me in.”

The Doctor gave him a cocky grin. “No worries, mate, Love a bloke in swim trunks.” He turned back to the readout on the console viewscreen and began typing commands. “B-15 told me that Loki wouldn’t damage the timelines. Do you agree with that?”

Mobius nodded. “Yeah. I still don’t really understand why he did all this instead of just letting us upgrade the Loom, but he wouldn’t have gone out there all by himself unless he thought he had to.”

“Did he say anything at all before he did it?”

“He just said something about knowing what kind of god he needed to be, then he forced open the blast doors,” Mobius answered, then shrugged. “He’s always been a bit of a drama queen.”

The Doctor turned away from the viewscreen, studying Mobius carefully. “You really miss him, don’t you?”

The other man paused, seemingly reluctant to admit it. Finally, he responded, “Yeah. Don’t get me wrong. He was…a lot, if you know what I mean. Sometimes I felt more like a babysitter than an analyst — and I think we spent more time arguing than anything else — but…yeah, I miss him. And despite the cosmic crisis we were dealing with, I think he was actually kind of happy here, which if you knew him — well, he always used to say that contentment wasn’t in his nature.”

“I know the feeling. So what else can you tell me about him?”

While the Doctor worked, Mobius very briefly went over the highlights — and lowlights — of Loki’s career as the God of Mischief, up through his attack on New York and subsequent arrival at the TVA and metamorphosis from unwilling collaborator to valued team member and friend.

When Mobius finished, the Doctor smiled softly. “So where everyone else saw a villain, a monster, you saw potential? Someone who needed help?”

“Well, yes,” the other man answered, a bit defensively. “But—“

The Doctor turned away from the console. “I like you, Mobius. Okay — all finished here. Let’s see how O.B. is doing with those fluid links.”

Mobius followed the Doctor out of the Tardis and down the hallway to Repairs and Advancement. O.B. wasn’t there, but Casey was behind the counter, fiddling with a device that looked a bit like a smart phone, what the TVA Handbook called a TemPad. “Oh, hey there! O.B.’s up in the loft.” He pointed to an opening in the ceiling. “He said he’s almost finished with your fluid links.”

“Problems with your TemPad?” the Doctor asked.

Casey shook his head. “Not mine — just helping out. Fixing these isn’t really in my job description, but I like to keep in practice, and they really keep O.B. hopping with these repair jobs.”

As they were talking, O.B. lowered himself down to the ground level in a harness chair.  He was holding a cardboard box.

“Awesome!” the Doctor said admiringly. “I used to have one of those chairs in the Tardis.”

“I’ve got your fluid links right here.” O.B. set the box on the counter. “These should fit the sockets. They’ll work like your old ones, but they can also compensate for the time variations at the TVA and they should be more tolerant of spacetime variabilities.”

“Perfect. Thank you, O.B.”

“Don’t mention it. Do you need any help installing them?”

The Doctor picked up one of the devices and examined it. “No, I think I can take it from here. Great work. I’ll just—”

A ghostly green squirrel ran into the room, hopped up on the counter, and snatched the fluid link from the Doctor’s hand. The Doctor reached for his sonic screwdriver, but the squirrel jumped onto one of the cables holding the harness chair, then clambered up it and into the loft before the Doctor could scan it. They heard the sound of breaking glass.

“I guess it’s a good thing I made a few extras.” O.B. said.

“What the heck was that?” Mobius asked.

“Ghost squirrel,” Casey informed him.

“Well, yeah, I can see that. But why is it here?”

“B-15 and Ruby — that’s the Doctor’s friend — are trying to find out,” Casey said. “Oh, that reminds me. Ruby had a theory about why Loki didn’t let us try to upgrade the Loom. She thinks maybe he started timeslipping again and knew the upgrade wouldn’t work. The more I think about it, the more sense it makes.”

Mobius nodded slowly. “Well, that would explain it. But I don’t remember him timeslipping again.”

Casey shook his head. “But you wouldn’t remember, would you? None of us would. And if the upgrade failed, we would all have been dead when the Loom overloaded, so he couldn’t come to us for help.” He shrugged. “Maybe he just learned to control it.”

“Right!” O.B. exclaimed. “That would explain how he was able to handle the timelines the way he did. If he was dislodged from time and space, and had control over it…yes, of course! That explains everything.”

“So you’re saying that he could travel through time and space, at will, without the need for a TemPad, or something like the Tardis?” the Doctor asked.

O.B. nodded.

Mobius blew out a breath. “I guess it’s a good thing he was on our side. He could have caused a lot of mischief with that kind of power.”

“Assuming there was anything left after the Loom exploded,” Casey added.

“Yeah,” O.B. and the Doctor replied in unison.

The Doctor picked up the box of fluid links and headed through the archway. “Mobius? You coming? Your insights might be helpful when we get there.”

“In the — what did you call it? The Tardis? Is it safe?”

The Doctor gestured with the box. “Guess we’ll find out!”

Mobius looked to O.B. and Casey. Both shrugged, and he sighed, following the Doctor. “As long as I don’t have to wear one of those bulky core suits again.” Go to the next chapter

[stillhavetodothat]

Replaying Nancy Drew without Cheating - Part 13: Danger by Design

Aahh, yes. One of the wackiest PC games ever to make it to the threshold of public consumption (only behind a few other upcoming ND games, but more on that later). I used to think this game came out in response to the popularity of The Devil Wears Prada, another story about a woman working for an unpleasant titan of the fashion industry, but I just googled it and TDWP came out 3 weeks before Danger by Design. Unless Her has the most efficient development team in history (spoiler: they do not. Just look at the past 8 years or so), this has nothing to do with the movie. And I know that it took longer than 3 weeks to come up with this tangled web of side plots and storylines...I could never have conceived of any of it even if I had 3 years.

The game starts with Nancy getting to Minette’s windmill studio and almost getting bonked in the head by a flying plant. She is there to investigate why Minette, a famous fashion designer, is acting so ~*strangely*~ and report back to the States, where Minette’s biggest investor is just waiting impatiently to pull the plug on the cash flow. Nancy is yelled at, has to hilariously brew a cup of tea based on what Minette’s favorite color is at the moment, and runs all over Paris on errands as part of her new job. She then learns that a French Resistance fighter, Noisette, used to live in the windmill, and proceeds to spend the rest of the game learning more about that instead. It IS a more intriguing mystery, so you can’t blame her. Ultimately, after swimming in the sewers under Paris and going on about her day like everything is fine, Nancy finds Noisette’s secret under the windmill, stumbles by chance upon Minette’s secret, and blocks a couple chops from Minette, who then proceeds to pass out from exhaustion (?????)

So many of the choices here were so interesting to me. I feel like this game is chaotic evil on the scale. I also feel like some of the puzzles here are hard! I was THE CLOSEST I’VE EVER COME TO CHEATING (in this round of playthroughs) at the end when I am locked in the bottom of the windmill, and there are about 100 steps needed to decode the way outta there. What child would ever be able to solve that on her own?? I had to come back to it over multiple days. I was literally thinking about this puzzle throughout the day, like on my commute to work, while eating dinner, while going for a run. It consumed me. Eventually it came to me, after I inspected in detail every item in my inventory. 

Anyways, back to my open questions.

1. First of all, why was there only one French suspect in this entire game? Were they having trouble finding voice actors willing to put on an extremely terrible and unpracticed French accent or what? Furthermore, why did everyone pronounce Minette as “Minn-et,’ even the Parisians? I guess Paris is probably a bit of a melting pot, especially in the fashion world, but I have always been bummed by the lack of French people in this game.

2. Also, why does Nancy struggle SO hard with the one French suspect’s name, when in other games she rattles off French so perfectly that you’d think it was her native tongue? Also, she needs to look up numbers and colors in a book, but at the end of the game she is able to translate a long letter written completely in French with ease? Something isn’t adding up here.

3. Why was Heather wearing that hideous brown tie? Surely that can’t be considered fashion?

4. I actually used to wonder why Minette’s designs are so absolutely absurd, but I think they are hilarious now. Feels like we are being trolled by HerInteractive by forcing us to put together THIS outfit for Prudence Rutherford’s cruise.

5. Why does a squirrel almost sabotage the entire game for you? Additionally, HOW in god’s name is anyone supposed to figure out how to deter the squirrel from messing up your work? I ONLY was able to get past this part because I vividly remember searching the forums back in the day to figure this out.

6. Who is buying the shitty paint-by-numbers of the Mona Lisa from the guy in Pont Nouf? For more than 15 Euros, presumably? Also, I think this is the first time I’ve ever messed up one of the paintings, because I DO NOT remember the vendor completely berating Nancy on her carelessness. This guy just screams scam artist to me.

7. Why did I find the catacombs so challenging as a child? I remember sitting at my computer, furiously clicking, SHRIEKING IN FEAR as I heard the footsteps of the French policia approaching, when really getting to the entrance to the sewers involves like 2 turns from the entrance to the catacombs. This isn’t really a question about the game, it’s more a question of my intellect as a young teenager.

8. What is the rhyme or reason for the timeline of this game? Is there a hidden in-game clock that is running all day, and let’s you know when it’s too late to be out by yourself? Or is it just completely random? Either way, it makes for some hilarious timing. Minette tells me to go to the park to pick up some stuff for her, and I just go straight to bed instead. Minette tells me to take the cockroaches and release them, and I just...take the cockroaches to bed with me?? JJ is called into Minette’s studio for a fitting, and she has to stay there all night long???

10. What is going on with some of these characters’ teeth? Strong Bruce the Shark vibes here.

11. Why are the plotlines completely disjointed? It wasn’t until I played the game through this time that I took the time to really think about the story, and realize that the two parts had absolutely nothing to do with each other. Noisette and Minette, apart from both residing in the same windmill at different points in history and both having French-y ‘ette names, have literally nothing in common?? Dieter and his family history were a complete red herring to what the actual mystery was? And when you actually find the stained glass under the windmill, and you breathe a sigh of relief because it truly feels like the end...it isn’t the end at all?? because you actually haven’t solved the mystery you came to Paris to solve?? A mystery which is actually far less interesting than Noisette’s??

12. The actual ending here, once you find your way out of the windmill’s basement (and that took me a MINUTE), is bonkers. The developers had to have been tired and just trying to wrap this up stat. Putting your hand up to block Minette’s slow-motion chops for 10 straight minutes feels like something someone came up with at 3am after their fifth cup of coffee, a cigarette pinched between two fingers. And yet, it somehow really fits into the feel of the game. It has certainly brought the ND community together, because I have never heard anyone who didn’t think this was a total WTF moment.

13. WAS Minette having an affair with Sonny Joon? I just heard this theory and I am running with it. What else would explain an alien face tattoo, and her just randomly dumping Dieter? I am choosing to believe that this is the case - otherwise, there is no explanation behind why she even got the tattoo in the first place, and having this be the reason for the mask feels a bit underwhelming.

Despite the insanity of this game...it’s a fun time. It certainly holds up on a replay, because the story is convoluted and there’s no way you’ll remember from the last time you played. Also, this is when Her really starts busting out the near impossible puzzles that no young child could ever solve on his or her own (I am already dreading the picture frame puzzle in SAW because HOW will I refrain from cheating then??)

Join me as I head off to Hawaii to sort bug poop and flirt with Big Daddy Mike. CRE is maybe one of the most lowly rated games in the entire series, so naturally I am stoked to replay!

[404gendernotfound]

Walk with me Part 2 (Diluc x Reader)

Summary: The day of your “date” had finally come and you were extremely nervous. Since you had a free afternoon, you already decided to walk over to the Dawn Winery. As your walk with Diluc finally came around after waiting for him to finish his work, the weather decided to crash your time together.

Contains: fluff

Warnings: none

Wordcount: 5,7 K

Enjoy!

Part 1

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The next day came faster than I expected. After Diluc had brought me back home last night I struggled to fall asleep for a while since my heart kept beating out of my chest. But as soon as my nervousness had calmed down, I fell asleep pretty quickly. I woke up around 8am, took a quick shower and made some breakfast before I made my way to the adventurers’ guild. Katheryne was speaking to a group of Adventurers as I arrived there. I patiently waited until their conversation ended before I spoke up.

“Morning Katheryne. Do you have any commissions for me?”

“Morning Y/N. There are a few errands that have to be run but those shouldn’t take too long”, she said and handed me a list.

“Great, thanks. I had plans for later anyways”

“Someone looks excited”, Katheryne pointed out and smiled at me.

“Uhm…Y-yeah…Well I’ll go run these errands. See you later, Katheryne”, I said before I walked towards my first stop on the list.

Katheryne had been right. After around 4 hours I was done with all my commissions and returned to the adventurers’ guild to pick up my rewards. After eating some lunch at Good Hunter I left Mondstadt City and started my stroll to the dawn winery. Even though Diluc had promised to pick me up later in the evening, I decided I could just walk over and wait for him to finish his work while I maybe help some people out at the winery. It was a really nice day since the sun was shining and it was peacefully quiet with only the wind and the birds chirping in the air. A squirrel ran over the path in front of me and stopped to look at me as it noticed my presence. To my surprise it didn’t look scared or startled, it looked rather curious. I walked towards it and cautiously leaned down extending an arm towards it. After hesitating for a little while it carefully climbed up my arm and rested on my shoulder as I stood back up.

“Hello there, little friend”, I said towards it and had to smile as it started to nibble on my hair a little.

“I guess you need a ride. I’ll take you with me for a bit”, I announced and continued my walk towards the winery.

As the little squirrel stayed seated on my shoulder, I remembered my grandmas’ words. “Kid you have a gift. Your aura is peaceful and radiates a calm energy. Every creature, animal or human will feel at peace around you”, she had once told me as a little girl. I always loved the nature and used to spend a lot of time at my grandparents’ farm, especially with the animals. I wished they were still around to see that animals still roamed me wherever I was going. Lost in my thoughts I hadn’t even noticed that I already arrived at Springvale. I walked past the windmill and greeted the people I passed, the squirrel still on my shoulder. As I continued my journey I had gathered a little group of little animals that followed me. Some birds were flying above the path while the squirrel on my shoulder was now joined by two more friends that had found their way onto my other shoulder and my arm. If someone saw me right now they would think I could talk to animals. After walking for a little longer I could already see the Dawn Winery in the distance. A smile formed on my face as I approached the astonishing building. As I got closer to the vineyard one of the workers noticed me and stopped his work to talk to me.

“Are you an animal whisperer?”, he asked and pointed at the squirrels clinging to me.

“Not really but I guess I’m some kind of animal magnet”, I said and giggled as one of the squirrels snuggled against my face.

“Looks like they really like you. Must be nice to be surrounded by these cute fluffy fellows.”

“It’s not too bad.”, I laughed and crouched down to the floor.

“The ride is over. Time to walk on your own again”, I said and set the squirrel on my arm back onto the ground and watched as the other two jumped down from my shoulders.

“Wow. They even listen to your words”, the worker said astonished.

“Not always. Sometimes they are really stubborn and don’t want to leave”, I laughed and walked towards him.

“Can I help you with something when I’m already here?”, I asked as I stood next to him.

“Oh no. I couldn’t possibly accept your help. You are here to see Master Diluc, aren’t you?”

I was surprised that he knew why I was here.

“Yes I am. Did he mention me?”, I asked curious.

“He just told the staff that there will be a guest from the city and that we should show our best behavior. Don’t tell him, that I told you that though”, he said and looked around to check if someone heard us.

“My lips are sealed”, I said and pretended to lock my lips.

“Master Diluc is still working but you can go in and wait in the lobby. I’m sure Adelinde will make your wait as pleasant as it can possibly be”

“Thank you for the information. I’m excited to see what the manor looks from inside. I’ve only heard about it from Kaeya so I have no idea what it actually looks like”

“There’s a lot to see so make sure not to miss anything”, he said before he went back to his work.

I made my way from the vineyard over to the front yard of the manor. Two maids were standing outside of the front door and it sounded like they were gossiping about something. I walked past them and carefully opened one of the doors. I cautiously stepped inside and closed the door gently behind me since I didn’t want to make a big entrance. As soon as I turned around I was greeted by the friendly face of a maid.

“Hello, you must be Ms. Y/L/N. I’m Adelinde the head maid of this manor. Master Diluc already told us that you will be visiting the Dawn winery. We just weren’t expecting you this early”, she said and guided me over to one of the chairs by the fireplace.

“Have a seat”

I sat down and she stayed standing right next to me.

“I know that Diluc…um I mean Master Diluc was supposed to pick me up after he had finished his work but I had some free time so I thought I would just take a stroll here and maybe help out with some things if I can”, I explained and watched as Adelindes face lit up a little.

“That’s very nice of you, but you really don’t have to. You are our guest for the day and we shouldn’t make our guest work. Would you like something to drink while you wait?”, she asked in a very polite voice.

“A coffee would be nice, but only if it wouldn’t be too much work for you. I don’t want to be a bother”, I explained and she already shook her head.

“No no Ms. Y/L/N. You are no bother to us at all. A maid will bring it to you in a bit. In the meantime, I will tell Master Diluc that you are already here”, she said and already turned to leave as I stopped her.

“Please tell him that I can wait.”

“Alright. I will tell him that. I’ll be right back”

After Adelinde had left, I looked around the interior while I waited. The room was massive and extremely beautiful. I didn’t even know where to start. I got up from the chair and walked around the room. The manor really was as astonishing as Kaeya has said before. I saw a vase standing in front of one of the wooden pillars and had to smile. It didn’t really fit the interior because it was really colorful but for some reason it also felt like it really belonged here.

“That vase was a gift from Master Kaeya”, someone said behind me and I flinched a little at the sudden voice.

I turned around to see a maid standing there, smiling at me.

“I’m sorry if I startled you. It wasn’t my intention”, she apologized.

“Oh no worries. I was just lost in my thoughts.”, I explained and smiled back.

“So this is the famous vase that Kaeya gifted Master Diluc. I was already wondering why it didn’t really fit the style of the rest of the manor”, I added and brushed some dust off the vase.

“Are you a friend of Master Kaeya?”, the maid asked curious.

“Yes. I’m his best friend actually”

We started to talk for a little while and she walked around the room with me telling me things about the different parts of the manor and about its history. I was fascinated by how much there was to learn about this huge building. We both sat down at the fireplace and continued to talk as another maid joined us and placed a mug of coffee on the table.

“Here’s your coffee Miss. Is there anything else you would like?”, the maid asked.

“No thank you. Btw you don’t have to talk this formal to me. Calling me Y/N is just fine”, I explained and watched her nod.

“You know Miss…I mean Y/N, some of the staff have been wondering about something”, she started to say before she leaned a little closer.

“Are you Master Dilucs date? He never really brings anyone to the Dawn Winery and he sounded really excited as he told us about your visit this morning.”, she whispered and my cheeks instantly turned red.

“I wouldn’t exactly say that I’m Master Dilucs date. I’m just the best friend of his brother”, I said just to get away from this conversation and hoped she would just let it slide.

“Oh. I am sorry if we assumed something. We didn’t mean to”, she apologized.

“No need to apologize. I don’t feel offended”, I assured her and took another sip of my coffee.

Both the maids left me alone again and I waited until Adelinde returned. She had a letter in her hand and held it towards me as she stood next to me.

“This is from Master Diluc. He sincerely apologizes that he still has some work to do and he told me to give you this”, she said and I took the letter from her hands.

“Thank you.”

She stepped back a few steps to give me some more privacy. I opened the envelope and opened the folded paper inside it. It was a message written in Dilucs handwriting.

“If you get bored waiting in the lobby you can come to my office. It’s upstairs the first door on the left. I won’t be able to entertain you since I still have some work to do but it is better than just waiting downstairs, right?”

I had to smile as I read through his message. I drank the rest of my coffee and got up from the chair.

“Thanks for the coffee”, I said before I walked towards the stairs.

As I walked upstairs I noticed that my heart started to pound faster in my chest. I took a deep breath as I reached the in the letter described room and knocked.

“Come in”, I heard Dilucs voice from inside and I slowly opened his office door and stepped in.

I closed the door behind me quietly and turned around to see Diluc sitting at his desk filling out some paperwork. A slight smile was drawn on his face.

“Why are you smiling like that?”, I asked curious and walked over to his desk.

“Oh nothing. I’m just amused that you instantly came upstairs without any hesitation”, he said and looked up from his work for a second to show me a little smirk before he dove back into his work.

“I just didn’t want to be rude. Don’t misunderstand”

“Sure”, he chuckled.

I shook my head in disbelieve. Seeing Diluc in such a great mood was rare and I was enjoying every second of it. Since I wasn’t really sure what I should do to not disturb his work in any way, I just walked over to the window to look outside. It really was a nice day today, perfect for taking a walk if the weather stayed like this. The sun was shining into the room and a single ray of sunshine was shining directly onto Dilucs features. I would be lying if I said that he wasn’t looking extremely handsome today.

“If you keep staring at me like that you might burn a hole in my head soon”, Diluc suddenly said and looked in my direction.

“Oh I-I di-didn’t mean to. S-sorry”, I stuttered and turned away again.

I heard a quiet chuckle coming from him while my cheeks heated up. Getting caught starring was so embarrassing but I just couldn’t help myself. He just was too beautiful for his own sake. I sat down on the couch next to the window and grabbed one of the books from the little table under the window. It was a book about the best ways to grow healthy and profitable wine. I skipped through a few pages before I put the book back down again. I really didn’t want to be a burden to Diluc or distract him, so I just got back up from the couch and opened the window to get some fresh air and just looked over the vineyards. I was able to see the squirrels from earlier run around the vineyard and had to laugh. They still had stayed. Maybe their destination really was the Dawn Winery and I was just the perfect human taxi for them. I whistled to get their attention and waved at them as they turned their little bodies towards me. Just as fast as they had spotted me, they already ran over to the window I was standing at. They gathered on the windowsill and I had to laugh.

“Hello there again. I see you guys are still here”, I said quietly since I didn’t want to distract Diluc too much.

They happily jumped around and I cautiously started to pet them. They were just too damn cute and fluffy.

“What are you doing over there?”, I suddenly heard Diluc asking behind me.

“Oh nothing. Just talking to the squirrels”, I said and continued to give them head scratches.

“You are doing what?”

I scooped the squirrels up in my arms and turned towards Diluc. He had to laugh as I stood there like a kid with its favorite plushies in its arms.

“I’m not even going to question how you did that”, he said slightly laughing and continued to concentrate on his work.

With the squirrels still in my arms I walked over to the couch and laid down. They found their places on my body and snuggled against me. I never thought that I would once find myself laying in Dilucs office cuddling with squirrels while I’m waiting for him to finish his work. Diluc shook his head as he looked over at me once more.

“I’ll be done in a second then we can go and take that walk you want to go on so bad”, he explained and smiled in my direction.

I think I have never seen Diluc smile this much during the entire time I’ve known him. I mean I wasn’t complaining. A smile suited him way better than that constant serious cold face.

“Hey. Don’t say it like that. It’s not about the taking a walk. It’s about the spending time with you, ok? Did I really have to spell that out for you?”, I asked.

“Not really. I already knew that. I just wanted to hear you say it once”, he said and gathered his papers and placed them on one of the stacks on his desk.

Damn he had tricked me. He got up from his chair and walked over to the couch. He gently moved my legs a little closer to the backrest and sat down on the edge of the couch and scanned my body from head to toe. The squirrels had gathered around my neck almost as if they were getting ready to fight Diluc if he were to attack me. He held his hand out and I grabbed one of the squirrels and placed it on his hand. The little fellow looked as if it was getting kidnapped from a scary man. I had to laugh as it tried to get away from him.

“Hey relax little fluffball. I don’t bite”, Diluc said and tried to calm the squirrel down.

It looked towards me as if it wasn’t sure if it could trust the red-haired man. I nodded with a smile and it stopped to struggle. The other squirrels slowly joined and found their places in Dilucs arms. I had to smile at the sight in front of me. Diluc looked happy as the little fellows snuggled against him.

“How do you do this?”, Diluc asked as he turned his head towards me again.

“My grandma once told me I had a gift. According to her I have a calming aura and apparently it works on both humans and animals. It works especially well for animals. It’s almost like I’m an animal magnet”, I explained and watched as the squirrels started to run around both Dilucs and my lap.

“No wonder I always feel so calm around you”, he confessed and I noticed the blood shoot into my cheeks as his words reached my ears.

Diluc must have noticed that he had flustered me since he got up from the couch with a small smile drawn on his face and held a hand out for me to take.

“Let’s get out of here, shall we?”

I shyly grabbed his hand and let him pull me up from the couch. The squirrels gathered once more on the couch before they collectively left Dilucs office through the window again. I followed Diluc through the manor and back out onto the front yard of the Dawn Winery. Adelinde was outside as she saw us leave the manor.

“Master Diluc you should take an umbrella with you. It looks like it might rain soon”, she advised but Diluc shook his head.

“We’ll be back before it starts. So no worries”, he assured her and already walked through the vineyard.

I sent Adelinde an apologetic look before I tried to catch up with Diluc.

“Maybe we should have listened to Adelinde”, I said as I walked next to him again.

“Don’t worry. I’ll bring you back to the winery before it starts to rain”, he assured and smiled at me.

“I hope so”

“Hey! Can’t you trust your tour guide a little more?”, he asked and placed his hands on his hips.

I had to laugh.

“If my tour guide wasn’t you I might trust him more”, I joked and watched Dilucs slightly offended face.

“I will show you that you can trust me. Just you wait”, he announced and grabbed me by the hand and started to run.

“Hey where are we running to?”, I asked but Diluc didn’t answer me for a while.

He just kept on running and pulling me with him. We ran up a hill and climbed up a few walls before Diluc slowed down. It seemed like we were reaching our destination. Diluc let go of my hand and sat down on the edge of the mountain top we had just reached. The view from here was stunning. From here I was able to look towards Liyue, seeing Wangshu Inn in the distance when I looked back, on my right there was Dragonspine and the huge pillar in the sky and in front of us the beauty of the dawn winery was right at our feet. It was the coolest thing I had ever seen.

“Wow”, I said as I looked over the beautiful scenery.

“I didn’t promise too much, did I?”

I joined him and looked down at the winery.

“It looks so small from up here”, I said and leaned forward while pointing at it.

“Hey”, he scolded me and put an arm around my waist.

“Be careful or you might fall over. I don’t want you to get hurt”, he added.

“Sorry.”, I apologized and noticed my skin burning up under my clothes where Diluc was holding me.

We sat there for a little longer until we noticed the dark clouds coming closer.

“Maybe we should head back”, I suggested.

“Yeah. Before we get drenched”

As we were on our way down the mountain it suddenly started to pour. Even though Diluc tried to use his coat as an umbrella we both got drenched quickly. We were already soaking wet as we reached the path to the Dawn Winery.

“Come on let’s go”, Diluc said as he grabbed my hand again and began to run.

I couldn’t even understand how he was still able to run this fast with his coat being completely soaked. As we arrived at the Manor, he quickly opened the door and we slipped in. As soon as the door closed, we turned to each other and started to laugh.

“Good job Mister I-will-get-you-back-before-it-starts-to-rain”, I laughed and helped him out of his soaked coat.

“I’m sorry. I should have really listened to Adelinde”

“You really should have”, we heard Adelinde say next to us.

She scolded us at the entrance about how we should have listened and now we both might be catching a cold because we didn’t listen to her. I felt like a teenager again, getting scolded by my mom when I didn’t listen to her again. Even though what we did was stupid it still was so much fun.

“We will listen to you the next time. I promise”, I assured Adelinde.

“I really hope so. I will get the bath ready and get you and Master Diluc some dry clothes”, she announced.

“No need, Adelinde. I will take care of my guest. You can rest for today”, Diluc stopped her.

“I will at least get you two some dry clothes.”, she added before she left.

“Follow me”, Diluc said before he grabbed my hand again and dragged me into the living quarters upstairs.

“Sit down”, he said and pointed towards one of two couches in what looked like a living room.

“I wouldn’t dare to. I’m drenched. I would soak the couch too like this”, I explained.

Diluc looked around thinking before he turned towards me again.

“Alright then. Stay here and I’ll bring you a towel and get the bath ready so you can warm up again”, he suggested.

“But what about you. You will catch a cold if you stay in these wet clothes”

“Don’t worry about me. I will be ok”, he assured and left the room for some time.

He came back with a towel, unfolded it and wrapped it around me before he grabbed my hand again and guided me to the bathroom. The bathtub was filled with warm foamy water and it smelled amazingly like flowers. Diluc let go of my hand and walked back to the door.

“Take your time and warm up. Adelinde brought you some clothes to wear. Wear them when you’re done. I’ll be waiting in the living room”, he said before he left and closed the door behind him.

I removed the towel from around my shoulders and got undressed before I cautiously laid down in the bathtub. The warmth of the water started to flood my body and I almost fell asleep. I must have been in the bathroom for a long time since it suddenly knocked on the door.

“Are you ok in there?”, I heard Dilucs voice from outside.

“Yeah. Don’t worry I just forgot the time. I’ll be with you in a bit”, I answered and got out of the water.

I dried my body and got dressed in the clothes Adelinde had brought. They were a little big but at least like this I was warm. I quickly dried my hair with a towel and threw one last look at the mirror. As I left the bathroom I almost ran right into Diluc. He had changed into dry clothes in the meantime, but his hair was still wet. Seeing him wearing something other than his usual more formal clothes was weird at first but it was really refreshing. He was wearing a dark pair of pants paired with a black button up shirt. I took a step forward and subconsciously reached out, touching one of his wet strands of hair that had gotten lose from his low ponytail.

“You should dry your hair or you really might catch a cold”, I said and watched as Diluc slowly grabbed my arm, before he looked back at me.

“Will you help me with that?”, he asked and moved my arm to the back of his head.

“Uhm…I mean if you let me…s-sure”

As he let go of my arm I cautiously found the hair tie in his hair and slowly removed it. My jaw almost dropped to the floor as I saw his luscious hair fall over his shoulders and back. It made him look even prettier than he already was, even though his hair was wet.

“So pretty”, I thought to myself and suddenly noticed a light blush creep onto Dilucs face.

Oh god. Had I just thought out loud?

“You think I’m pretty?”, Diluc asked in a quiet voice, confirming my suspicion.

I quickly nodded and watched as a fond smile appeared on his face. I noticed my face heat up a little as I grabbed his hand and pulled him with me back into the bathroom. I pushed him to sit on the rim of the bathtub and grabbed a towel and gave it to him.

“Dry it a little with this towel. Then we’ll blow dry your hair”, I announced and watched him nod.

“Yes Ma’am”, he said which made me laugh a little.

After I had finally found the blow dryer, I plugged it in and grabbed the towel from Dilucs hands. I started to dry his hair and kept on brushing my hand through his hair to get rid of any knots in it. It looked like Diluc was enjoying it, since he had closed his eyes and a soft smile was drawn on his face. I couldn’t help but stare at his pretty face. I turned off the blow dryer and watched as Diluc got up from the bathtub and stood behind me, his gaze focused on the mirror in front of us.

“Good job”, he praised me and playfully pet my head.

I watched my face turn red in the mirror and couldn’t help but notice the smile on Dilucs face. God if he didn’t stop smiling like this I would go crazy for sure.

“Can you hand me my hair tie again?”, he asked and looked at my wrist where the hair tie was still resting.

“Nope. I like your hair like this”, I said and turned around to look at him.

“Well I guess I have to get it myself then”, he said and shortly after that started to attack my sides with both his hands.

I tried to get away from his tickling but since the sink was right behind me and Diluc was towering over me I couldn’t really escape. So the only thing I could do was either give in and give him his hair tie or try to fight through.

“Stop. I can’t”, I laughed.

“Give me my hair tie and you’re free”, he said smiling.

“Never”

As I saw an opening in his attack I moved forward and instead of trying to run, I went for a hug. Diluc stopped abruptly and looked down at me.

“Are you surrendering?”, he asked with a slightly confused face.

“Nope”

I heard him sigh before he wrapped his arms around me and hugged me back. My body was instantly flooded with his warmth. Dilucs arms around me felt so good, that I almost didn’t want to separate from the hug.

“How about I let you play with my hair and in exchange for that I get my hair tie back?”, he suggested and looked down at me.

I moved my head so I could get a better look at him and thought about his suggestion. It did sound really tempting.

“Deal?”, he asked and I nodded quickly.

He chuckled before he moved out of the hug. I instantly noticed the loss of body warmth from him since a cold shiver ran down my back. I gave him his hair tie again and watched as he shook his head in disbelief.

“You are really easy, huh?”, he asked more to himself.

I began to pout and crossed my arms in front of my chest. I wasn’t easy. I was just weak when it came to anything he did. He probably could have suggested to open a door for me and I would have said yes. Diluc smirked and playfully pat my shoulder.

“I’m kidding. I was just teasing you. Seeing your reactions is really interesting, you know?”, he explained and put an arm around me and guided me out of the bathroom.

“Is it?”, I asked laughing and followed him into the living room.

“Yeah. Your cheeks easily turn red whenever I tease you. It’s adorable”

We sat down on one of the couches and I looked at him with red cheeks.

“See. You’re instantly flustered”, he said and smiled at me.

How was I supposed to not be flustered when he kept on smiling and complimenting me out of nowhere? This side of Diluc was new to me and my heart could barely handle this. Especially since I had a lot of fun today with him. I leaned my head against the backrest and reached out with my hand to play with his beautiful red hair.

“Trust me, I would love to not turn red but I can’t help it”, I mumbled while I brushed my hand through his hair.

He turned his body towards me so he was looking right at me and leaned his head against the backrest too. He looked so damn pretty, I couldn’t help myself from softly stroking his cheek before I continued to softly comb his hair with my hand. I could continue to play with his hair and sit here in silence forever. Diluc closed his eyes and a soft smile was painted on his face. He seemed to really enjoy this. I moved my hand to softly scratch the back of his neck.

“Oh that feels nice”, Diluc said and scooted a little closer to me.

I had to slightly laugh and moved my other hand to the back of his neck too. Seemed like his neck was one of his weak spots. After some time of massaging his neck he opened his eyes again and carefully grabbed both my arms as I tried to retreat them. He held both my hands in his and began to speak.

“Thank you for gifting me your time today. I had a lot of fun and I hope I get to spend more time with you in the future”, he explained and softly squeezed my hands.

“I have to thank you for agreeing to my stupid request last night.”, I said and looked down at our hands.

“If you hadn’t excepted, I would probably sit at home right now eating ice cream and watching sad romance movies with Kaeya”, I laughed and heard Diluc slightly chuckle.

“Well, then I’m even more glad that I accepted. Spending time with me sounds a lot better than spending time with my brother, doesn’t it?”

I nodded and watched as Diluc lifted one of my hands up to his face and placed a soft kiss on the back of my hand. My cheeks heated up again and our eyes locked.

“I’m happy to hear that. I hope we’ll be able to spend a lot more time together from now on”, he admitted and scooted a little closer.

“I hope so too”, I answered and averted my gaze since I got a little bit too flustered.

He noticed it, let go of one of my hands and softly turned my face towards him before he started to carefully cup my cheek. He was so close to me that I was able to see my reflection in his beautiful eyes. It really was unreal how pretty this man was.

“Can I kiss you?”, he asked in such a soft and loving voice that I almost melted on the spot.

I slowly nodded and closed my eyes. My heart was beating out of my chest as I waited for something to happen. Diluc softly connected our lips and my breath hitched as he carefully pulled me closer to him. His lips were so damn soft that I couldn’t think straight. All I could think of right now were just his soft lips and the fact that I was currently kissing one of Mondstadts most adored men. The kiss didn’t last long but it was still the best kiss I ever had in my entire life. I slowly opened my eyes again to see that Dilucs cheek were painted in a light pink just like mine. He couldn’t hide the excitement on his face, as he was grinning like an idiot.

“I always wanted to do this”, I admitted and watched as Diluc shook his head while still smiling.

“You really don’t know when to shut your pretty mouth”, he said before he pulled me onto his lap, wrapping his arms around my waist.

“You just make me want to never let you go ever again.”