#when this came out i was too scaredy cat to see it‚ terrified by its reputation of shocking torture porn. the reality is quite different;

[mariocki]

Saw (2004)

"Congratulations. You are still alive. Most people are so ungrateful to be alive. But not you. Not anymore."

[scarred0and-starry]

Halloween Night-The Valkyries

Lily Evans

Lily’s sleeves were rolled up, her wand held steady as she charmed a cluster of floating pumpkins to glow a faint green. The atmosphere in the greenhouse was magical and spooky, the warm orange of the jack-o’-lanterns contrasting with eerie, flickering lights she had enchanted.

“This is going to be perfect,” Lily said, stepping back to admire her work.

You glanced at the corner where she had arranged a set of enchanted, singing Venus Flytraps. They swayed to a haunting melody, their glowing mouths snapping in time with the tune. “Perfectly terrifying,” you teased.

She grinned, shoving you lightly. “It’s Halloween. It’s supposed to be terrifying!”

As the final touches came together—a trail of glowing mist snaking along the ground and spider plants that had been charmed to actually skitter like arachnids—Lily pulled you into the middle of the greenhouse.

“Dance with me,” she said suddenly, her cheeks pink.

“Dance? Here?”

“Why not?” She laughed, spinning you around in the misty air, her smile brighter than the pumpkins’ glow. “Every good haunted house needs a pair of ghouls twirling in the middle.”

Her laugh was infectious, and soon you were spinning and laughing too, the enchanted plants humming their eerie melody around you.

Marlene McKinnon

The night sky stretched wide above you, dotted with stars and a full moon glowing brightly. Marlene adjusted her scarf and swung her leg over her broom, her grin full of mischief. “Come on, scaredy-cat. It’s Halloween! What better night for a midnight ride?”

You hesitated for a moment, but her excitement was contagious. With a deep breath, you climbed onto your broom beside her.

The cool October air rushed past you as you soared over the darkened grounds. The Forbidden Forest loomed below, its trees whispering secrets to the wind. Marlene flew circles around you, her laughter echoing in the stillness.

“Alright, show-off,” you called, attempting a loop of your own and wobbling slightly as you landed back in formation beside her.

She grinned, her cheeks flushed from the cold. “Not bad. You might make a daredevil out of yourself yet.”

When the two of you finally landed on the Astronomy Tower, she pulled out a pair of chocolate frogs she had stashed in her pocket. Sharing the treat under the glow of the moon, you leaned against each other, the silence of the castle wrapping around you.

“I love nights like this,” she murmured. “Just the sky, the stars, and you.”

Mary Macdonald

The flickering light of the candles filled the small alcove you and Mary had claimed in the library. Shadows danced across her face as she shuffled a deck of tarot cards, her fingers moving deftly over the worn edges. The faint scent of beeswax and cinnamon hung in the air, adding to the ambiance.

“Alright,” she said, laying the deck in front of you. “Ask your question, and no peeking.”

You hesitated, feeling a bit silly. “Does it have to be serious?”

She smirked, her eyes glinting in the candlelight. “It’s Halloween. The spirits don’t take kindly to jokes tonight.”

Rolling your eyes, you thought for a moment before placing your hand on the deck. “Fine. What’s my future like?”

Mary grinned, spreading the cards in an intricate pattern. She took her time flipping them over, her expression carefully neutral.

“Interesting,” she murmured, tapping a card. “You’ve got a journey ahead of you. Might be a broomstick ride—or maybe something bigger.”

Her tone was teasing, but her eyes held a warmth that made you feel like she could truly see your future unfolding in the cards. As she continued her reading, her voice grew softer, more thoughtful, the magic of the moment wrapping around you both.

When the reading was done, she leaned back, her smile small and genuine. “Whatever’s ahead, you’re not going through it alone. That’s for certain.”

You reached out and squeezed her hand, the flickering candlelight illuminating her kind, steady gaze.

Dorcas Meadowes

The Great Hall had been transformed into a grand Halloween spectacle. Floating jack-o’-lanterns bobbed above long tables laden with treats, and ghosts drifted through the air, their translucent forms glowing faintly in the dim light.

Dorcas stood beside you, her wand at the ready, her smirk sharp as ever. “Alright,” she said, cracking her knuckles. “Let’s see who can out-duel Sir Nicholas first.”

The Gryffindor ghost bowed with exaggerated grace, his nearly-headless head tilting precariously to the side. “Prepare yourself for the duel of a lifetime!”

You laughed as Dorcas stepped forward, her wand slicing through the air. She conjured a string of harmless hexes, each one bouncing harmlessly off Sir Nicholas, who retaliated with an exaggerated boo and a cascade of glowing sparks.

When it was your turn, Dorcas cheered you on, her laughter ringing out as your spells grew more creative—and occasionally went hilariously awry.

Afterward, the two of you collapsed onto one of the benches, your sides aching from laughter. “You’ve got potential,” she teased, handing you a pumpkin pasty. “But you’ll never beat me.”

You raised an eyebrow, grinning. “Care to make it a challenge next Halloween?”

She smirked, her dark eyes glinting. “You’re on.”

As you shared sweets and watched the ghosts drift lazily through the hall, the warmth of her presence made the spooky atmosphere feel anything but cold.

[thefandomenchantress]

Ace Theories/Headcanons

So I’m currently hyper fixating on Ace Markey and I wanted to share some of my headcanons. I have evidence to support some of them, but others I just think are fun to think about.

Something I immediately took notice of while scrolling through Ace’s Sprites (y’know, something any normal, well-adjusted person would do for hours on a Sunday evening) is that his boots have very large heels. Like, I’m talking AT LEAST an inch tall, if not more. Here’s a picture for proof:

Now, keep in mind that Nico and Ace are both 5’5 according to their character profiles. So you’d think that in the actual episodes, Ace would appear taller than Nico, since Ace has on his boots. But both appear almost exactly the same height in the actual episodes (though it’s hard to tell since Ace’s hair is so poofy now). Because of this, I have decided to believe Ace is actually 5’3-5’4ish, but like hell he’d ever admit that, so he doesn’t correct people when they say he’s 5’5.

Another thing I took notice of while scrolling through Despair Time’s tumblr is the jackets-off reference for Ace. There’s a little blurb next to him that states:

“ALWAYS wearing gloves”. Not ‘usually’, not ‘almost always’, just always. Which is a strange thing to specify, since other characters like Charles, Arturo, Eden, etc., all of whom wear gloves, are never specified to ALWAYS wear their gloves. In fact, Charles is also in the jackets-off reference and is seen without his gloves. TL;DR, them mentioning Ace always wears gloves is unusual.

So of course I spent way too long overthinking why he always wears gloves, and came to a conclusion. Let me explain.

Something that stuck out to me even before seeing the jackets-off reference is this sprite:

As you can see, Ace is biting his fingers anxiously. This is what led me to the conclusion that he has a bad habit of biting his fingers or knuckles when stressed, and his gloves serve the purpose of both protecting his hands when he indulges in this habit, and also hiding the damage to his hands this habit has caused from other people. Since he’s anxious a whole lot of the time, and his teeth are so sharp (or at least two of them are), I’d bet that habit could even cause his hands to bleed.

This would also help explain why Ace’s neck is all bandaged even after he refused to go to the infirmary in episode 6 of chapter 2, when he instead went back into his room. He just used the bandages he had in his room that he usually used for his hands. It would also fit the whole ‘Your body is falling apart’ part of his secret.

He’s definitely the type to like cheesy romance novels, even though he’d never admit it. I have no evidence for this one, I just feel like it suits him.

I have two theories explaining why Ace hates cats (He states that he doesn’t like them in Chapter 1):

Since he often says he hates things as a substitute for saying he’s afraid of them, (Example: Saying he doesn’t like Xander instead of saying he’s afraid of him, which he does a few times throughout Chapter 1), I definitely think he’s terrified of cats. He says he hates them, but really he’s just scared they’re going to tear him to shreds with their very sharp claws.

Or maybe people called him a scaredy-cat so much that he developed an irrational hatred towards the animal.

He gets really blushy when he’s happy. My evidence is that one sprite where he’s being sarcastically happy:

(I pray we see this sprite at least once in the future episodes, but things aren’t looking so good for Ace right now, so maybe not)

Because of his not-so-great eating habits, his body isn’t great at regulating its temperature. This leads to him getting really cold at night, so he sleeps with a ton of blankets.

Ever since Ace’s “THAT’S HORSESHIT!” line before his rebuttal showdown, I’ve headcanoned that he really likes horse puns and whenever he makes one pretends it was unintentional. But under no circumstances will he ever let Whit find out about this.

Aaaand that’s all. Just wanted to share those, since I’ve been thinking about them for a while. If you’re reading this, thanks for reading until the end. :)

[dialhforhorrorpodcast]

Barbarian Review

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I have been… trying to gather my thoughts for months now to try and accurately describe how it makes me feel. I’ve watched this movie four times - including one time in theaters - just to try and understand why people like it so much. And each time I come up with more anger at the potential this movie had and how it completely falls flat on its face in every aspect except for the marketing. Yet it was praised as one of the best - if not the best - horror movie of 2022. And for that I have to say… why? Who is this movie for and why do people seem to love it so damn much when at its worst it’s a slap in the face to the “female revenge” genre and a mish mosh of a bunch of nonsense that makes even me - the master of suspension of disbelief - scoff at it. And at its best it’s a poorly made horror flick that might’ve left most of its actual context on the cutting room floor. While it’s not “Halloween Ends” terrible, it’s still terrible. For the life of me, I can’t understand why this movie is considered “scary” or “incredible.”

If you weren’t able to tell from the title, this is about the Zack Cregger feature film that came out in September of 2022, Barbarian. It’s currently streaming on HBOMAX and if you haven’t already cancelled your subscription because of Velma, go ahead and click off this post, watch the movie, and come back after. There will be a LOT of spoilers so I don’t want anyone to watch this that hasn’t yet and wants to. Go on. Go subject yourself to this torture.

Now, I know this post is coming very, very late in the game, but there’s a real reason for it. See, I’ve wanted to talk about how atrocious this movie was since I saw it back in September of last year. I wanted to speak up and be the voice of the unheard a.k.a. The voice of those of us who really do not like this movie. As I said, I saw it in theaters the weekend after it came out when I kept seeing reports of how “terrifying” it is. My roommate and I were pissed we spent money on it so… thanks, movie reviewers. Then we decided to give it another chance after it was placed on HBOMAX. We thought it would get better upon rewatch, but no. It just made us angrier and have more questions that were left unanswered. Then we made her sisters watch it and they confirmed our disdain. We did not tell them how much we hated the movie beforehand. We let them formulate their own opinions and they confirmed that this was not a good movie. Finally, I half-watched it with my own sister and my sweet, scaredy cat of a sister sat through that movie, only jumping once, and then proceeded to say, “I want that hour of my life back.” When my sister who can hardly watch most horror movies says your movie isn’t scary, you KNOW you done goofed! It’s one thing for a seasoned horror fan like me to say I didn’t find your movie scary. It’s a whole other ball game when people prone to jumping at jump scares don’t flinch. So, I gave Barbarian a fair set of chances. I tried to find people who would have different viewpoints in my life and almost everyone said they hated the film or at the very least, it bored them. So, why on earth does this movie have a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes - a site known for being entirely unforgiving to movies that are actually freaking amazing? How? Who is this movie for?

I’m going to try and split this blog into three parts. Part one will be an analysis of the marketing. Part two, a summarization of the film (ft. Spoilers). And then part three, why I find this movie fails on its core message. Let’s get into it!

Part 1 - A Masterclass in Marketing

A huge problem with modern film marketing is that most of the trailers you see show too much. While some movies can show you a lot while still showing you very little, others basically show you the entire film in one fell swoop. No genre abuses their marketing system more than horror.

Horror movie trailers will show you the absolute scariest parts of their film to try and entice you to go and see the movie, but the problem is, once you’ve seen the parts that are creepy, eerie, spooky, or just plain terrifying a million times over on youtube, TikTok, or wherever in ad form, you’re immediately desensitized from how scary the actual film could’ve been without seeing those parts. A great example of a film ruining itself by showing way too much in its trailer is the movie Smile. While I still enjoyed Smile, and will probably do a deep dive into it at some later date, this movie showed all its scariest moments in the trailer. Particularly, the one scene that freaked me out the most when I saw it was the scene where the entity stretches its neck to smile at the main character in the car. However, that scene was shown over and over again to the point that when I finally saw the movie, I not only knew when it was coming, but it didn’t scare me as much as when I first saw it unexpectedly on TikTok. A scene like that would’ve been better left for the shock value it had rather than as the punctuation mark on the end of the trailer. But this is where Barbarian differs - and excels. Because the trailer tells you nothing.

The trailer for Barbarian leaves you with the most basic level information. A woman (played by Georgina Campbell) goes to an Airbnb only to find that a man (played by the absolutely gorgeous yet creepy Skarsgard brother, Bill) is already staying there. Insert awkward exchange here. Then said woman finds creepy shit in the basement. You hear screams, see flashes of things you can’t quite tell what they are, and then… title card. 

When I first saw the trailer, I remember thinking, “I’ve gotta see this.” First of all, you had me at Bill Skarsgard the same way Infinity Pool has me at Alexander. Second, you’re telling me there’s a basement? We all know creepy shit happens in basements! At the very least, I’ll get a few solid jump scares in. And finally, we don’t know what’s going on? It’s shrouded in mystery? Is Bill a crazed serial killer who lured Georgina to his actual house to hold her hostage? Is Georgina actually the serial killer? Did an unnamed person lure them to that house to conduct Saw like traps on them and this is secretly a Saw sequel? Did I just see Justin Long? Will he become a walrus at the end? No… wait, wrong movie. What I’m trying to say is that this movie did not leave me with a ton of info and I appreciated it for that.

The smartest thing they did for this movie was leave you wondering what on earth was actually going on in that house. The trailer gave away no jump scares. No killer or monster was hinted at. They just left you wondering - which in turn left you wanting to actually SEE the movie. Genius. But in this case, this is one movie that could’ve allowed a bit more context, because unlike a movie like Smile where what you see is what you get and your expectations are set relatively low for it, this movie wrote a check that its tush couldn’t cash. That leads me into the summary of this film.

Part 2 - A Very… Weird Story

So this is the part I’m going to ask that all the people who haven’t seen this movie and still want to see it please exit stage left and come back once you have. We’ll miss you, but I don’t want to be responsible for ruining the film for you. I’ll give you a little time to collect your belongings before I launch into my spoiler filled summary about it.

Ok, so now that they’re gone, let me give a rundown of what happens. If you’ve seen it, you know what happens. I’m really only doing this to make my rant make sense going forward. So, here we go.

The movie opens with Campbell’s Tess showing up to her Airbnb in the middle of the night only to find out that it’s already occupied by Skarsgard’s Keith. After a bunch of awkward exchanges, Tess decides to stay the night seeing as she has a big interview in the morning. The movie tries to really sell you on the idea that something is wrong with Keith and to Cregger’s credit, this part is done remarkably well, but I’ll explain why in the last segment of this video. Eventually, Tess decides to chat with Keith, they bond over being sort of in the same profession before going to sleep that night. 

Tess wakes up in the middle of the night to find her bedroom door open and Keith screaming on the couch in his sleep. She asks if he opened the door to which he says no. First part that bothers me in hindsight to what the story’s about. Anyways, moving on. She goes back to bed, locking the door, but not before we get a clear shot of the basement door opening in the background.

The next morning, Tess wakes up to find that Keith is gone and he leaves a note asking her to leave the key in the lock box so he can get back in after he’s done with his work. She walks out the door to immediately see that the entire neighborhood is dilapidated. Like… this neighborhood doesn’t even look like anyone lives there. Again, another part that bothers me in hindsight. She shakes off her discomfort and goes to her interview. After her interview, the person who was interviewing her asks where she’s staying and when Tess tells her, the interviewer drops a bombshell saying, “you shouldn’t be there.” Ominous, creepy, and would’ve made any normal person ask questions or at the very least pull up their phone and do a damn Google search. I mean, the house you’re staying in is the ONLY house in the entire neighborhood that doesn’t look like it’s decaying and then the woman who interviewed you is like, “get the hell out of there. Now.” And you don’t even think, “before I go back, lemme hit up google and find out what’s up with this area?” Unrealistic part number one. No normal person would do that. Not after what she saw.

Anyways, so Tess stupidly goes back to the only house within a five mile radius that looks like someone is still tending to it. As she’s heading into the house, a homeless man runs up telling her to get out of the house. Girl, this is the second time someone’s told you to leave and you’re not gonna listen? To her credit, this guy is hella abrasive. He’s running and screaming at her. I probably would’ve went inside, too, but still. Would’ve been red flag #800 and I would’ve packed my bags and left when the coast was clear. Oh, I forgot to mention, this movie takes place in Detroit. So, when Tess calls the police, they play on the stereotype that the police are never available when you call them in Detroit. I don’t know how true that is. I’ve never been to Detroit. I just don’t wanna piss anyone off who lives there. Tess is now left to her own devices from the spooky homeless man and she decides to use the bathroom (side note: they show this woman peeing a lot. Well, not a lot, but two times is too many. Why do we have to see her in the bathroom sitting on the toilet? I don’t wanna see anyone sitting on the toilet). And of course, she’s out of toilet paper. So, she has to go into the spooky basement and here’s where the movie gets off its ass and finally goes somewhere.

Tess ends up getting locked in the basement and of course she leaves her phone upstairs because that’s what we all do when we’re in a strange house and have just been rushed by a homeless guy telling us not to go inside. So since she can’t make a call for help, she’s basically left to sit in this basement until Keith returns. That’s when she starts exploring and finds a rope coming out of the wall. She… pulls that rope, as you do, and finds a creepy staircase with a room that has a light emanating from it. So does Tess: A. Close the door and continue waiting for help or B. Go down into the creepy basement? Well, she kinda does both. At first, she quips cutely, “Nope” before going to sit on the staircase and wait for her unintentional roommate to return, but the darkness keeps beckoning her for some reason. Not literally of course. Just figuratively. This woman really wants to go down there, so she does.

Upon entering the room, she finds a lamp that somehow still works and someone is still turning on every day, an empty bucket, and a bed with what looks like blood on it. That’s enough to give her the heads up that something is very wrong with this place. She goes back upstairs only to find that Keith has returned. She gets his attention and he tries to get her out of the basement by opening a window. When that doesn’t work, she slips him the key and he lets her out via traditional methods. 

Tess explains to Keith about the creepy af room she saw and like a typical man, Keith isn’t phased by it. Tess wants to leave (the smartest suggestion she’s made thus far), but Keith doesn’t wanna just go running because of a bed and a bucket. He tries to convince her to let him look before they make their exit and eventually she concedes, but follows up with the proclamation that she won’t go back down there again. Keith descends the staircase and suddenly it’s quiet. Tess cries out to him, but there’s no response, leading her to go back on her word and go back down the stairs.

She looks around the room only to find it empty, leading us all to say where the hell did this man disappear to? As it turns out, there’s another set of stairs straight ahead and instead of informing her that there was something else down there, Keith just… went down these second set of mysterious stairs himself. Tess begrudgingly follows him only to find a tunnel. She walks down that tunnel, calling out his name until he appears out of the darkness in front of her looking worse for the wear. He’s urgently telling her that they need to go further into the tunnel because whatever just attacked him came from her direction. Tess and Keith argue back and forth until the something that attacked is revealed. You see, up until this point, the movie really tries to make you believe something is wrong with Keith and that he’s probably our titular Barbarian. For seasoned horror fans, it’s an obvious red herring. The dude is Pennywise. It’s a stroke of genius to cast him as someone we’ll be suspicious of so we’ll never see the real threat coming. I will admit this was the only time I jumped while watching this film. It just caught me off guard entirely. As Tess and Keith are arguing about which way to go, a long limbed woman comes charging out of the darkness and very quickly and brutally dispatches of Keith via rock wall. Then she looks at Tess and lets out an ungodly screech before the movie cuts to black and you think, “is that it? That can’t be it. That YouTube short jumpscare might fly while watching people like Jacksepticeye and CoryxKenshin watch a bunch of scary videos, but it doesn’t work for a film in theaters.” To be honest, if the first act of this movie was uploaded on YouTube, I guarantee that Cregger would have a couple thousand followers in a week. The suspense he built is phenomenal and the reveal of the woman is so abrupt and jarring that it would have everyone throwing their phones and screaming before sending the link to everyone they know. Unfortunately, that’s not the end of Barbarian. It’s the end of the only good thing about Barbarian.

The movie returns with the introduction of Justin Long’s character AJ in the most obnoxious and annoying fashion possible. Singing one of the worst songs I’ve ever heard and driving a convertible top down next to a sunny beach. It’s actually kind’ve smart to introduce his character this way because, off the bat, you know you’re going to hate him with a burning passion. His happy-go-lucky tune is interrupted with a phone call from his agents. It’s there we find out he’s an actor who’s just been ousted from his new tv show because he did something very bad to the lead actress. (Fill in the blanks). They also tell him an article with the Hollywood Reporter is about to drop detailing the entire heinous act. So AJ’s career is essentially dead in the water. Of course, Scumbag AJ decides he’s going to fight back and after a little bit of expositional scenes, it’s revealed he’s the owner of the house that Tess and Keith were staying in. Unfortunately, he’s going to have to sell it in order to pay legal fees.

When he arrives at the house, he finds Tess and Keith’s luggage and is of course upset. He contacts someone who I believe is handling the rentals and she drops the bombshell that no one has rented that house. That could mean two things that the film does nothing to clarify. This is a few days after Tess and Keith stayed there and someone checked them out or no one ever rented them the Airbnb in the first place. Either way, this part makes no sense and could’ve been done differently, but I’ll save that rant for later. 

After more crap with Scumbag AJ where we learn he definitely did do those things that he’s accused of at a bar with his friend, he ends up going downstairs and finding the same creepy staircase and torture room with tunnels. What does he do? He looks up if an underground basement can be included in the square footage of the house to get more money. After extremely vague confirmation, I mean it basically says sometimes but mostly no, he gets a tape measure and goes to measure how deep the basement goes. He ignores all the horrifying things down there including cages where it looks like someone was kept in there, like this man is just… he sucks. It isn’t until the tape measure get yoinked from his hands that he encounters the long limbed woman who is known only as The Mother.

He gets thrown into a hole by the Mother and that’s when we find out Tess is still alive. Then we have arguably one of the most disgusting sequences in the entire movie. The Mother then pokes a bottle with the nipple covered in hair through the grate. Tess drinks from it and quips to Scumbag AJ, “see? She just wants you to be her baby!” As if that makes this entire scenario any less horrific. Scumbag AJ of course doesn’t want to drink from the hairy bottle and to be honest, I can’t blame him. But unfortunately, that sets off the Mother and she pulls him from the hole, leaving it open so Tess can escape. The Mother then drags him to a room where a video about breastfeeding is playing and… yeah, I’m not gonna describe this scene. This is just nauseating.

Meanwhile, Tess actually manages to escape the basement to go and look for help. She stumbles her way to a police car and tries to frantically explain to them that she was being held hostage, a man has been killed and another man is now being tortured. The cops, because this is Detroit and apparently the police don’t help in Detroit, don’t believe a word she’s saying, accuse her of being inebriated, and even threaten to take her to jail. She convinces them to come back to the house with her to rescue Scumbag AJ, but when they get there, the officer basically treats her like she’s a hysterical threat and is dangerous. They end up getting another call and dip.

Back with AJ, he manages to escape the Mother’s grasp only to stumble upon one of the smelliest looking rooms since the OG Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Like seriously. I felt like I could smell this room through the screen. He soon quickly realizes that there’s a man lying in the disgusting bed in the corner of the room. He’s bed bound, can’t speak, only coughs, and definitely looks like he hasn’t bathed in 20 years. That man is Frank.

Through flashbacks, we see that Frank is the original owner of this creepy house. We meet Frank at a store buying things for a baby. He tells the woman working what he needs and she takes him around to get those things. Off rip, Frank gives off a creepy vibe, but he’s just buying diapers and food for him and his wife’s soon to be bundle of joy, right? Wrong. After Frank’s shopping trip, we see him get in his car and spot a woman getting in hers. He waits for her to pull out before pulling out himself and following her home. He puts on a work jumpsuit, goes to the door and knocks, telling the woman he has to check the water in their house. This gives him the chance to go and unlatch a bathroom window in preparation for what is obviously an abduction. Points are given here, we’re never actually shown the abduction or any of the cruel, unspeakable acts Frank does to the women he kidnaps. Most directors would revel in showing us intense sexual violence, but Cregger didn’t go for the low blow there and I can wholeheartedly respect that.

Later, we see Frank talking to a neighbor who announces him and his family are moving and urges Frank to do the same to which Frank responds with something along the lines of, “yeah no. This is my murder house so… I’m staying.” Ok, he didn’t say that, but it’s what he meant. Essentially, Frank asserts that he’ll never sell his house and move, but we know he did at least one of those things because Scumbag AJ now owns the house.

Speaking of Scumbag AJ, he tries to communicate with Frank, but obviously, Frank can’t speak or move very much. That’s when AJ looks around the room to find tapes labeled with all sorts of names. He pops one into the VCR only to find it’s essentially a snuff film. Again, the violence isn’t shown. We’re left to guess what’s on the tape, but we know it’s bad. Scumbag AJ freaks out, berating Frank for the horrific acts he’s performed on women all the while Frank is grabbing a gun and you guys can guess what Frank decides to do in that moment.

Scumbag AJ decides to take the gun after Frank dies as a form of self defense against the Mother. At that point, Tess has broken back into the house to get her car keys, only to get the Mother out because apparently she roams the house at night. Which is why Tess’s bedroom door opened and why we got the shot of the door opening to the basement in the beginning of the film. Remember that? So Tess of course tries to crush the Mother with her car and it seems to work, so she goes back into the house to find AJ. Only to be shot in the stomach by Scumbag AJ who’s now armed and dangerous because he’s a jittery piss baby.

AJ helps Tess out of the house and of course, the Mother’s body is gone. They wander for a bit until they run into the homeless guy. You know the one who rushed Tess earlier and she called the cops on? He offers them a place to stay for the night and basically tells us the story of that house finally. He shares with them that Frank was kidnapping women and having babies with them. Then having babies with the babies and so on. The Mother is a product of serious inbreeding and of course, now she wants a baby of her own. AJ has a moment where you think there may be some character development as he waxes poetic wondering if he is the monster he’s currently being made out to be. Tess worries that the Mother will find them hiding with the homeless guy. To which he scoffs and says, “she never comes here” followed by the most predictable jump scare that he might as well have said, “she’s right behind me, isn’t she?” The Mother proceeds to rip one of his limbs off and beat him to death with it Mortal Kombat style as AJ and Tess try to escape.

Stay with me, folks, we’re almost to the end of the movie! So, AJ and Tess now run up a tower and one thing to note is that AJ runs in front of Tess the entire time. Not only leaving her vulnerable to the Mother - who’s hot on their tail - but not keeping an eye on the person that he just shot in the stomach! So much for that brief glimpse of character development from him. Still a scumbag! They get to the top of the tower and AJ drops the gun like the moron that he is. This is when he has the realization that the Mother doesn’t want him, she just wants Tess. So, he… throws Tess off the tower to her presumed death. He’s right, though. The Mother instantly jumps off the tower after her, grabbing her midair and taking the impact of the fall with her own body.

Scumbag AJ goes down the tower steps to find that Tess is still alive and the Mother is apparently dead now. He apologizes to Tess who takes it way too lightly before the Mother gets up and grabs AJ’s head. She very quickly dispatches of him by way of ripping his head in half and I gotta tell you - that’s still better than being turned into a walrus! This is when the Mother’s real nature is shown. She is upset when she sees that Tess is hurt and does want to try and help her, but she realizes she can’t. Tess then retrieves the dropped gun and shoots the Mother in the head and… roll credits! Yeah. That’s the end! Confused? Don’t worry, I am, too. So let me get into my thoughts about this film.

Part 3 - What’s the Message?

So let’s talk characters a bit. Tess is probably one of the weaker final girls in recent film, but I kinda did relate to her. Obviously, I don’t know how I’d react in her exact situation, but her constantly putting the needs and comforts of others ahead of her own is very relatable. But I think that’s also why she’s such a frustrating character. She follows Keith down into the tunnels, she constantly goes back to help AJ, she even accepts his apologies for him shooting her and throwing her off a tower. Apart from that, she stays in an Airbnb with a stranger just because he’s insistent about it. She’s accommodating if accommodating were personified. In part, she’s the best part of Cregger’s overall message that the movie is trying to say. What’s that message? Essentially, women move through the world differently than men do because they have to. Women are hardwired to bear the emotional burden, to make room for others, and to put others before themselves in ways that men are not. Tess perfectly exemplifies this in every way. In a lot of ways, she seems to feel safe with these men she barely even knows and would rather the harm come to her than them. It’s very frustrating to watch and can leave many viewers screaming, “girl, what is wrong with you?”

Then we have Keith (RIP). Keith is an awesomely done character. He’s the definition of “good guy needs you to know he’s good.” He’s over-accommodating, too, just like Tess. When watching the movie the first time, his actions seem like he’s secretly the Barbarian the title speaks of. He’s too nice, too quick to insist that Tess stays, and works his hardest to prove he’s not a creep which in turn makes him seem very creepy. But watching this movie knowing he dies pretty early on, I see him now as the type of guy who genuinely might be nice, but he goes out of his way to prove that he’s nice. He’s the type of guy to still ask for the consent to hold your hand even after you’ve been dating for a while not because he wants you to feel comfortable, but because he never wants you to see him as a threat.

And then conversely, we have AJ. Unlike Keith, AJ is the guy who thinks he’s super nice and wants everyone to think it, too, even though he’s not very nice at all. The entire time we see him in this film, he’s constantly defending himself and saying he would never SA someone, all the while, putting his accuser down and saying she made it up. Then when we get the full story, he admits to engaging in the act when both were inebriated and being aggressive about it as well. AJ calls his accuser names, uses a homophobic slur freely, ignores obvious signs of danger in his basement, shoots a woman who was trying to help him, and willingly throws her to the Mother to save himself. There’s a reason I kept calling him a scumbag throughout this entire video.

It’s very obvious that pretty much every man in this film is either evil or useless and from the things I’ve read, that is what Cregger wanted to convey. The whole purpose of this movie - from the director’s mouth - is that it’s a hot take on the things that women have had to put up with in society. From the fear of being kidnapped and tortured to men just not listening and taking us seriously. Every extreme is crammed into this movie to try and get its message across, but it fails so miserably because nothing about the movie makes any sense!

Let’s start with the obvious - the house. From flashbacks, we see that Frank - the serial killer - was the original owner of the house that Tess and Keith end up sharing. He makes it clear that he doesn’t ever plan on leaving, and from the discovery in the tunnels, it’s obvious that he kept that promise. The biggest issue here, then, is who the hell sold the house to AJ? If Frank never wanted to leave and was still living in the tunnels beneath the house, who put the house up for sale? Frank would’ve had to do it or maybe the bank seized it. Then that leads to another question - did no one else find the tunnels before and alert the authorities? Oh wait! Here’s another question - why did no one investigate all the missing women? There were dozens - if not hundreds of tapes in Frank’s room. You mean to tell me no one was investigating?! Also, what happened to the boys? Obviously, Frank was alluded to have taken his daughters and reproduced with them in order to get the monstrosity that is the Mother, but you mean to tell me every single woman he impregnated only had girls? Did he plan it that way and if so, how? Did he adopt out the babies or did he just off them? Like that’s kinda weird how there were no boys born at all. Makes no sense. And let’s not talk about the Mother who is severely inbred, but somehow has superhuman strength. Like, does anyone here know science? 

Most, if not all movies ask you to suspend your disbelief in order to enjoy the film and Barbarian is no exception. The problem is, you don’t have to go too far before you start ripping the thin plot to shreds in order to realize that this movie has no idea what its doing. Recently, someone told me they loved the movie because it was hilarious, but it was never marketed or presented as a horror comedy. It’s literally categorized as a straight up horror film so the comedy in the film is more incidental. Which makes sense considering that Zach Cregger was mainly a comedy writer up until this film. I also saw an article comparing him to Jordan Peele and saying he has the makings of replacing Peele as the premiere horror director of the decade and to that I say, absolutely not. Jordan Peele’s movies, while they add comedic elements to them through dialogue and sometimes sequences, are meticulously crafted down to the very last detail. They’re chock full of easter eggs calling back to other movies, pop culture phenomenon, and even earlier events in the film. He mastered suspense and creating unnerving and unsettling experiences. Zach Cregger made a jump scare fest horror movie that’s plot is so paper thin, you can poke a hole in it from the very second you start watching it. He claims it’s a movie about the tragedy of being a woman, but as a cisgendered man, there’s no way he can relate to that experience. Jordan Peele wrote what he knew for his first horror flick. Zach Cregger tried to make a glaring social commentary that ended up being more cringey and laughable than eye-opening. The only pass I give him is him actively making the choice not to show the sexual violence inflicted upon Frank’s victims because as I said earlier, many other directors would’ve thrown that up close and personal in your face for shock value. Aside from that, the story makes zero sense, the comedy is bare bones at best, and worst of all, it was marketed incredibly incorrectly because it’s not scary at all. For that, Barbarian gets a whopping 1 out of 5 skulls from me. 

Thank you for reading! Check out my socials for more podcast episodes I’ve done in the links below!

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[ghostlychief]

Bts tropes: how each member would go through a haunted attraction with you

Pairing: Bts x reader (all pairings are bf bangtan and gf reader)

Warnings: none really? there’s some depictions of creepy things

Wc: 3.4K+ (don’t mention it)

A/n: I’m back with another bts x tropes, but spooky edition 🎃🎃🎃 I loveeee Halloween (it’s my favorite holiday) so I figured why not write another bts trope but Halloween related. Sorry for any typos, i plan to edit it later

I hope you enjoy! - Lee

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Other BTS tropes:

- What trope I (reader) would have with each bts member (happy version); 500+

- What trope I (reader) would have with each bts member (sad version); 1k+

- How each member would take care of drunk you; 2.1k+

- How each member would take care of you while you’re on your period; 2.3k+

General masterlist

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Seokjin: the haunted amusement park

I can picture you and Seokjin going to haunted amusement park. An amusement park just fits Jin’s vibes so much. It may be a busier attraction, but its scary nonetheless.

I feel like Seokjin would be super confident going in, you know, cracking jokes “oh, this isn’t going to be that bad. Psh.”

“I’ll be the one scaring the ghosts.” Idk something silly like that and he’d be too nonchalant about it

However, once you guys rolled up to the place, his ego started to crack a little, but just a little. He was still trying to make jokes to according to him, “help you feel less scared” (but we all know it was really a defense mechanism for himself, c’mon now)

I think you would be fine leading up to the park, not overly confident like Jin, but also not already peeing your pants, yk

Once you guys got in line, you started to get excited, exclaiming things like “oh my gosh I can’t believe we’re almost at the front of the line!” or, you’d tug on his sleeve and say “babe, look at the people that just came out. They look so scared.” And he would glance over your head to where you’re pointing to and visibly gulp

Once you guys were actually in the park, you both would tightly hold on to each other’s hands and you’d both be screamers for sure. You guys might even be the loudest group in the attraction

Just picture Jin’s classic scream (which also was heard whenever you guys took breaks and rode the roller coasters)

Seokjin would also flinch and exclaim in his typical way whenever there was a jump scare. But he’d also shield you (whether intentionally or not) from whoever or whatever popped out of the nowhere, by moving in front of you to block you from whatever monster was there. He’d also pull you closer to him whenever he felt you guy got separated too much

Let’s just say that by the end of the haunt, you both were starving for something warm and delicious to eat

And when you’re both sitting down for your warm meal, Jin boasts, “That wasn’t even that bad; we should find a more horrifying place next year.”

You look up, just give him a blank stare and mumble, “uh huh.” (Obviously thinking bs) and go back to eating

Yoongi: the insane asylum

Stereotypical or not, picture run bts ep 24 Yoongi aka the Yoongi that is about to throw hands with a zombie

Once you expressed to your boyfriend that you really wanted to go to a haunted house this October, Yoongi immediately started looking at different attractions, determined to find the most terrifying one (which turned out to be a haunted insane asylum)

You and Yoongi would prefer a less popular attraction, but still rated hella creepy (even though you both are low key scaredy-cats)

And once you guys found one, you were off, ready to be frightened

Both of you would be fine waiting in line, you know, pretty chill, just talking as you usually do. I picture Yoongi not really thinking too much about what’s gonna happen in the haunted house, and I also don’t see him being over confident in his ability to not get scared lol, like I think he’s ready to properly be scared shitless

But, if you started to get nervous or something, Yoongi would just wrap an arm around your shoulders and pull you into his side and draw circles on your shoulder or arm. He’d also give you the occasional forehead kiss, in which you would turn to him and peck his lips once, twice, maybe three times

However, once you guys got in the haunted house, it was all downhill from there

You both started holding hands, but somehow you got separated in the first room when fog came seeping out of the wall, and there was a purple glow in the room that made it even harder to see

You may have tripped over an arm or something trying to find your way back to Yoongi

Once you both realized you got disconnected, you guys panicked

Yoongi was in front of you, but it took you a little bit, arms sticking out in front of you and calling for him to reunite

After that fiasco, you stayed behind Yoongi, hands on each shoulder of his, using him as a guide but also a human shield incase a monster popped out to get you (thanks a lot- Yoongi)

Yoongi didn’t appreciate going first, so this resulted in lots of screaming on his end

And the jump scares got you both pretty bad too, which usually resulted in Yoongi cursing and you gripping his shoulders even tighter

Let’s just say that you both were so relieved to finally make it through the house, with only minimal damage made. After you got home, you put on AHS Asylum to finish off the night

Hoseok: the classic, haunted house of horrors

Ah man, Hobi (I love the man) would be the worst to go to a haunted house with. Hear me out before you come at me!!!!

I can picture you bringing it up to him one day, you love Halloween after all and he knows this. So, he was already anticipating you bringing something like this up to him (although each year he secretly hopes you forget to lol)

You tell him about this amazing haunted house you found on the internet that has great reviews, yada, yada, yada and all he’s thinking is “how can a haunted house be ‘amazing’?”

He tries not to show it, but you saw his face fall gradually the longer you explained what the attraction was, and why you wanted to go

he’s a little hesitant, but agrees nevertheless bc he loves you and who can say no to you, right?

He doesn’t hide his apprehension though; he wears it loud and proud

Yeah, Hoseok likes to dress up and go to festive parties, but the creepy, eerie, gory aspect of the holiday? No thank you. That’s more of a you thing

Anyways, the whole time you guys are waiting to go through the place, both of you are nervous and trying to distract each other from your impending doom. (Even though you love love love Halloween, you still sometimes get a littler nervous for haunted houses)

Hoseok is definitely more scared than you though (but you’re almost equally as terrified)

The first step through the door, Hoseok is already screaming about something and it’s like that the whole way through

He even ends up scaring you by accident, in which you yell at him and slap his shoulder and tell him to “get a grip”

I can also see Hoseok accidentally tripping, slapping, or smacking into you because he’s just so startled, like it’s bad and at this point you just want it to be done lol (but you still love your boyfriend dearly)

But of course, if he does that, he apologizes profusely once you guys are back on solid ground and away from the horror house and wraps you in a tight hug and leaves kisses in your hair

You just giggle into his chest, and bring your hands up to rub up and down his back, hoping to calm him down a little (it works, he feels much better now)

Obviously, it’s not that big of a deal to you, and you just laugh about it, and continue too poke fun at him on the car ride home, while he pouts in the passenger seat (because you didn’t trust for him to drive you guys back in one piece) any other night sure, he’s a great driver, but not tonight

You guys stop at your favorite place to eat, and when you get home you crack open a bottle of wine, and have a cozy night in, trying to relax after the stressful night you two (mainly Hobi) had and you do all the things he wants to do. Which ends up being face masks and a hot bath

Namjoon: The haunted ghost tour

With Namjoon, instead of going to a haunted house, I feel like you guys would go on a haunted ghost tour or something, and it would still be very creepy and would leave you both with a chill up your spine

You both are obsessed with ghost documentaries, unsolved cases, shows and movies (even books) like that where there is no clear explanation to what actually happened. That always creeped you out the most, the unknown

For October, Namjoon surprised you with a trip to travel around your country for a few weeks to the spookiest places and stay overnight to see if you would experience anything out of the ordinary

Think of it as a haunted ghost tour trip or something like that

The first night, at the first stop on your tour was definitely unnerving. You guys kept hearing weird sounds at night, such as footsteps in the hallway, but they made a dragging kind of sound instead of the regular footsteps you’d hear if a person was walking by. When you both heard this, you and Namjoon looked at each other wide eyed, mouths agape. This was the first ghostly encounter!

But when Namjoon went to peer out the door, he said that “there’s no one in the hallway”

He hurried back to bed, jumped in and tucked you into him, his chin on top of your head and arms wrapped tightly around you. Honestly, you guys probably made out or had sex to distract yourselves lol

Needless to say, you both had a hard time falling asleep that night and Namjoon gave you endless kisses in the morning because he was so thankful you guys made it through the first night

At your second attraction, you could have sworn something was looming over your face while you were sleeping, but of course when you woke up, nothing was there, and you just turned towards Namjoon and cuddled into him, hoping his warmth would scare away your bad dreams

The ghost tour trip turned out to be a success because at each location, at least one eerie thing occurred, that left you and Namjoon both puzzled

It helped having your big, strong boyfriend with you throughout the trip, because when in doubt, you’d just cling onto him if you ever felt frightened

You and Namjoon also took lots of pictures on the trip and much to your horror, some of them depicted apparitions, looming in the background with a faint white glow around them, but you only noticed them when you guys were looking through at pictures after the trip, once you got back home

You probably were scared the most between you two, but Namjoon occasionally would get spooked and, in those cases, would just quietly exclaim, curse, whatever but then go on his day because he’d find some way to rationalize it

By the end of the trip, you guys got your fair share of ghostly sightings and encounters, and were ready to go back to your peaceful apartment

Jimin: the killer clown carnival

I feel like Jimin would be so fun to go to a haunted house or attraction with. He’d be the perfect mix of someone who would get scared but also make the most of it and have such a great time

I can picture you guys going to a haunted fair/carnival so the main theme was a clown circus or something (super creepy I know)

The fair had different rides and games, to entertain you, but the whole time you never knew when a monster would appear out of nowhere and grab you

You and Jimin would have so much fun with this too. Like both of you love Halloween so much, and especially love the horror behind it all. So a carnival with games, rides and food, but also killer clowns? Sounds like a perfect October night

Occasionally, you guys would scream and cling onto each other as another clown slowly approaches you

But then you guys would grasp hands, and run off together in the opposite direction, escaping the bloody clown

Once you guys got far enough away, you guys would be laughing, trying to catch your breath from all the running

Luckily for you guys, you wound up in front of the cotton candy machine. However, this cotton candy was blood red and puke green. It was still a yummy and a sweet treat for you both

You accidentally got some stuck on your lips since you were wearing the prettiest of lip glosses (according to Jimin), so he smiled at you and pointed to his lips saying, “you’ve got something there”

But of course you didn’t get it off, so Jimin leans into you, hand tenderly cupping your jaw, before he covers your lips with his in a saccharine kiss, cleaning you of the sticky candy

It would have been the perfect kiss, if not for the tall clown looming behind Jimin with a wide grin

You pull away from your boyfriend screaming and Jimin turns around suddenly and sees what got you so spooked. You guys are back to running, screaming, and laughing. This time you end up in front of a ride, the Ferris wheel

You guys spend rest of the night wrapped up in each other, enjoying the killer clowns and all they have to offer

Taehyung: the pumpkin patch by day, alien ridden corn maze by night

I think we all know that Taehyung would be the least fazed out of everyone lol, this man has a resting bitch face that would scare the scarers

Alternatively, Taehyung would be the best boyfriend to go to a haunted attraction with, especially if you got scared easily

I picture you and Taehyung going to a haunted corn maze

He’s the epitome of boyfriend material, so I imagine that your day started out at the pumpkin farm where you guys got hot apple cider and delicious food. You guys also toured the pumpkin patch and each picked out a pumpkin to take home and carve

All while Taehyung is being silly and making you laugh. He’d also take endless pictures of your day together; some of the farm and the animals, the pumpkin patch, but his favorite were the candid of you.

Even though you and Taehyung are stylish people, I feel like this day you guys dressed down, (and you also didn’t want to ruin your nice clothes later that night when you went through the corn maze). Taehyung looked as boyfriend as ever in his grey sweats, scarf, and long coat. You sported a similar outfit, always accidentally matching with Tae

And when the sun went down, and the wind started to pick up, you guys maze your way over to the farm’s haunted corn maze, that stretched far out ahead of you

What can you say, you were already anxious and so you quickly grasped onto Taehyung’s bicep, anticipating the daunting maze in front of you

Taehyung was excited though, he loved shit like this and before you guys entered, he really tried his best to make you smile or laugh and he was successful. He pulled a few giggles out of your lips

But that was short-lived because when the worker said that it was your turn next, you froze and your face went blank

Taehyung turned towards you and leaned down to whisper in your ear, “you’ll be fine, jagiya. You’ve got me.” He placed a gentle kiss on your lips, before turning straight ahead, ready to head into the dark. You, not so ready, but clutching onto Taehyung

The maze ends up being confusing, eerie, and dark (just what you anticipated)

and there were bloody scarecrows missing limbs, and 8-foot-tall aliens lurking in the shadows that reached out to grab you with their less than human like fingers. A couple of times they actually touched you, which left you mortified

I can picture taehyung just giving the monster like a death glare of smth because it touched you lol, he wasn’t too pleased (the monster didn’t pass his vibe check)

You might have screamed one or twice (ok more than that), even Taehyung lost his cool guy persona a few times

But whenever something would jump out at you Taehyung was quick to pull you behind him or closer to him

You guys finally made it through (thank god) you both actually had a great time (yes even you)

and for the remainder of the night, Taehyung gave you endless affection in the form of tender touches that melted away your remaining fear

Jungkook: fright night - the forest of fear

Ah Jungkook. This fucker would 100% drag you to a haunted forest attraction of some kind, and the really well rated one too. So basically, you know that it’s going to be super terrifying

It’s the kind where the send you out in groups of 7-9 people where it’s just you and your group, in the middle of a dark, empty forest (well not really empty due to all the monsters and stuff)

He’d be super excited about it too. But you’d also be excited because you love Halloween and all things scary

This attraction would be a bit of a drive away, so you and Jungkook make sure to load the car with all the essential snacks and drinks

Once there, Jungkook would be so eager to go in, bouncing on his heels while waiting in line

Now for the haunt

Picture a dark, endless forest with tall trees. It would also have the vibe of the Blair Witch Project

Once you and your group are let out into the forest, you immediately grab onto Jungkook, and close your eyes. which isn’t the best choice because you end up tripping on tree roots. And it makes Jungkook turn back to you to see what happened

You’d just utter “I’m fine” (not at all embarrassed that you tripped less than 5 minutes in).sooner or later the monsters start appearing. They peer around the trees and once they lay sight on you the start chasing you, but unlike other places, these monsters don’t give up, they just keep on running after you, screaming

Jungkook and you run hand in hand, and you eventually loose your monster. But while you guys are catching your breath, leaning against a tree, another one finds you and Jungkook. However, this one is fixated on you

Jungkook notices this too and before you know it, he sweeps you off your feet and starts sprinting with you in his arms (he wasn’t taking any chances)

You make it to a clearing \, finally away from that one creep, but then some of your other group members slam into you guys. you and Jungkook get separated, and now you’re all alone

This kind of attraction actually makes its participants cry lol and unfortunately, you end up as one of those people; it happened when you lost Jungkook

So now you’re alone, tired, and crying and of course a zombie looking thing is chasing you

you yell out for Jungkook because frankly, you’ve had enough of this stupid forest and you slam into a hard chest

thankfully it was your boyfriend and not a three headed witch and you start crying even harder and you cling onto Jungkook and bury your face into his chest

Jungkook is alarmed that you’re crying this much, but he just rubs your head and coos at you until your breathing calms down and then rubs the wet tears from under your eyes and cradles your face

You blubber to him explaining how you lost him, then another monster started to chase you, and you were tired, soft hiccups escaping your lips, and again, he just coos at you while rubbing your head

He’d then give you the biggest hug, squeezing you to his chest

Once your panic attack is over, you and Jungkook continue on, hand-in-hand and eventually make your way out of the forest (you guys were in there for like 2.5 hours)

Jungkook may have felt a little bad he brought you here, but you reassure him that it was actually a lot of fun, even though it felt so real and scary

He pampers you the rest of the night

He buys your favorite dinner, and once you guys get home, you curl up on the couch, tucked under his arm as you guys have a horror movie marathon (why you decided to prolong your frightful night with an abundance of thriller movies, you don’t know)

But this time, whenever you felt scared, Jungkook made sure to pull you impossibly close to him and never leave your side

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hope you enjoyed <3

[taechaos]

can u make a blurb for textbook love jk suprising oc, who is terrified of dogs, with bam🥺

for some context 😎 since he can't have a dog at uni i made bam his mom's dog lol hOPE U ENJOY

After just one chaotic day with his mother and her weird family, Jungkook needs a break. He made plans with you to meet up today, but even when he's outside, the mistake of going to that house in the first place follows him everywhere.

His mother noticed him trying to sneak out of the house in the early hours of the "morning"—2PM, which is when they wake up—and after a fruitless interrogation, she dropped the topic but not without forcing him to walk the family dog.

"Walk the dog– how deep are you into this shit?!" he'd whispered to not wake up the others. It's a shame his mother isn't such a heavy sleeper as well.

"I feed his daughter, the fuck you think?" she'd snapped back.

He was flabbergasted when he was handed a leash and came face to face with a snarling Doberman pinscher. "Mother, care to tell me why step-daddy has a guard dog in our yard?" he'd asked condescendingly. Getting smacked on the back of his head was enough to shut him up and glare at the perpetrator.

The only instruction he was given was: "Clean up his shit if he does it in the streets. Oh, and we call him Bam."

Jungkook liked dogs. In fact, he always wanted a pet as a child to make up for his mother's neglect, but this puppy wasn't very friendly at first glance. He had initially lowly growled at him, but Jungkook's features must have resembled his mother enough for him to relax in mids of their walk. It took a lot of "easy boy"s to get Bam to stop trying to jump him beforehand.

That felt somewhat empowering. Jungkook loved big, intimidating dogs. He's literally walking a police dog! It's a dream come true and he can't wipe the cocky smile off of his face. The feeling of watching children run to the farthest corner with big eyes in fear of crossing Bam was indescribable. He pet the oversized puppy to praise him every time someone cowered away from their path.

"That's a good fucking boy," he'd say.

Then he wondered if you'd cower before Bam as well. He's holding a leash and you're probably smart enough to figure out that he's a domestic puppy, right? On that thought, he realized how domestic it would be if you walked Bam together.

But you're not on the same page. The moment you turn around when he taps your shoulder from behind, you freeze. Your eyes grow wide when they lower to see the intimidating dog standing on its pads merely centimeters before you. The smile on your face immediately falters. You stare at each other and you don't hear Jungkook when he says, "Hey. Meet the family pup."

Bam's eyes pierce through your soul. A growl resounds before he suddenly barks at you, and you release a small scream before scurrying backwards. The dog tries to follow, but Jungkook holds him back by a light tug of the leash. "Hey, hey, chill." He kneels down to soothingly pet his head, but that does nothing to rid of his protective stance.

"Jungkook," you whimper, "I-Is this your dog? I-I don't he likes me–"

"It's fine, he reacted the same way with me at first too," he reassures without taking his soft, awed eyes off of Bam. He finds it really cool that they've formed a bond strong enough for Bam to be protective of him already, and they've only been together for twenty minutes. "Just play with him a little and he'll be swayed instantly."

The pedestrians in the park glance at Bam when he barks again. It isn't as loud. "Come here," Jungkook beckons you. You shake your head with fear, making him laugh. "Stop being a scaredy cat. He doesn't bite."

"I don't have a good history with d-dogs," you reason. The staring contest prolongs where you are still shaking in your boots and Bam is intently anticipating your next move. "I got bit by a stray dog when I was little."

"Well, he isn't a stray dog," he says as if it's obvious. "I won't let him hurt you, come on."

"No."

He drawls your name with a roll of his eyes. "He's barely a year old. Just do what I'm doing."

It takes a few seconds of contemplation for you take one step. The dog under Jungkook's hand reacts instantly by shuffling on his feet. You take another slow, tentative step. He starts panting. "Oh God," you whimper with your heart thumping against your chest. Jungkook's impatience shows when he grabs your hand and doesn't let you yank it away. "Jungkook, no!" Your squeals cease to shallow breaths when your hand makes contact with the black sleek fur coating his head with your eyes screwed shut. Neither of you react.

"See?" Jungkook's nonchalant voice cuts through the tense air. "He doesn't see you as a threat." Your peek an eye open to see the puppy hasn't moved an inch, although he is still staring at you. Your boyfriend pets him with your hand.

You scream again when he jumps on your chest, his heavy paws pressing against you. "Get him off!" You try to step back, but the dog doesn't fall—he is still on you. Jungkook does nothing to help, and through your heavy breathing, you gulp and wait for him to claw at you. He doesn't.

You are terrified. "Jesus Christ," you gasp. Even his muzzle makes you tremble. You notice the wag of his short, thin tail under you. Is this puppy really bullying you right now?

Jungkook drops the leash and stands up to walk off to a bench nearby. "You guys have fun. I need a break. Oh, and we call him Bam."

"No, no," you instantly protest and weakly push Bam's paws off of you. He tries to jump on you again, but you successfully dodge and sprint to the fountain. "Jungkook!" You yell for help, but the man is silently laughing at you while resting in his seat.

It's like watching a ferris wheel, how you two go round and round, circling the fountain in this game of cat and mouse. This goes on until you hide in Jungkook's arms, who whistles for Bam to follow. Such an obedient dog, sitting while his owner scratches the back of his ear. You are both panting.

It isn't the domestic relationship he was thinking of on his way here, but he decides he enjoys your terror and Bam's teasing more.

"I've got two pets now, huh?"

"Are you being serious right now?"

[kaylathekittykat225]

Carnival Ride of Horror // Steve Harrington x Reader

Carnival of Horror // SH

Warning/s: Cursing, laughing at inappropriate times, (very minimal) mentions/implications of abuse/stalking (just wanna warn, its super small but just in case!)

Word Count: 3.5k

Hey guys! It’s been a bit since I’ve written, lemme tell you, life has been kinda crappy and its just a little less crappy now! So I decided to start pecking at the keyboard again and this is what came of it! This lovely person requsted this work and I just got around to starting to really write because I had a free week. Anywhoodles, it’s good to write something again and I hope yall enjoy it!

Again thank you for this idea @seraphiiii

omg i came across your post about writing ideas in my feed and got so excited to see both steve harrington and young justice in the tags lmao. but i think a steve harrington x reader where reader and him go to an amusement park and reader is terrified of the rides so he’s like comforting her throughout them and encouraging her but also laughing (in a good natured way obvi) about how scared she is and stuff? i think that would be so cute!!

Here’s my Masterlist.

Enjoy.

-----

“Stevie, when we agreed to have a date night away from the kids, I didn't think we would be going into a mass of more kids.” As he pulled the keys out, you stared at the bright light shining machinery that had been set in the middle of a field outside the city. The annual summer fair had finally made its way to Hawkins, and it had left a buzz in the air as everyone planned when they would go, talked about what rides had come this year, who their ride buddy would be; it had been all the kids had been talking about for weeks. They put a day together the coming weekend to go as a group and they planned to drag Steve and you along on the off chance that they needed an “adult” to allow them on the rides.

Funny how they assumed either Steve or you knew how to adult.

“Cause I thought it would be a nice change from us just watching movies or having dinner.”

“Oh, so dino nuggets are no longer date-worthy for you.” Steve almost took you seriously, but he saw the grin that has graced your lips at your own comment. He relaxed a little knowing that you weren’t upset with his idea for date night, but he had always wanted to kiss someone at the top of a Ferris Wheel, and he would do anything to get you to the top of the rotating ride.

“So, you’re not mad that I chose here for tonight?” You shook your head and pulled at the door handle separating the two of you from the outside life.

“Of course not Stevie, I just thought it was an interesting choice.” The smile you chose to have was one that hopefully convinced him that you were okay with where the pair of you were going, even if you weren’t happy with the choice.

You can be happy with the idea of going to a carnival as long as you don’t go on-”Cool, so what ride do you want to do first?”

“Shit.” The world slipped out before you could stop yourself as Steve finished paying for your tickets and asked what you had said. “Nothing just kicked myself. Um…” You looked around frantically for something to do that wasn’t flashing brightly and spinning faster than the legal highway speed. “Let’s go over there!”

Steve followed your hand as he saw you point towards the stands of games that were rigged and way too fricking expensive, but he would do it for you. “Alright, starting out with some games I see, I like it.”

The two of you ran through a few of the games, most of them where Steve got way too into it and you had to step between them as he tried screaming that he deserved that stuffed bear/pony/cat/fish, because he almost had it every single time. He did beat out the basketball one, one of the last ones the two of you did on that strip, bolstering his confidence just enough to get him into a cheery enough mood.

“Alright! We played some games, and let the crazies test out the rides so I’m pretty sure they won’t break down on us. Which one should we do first? They got a drop tower, or how about the pit viper swings? Or, or, or how about we…” The night had been going enjoyable up until Steve turned to the rides you had managed to distract him from and pointed at the glowing and fast-moving monsters.

“How about we do the haunted walk over there?” Steve followed your pointing finger with a quizzical look, he hadn’t really taken note of the scary attraction before, never thought to really look to it with everything else going on. “I bet it won’t even be scary to us after everything we’ve been through right ha.”

You took off with a dry laugh without waiting for a response from him; his cries were head behind you, but the haunted house looked better than anything else around you. “Y/N.” He called you again, but you walked faster. By the time you got to the stairs leading into the building, you were practically running up them to get into the dark house with smoke billowing out of it.

“Y/N!” Your name was the last thing you heard before diving through the door and physically bumping into one of the scarers dressed as a zombie. He seemed nice, breaking character enough to ask if you were okay before you had already turned the corner and left him behind too.

Twisting and turning, you didn’t pay much mind to the screaming witches, zombies, skeletons, or anything that happened all around you; over the music and screaming, you could vaguely hear your name, giving you an indication that Steve followed you.

Not too far in, you found a quieter corner with only a couple cobwebs around it where you quickly ducked back into and tried pressing yourself into it deeper, hoping to watch Steve walk right by you.

Why the hell were you running from your boyfriend? You gained a sense of logic for a second where you paused. Why were you running? This was super childish of you and really had no reason. All Steve wanted to do was go on a few rides and you were being selfish and completely ruining what was going to be one of the few evenings you didn’t have to babysit the kids.

As the guilt started to swirl with your desire to not be found, you didn’t notice as the Frankenstein in the room had taken notice of you hiding in the corner and started to tromp over to you. “Hey, miss, you can’t be hiding in here, you gotta keep moving.”

“I’ll be out in a second, sir, let me just-” “You can’t be here-” “If you give me a second, I will leave as soon as I can-” “Miss you have to leave-” “Give me one dan minute-” “Y/N!”

Among all the screaming the Frankenstein and you had been doing was your name being called by a third and new voice along with a hand clasping onto your shoulder. Looking to the hand, you saw the unmistakable outline of the man you were hiding from. “There you are babe, why were you running off.” Just looking at the Frankenstein’s demeanor, you could tell he went into defense mode suddenly.

“Were you hiding from him miss? Are you okay? Do you feel safe?” The painted man moved to step between you and Steve in an attempt to separate you two.

“Whoa, whoa buddy, back off. She’s my girlfriend, chill out.” Steve tried stepping around the man o little success.

“Oh, your girlfriend? And she’s running from you? I don’t think this is looking very good for you, buddy.” The two were shooting back and forth at each other, getting chest to chest, and starting to cause a larger disturbance that started o be heard over the music and background scream noises. More workers it looked like started to slip into the room and try to get the two men to quiet down, going so far as to begin threats of throwing them out of the haunted house.

You were pulled away from the situation before being pushed away and into the next room, looking like it was on its way to the exit in the next two or three rooms: your destination.

-----

“Y/N?” His voice finally chirped up next to you as Steve took a seat next to you on the grass at the edge of the carnival. “You okay?” When he saw you sitting over here, he had quickly jogged over and took her in as he did so: sitting with her face pressed into her knees and arms wrapped tightly around her legs as she kept herself in as tight of a ball as possible.

You didn’t respond at first, only moving your head to look up at your boyfriend, the person you have embarrassed tonight and most definitely pissed off with your childish antics tonight. “I’m sorry.”

“Whoa what do you have to apologize for? I’ve been worried about you and wanted to make sure that you are okay.” His hand found its way to your back and began rubbing circles into your shoulder blade.

“I was really childish today and you didn’t deserve it, all because I was scared of the stupid rides.” Your words may have been mumbles, but he heard every word clearly.

“Hold on. Babe, did you say you were scared of the rides?” Your small and timid nod was enough for him to understand. “Why didn’t you tell me? I never would have brought you here if I knew that!”

Swallowing the thick feeling in your throat, you looked up at him and saw the disappointment and hurt in his face and that hurt. “Because you were so excited about it, I thought I could get through it and do at least one or two with you. But as we got closer, I guess my nerves got the best of me and I just...ran. Like a stupid child.”

“Hey, hey, hey, no.” Steve quickly shuffled to kneel in front of you and grabbed your hands, holding them in his own and your legs fell down to where you were now criss cross apple sauce. “I’m not gonna force you to do any of these rides if you don’t wanna. If you want to just go home, we can make this a movie night if that works better for you.”

“No, Stevie,” His mouth quirked up at this name. “You already bought the tickets; I don’t want you to waste the money you earned because I’m a scaredy cat.”

Steve took a second to think, racking his brain on how to salvage what has been an eventful evening. “How about…” He paused again and just stared at you with you staring back at him, waiting to hear what he wanted to say. “You can say no, how about we try a few rides, to try and get you on some. If you don’t like riding after one, we can go home, and you can at least say you did it.”

Mulling this idea over in your head, your eyes shifted from where your boyfriend sat in front of you to the bright and joyous scream filled rides were. “I suppose they don’t all look so bad.” You murmured to him, staring particularly at the giant Ferris Wheel that turned, a small memory from early on in your relationship popping into your head. Steve had mentioned a few times that his dream date would be to take a girl up on a Ferris Wheel and cuddle her and kiss her when they got to the top.

“Okay, we can try a few.” Though shaky, your voice was a little stronger this time and you gave Steve a small smile.

“You sure?” A nod. “Okay, I’ll let you choose which one we go on, okay?” Another nod.

Together, the two of you stood to your feet and approached the hustle and bustle of the carnival grounds again. “What did that Frankenstein do to you? I hope he didn’t get you in trouble or anything.” You asked as you laced your hand with Steve while the other went to hold onto his arm, squeezing it slightly as you got closer to the machines and your stomach growing heavy again.

“Oh him, he didn’t do much, just tried scaring me when he though I was some creep chasing you.” He chuckled at the short story, glancing over to you as you took in the carnival for really the first time, looking for something that didn’t freak you out. “How about we start with those spinning pods over there? All they do is spin around and if you want it to, we can make it spin on the inside too.”

Following his finger, you saw what he was referring to as it did spin around, the four small egg things with windows in them were spinning on the main machinery but also appeared to be spinning on their own. As you got closer and apparently joined the line, you could see inside one of them a group of middle school boys cackling as they pulled on the weird center disk that kinda looked like a pizza pan. “Yeah, we can give it a try.” The shakiness in your voice had come back and your grip on Steve tightened.

“Hey, you got this I’ll be right here with ya.” He returned the squeeze to your hand and fishes through his pocket for two tickets to hand over at the entrance. “Up ya go.” He mutters as he helps you up the three stairs leading into the egg ride thing you were entering before he stepped in behind you and took his place next to you. You were already holding a death grip on the center console when the door was shut, and Steve sat next to you. “You know what this is?” He asked gesturing to the disk you were holding onto with the vice grip.

“Something for me to hold onto?” You shocked yourself with how violently your voice was shaking as you heard something start to rumble around you. “Oh, shit its moving.” Steve let a quick chuckle out before he stopped himself and tried explaining the center console would cause the pod thing to spin. “Fuck no! Don’t you dare make this thing spin.” Bloody murder was not even near definitive enough of how much you were screaming.

“Babe, babe calm down, it’s fine! I promise, ha!” In comparison to your screaming, Steve seemed to be having the time of his life as he laughed; at least he wasn’t making the ride spin. “Babe, babe, babe, I’m so sorry I’m laughing, I promise I didn’t mean to, but you were screaming so much! And it was hilarious!” Steve held onto his sides as he nearly fell out of the pod and waited for you to follow his laughing self. When you didn’t step out, he turned back around and saw you still had your hands clenched very tightly to the metal plate, your eyes wide and your lips pursed together. “Sweetheart, I didn’t mean to make you feel bad about the rides, do you wanna go home?”

Hearing him soften up got you to finally look at him and slowly let go of the wheel. “N-n-no. I’m…” You paused to catch your breath and steady your voice. “I’m good, I just don’t know if I can do any more of these kinds of things.” Taking his hand, you pulled yourself up and stepped out from the ride and have yourself a few seconds to remember how to use your legs.

“You okay?” You nodded at him and gave a shaky, but okay smile. “You sure you wanna do another one? Cause we can go-”

“No, no, I can do…” The carnival really did have more rides than just ones that wanted to make you die, but none that really made you want to jump on them. “Can we do the carousel? I know I can do that one at least, my mom took me on them enough as a kid to be desensitized to those ones.” Steve looked over and saw the carousel that was filled predominately by smaller children, but if you wanted to do this and it was because he bought the tickets, he couldn’t make her do something else.

“If that’s what you wanna do, then we can do the carousel all night long, babe.” You nodded at him and followed him as he took your hand and the two began the walk to the carousel.

The carousel ride was much less curse filled, thankfully. You and Steve had found a pair of horses sitting side by side and the two of you quickly claimed them. Like you had said, you did get to enjoy this ride due to having done it before and you were able to just chat between the two of you, talking about how the kids were cute, how excited you were to take the kids to the park and not have to rides. It was a fine ride, definitely better than the last one.

“You ready to go home, babe?” Steve turned to you with a smile on his face. Getting you to ride two of the rides was honestly enough for him, plus, he knew Dustin would ride all of them with him later, with you waiting at the end for him.

You were about to agree and leave this eventful evening behind you, but you saw what Steve was standing near and bit your lip. Should you do it? Could you do it? “Actually, I wanna do one more.” He gave a quick quirk of his head before he followed your eyeline and turned around.

“What? Babe, we don’t have to do that, you have been through enough today and you were great, you don’t have to prove anything.”

“But...you have been wanting to do it, you told me about it one time.” You responded a little shyly as you confessed that you were doing it back of what he told you that one time. “I just...I really want you to be able to do it.”

“You...you remembered?” Steve was kind of shocked that you remembered him mentioning it, he had told that to girls in the past, but none of them really went out of their way to think about it, hell, even to remember it. “Are you su-”

“Steve, yes, I wanna do it with you.” The grin on his face was immaculate and contagious as one grew on your face as he quickly took this well and pulled you towards the line to the Ferris Wheel and dug around in his pockets for another round of tickets.

As it went around, you felt your stomach grow heavy again when you finally saw how high it got and had to calm yourself down without causing another scene. “Come on, babe, looks like ours is up.” He gently tugged on your hand and pulled you into the seat next to him before the handlebar was lowered and locked in front of you. “And here we go!”

The squeak that left your mouth was nothing but surprise and terror as you clung onto the bar for your life, your knuckles turning white with the sheer force you were holding on. “It’s really stupid you know that the only thing holding us back from falling to our death is this small bar and it’s really stupid because was if I was reall-holy shit this is really tall!” You finally removed your hands from the bar and moved to press yourself in Steve.

You could feel him trying to stop himself from giggling as he moved his arm to wrap it around you. “You can laugh you know; I really don’t care. I’m the coward of an almost twenty-year-old who’s scared of a carnival.” A chuckle did come through as the ride kept rotating and you slowly moved closer to the bottom.

“I’m not laughing at you, babe, but the noises you are making are fricking hilarious.” His voice still held the chuckle as he pressed a kiss to the side of your head, and you responded with another squeak of shock as you started rising again.

Making it to the top again, you were waiting for it to hit its peak and for the relief of lowering the cart to begin, but instead there was a shudder before the ride stopped. “What’s going on, what’s going on, why are we stopped? Oh god we are about to die, fuck, shit, I don’t wanna die.”

“Babe, calm down, someone below us is getting off so they had to stop the ride for a bit. Remember when we had to get on? Same thing probably happened to someone else.” You nodded your head and just stared ahead to the tops of the trees you never thought you would have seen.

“It’s...it’s not too bad up here.” You finally mutter after a few beats of silence and getting your bearings. “I wouldn’t want to stay up here, but it does look nice.” Steve hummed in agreement and pulled you a little closer. “Hey Stevie?”

“Hmm?” He responded looking down at you.

“Thanks, tonight was fun.”

His face broke out into a grin again at your thanks. “Of course, thanks for giving a few of these rides a chance.” Smiling up at him, you sat a little straighter and caught his lips with your own, the two of you humming to the other that you were happy with your evening.

Though it was not as long as Steve would have wanted to stay in that moment with you (the ride started again and you broke away with another shriek), but he wouldn’t have traded that moment for anything else in his life.

[tetsvya]

❛ scaredy cat! ❜

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷   tendou drags you to a haunted house along with the rest of the shiratorizawa volleyball club, “forgetting” just how much of a scaredy-cat you could be!

➼ pairing! shiratorizawa vbc x manager!reader, a smidge of ushijima x reader bc i simply can't hold myself back when it comes to that man

➼ warnings! cursing, spooky houses, reader gets really freaked out, mention of fake blood

➼ type! humor, a little fluff and a little spooky, reader is in their third year, takes place in october

➼ author’s note! 2/3 of my halloween fics. please keep in mind that this is the first time i’m posting on here and first time i’m writing for hq, so i apologize beforehand if there are any mistakes or the characters seem ooc. anyways, happy halloween! have fun and stay safe. enjoy this little treat! <3

"Isn't this so exciting!" Tendou squeals in delight, and you immediately want to shake your head in response, because no, this was quite far from exciting. Coach had finally given you guys a very much needed day off, and while you had wanted nothing more than to curl up in your bed and watch Halloween movies all day, your oh so lovely friend had other plans.

Only a mere hour ago, halfway through your second film, Tendou had barged right into your dorm room, and quite literally pulled you out of bed before shoving you into your closet, holding it closed until you agreed to go with them. He refused to tell you who them was or where you guys were meant to be going, insisting that it was a surprise. And after ten minutes of arguing with the boy through the wooden door separating the two of you, you were rendered with no choice but to give in, agreeing to go. Tendou had released you with a victorious smile, but it was wiped away when you had tackled him as soon as his face came into view.

Alas, that's how you found yourself standing with the starting lineup of the Shiratorizawa Volleyball team, in front of a rickety old home that looked like it had been standing since the beginning of time. To make matters worse, it was covered in spooky decorations inside and out, and it was crawling with actors from the community theatre dressed up as all sorts of scary beings.

No, you thought once more, this was far from exciting.

But the lack of disagreement from the rest of the team had you keeping your mouth sealed shut. You'd be damned if you let them know just how terrified you actually were. They'd never let you live it down.

Your fingers twitched at your side, however, and you clamped down on your bottom lip as that unwelcome feeling of uneasiness began to fester in your tummy. Frowning, you found yourself really wishing you were back in your dorm room, where it was safe and warm. Semi, who had been standing beside you, glanced at you from the corner of his eye, taking note of your tense form.

"Are you all right, Y/N?" All eyes turned to you at the boy's words, and you mentally cursed at yourself for being such an open book.

"Yeah,” You forced a smile, nodding as you tried to reassure not only them, but yourself as well, "Just not the biggest fan of haunted houses."

"Don't worry, Y/N!" The only first year of the group chirped, bringing all eyes to him. Goshiki smiled reassuringly, chest puffing out as he held his thumbs up, "I'll protect you!”

You couldn't help the way your lips curled up in endearment as you stared at the younger boy, "Thank you, Goshiki."

It seems you had given the boy your gratitude far too early. The moment the group of you had stepped through the threshold of the home, which was so dark you could hardly even see the back of the person in front of you, an actor dressed as a bloody doll popped up in front of you guys, effectively stealing a squeal of fright from both you and Goshiki, who clutched tightly onto the person beside him, which just so happened to be Shirabu. The second-year scoffed, prying the younger boy's fingers off of him before muttering something to himself. Goshiki shot him a look of utter betrayal, and while the youngest of the group had been occupied, another actor dressed as a freaky clown took it upon them to creep up behind the boy. Another yelp of surprise slipped past Goshiki's lips as he leapt away from them, holding onto Reon's arm this time around. Reon paid it no mind, only offering the boy a reassuring smile as he let him cling to him.

So much for your knight in shining armor, you thought to yourself, but you couldn't help the smile that made its way onto your face. However, it was very short-lived as another actor popped up out of nowhere, getting far too close to your face for your liking. You shrieked once again, stumbling back and bumping into Tendou. Said boy burst into a bout of laughter, throwing his arm over your shoulder, "My, my, y/n-chan! I forgot how much of a scaredy-cat you w—, ow!"

The boy howled, dramatic as always, as you jutted your elbow lightly into his side, pushing him away from you. You sent him a scathing glare before turning away from him, nose raised. Because you knew Tendou, and you knew that he most definitely did not forget how jumpy you could be. He had used that information against you ever since he had found out about it, which was back in your second year, when he had forced you and Ushijima to play some horror game with him.

Ignoring Tendou's "apologies," you jogged ahead, falling into step with Semi. Said boy glanced down at you, a teasing smile playing at his lips, "Scared?"

You huffed, avoiding his eyes as you turned your head away from him, your cheeks growing warm in the process. His laugh filled the air, and you felt him nudge you in the arm gently. You turned back to him, and he offered a small smile, "You can hold on to me if you get scared."

You smiled at him, "Thanks, Semi."

He only shrugged in response, and when an actor jumped out at you once more a few moments later, you had no problem taking him up on his proposition. He teased you every time you squeezed onto his arm tighter, but his presence did reassure you a little bit. The dark lights of the house made it hard to see clearly, so holding onto someone made you feel much better.

You guys continued to stumble through the old house, jumpscares at every turn, effectively spooking the lot of you again and again. The only one who had yet to be spooked in even the slightest was Ushijima. Albeit, it had been pretty hard to frighten Tendou as well, but when an actor had finally managed to catch him off guard, he let out a petrified shriek followed by a cackle of delight. He truly was something else.

Eventually, you guys came upon the hall of mirrors. Reluctantly, you let go of Semi's arm as the narrow space only allowed room for one person at a time. You and Semi were the last to enter, you trailing in after behind the boy. You held your hands out, feeling the space before you in fear of bumping straight into a mirror. You began to think that this part wasn't as bad as the rest of the house, as nothing had yet creeped out at you, but that thought was quickly diminished as soon as an actor popped out from seemingly nowhere, right in front of you. A yelp slipped past your lips and you stumbled back. The person crept closer to you, cackling as you shut your eyes in fear.

Oh, You were so going to murder Tendou.

After a few moments of silence, you slowly peeked an eye open, a sigh of relief slipping past your lips when you realized you were alone. Wait. Fear gripped at your heart once more as you realized that you were alone. Semi was no longer ahead of you, and no one else from the Volleyball Club was in sight. Your eyes widened and your breath hitched. This was not good. You rushed forward, hopelessly stumbling through the exhibit, bumping into a mirror every now and then. Nothing else popped out at you, but that didn't stop the rapid beating of your heart. You were absolutely terrified now that you no longer had the comforting presence of anyone besides you. Hell, you'd even choose to have Tendou with you if it meant that you didn't have to be by yourself. You had no luck in finding any of the boys, but you did eventually make your way out of the hall of mirrors. You found yourself back in a dark hall like the ones from before, and reached into your back pocket to pull out your phone.

You unlocked it with shaking hands, and quickly dialed Tendou's number, bringing the phone up to your ear as you huddled into a corner, eyes peeled for anything lurking in the dark.

"I'm sorry, but your connection isn't—" You pulled the phone away from your ear, nearly crying at the little "no service" written on the top corner of your screen. You shut your phone off, siding it back into your pocket. Heaving out a sigh, you shut your eyes momentarily.

Okay y/n, calm down. Breathe. Take a second. You coaxed yourself, trying to get yourself to relax. This went on for a minute or two, and when you felt like you could finally breathe again, you opened your eyes once more, releasing a breath. You swallowed the lump in your throat, relaxing your fingers from the curled up ball they were in previously. Okay, you can do this. You can find your way out.

You nodded to yourself, letting out another breath as you continued on. It went okay for a few minutes. No one else jumped out at you, and there were only a few scares here and there but nothing too bad. Once again, you spoke far too soon. Just as you turned a corner, an actor appeared right before you. A squeal slipped past your lips, and you stumbled back as the actor crept closer to you. You knew it was fake, but that did nothing to help calm your fear. They lunged at you, and another yelp slipped past your lips as you blindly took another step backward. Your back slammed into a hard surface this time. The surface was warm, and rose up and down steadily, and you realized with a sinking feeling that it was in fact not a wall, but a person. You tensed up, instantly fearing the worse. What if it was another creepy actor? You were afraid you'd faint if it was.

"Y/N," The deep voice that came from the person had some of the tension seeping from your body as a sigh slipped past your lips, "It's me."

You steeled your eyes shut, before slowly turning on your heel. When you were facing the person, you slowly peeked an eye open, before both of them flew open at the sight of the boy before you. You had known it was him just by his voice alone, but you had been silently praying that it hadn't been. But no, it was most definitely Ushijima who stared down at you with an impassive stare.

"I'm so sorry!" You all but shouted when you noticed just how close you were standing to the ace, scrambling away from him, only to jump forward once more when another actor inched closer to you. Could they not give you a second to breathe?

"There's no reason to be sorry" Ushijima stated simply, peering down at you.

Not wanting to embarrass yourself any further, you gave a stiff nod. You took a moment to survey the area, and it was then that you noticed the lack of the other boys, "Where's everyone else?

"We didn't realize you were missing until we made it to the end" Your lips turned down at his blunt words, wondering how they could have possibly gone all that time without noticing your absence. You've been alone for nearly twenty minutes now! Ushijima didn't seem to pick up on your sour mood, however, continuing on with his explanation of why it was only him that was standing before you, "The others were too scared to come back in, so I volunteered."

Your lips parted in disbelief at his words, your hands curling into fists at your side. What a bunch of as—

"Are you all right, Y/N?" Ushijima asked, and you caught the slightest shift of his eyebrow raising upward.

However, before you could even get the chance to respond and tell the boy how far from all right you were, another actor popped out from around the corner, screeching at the two of you. Your breath hitched, and you inched closer to Ushijima as the actor did the same to you.

Ushijima only blinked at the actor, before turning to glance back down at you. While he may not have been the most emotionally intelligent guy out there, it was quite clear to him that you were terrified. His lips turned down just the slightest, and he called out your name. You peeled your eyes away from the creepy doll-like figure, wide eyes landing on Ushijima, "Are you ready to go on?"

You nodded frantically, wanting nothing more than to be out of this terrifying house. The boy took the first step forward, and you followed timidly, wide eyes scanning the area for anything creeping in the dark. Ushijima expertly weaved his way through the home, seemingly relaxed as ever as he didn't so much as even flinch when something popped out at the two of you. You, however, were practically shaking as you subconsciously inched closer and closer to the boy. While you guys didn't speak with one another, Ushijima always a man of few words, his presence was enough to soothe your nerves, even if it was just by a little bit.

It didn't take long for Ushijima to notice the gap between the two of you gradually growing smaller and smaller. The boy may not have been the best at picking up social clues, but after knowing you for as long as he did, he could practically read you like an open book. He knew your close proximity to him wasn't exactly intentional, it just happened with how many times you took instinctive steps closer to him out of fear. He wanted to help you, but he didn't really know how. He thought back and recalled the way that you had clung onto Semi before.

He called your name suddenly, and you were once again looking up at him with wide eyes. He came to a stop, prompting you to do the same before he held his arm out to you. You blinked at the outstretched limb before meeting his eyes once more, tilting your head to the side in confusion, "I'm not sure I understand. Did you hurt your arm?"

"No" He responded, thrusting his arm out a little more, "You're scared, are you not?"

You felt your cheeks heat up in embarrassment as you awkwardly scratched at the back of your neck, "Is it that obvious?"

"Yes," He answered bluntly, before gesturing to his arm once more, "You can hold onto my arm if you'd like."

Your eyes grew even wider at that, lips parting in shock as you stared at the ace. You blinked at him, and when you went to reply, you found yourself stumbling over your words, "I—, you—, w—"

"You do not have to, if you do not want t—"

"No!" You all but shouted, mentally cringing as you caught the subtle way Ushijima’s eyes widened just the slightest. Coughing to recollect yourself, you offered Ushijima a soft smile as you gently wrapped your fingers around the soft fabric of his Shiratorizowa sports jacket, "Thank you, Wakatoshi-Kun."

"There's no need to thank me" He answered curtly, quickly glancing away so you wouldn't see the slightest tint of red that began to coat his cheeks, "Let's go, the others must be getting tired of waiting."

You nodded, even though he couldn't exactly see it, before taking a step closer to him. The two of you began to walk once more, but now that you were clinging onto Ushijima's arm, you felt much safer. You still flinched every now and then, your grip on Ushijima's arm turning a little tighter each time something jumped out of you before softening once more but unlike Semi, Ushijima said nothing about it. Eventually, you caught sight of the light at the end of the tunnel, quite literally. Your eyes widened in relief as you caught sight of the exit, speeding up as you practically dragged Ushijima alongside you. A weight was lifted off your shoulders as soon as you stepped out of the home. Your eyes quickly landed on your group of boys standing a few feet away, seemingly waiting for the two of you, and you hastily began to make your way over to them.

"Wakatoshi-Kun!" Tendou gasped when he caught sight of the two of you approaching the small group. Whatever he had planned to say before was thrown out of the window when he caught sight of the hold you still had on the captain, a teasing smirk pulling up the corner of his lips as he looked at his best friend, "You sly dog! No wonder you volunteered to go save our sweet manager-chan!"

"I don't understand what you mean" Ushijima spoke, the slightest furrow of his brows displaying his confusion.

"Well, you obviously—, yeow!" The boy yelped as you slapped his arm, narrowing his eyes at you as he pouted, "Why are you so rough with me, y/n-chan!"

Your eyes hardened at his words, and you went to raise your hand once more, but the boy let out a yelp, scampering behind Semi. He clutched onto the boy's shoulders, peeking his head out from behind him, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Just stop hitting me!"

You huffed in response, turning away from him as you crossed your arms. Sensing your unhappy mood, Reon took a timid step towards you, "Are you all right, Y/N?"

"No, I'm not!" You answered, lips turning down into a pout as you turned to face the boys once more, "I can't believe you guys didn't even realize that I was missing for nearly twenty minutes, and when you guys finally did realize, only Ushijima went back in to find me!"

Said boy stood silently beside you, peering at the others. Both Reon and Semi frowned at you, guilt eating away at them. Goshiki looked to be close to tears, as he had wanted to go back in and look for you, but he himself was too scared to do so. Yamagata stood to the right of him, gently patting the younger boy's back while outwardly avoiding your gaze. Hell, even Kawanishi and Shirabu looked sorry. They had all witnessed how scared you had been even when you were surrounded by all of them, so they could only imagine how terrified you must have felt while you were on your own.

"We're sorry" The boys spoke simultaneously, a sheepish smile on their faces as they looked at you.

You sighed heavily, dropping your crossed arms as you waved your hand through the air, a look of indifference replacing your previous pout. You could never stay mad at the boys for long, "It's alright. But I do expect you guys to make it up to me."

So when you found yourself in a little cafe not too far from the haunted house, a warm mug of hot chocolate cradled in your hands, topped with whipped cream and a platter of cute pumpkin-shaped cookies sitting before you, courtesy of your favorite boys, the animated voices of the team filling up the tiny booth you guys were crammed in and Ushijima's warmth from where he sat beside you bathing you in serenity, you couldn't find it in you to be mad at Tendou for crashing your plans any longer. Because while you could have movie marathons whenever you pleased, your time to make memories with your favorite people was slowly running out, and you'd rather take every opportunity you could to be with them than regret not doing so later on down the road. So yes, you supposed that today had been exciting, and while you would never admit it to Tendou, it was a day you'd never forget.

other halloween fics:

pumpkin guts war - karasuno

what’s new, scooby doo? - aoba johsai

[queenofspades20]

Dog walk

Synopsis: Just a little something inspired by my dog's antics today. Didn't meet anyone out of it (sadly), but was pretty funny. I'm sure I looked ridiculous. Could be seen as an AU or not (no mention of missions or anything).

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

Word Count: 1.6k

Warnings: some curse words, mostly just fluff.

Y/n ran into the door after getting home from work. She saw her sweet dog on the couch.

“Hi, Baby! I missed you so much today,” she said, as she walked over to pet him. Loki twitched his tail and adjusted his body, letting her know that he was excited she was home, but, as per usual, refused to get up.

Y/n sat next to him, petting his ears. She leaned down and kissed the top of his fluffy head. After a couple minutes of giving Loki some attention, Y/n got up.

“Okay, Bubba. I’m gonna change real quick and then we’ll go for a walk.”

Loki looked at her with interest at the “w” word, but didn’t move. Y/n went into her bedroom and changed into some workout capris and a tank top. She made her way back to the front door, where Loki’s harness and leash were hanging.

“Come on, Bear. Let’s go for a walk.”

Loki huffed and moved so his front paws were on the floor, while his hind legs were still on the couch and he stretched.

“Oh, good stretch. Come on, now. Let’s go.”

Loki’s back legs hopped off the couch and he sauntered over to where Y/n was standing. He allowed her to put on his harness, staying still. Once it was clipped into place, Y/n grabbed the dog bag dispenser and keys from their hook and led Loki out the door.

The walk went as it went every day. Loki sniffed and did his business, taking his time. They made their way around their neighborhood, Loki stopping frequently to smell each blade of grass. When they got halfway around the neighborhood, Loki decided he no longer wanted to walk and sat down.

“Okay then,” Y/n said, looking at her dog. This was a regular occurrence during their walks. Luckily, she wasn’t in a rush to get anywhere, so she decided to sit down next to him.

Loki immediately got excited and started sniffing her hair, trying to take a bite.

Y/n couldn’t contain her laughter as Loki then started to rub his body on her back, like a cat would. Luckily, this was not the first time Loki decided to show affection, so she was able to brace her body as he threw his against her body.

“Silly boy. What are you doing? Are you looking for butt scritches?” As she said this, Loki moved his butt towards her face, demanding pets. His tail hit her in the face. She moved her head, laughing. Y/n reached over and started rubbing his back. Loki started dancing from side to side, just lifting his back legs, enjoying the attention.

Bucky and Sam were walking around a neighborhood, where Bucky was thinking about buying. He wanted a change from the dark apartment he had been living in.

“What do you think, Buck?” Sam asked, looking around.

“It’s quiet around here, but not bad. I like it.”

They had just looked at one of the places for sale. It was just perfect for a single person. The price was pretty reasonable and it was in an area where there were plenty of restaurants and things to do nearby.

“I think you should get it if you like it. The realtor said they’re pet friendly, too, so you can think about getting something.”

“What would I get?”

Sam looked over and saw a woman with her dog. They were practically wrestling, though the dog was clearly in the lead. “A dog would be good.”

“Dogs are scared of me.” Bucky hadn’t noticed the woman yet, engrossed in looking at the details the realtor had provided.

“I doubt that.”

“A dog would never want to get near me.”

Sam tapped Bucky on the shoulder and pointed to the woman and the dog. “I bet that dog would.”

Bucky saw the pair playing. He smiled at the sight before him. “Yeah right. I’m sure that dog would attack me before I got too close to its owner.”

“Dinner says the dog wouldn’t attack.”

“Fine. I’ll go.” Bucky grumbled. He was sure the dog wouldn’t let him near the dog or its owner.

As he made his way over, he was struck by how pretty the owner was. Probably married, he thought to himself. When he was about 20 feet away, he made himself known.

While he expected the dog to jump in front of its owner, not what actually happened. The dog jumped and tried to run away, pulling the woman back, almost causing her to fall flat.

“Loki! You scaredy cat!” Y/n yelled, laughing. She pulled him closer and rubbed the top of his head. “You’re fine, Bubba. He’s not even that close to us.”

Bucky felt horrible. “Are you okay?”

Y/n smiled at him. “Yeah. Not the first time he’s done that. He’s easily startled. Definitely not guard dog material. Is there something I can help you with? I’m assuming you wanted to speak with me.”

Bucky thought she had the kindest eyes he had ever seen. He felt himself flushing. “I was wondering if I could pet your dog.”

“Sure! Just walk a little slowly and it helps if you crouch down when you get closer. He’s not a fan of people bigger than him,” Y/n said with a laugh.

Bucky moved forward and did as she suggested. He crouched down. Once he did, the dog inched his way towards Bucky. Bucky held out his hand. “It’s okay, Buddy. I won’t hurt you.”

“Go ahead, Loki. Make a new friend. He just wants to pet you.”

Bucky kept his eyes on the dog. “Loki?”

The woman smiled at him. “He’s a bit chaotic and every once in a while, I’m convinced he’s dead set on world domination. Just gets that look in his eyes. Seemed to fit. That, and he actually answered to it. He wouldn’t answer to the name he came with.”

Bucky looked at the woman with a bit of confusion on his face.

“Shelter dog,” she clarified. “The shelter asked me if I was going to change his name. I told them I was thinking about it. And the woman doing the paperwork was just like, ‘good. Cuz he won’t answer to the one he has now.’ Kind of made up my mind for me,” Y/n said with a laugh. “I’m Y/n, by the way.”

Bucky smiled at Y/n. “I’m Bucky.”

“Nice to meet you, Bucky. Are you new to the neighborhood? Haven’t seen you around before.”

“Uh, I’m thinking about buying one of the units that’s for sale.”

“Well, it’s a great area. Not crazy expensive, plenty of things nearby, but also pretty quiet.”

“I was noticing that.”

There was a lull in the conversation, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Bucky kept petting Loki, when Loki moved around Bucky and started to sniff at his hair.

“What the . . .” Bucky started. He felt a cold nose on the back of his head. It wasn’t unpleasant, but was definitely a weird feeling.

“Um, so I think he’s going to scent mark you.”

Bucky looked terrified. “He’s going to what?” Bucky tried to turn around to face the dog, but the leash was preventing him from fully turning around.

“So, like when a cat rubs its body on your legs, Loki likes to rub his body on your back. He rarely does it. He must really like you.” Y/n looked surprised. She moved her hands down the leash and stood up, trying to pull Loki closer to her without it hurting Bucky or Loki.

Bucky felt a mass of weight move against his back. He caught himself before falling.

“Loki, stop,” Y/n said sternly. “Shit, I’m sorry.” She managed to get Loki to move further away from Bucky.

Bucky just laughed. “It’s okay. Not what I expected when I came over here. You said it’s cuz he likes me.”

“Well, he’s marking you as his.” Y/n moved to look at Bucky’s back and winced. “I’m sorry. Your back is now full of dog fur.” She made to brush some of it off.

“It’s fine.” Bucky felt a sudden surge of confidence. He had thought Y/n was pretty. “If you wanna make it up to me, you can let me take you to dinner one night, maybe show me around the area?”

Y/n looked surprised. She had never had someone come on to her like that before, but she couldn’t deny she was interested in the gorgeous brunette. “I can make it up to you by letting you take me out? Shouldn’t I be the one paying?”

“I’m old fashioned.” Bucky waived off her comment. “So, what do you say?”

Y/n smiled. “I’d like that. Let me give you my number and we can set up the details.”

Bucky unlocked his phone and held it out to Y/n. Y/n reached out and quickly put in her number, sending herself a text. She heard a R2-D2 beep, letting her know the text had gone through. She handed the phone back to Bucky, who saved her number.

“I sent myself a text, so I know not to ignore your call. I tend to not answer unknown calls.”

“Smart. Well, I’ll be seeing you soon then.” Bucky leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

“Bye, Bucky.” Y/n had a slightly dazed look in her eyes, surprised by Bucky’s kiss. She bit her bottom lip, trying to contain the giant smile she felt coming. “I look forward to hearing from you.”

Y/n turned away and led Loki on to walk more. Bucky made his way back over to Sam, who was smirking.

“So, where are you taking me to dinner?”

Bucky looked at Sam. “Normally, I’d have a comment, but as I got a date with a beautiful dame, I’m gonna let it go.”

Sam smiled victoriously. They made their way over to the car. “Let’s go to dinner and you can tell me about her.”

[kingreywrites]

Fearless

Fandom: Tangled

Word Count: 1792

Lance Strongbow Appreciation Week Day Two: Fears

Summary: Cassandra doesn't understand why Lance is so easily scared of the tiniest things. Lance doesn't believe Cassandra when she says she's fearless.

Note: this is my very first fic without Eugene or Rapunzel and it feels weird asfgdsdsg I just thought the parallels between Lance and Cass were interesting :’)

Read on ao3

Lance had always been a scaredy cat. He had been mocked for it a lot in his life but, honestly, he wasn't really ashamed of it. The world was full of things that could and would kill you if you didn’t pay attention, and Lance didn't want to mess with any of them. If that meant he overreacted from times to times, then so be it - he'd rather be ridiculous than dead. 

Cassandra was the one person who had the most trouble understanding that. She was kinda the one person who had the most trouble understanding him in general, at least within their group of friends, but she was never as annoyed with him as when he was screaming for something she thought was inconsequential. 

"Don't squish it!" she yelled from across the castle's hallway, putting the laundry she was carrying down to quickly get the spider currently terrorising Lance out of the way. 

"Please, please take it away," Lance squeaked, not able to contain another scream when the creature inched closer again. "Cass!" 

"Stop screaming I'm on it," she grumbled, gently opening her hands for the spider. 

It took a few seconds, but it finally climbed on them, and Cassandra didn't lose any time opening a window and putting it down to safety. Lance was still vaguely moaning at the sight, and only allowed himself to take a breath when the window was closed again. Spiders, he thought with a shiver. 

"I could have handled it," he announced proudly, before her glare chilled him to his bones. "Or maybe- maybe not. Thank you Cass," he grinned awkwardly. Was his voice high-pitched? It sounded high-pitched. 

She exhaled loudly, still annoyed. "You know, you can't expect people to always be there for you each time you're face to face with a spider. What would you have done if I hadn't been there?" 

"Squish it?" A beat. "... Not squish it?" Another, longer beat. "What do you want from me Cassandra-" 

"Forget it," she sighed, straightening her handmaiden's dress. "You'll have to grow out of this soon enough." 

This time, it was his turn to frown. "Everyone has fears, Cassandra. Even adults, and it's nothing to be ashamed of." 

She threw him a doubtful glance. "I don't." 

"Sure you do. Everyone does." 

There was something in her eyes that he couldn't name. A shadow, that disappeared as soon as he got a glimpse of it. "Nah," she laughed, "I'm fearless."

He hadn't known what to make of that back then. Of course, he knew Cassandra was not as easily scared as he could be, but she… He was pretty sure everyone had fears. And he also knew how easily hiding these fears away could lead to reinforcing them, because they were allowed to grow little by little, until you couldn't stop them from rearing their ugly heads.

When Cassandra blew up at Rapunzel in the Great Tree, Lance thought this was it. The stress and the fears she had been keeping at bay until now were crashing down on her, and he could clearly see that she was as angry about Adira's plan as she was plainly scared - though of what, he wasn't exactly sure. It was fear for their lives, sure, but- something more was at stakes, and he had no idea what was going on in her head.

He cringed when Rapunzel shut her down harshly.

And then, he didn't have the time to think about it anymore - everything was going too fast, the Hector guy came back to attack them, then he came back again but this time… possessed? By the tree? And Lance would have freaked out about that if five minutes later he wasn't hanging upside-down with vines squeezing the life out of him, and- and Eugene was screaming. He seemed in way more pain than everyone else, as if whatever evil spirit was at work here knew it would get a raise out of Rapunzel. Lance had no idea what was happening, or why Rapunzel suddenly started to recite an incantation that seemed to make her deadly, but all he knew is that when they both fell, Eugene was in so much pain he lost consciousness.

And he was terrified, because two of his best friends were in danger, and he'd take a room full of his worst fears if that one - the one where he lost everyone he cared about again, the one where he was helpless to save anyone - didn't come true.

Everything ended well, somehow. Eugene was banged up, but alive; Rapunzel seemed to have been able to overcome the weird spell she had been using, and Cassandra was sullen, but alright too, and had apparently found the time to get a brand new outfit during this mess.

It was all that mattered, right?

But, once everything seemed settled, and they stopped again for the night, Lance couldn't get Cassandra's reaction out of his mind. He had never seen her as frazzled, as… scared, as she seemed to be back there. And as much as he liked to play his own fears for laughs, he knew how easy it was to lose yourself to them, to the paranoia and uncertainty that being terrified brought. He wanted to talk to her, but he didn't know how she would take his advice - despite the time spent together on the road, Lance felt like he still didn't know her that well.

When he saw her sneak away unnoticed while they were setting campement, he hesitated for a few minutes, before deciding to follow her. She had barely talked since they got out of the tree, hadn't even insulted Eugene once, and he could see that things were still tense between Rapunzel and her and he… He wanted to check on her.

"Cassandra?" he called when he was pretty sure he was about to see her - she hadn't hidden her traces, and he wanted to warn her that it was him, to avoid any sword related incident. She was always quick to take out intruders, their first meeting was certainly a testimony of it. "Hey, Cass-"

She was sitting down between trees, some parts of her armour discarded around her and her arm-

"What do you want," she bit out, not even looking at him as she tried to apply a bandage with her left hand. It was shaking.

"What- Jesus Cass what happened?" he breathed out, coming closer even though the sight of her burnt skin made him queasy. "Are you okay? Do you- Did you clean that? Wait, is it-"

"If you're here to ask questions then you should go," she laughed bitterly, before cursing when the bandages escaped her grip.

"Let me-"

"Go!" she yelled, finally turning towards him. Her eyes were wild and angry, and on any other occasion, she would have scared him away but… But this was different. So completely different. "I don't- I don't need your pity."

"I... alright, alright," he said, making his voice as calm and soothing as he could. He wanted to push, to understand how he could have missed this, but he could see that she wouldn't appreciate that. "I won't ask any question, alright? Just… Just let me help you bandage that?"

She stayed silent a few seconds, scanning his expression for… earnestness, he supposed. Then she nodded, and he took the last steps separating them, sitting down and picking up the gauze and roll of bandages from her.

From up close, the burn was even more horrifying. The blistered and blackened skin made his gut roll uneasily, and it took a lot out of him to keep his expression as neutral as he could, to be sure that Cassandra would let him help her. A life on the street had taught him a lot about taking care of wounds -you would not believe how accident prone Eugene had been at first- but he had never been faced with one as serious as that one.

Breathing in shakily, he applied the gauze lightly where it was possible, and started to wrap the bandages around it. Even with his two hands, it was a difficult job - he couldn't help but wonder what result Cassandra would have obtained by herself. He couldn't help but wonder if she would have hidden that away too, under her new suit of armour, and if he would have stayed clueless to it.

Her fingers were the hardest part. Lance acted as if he couldn't hear Cassandra's sharp intakes of breath, as if he couldn't see the lines of pain around her eyes as she tried to stay stoic.

"Cassandra… Are you okay?" he asked quietly once he was done.

She met his eyes, but her gaze seemed far away. "You said no question," she sighed, gathering the rest of her armour and standing up in one swift movement. She was already hiding her arm under it, and Lance felt like there was a weight lodged in his throat, making it even harder for him to try and find the words to talk to her.

She… She didn't need to answer. He could see she wasn't okay.

"What- You're not gonna train right now?" he said when she drew her sword out, testing its weight with her left arm.

"I need to be able to use a sword Lance."

"You-- What you need is rest, Cassandra!"

"Don't," she snapped, swirling around to point her weapon at him. "Don't tell me what to do."

Her sword was trembling. He didn't know if it was because she wasn't used to handling it with this hand, or if she was trembling herself.

"Cass-"

"What I need is to retrain my arm as fast as possible. What I need is to be able to fight if trouble finds us again, and I know it will. What I need is to be able to protect you, to protect everyone, because that's why I'm here in the first place, and I won't fail again," she growled through clenched teeth.

That was when he understood this fear that he hadn't been able to name until now. There, while Cassandra did her best to appear threatening, he saw that she was not, and had never been fearless. Because it was there that he truly looked at Cassandra, and saw a young woman desperate to prove herself and who, again and again, had been being denied the chance more and more violently. She turned her back on him, trying to end the discussion, and what he saw was someone... small. Terrified. More than he ever had been. 

And though he always thought he was a fearful person, it seemed that it was nothing compared to what Cassandra was hiding under her suit of armour.

[et-lesailes]

always hungry

pairing: dad!johnny storm x reader

word count: 2399

summary: despite having a baby boy together, you and johnny don’t have the most conventional relationship.

themes: family life, fluff, romance, smut, lactation kink

taglist: @evanstush, @tanyam93, @bval-1, @wonderwinchester, @patzammit, @rohaintahquil, @deidrashouseofpain, @sammyslonglostshoe, @jadedhillon, @bohemian-barbie, @whysparker, @sebastian-i-stan, @sebabestianstan101, @lille-kattunge, @teller258316, @peach-acid, @allsortsofinterests, @xoxabs88xox, @heyiamthatbitch, @cptn-sgrogers, @heyyouwiththeassbutt, @bangtan-serendipity, @troublermalik, @beardburnsupersoldiers, @hannie-stark, @bookish-shristi, @kind-sober-fullydressed, @whores4thor, @gingerninjaprincess16, @straightforwardly,  @denisemarieangelina,  @frencchfries, @xlanawriter, @littlemoistcarrot, @pottxrwolff, @arianatheangelworld, @ifuseekamyevans, @southerngracela​, @nsfwsebbie​, @rororo06​, @savemesteeb, @raveviolet, @inactivewhore

notes: sorry for the delay guys! hope you all enjoy :) graphic creds go to @thewritingdoll​ !

“So you guys are still… just friends.” Your best friend Madison looks at you with an arched brow, and you laugh as you take a sip of your drink. “Yup.” You affirm, and you see her exchange glances with your other friend, Leah. “Just friends… who have a baby together.” Madison states, the corner of her lips barely tugging upwards with amusement. You laugh again, making a face. “Can you stop? It just… it works for us, okay? Isn’t this better than him having left altogether and making me be a single mom? Besides, it’s more of an… open relationship kind of deal. I mean, he’s pretty sweet and lovey-dovey with me, you know? And we still sleep together. With protection.” You quickly add seeing the looks on your friends’ faces, though you can understand why they’re so skeptical and wary.

You and Johnny have never had a conventional relationship. You went from best friends to friends with benefits to admitting you had feelings for each other but also acknowledging neither of you were ready for a committed relationship. You had always been a bit too independent for your own good, and Johnny, well… he was Johnny. He was girl crazy, and he was too scared to be exclusive with only one- and you were absolutely fine with that.

And then he accidentally knocked you up. Finding out you were pregnant changed your entire life overnight. You had always wanted to be a mom, but you had never imagined it would happen like this. There was a lot of anxiety, tears, and heart-to-hearts with your best friends before you finally brought yourself to tell Johnny what had happened. At first, he was simply shocked. He told you he needed time to process, and you didn’t hear from him for about two weeks. It had been an awful time considering you were still stressing out about what to do with the pregnancy- when you assumed Johnny would simply never talk to you again, he suddenly came to your front door, telling you he was ready. He valued your friendship above anything else, and he was willing to take a part in the baby’s life if you were.

Now here you are, over a year later, proud mom to your baby boy Blaise Franklin Storm. Going through the pregnancy with Johnny by your side had its ups and downs, but it was actually quite shocking how supportive he was considering what an arrogant and sometimes juvenile playboy he could be. Now, the two of you practically act like a couple as it is, but it’s still not exclusive. Johnny’s free to do what he wants and you are as well, as long as both of you keep Blaise as priority- which isn’t difficult, considering the two of you are practically in love with him.

“An open relationship? Has he even slept with anyone recently?” Leah questions in amusement, crossing her arms. “Everytime you Snapchat or call us, Johnny’s there in the background. He’s practically attached to your hip, I’m surprised he’s not here right now.” You laugh softly, raising a brow. “Because he’s at home taking care of our son. You know, just a slightly important responsibility.” Madison scoffs, shaking her head to herself. “Are you really this blind, Y/N? This is Johnny we’re talking about. He wouldn’t have even known how to take care of a pet rock before Blaise came along, nor would he have even wanted to have one with a girl. Now he’s like, Dad of the Year. He obviously has feelings for you.” Leah immediately nods in agreement. “There’s no way he’d do something like this for just any friend of his. I see the way he looks at Blaise, and you, for that matter. He’s just lying to himself about his feelings.”

You want to brush off their ridiculous theories, but now that you think of it, he really hasn’t slept with another girl recently. Sure, he goes out partying and clubbing every now and then, but for the most part, he always comes back home to you after. Still, you shake your head as you finish your drink. “It’s fine, guys, really. I like the way our relationship is now. There’s no pressure, we’re good to each other, and we have the cutest baby in the world. Besides, both of us do better with the whole “no-strings-attached” thing, you know?” you said with a shrug, “So I want to keep it that way.”

“Um, I’m pretty sure your son is a pretty damn big string,” Madison replies, and you laugh, nudging her elbow. “You know what I meant! I mean the non-exclusive thing. Look, having a boyfriend isn’t my priority right now, and having a girlfriend isn’t his. We’re just… living. Raising a baby, having sex, you know… just… friend things.” You keep your face as straight as possible while your friends give you a look, before the three of you start cracking up. “Okay, okay, I know it’s weird.” You admit, “But I swear, it works. Just let it happen, alright?”

“Whatever you say, Y/N. As long as we get to be bridesmaids at the wedding,” Leah says with a playful smirk, and you roll your eyes. “Yeah, yeah.” You glance at the time on your phone, clucking your tongue. “Anyways, I should probably get going. Last time I came back home from dinner and drinks with you guys, I walked in on Johnny playing peekaboo with Blaise using my underwear.” Your friends laugh as you stand up and gather your things. “Bring Blaise out next time! I want to squish his chubby little cheeks!” Leah calls as you leave, and you giggle as you nod, calling back, “Will do! See ya later!”

_

You come home to find your toddler adorned in a complete outfit of bubble wrap and a slightly oversized helmet, sitting in the yard giggling obliviously as Johnny is constructing an entire obstacle course consisting of cardboard boxes, toddler slides, and pipes. “Johnny!” you immediately exclaim, rushing over and scooping up Blaise. “What the hell are you doing?!” Johnny blinks and frowns, standing up and coming over. “Aw c’mon babe, me and B-Man are just having a little fun. He’s gonna love it, and look, I even put him in a protective outfit and everything. He’s fiiiine!” 

Blaise looks up at you with a giggle as if in agreement and you sigh, though you can’t help but smile- he just looks so damn adorable with the helmet almost covering his eyes, his ridiculous bubble wrap outfit taking up an unnecessarily large space in your arms. “Johnny. He’s six months old. Can you please stick to normal games like peekaboo or something?” Despite your scolding words and look of exasperation, there’s still a fondness in your eyes as you glance at your partner. You know he’d never actually let Blaise come in harm’s way; you trust him entirely. Johnny grins as he wraps his arms around you from behind, kissing at your cheek all over. “Our kiddo deserves to have way more fun than that. He’s a daredevil just like his handsome daddy, I already know it.” He playfully thumps Blaise’s helmet lightly. “Isn’t that right my little mini-me?” You watch as Blaise squeals in hysterical laughter, flouncing around in your arms. You already know Johnny’s right- Blaise is proving to be a carbon cop of him more and more each day, and you’re only slightly terrified of that. 

“Okay. Anyways, I’m going to take my son inside and change him into normal clothes.” You reply, and Johnny scoffs playfully as he swats your ass on your way in. “Have it your way. You’re only going to make him grow up into a scaredy-cat.” You laugh in amusement as he follows you inside, arching an eyebrow. “I’m not sure if the two correlate, but okay.” 

After changing Blaise into a comfy sleep onesie, it’s feeding time before he most likely drifts off to sleep. Johnny stands at the doorway, watching you as you settle yourself in the rocking chair of the nursery, cradling Blaise and pulling down your shirt and bra allowing your little baby to latch onto your nipple and start feeding. His father can’t help but come closer, gazing down at his little boy with fond eyes as he reaches down to stroke his wisps of light brown hair. “Look at that babe. Gonna be as handsome as his damn father, that’s for sure.” He marvels, and you chuckle softly, your eyes filled with love as you stare at his chubby face. “Hopefully he doesn’t break as many hearts as his father does,” you murmur, and Johnny smirks as he leans down and kisses your cheek. “Never gonna break yours though, sweetheart, and that’s all that matters right?”

 It isn’t long before little Blaise is fast asleep, milk dribbling down his chin. You chuckle as you wipe it off carefully with a burp cloth, about to stand up, but Johnny extends his arms. “Let me, babe.” He gently takes the sleeping child from you and goes over to the crib, setting him down lightly. You smile to yourself remembering how long it had taken for him to get the hang of that-- Johnny Storm was generally anything but gentle. “Thanks,” you whisper as you get up and adjust your shirt, sighing softly in content as you peer over the crib. “Goodnight, sweet boy. Mommy loves you so much.”

“Daddy loves you even more. That’s why he’s going to make you the coolest baby on the block.” Johnny whispers right after, and you giggle softly as you smack his arm. “Okay, okay, c’mon. Let’s go to bed, I’m exhausted.” He scoffs as he walks alongside you, shaking his head. “Oh, no. You can’t be exhausted, because you’re forgetting something.” You blink, stepping into the bedroom and glancing up at him. “What? Did I leave something out in the kitchen?” You’re about to leave to go check but he rolls his eyes and grabs your arm. “No, no-- get back in here, woman.” He pulls you to him only to scoop you up, walking over to the bed and playfully throwing you onto it. “You forgot to feed your other man.”  His smirk is wide as he looks down at you, crawling over you as he nibbles on his lip. “And he’s really hungry right now, baby girl…”

You scoff in amusement though can’t deny you’re already feeling turned on, reaching up to run your fingers through his buzzed hair. “He’s always hungry.” You mutter in response, yet allow him to push your top and bra up. “The little guy better have saved some for me.” You exhale shakily as he leans in, tongue running over your already leaking nipple. His lips slowly wrap around it, sucking with a devilish gaze in his eyes as he peers up at you. “Mm… you are… so tasty baby girl,” he mumbles, greedy tongue swirling around your sensitive bud as he keeps lapping up your milk. You can’t help but moan, tilting your head back and letting out a sigh of content. When your breasts are practically full and sore, Johnny always helps you feel better and lighter- even if he has a tendency to get rough at times. 

Still, he helps you feel more confident about yourself- in the beginning, you had always been a little embarrassed about leaking and slightly shy of breastfeeding. The first time he had suggested tasting your milk, you thought the idea ridiculous and humiliating, but when you felt so heavy you could barely move one night, he convinced you. Ever since then, you couldn’t help but enjoy the feeling. You swear Johnny has a way of making anything feel good.

His large hand moves up, forefinger and thumb lightly pinching your other nipple and moving his mouth to catch the milk that sprays forth. “Mm… mmm…” he’s practically groaning to himself as he continues drinking, his other hand moving to rub your waist sensually enjoying the sounds of your whines and moans. “Johnny… o-oh…” 

When he’s finally had his fill, he pulls back and runs his tongue over his lips, giving you a mischievous grin as he smacks them loudly. “Have I mentioned that you’re the sexiest baby mama in the entire damn universe?” he murmurs, kissing and pecking at your breasts lovingly before fixing your bra and top again. You look down at him with a breathless smile, moving to playfully pull him down to lie beside you and cuddling close. “Can I talk to you about something?” you suddenly ask softly, remembering your conversation with Madison and Leah earlier in the evening. He looks down at you curiously, nodding as he gently plays with your hair. “Yeah, of course babe. What’s up?”

“Have you, uh, been seeing other girls lately?” you ask curiously, absentmindedly running your fingers over his chest. “It’s fine if you are, of course, I was just wondering…” He scoffs, relaxing one arm behind his head and using the other to hold you close. “Uh, yeah, obviously. Don’t you know who I am? Of course I’m seeing other girls, they’re all over me. Duh.” He scoffs a little too loudly and you blink before looking up at him with a lifted brow. He looks back down at you before finally clearing his throat sheepishly. “Okay, ah… maybe not so much these days. I mean, I dance with ‘em at clubs and stuff, you know, but…” he pauses and shrugs, eyes locking onto yours. “Guess I don’t really need to see girls anymore.” 

“Isn’t that… what you wanted?” you ask slightly confused, and he sighs as he pulls you into a hug, resting his head on top of yours. “That’s what I thought. And ya know, I still really do like going out and partying and doing my own thing- but I don’t want to be going off with some girl for the rest of the night, or having to keep in contact with her everyday. I just want to go home to you, and our son. That’s what I want at the end of the night more than anything else.”

You slowly smile, feeling almost euphoric. You tilt your head up and gently hold his face, kissing him softly. “Well that’s what you can have, babe. We’re all yours.”

[theravencawsatmidnight]

Curious Cat pt 6

Summary. Shigaraki , feared villain. Has been hit with a quirk that has turned him into a moody mouthy cat. Reader takes him home and he slowly comes around, sort of. But the quirk has worn off now. And after a little quickie hes gone back to the hideout full of regret.

Shigaraki stomped all the way back to the hideout with his arms folded tight over his chest. Nice job, idiot. She knows it's you. Great. You were supposed to scare her not hesitate like some scaredy cat. He looked over his shoulder,not seeing you. Well , it's not like she will follow me. Not into villain territory. Stupid human.

You had fallen to your knees outside once you lost him . People looked down at you, your coffee stained apron, your shocked face. That was Shigaraki, a villain. He had Tomu’s collar , but why? Would he know where Tomu is-?

“Y/n!!!” Shouted a voice along with a door slam.

You looked back to see your boss Looking angry. “Go home! You're done for the day! Im taking that cup out of your paycheck!” The door slammed again getting a wince out of you. A passerby offered to help you up but you pushed yourself up brushing off your apron. You needed answers.

Shigaraki kicked the hideout door open to see Toga ‘helping’ Kurogiri wipe down the bar. She was using her sleeve. Kurogiri was less than happy about it but he let her help anyway. The door slam got them both to look up . Toga waved and Kurogiri said ‘hello’ . Shigaraki sat down with a hard thud clicking his teeth.

“Did you?” Kurogiri asked softly.

“I gave her the stupid collar back and left.”

“Did you explain the situation?”

“No”

“Tomura Shigaraki!”

The Leader clicked his teeth spinning around to see the rest of the hideout. This dump is not homey at all. Humans home was much more- He blinked , squeezing his folded arms tight.

Toga tapped his back so he would look at her. “Tomura, what if she comes here?”

“Shes a stupid Human , she wont know where to look.”

“You better hope your right Tomura Shigaraki.”

“Tch.” The Leader slid off his chair walking to his room, he slammed the door and threw himself on his bed staring at the wall. Stupid bed. Not even comfortable. He grabbed the blanket pulling it over his head burying his face in his pillow.

The days went on, and you had been doing all kinds of research on Shigaraki . You always found the same information , crimes, murders, the League. You just wanted to know where the hideout was.. Maybe you should look yourself. And with that awful idea you got up putting your phone away and grabbed a bag stuffing your phone in it. You left your house calling a taxi and made your way to the other side of the city.

Shigaraki was playing his switch on the couch with Toga next to him, asking him all sorts of annoying questions about being a cat. Spinner was at the bar trying to figure out what his Leader would look like as a cat and Kirogiri was wiping down the bar.

“Did you eat cat food?” Asked the girl

“Do you wanna die?” He snapped at her but she just giggled leaning on him.

“Pleaseeee Tomuraaa. Its important. What did you do when she left for work? I bet you threw a fit.”

“Shut up.”

“You did didn't you!!! Kurogiri!! Even as a kitty he was fussy!!!”

“I believe it Himiko”

Shigaraki flinched at their laughter rolling his eyes.

The door opened and Dabi walked in with his hand over his mouth and a paper in his free hand. He strolled over to his Leader chuckling. Shigaraki looked up and Toga jumped up to see the paper. She let out the loudest squeal Shigaraki had ever heard, he winced. Dabi flipped the paper over leaning down laughing loud. “IS THAT YOU!!!?”

It was a Missing Cat flyer. With a picture of him looking VERY angry at his cat toys. When the fuck did Human take this?!?. Shigaraki got up grabbing the flyer from the laughing villain and Kurogiri rushed over to see it too.

Missing Cat.

Tomu

Light blue, shaggy hair on his head

Fussy but very loveable

A phone number and a home address.

Fucking Human! God dammit.. What the hell is this?!? . It was obvious that the cat was him, if villains found out you had contact with him, or the Pros..

“LOOK AT YOU HAHA!!!!!!” Dabi weezed, leaning on Toga who couldn't stop making annoying noises.

Spinner snuck over getting a peek and his eyes got wide. He looked at Shigaraki then the flyer a few times. Kurogiri was chuckling and Shigaraki was staring at the flyer, crinkling its side.

“TOMUUU!!!” Teased Dabi.

“So cute!!!” Toga added.

“SHUT U-“

A quiet knock filled everyone's ears. The door opened slowly and Shigaraki dusted the flyer.

••

The taxi brought you just outside the sketchy part of the city. You thanked the man and he shrugged turning around driving away. You squeezed your bag looking at the bunched together buildings. Some villains were making themselves known too, walking around the area eyeing you. You had found an image online that looked like an old bar, it was your only lead unless you asked the villains..

Cautiously you walked down the sidewalk trying to ignore the villains you passed.

“Whats a pretty thing like you doing here huh?”

“Never seen you before”

“Looking for someone?”

“It's not safe here for a pretty lady…”

Even though the villains never approached you, them following you , talking in your ear was terrifying. You came to a rather large fancy building stopping in front of it to look in the mirrors. The villains dispersed and the door clicked open. You looked up to see an old man smiling down at you, he had on a fancy suit and a cigarette in his mouth.

“Can i help you, little lady?”

“I mean no trouble.. i'm looking for Shigaraki.”

He raised an eyebrow at you, closing the door behind him with a small smirk on his face. “Allow me to take you.”

“Thank you! I ..”

“Giran, sweetie.”

••

On the way there you explained why you were looking for him and Giran could not help but chuckle. Oh this was grand he thought. He knew Shigaraki was missing for a while but he never expected him to be turned into a cat . Giran brought you to a building that matched your photo and held the door open for you following you inside. The closer you got to the second door the louder the laughing you heard got.

You looked back once you reached the door and Giran smiled at you, lighting a new cigarette with his gun. Very slowly you pushed the door open peaking in.

Everyone looked back at you and Giran peered in over you waving. “Hello hello, I brought a friend.” He teased pushing the door open. The flyer turned to dust and Shigaraki pushed Dabi and Toga outta the way, stomping over to you .

What the hell is this. What the hell is this?!? How did she find me? Giran? Fucking HELL.

“Giran.” He spat out.

Giran put his hand on your head smiling. “She just wants to talk Tomu.”

Your eyes got big and you grabbed Shigarakis wrist, scaring him . “Tomu!!! Its you isn't it? “

Shigaraki shook you off stepping back. “Get her out of here. I don't know this person.”

You whimpered and Kurogiri walked over holding his hand out to you. “Miss. Welcome. I have a couple questions for you.”

You nodded fast letting him lead you to the bar while Shigaraki gave Giran the worst death look . The old man shrugged smiling , the door closing behind him.

Toga grabbed your hand squealing asking a bunch of questions, beaming about how pretty you were. Dabi went over too leaning on the bar asking you all about his Leader. Kurogiri offered you water and shot his Leader a look till he stomped over sitting down next to you. Spinner walked into the room seeing you , he jumped back behind the wall watching.

“What the hell are you thinking?” Shigaraki asked you with annoyance in his voice . “Do you realize how dangerous it is to be here? The fact that you know me . Your so stupid. Inconsiderate Human. “

“Tomura Shigaraki!!!” Kurogiri enforced.

The Leader crossed his arms and Kurogiri turned his attention back to you . You were gripping your bag tight trying not to look at him. It was him, your cat. Your cat was a villain. Slowly you looked up at Kurogiri . “What.. did you want to ask?” . While you and Kurogiri chatted Shigaraki was left with his thoughts.

I cannot believe this. I should have dusted her when I had the chance. How is Human getting home huh? These fucking villains around here wont be nice to Human. Its late in the day , your suppose to be home watching that stupid tv show you love so much . Eating that cheap food .

He looked over at you , his fists tightening. You turned to him once you caught him staring. Slowly you reached into your bag pulling the collar out and an apron.

Human. I dont want that stupid collar. I hated that thing. What is that cloth? He snatched it looking it over. The apron? The apron I slept on? What the fuck am i go-

“Tomu.. I want you to have these..” you sniffled and his gaze shot right to your face. You had tears pooling in your eyes. “I want you to know.. finding you. Was the happiest I've been in a very long time. I don't understand what happened-“

“I changed back and I fucked you.” Be upset.

That night when it was hot as fuck in your dump of a home.” Get out of here

Kurogiri raised his voice startling you. “Tomura Shigaraki!!!” But he just ignored it

“The quirk wore off and I took advantage of your sutty body .” It's not safe here, you'll get hurt.

You retracted your arm looking down at the collar, your tears hitting it.

“That stupid collar. I hated it. And this.. apron?” He tossed it over the bar . “Stupid.” Why aren't you leaving? “You were so tight around me , squeezing me just right”

“TOMURA SHIGARAKI”

“SHUT UP KUROGIRI!!” Shigaraki kicked his chair away. “ITS NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. “ he turned his attention to you to see you wiping your eyes so you could see him. “Tomu.. you were so gentle with me… you even dressed me after….”

His heart nearly skipped a beat. Oh fuck.

••

@bat-eclecticwolfbouquet-love @babayaga67 @Unknownweeabo

[midas-or-khaos]

Wrong place, Wrong time. Part 1

God of war x borrower oc story

“-And remember, DON’T touch anything! Reavers aren’t exactly a clean bunch,” a gurgling followed. “Ugh, really bad at keeping anything clean in fact.” The poor man really could be a worry wart at times (and a clean freak as always).

“Sindri, I’ll be fine. I promise! Cross my heart and everything. The whetstone will probably be kept somewhere safe if it’s precious enough to be stolen, so it’ll hopefully be clean when I find it.”

“Oh. Well, I hadn’t thought of that. Just...stay safe ok? And don’t get caught!”

“I won’t, I never do. See you soon!”

Reluctantly the dwarf answered,“See you soon jojo.” But the poor dwarf’s knee couldn’t stop shaking, thinking about worst case scenarios. Jojo knew he’d just have to prove poor Sindri wrong once again. Maybe one of these days he’d actually learn there was no use worrying himself into a frenzy. Taking off, the 5 inch figure wasn’t stopped as he scurried along natural ledges in walls, and began his descent into the heart of the earth.

Jojo didn’t see what all the worry was for. One of the few perks of being a borrower was often big folk like Reavers or monsters were always too busy looking ahead for bean sized people, that they never looked far enough down to see him. He knew the dwarf didn’t like asking him for help, even though the boy often came to Sindri’s shop outside ‘Fafnir’s storeroom’ (or whatever he called it) asking for challenges and new borrowing spots.

Most borrowers would call it suicide to be talking to beans and other big folk, ESPECIALLY with all the new monsters that have started popping up recently. Hel walkers they’re called apparently. But Jojo wasn’t most. He’d sought out his favourite Dwarf and brother when his parents died drowning in the lake of nine when the waters suddenly flooded, leaving their 8 year old son to fend for himself. Not immediately, obviously. No, at that point he was still a weedy little scaredy cat himself, not able to be even in the same area when footstep started to shake the earth. It could only last so long though. He hadn’t been old enough to be taken out borrowing before being left alone, and supplies ran low quickly. So, spurt of the desperate, when he saw the two set up shop outside his home in the foothills, the child decided to stride right out into the open and ask for food.

4 years later and he still never regretted that decision. Still scrawny, “the side effect of being young” said Brok, but definitely more confident. Brok taught him a lot of that confidence (and a whole lot of swear words too, despite Sindri’s attempts to undo his brother’s work) and Sindri taught him kindness and generosity. The generosity was only spent on the brothers, because who else was he going to see? No borrower would trust another that hung around beans, and Sindri wouldn’t let him be found by anyone if he had anything to say about it, but kindness he tried to show all IF he could without getting sliced in half.

Gathering focus for the change in environment, the world became darker. White, natural light was flittering out, slowly being replaced by the ethereal glow of blue crystals bouncing off liquid smooth stone corridors leading into a fatal drop. An underground ravine. Nothing had shown its face yet, though the odd grunt of some undead beastie would make itself known now and then. Being so small meant there was no need to cross the water below, or find ways to get the chain ropes down so as to climb across. All he had to do was stick close to the roof where stalactites could be leapt between till he reached some valley in the wall to rest. Nothing too hard. Looking for the fist place to jump, a low hanging spine was just a couple of feet away (to Jojo); taking a leap of faith, the boy managed to snag the tail end. Right, next one. Leaping like a lemur the drop was easily avoided, and soon something came into view. Sunlight yellow was beginning to mix with the unnatural blue, and Jojo knew there was an opening into the outside world around the corner. Good, finally he would be able to see, though he would be easier to spot in the illumination of day.

Sindri

How had Brok convinced him to let Jojo go treasure hunting alone? So many traps, monsters, ancients even! “He’ll be fine” said Brok when the two had discussed it together during one of their rare ‘chats for important matters’. So nonchalantly Brok threw out, “Kid’s never been seen before, he ain’t gonna be now!” We’ll that was just testing fate wasn’t it! The rhythmic thumping of hammer to metal was doing nothing to take his mind off the matter, and a few too many near misses to his thumb told Sindri he wasn’t going to get any real work done at this rate. Perhaps he should have a break and go visit Ivaldi’s workshop?

“Hey Sindri!”

“Agh!!!!” Both hammer and work went flying overhead, just missing the flat of his skull. The lithe boy in question at least had the gall to go red, abashed as he walked over to the Dwarf’s workbench, scratching at the buzzed fuzz across the side his head.

“Sorry.”

“Well you should be! That could’ve hurt you OR me, and all the infections that could get in-”

“Boy, be careful.”

The source of the voice sat further back up the slate corridor, hidden in shadow, hawkish gold glowed beneath a heavy brow.

“Sorry father.” Atreus called back to the hidden figure.

With meaningful strides, the figure came into the light of day, bleach white skin, jet black beard and a crimson tattoo striped across an eye setting the figure apart as none other than his worst fear. Kratos. Why? Why were these two here?

“What brings you two to my place of work to scare me?”

Leaning on the edge of his (freshly cleaned) work bench, the spritely youth explained with excitement, “We’re gonna get that whetstone you wanted!”

Shit! He’d mentioned that to them, hadn’t he? Why had they come to fulfill that promise now, when they seemed so disinterest in before?

“O-o-ooooohhhhh yeahhhhhhh, THAT whetstone. Well...”

Atreus leaned in with a head tilt and a brow lifted, “...well? What’s wrong, did you find it already?”

“No-“

“-No? Then what’s the problem?”

“Speak clearly, we have come for the promise of improvements.” Straight to the point, both father and son were on edge now.

Damn it, he was digging a hole for himself again. Stupid mouth. Obviously, if the two of them went in those mines, there was a chance his kid would get spotted and wearing that rat skin outfit, either of the pair could mistake Jojo for an actual rat and hit him with something. Oooooo, that’s horrifying, don’t think about that! Ughhhh don’t vomit! Don’t-...But On the other hand, there was a chance that the father/son duo could clear the way and make it safer for his boy to get back. And more searching eyes makes for less work. Sindri would just have to encourage them not to be too... liberal with their killing.

“Yes the offer is still there, but you must heed this warning.”

“You mentioned no warning before, why?” The irritation lacing the bestial man’s tone didn’t keep itself hidden, growls billowing out that barrel chest. The dwarf didn’t shirk away like a turtle. Not at all.

“O-oh-well-I didn’t know before. Bbbbut I got new information...from Brok. He said not tooooooo... kill the ratssssss?”

The growls took a higher pitch.

“Errrrr, ok? Are the rats protected are something?” Quizzed Atreus, bringing the blacksmith off the subject of the terrifying god before him. A perfect excuse.

“YES! Yes, sorry, the rats are the protected subjects of Freya. Wouldn’t want to upset her right?!”

“Oh! Well, she never mentioned that when we met her.” These two met FREYA! Of course they had, who was he kidding, they’d met everyone and probably started a fight with them too.

“Must’ve slipped her mind, now hurry up! Don’t want any drauger or wolves to get their disgusting hands all over it! Otherwise it’ll be so dirty even I won’t be able to clean it!”

The excuse was enough. The two turned (but not before the kid’s enthusiastic good bye) and disappeared below the cramped passage into the inky black mines, their footsteps echoing out.

“Please let this be the right idea.” Huffed out Sindri with stale, held breath, shaking his head at his own recklessness.

Jojo

Making the last of his descent down the sheer cliff walls, vibrant green broke the dead stone and made life at the edge of the darkness. The sweet ache from overworked tendons and muscles began the slow process of slipping away, fresh air and bird song rejuvenating the boy’s ambition to find his prize, a grin pulling at bubbly cheeks. He was halfway now! Strolling through the ivy, form barely making a rustle, sunlight illuminated the boy’s way through the thickets. Brok mentioned that before he reached the main chamber where the actual traps and treasure was kept, there was a ‘small’ field for him to cross with bits of precious metals along the way. Jojo knew he’d need to make height soon in order to know where he was going, but this time it’d have to be calculated; all black stood out in all this greenery. Now where to go? Rocks. He could use the rocks as an outpost to look out: dark coloured, easy to climb and easy to blend into. Just a matter of reaching it. Strolling through the ivy, the speckled light beaming on the crumbled earth was just enough to guide the way forward, boots barely making a sound.

Squawk

Stopping dead, a cold trail prickled along his back. The boy made the slowest tilt back possible to peak throught the canopy, trying to avoid detection. Too late, looking with a ghostly green eye, a monsterous raven was stalking with keen interest, perched almost serenely upon it’s watch point. Ravens weren’t notorious borrower hunters, seeing people like him often as a chore to catch and consume. But rats...rats were their favourite.

And he was dressed as one.

Atreus

“Father, what do you think had Sindri so shook?”

“Anything, boy. The dwarf has a talent for fear.” No denying that, agreed the doe eyed boy. Sindri did fear just about everything.

Crouching did nothing for the chalk giant, disgruntled grunts sounding out amongst the overhead drips of droplets every time his bald head scraped the sandpaper rough ceiling. It’s one of the few examples in life that made Atreus happy to be short. Yowls were coming from further into the mineshaft, but drauger were a minor setback, easily dispatched.

“Be on your guard boy, we are nearing danger.”

Jojo

“Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck-“ How could one bird be more persistent then all the drauger in the world?

SSSSSQQQQUUUUUAAAAAARRRRRRRKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!

Too close! Every attack was only wearing the borrower down more; the saving grace from this endless stream of dive bombs was that in the bird’s haste, it made enough flapping to give its location away at all times, making it easier to dodge. But now Jojo was lost, lost and close to just falling down if his quaking limbs were anything to go by.

Atreus

“Well that was easy.”

A sagely look was drawn toward Atreus, not angry, but not impressed, “Easy because there are two of us, boy, but don’t let your guard down because you perceive an enemy as ‘easy’.”

Always one to lecture. “Yes sir.”

The cave entrance as coming into sight, stoic father and brash son walking side by side. With electrical arrows at the ready and frosty axe drawn the odd pair walked into daylight, sun illuminating the thick blood staining their skin and wares. Both were ready for any kind of battle ahead, be it fierce or simple.

Well, except for the kind of battle that they stumbled onto.

“Father? What’s wrong with that bird?” Quizzed Atreus, looking up, but Kratos was busy scanning the wooded field

“It hunts for prey boy, pay it no mind.” No beating around the bush.

“But it looks like one of Odin’s crows.”

The barely there expression of strained, chalk temples and widening, heavy set eyes might as well have been a scream.“Shoot it down.”

This rarity was not lost on the boy, heart pounding in response. If his ever-stoic dad was frightened, this was more of a danger than he had anticipated. Wasting no time, Atreus locked on as the bird went for another dive, and let loose a wizzing arrow. It fired true puncturing the breast and punching through to the other side with a resounding crack of the rib cage. The creature never hit its mark, breaking apart in a surprising burst of green flame, but never actually setting anything on fire. The witchcraft of Odin was strange indeed.

The boy couldn’t feel pleasure out of his elegant kill, still too shaken by what he’d seen. Atreus knew better than to ask his father what was wrong, the man would switch on him like a rabid dog driven mad by rabies if any fear was ever acknowledged.

“We go on, boy.”

Kratos took the lead, heading further uphill into the tree trunk horizon, sun spilling over the crest and illuminating some of the lower valley where the boy stood. Atreus made no move to follow. If he was to get answers, it would have to be now whilst his father charged on unaware. Tip toeing over to where the bird would have fallen, eyes trained on his father, the archer found his arrow wedged fast into the soft earth with wandering hands. Turning his gaze for just a moment to inspect his find, there were signs of burns, suggesting that the animal must’ve been made of pure magic; probably a spy of some kind if Odin had anything to do with it, the man was notoriously suspicious and crafty (even all seeing as his mother had mentioned) so would want to know at all times what was going on in midguard. Hold on... pulling the tip of the spear out, a rat skin sat pierced at the end. Weird thing was though, it was clean, even looking tanned on the inside like some kind of weird miniature hooded tunic! This wasn’t an animal the crow had caught and killed, but clearly was worn by the thing that the bird was after on the ground. Wait... Sindri mentioned not killing any rats, but this one was allowed to die and be made into clothes, meaning Freya wasn’t protecting the rats at all. Sindri was lying, he was protecting whoever wore this tunic-

“BOY! COME!”

Oops. He’d zoned out too long.

“Father, I think Sindri was lying!”

Footstep were coming down behind him in a charge. Curiosity wouldn’t let him leave, but flight was making his feet flitter and shake, ready to take off from the raging bull behind him.

“Did I just not tell you to follow?! The dwarf is of no concern-“ Fighting curiosity won over.

“DAD! Just. Look.”

Turning back and presenting the tunic to the man who’d finally reached him, the golden hue burned brightly with hatful embers down at the find. Just as quickly the gaze focused back on the child. He neither cared nor understood.

“It’s a tunic, made from the skin of a rat. Sindri said the rats here were under the protection of Freya, but if that were true, this one wouldn’t be dead and Odin’s ravens wouldn’t dare go after it. Sindri’s hiding something.”

[freshiegayboi]

Spooky Story Time!

okay so I don’t know if I’ve made it clear or not, but I’m kinda haunted lol not my house, not where I live (as far as I know), but me myself. and its okay if you don’t believe me! but here’s a fun story from a few weeks ago :D

Alright so a few weeks ago I was sleeping, and I woke up because I had to use the bathroom. I got up and went, and while I was up the little brother got up at the same time. I went back to bed, he came and talked to me for a minute, but left my door open. I went back to sleep, cause sometimes it gets hot in my bedroom so I try to leave the door open to get some airflow.

So give or take a few minutes up to an hour later, I wake up because my schnauzer, my precious scaredy cat baby, Poppy jumps into my bed and worms into my arms, terrified. I look up, and to my surprise, there’s someone standing in my bedroom doorway, the door halfway open and the hall light on.

The hall light is on, so I can’t see any features on what I first assumed was my little brother. I’m blinking to stay awake, comforting Poppy, and then I realize... its too tall to be my little brother. Its more like my dad’s height, more around 6 foot to my brother’s 5′6, and its sorta taking up the whole doorway.

I ask if its my dad, still completely half asleep, and it doesn’t answer. I just turn over, so tired I can’t keep my eyes open, assume its my dad not answering me and go back to sleep.

The next morning my door is closed, the hall light is off, and my dad has no idea what I’m talking about when I ask him if Poppy got out of the room the night before.

So that was fun!!!! (not lol)

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #216: “... To Avenge the Avengers!”

February, 1982

"Avenge us, Tigra! The Molecule Man must die!”

Eesh, the Avengers plus Silver Surfer have gone full Hamlet’s Dad on Tigra and she’s gonna cat Molecule Man and his plush himself to death. But he’s ready for it.

But why? Well...

Last time: Silver Surfer inadvertently gave Molecule Man the idea to eat Earth. The Avengers and the Surfer teamed up to stop him but he just Molecule Manned their sweet gear into nothing, captured them all, and then stomped them under a giant boot-o-matic crusher! Except Tigra who he kept around because he wanted someone to talk at and because Tigra had claimed that she liked him!

This time: “Tigra... the Last Avenger!”

Nice touch that the book name inside the book has been changed to match even if the cover hasn’t.

That is a tough hat to wear. Did you know its only been a little over a week since she joined the team?

And in that time she got thrown into space by an Elf-Queen, watched a founding Avenger have an emotional breakdown and try to kill his friends to make them like him again, had her soul set on fire, been repeatedly harassed in public, and watched the whole team be killed with her life only being spared because she begged for her life!

Is this the worst week and change in Avengers history? IT MIGHT WELL BE!

“She was spared. The fear of death has drained away now, leaving only emptiness behind. She has never felt so alone.”

This narration set in the same panel where Molecule Man is all but slapping the giant boot and going ‘this bad boy can crush so many fucking Avengers in it.’

Well really, its more like

Molecule Man: “Well, cat-lady, they’re dead! Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, and that Silver Surfer guy -- squished flat by my giant boot-o-matic crusher! You know, I made this thing out of molecules from a scrapyard! Yessir, I believe in recycling!”

But that’s about the same level of dissonance between jolly goofus villain rambling and hollow despair.

Anyway, Molecule Man calls her out on being such a bummer because she’s moping over there when he’s feeling good about killing the Avengers and really Tigra try to consider how he feels geez.

So she shakes off the despair and asks hey what exactly is Molecule Man going to do with her?

Tigra: “Am I going to be your mate or...”

Molecule Man: “What? Nah! I never got along with girls! I mean, you know... that way! Yessir, mom always warned me about... that! And she was right! You can be my friend! No! Make that -- my pet! Here, kitty, kitty!”

Wow.

That. That dodged a bullet in a cool Matrix bullet time way right into another bullet.

Let’s please not get too creepy with this, huh? You listening to me, comic published nearly forty years ago? Let’s not get creepy!

Molecule Man decides to be a responsible pet owner and feed his pet. He can control molecules so obviously it should be no trouble to just rearrange them into any configuration he--

Okay, its apparently really hard to make food! Way too complicated!

He’s going to be an irresponsible pet owner and not feed Tigra. And meanwhile he’s going to chow down on some undifferentiated mush or possibly a pile of dust. Its all molecules so its all the same to him.

Tigra didn’t even want food but asks him where the bathroom is.

Molecule Man: “Bathroom? Hmm... well, I really don’t understand how plumbing works, so I couldn’t make a bathroom! If you want, though, I could sort of fake it...”

Tigra: “No, I’ll be all right! i just feel a little sick...”

Molecule Man: “So go be sick for a while! I’ve got to get started on my little project anyway! If I’m going to eat this stupid planet -- I’ve got to prepare by clearing away all the living things from a few square miles of land.”

And he gets started! A giant ridge of land just peels up from the ground, like Molecule Man is skinning a fruit before eating. Also a volcano erupts. Pretty sure there weren’t any volcanoes in New Jersey before now.

Fairly sure.

Outside the dome, thankfully the army has been evacuating everyone in a fifty-mile radius or else a lot of people would be dead. VOLCANO.

Then the Fantastic Four arrive.

Yayyyyy! Oh whoa whoa, Fantastic Fourrr!

They’ve got the best Molecule Man mashing record so they’re here to do what they do do.

Which in this context is fail like champs.

Ben Grimm the Thing tries to shatter the dome with a punch and no dice. Then Human Torch cranks up to nova flame and applies the heat of a sun on one little spot on the dome.

Johnny about wears himself out doing it and still no result.

Guess Iron Man, Thor, and Silver Surfer > a pinpoint miniature sun.

Meanwhile inside, Molecule Man tells Tigra hey get a load of this. And then he levitates a couple billion gallons of water from the Delaware River and dumps it on the Fantastic Four, plus the army, washing them away.

Invisible Woman: “Reed, it -- it doesn’t seem possible!”

Mr. Fantastic: “Everything is made of molecules, Sue! Anything is possible for the Molecule Man!”

Molecule Man far too hax.

But meanwhile, gasp, the Avengers weren’t actually all killed in a book with their name on it! This is unprecedented!

And Silver Surfer is ready to explain their unlikely survival of giant crushing boot.

See, Silver Surfer wasn’t quite as knocked unconscious as the three Avengers so he played possum. When Molecule Man put the Avengers plus Silver Surfer in the crushing boot and when it was just about to crush, Silver Surfer used the Power Cosmic to disintegrate the bottom part of the boot so that the Avengers and him fell to a lower floor. Completely uncrushed!

So that’s good.

The bad is that Silver Surfer has to report that Tigra is still in Molecule Man’s clutches.

The awkward is that Iron Man and Thor lost their armor and hammer respectively so Cap is like ‘wait, what are Tony Stark and Perfectly Normal Dr. Donald Blake doing here??’

So Tony and Don come clean about his secret ID.

Tony Stark, Actually Iron Man: “I feel a little foolish about keeping that secret from you till now! I’m sure Don feels the same way...”

Donald Blake, Dr. Thor: “Right, Tony...”

So now Cap is in on the secret which previously bound Tony and Don together as the Best Friends Avengers Who Aren’t Beast and Wonder Man.

Remember when they discovered each other’s secret IDs? Good times. Well, weird times. That was the issue when that hates-robots group suicide bombed Vision for dating a meat woman.

Also, Tony was only wearing underwear under the Iron Man armor so Don gave him his suit jacket to wear as a loincloth. Mighty nice of him.

Silver Surfer has just been standing on the sides not caring about all this secret ID nonsense or personal drama so he chimes in to point out that Molecule Man is going to eat the planet unless they stop him.

Cap decides that he and the Surfer have to strike before Molecule Man realizes they’re alive. Tony and Don have the important mission to hide somewhere safe.

Tony and Don object to being sidelined. Strongly.

Tony: “You think Iron Man is just a suit of armor, Cap? Is that what you’re saying?”

Don: “I found this rod to use as a makeshift cane! It won’t change me into a thunder god, but it’ll help me get around -- if only to draw fire!”

Tony: “Like it or not, we’re with you!”

Don: “The Avengers stand assembled, Captain America! Now, lead us!”

Cap: “All right! I get the message! I should have known better than to think you’d -- I mean, you two are the best...”

Tony: “Save it, Cap! We’ve got work to do!”

Aww.

This is everything I could have hoped for out of secret ID reveal. Cap starts thinking of them as civilians now that they have real person names but ultimately it brings them closer as teammates.

I love it. Granted, I love it because my favorite form of Avengers is a group of friends and set of interpersonal dramas roughly shaped like a superhero team.

Later, in the nighttime and in the room that Molecule Man made for Tigra.

... Wow, Molecule Man.

Wow.

So we’ve got a giant cat shaped bed. A giant, terrifying cat head on the wall. And a giant ball of yarn. But not giant sized cat tree? Fie and shame.

Anyway, Tigra is sitting on bed lamenting and decrying the Fantastic Four’s failure. Especially as it pertains to her situation.

Tigra: “I -- I just can’t believe the Fantastic Four failed! How could they let me -- and the world down like that? How could they? Right now, Reed Richards is probably locked in his lab trying to invent a gizmo that’ll pierce the dome! Hmf! Who knows how long that might take? The Molecule Man plans to eat the Earth tomorrow morning!”

Nothing like a nice filling breakfast, I guess.

She grants that Reed doesn’t know there’s an everyone’s-deadline so instead Tigra bemoans that it’s all up to her.

Tigra: “I should have tried to jump him today! I can’t believe I didn’t! I was standing right next to him a couple of times! I’m cat-quick! Why didn’t I lunge at him and claw him to shreds before he could move? Could it be because my muscles felt like jelly -- ? I was trembling -- ? In shock -- ? Afraid of him? Hey, shouldn’t I be? I mean, I saw him crush my friends to a bloody smear! And I had a spooky feeling that he was somehow, secretly ready for an attack -- and hoping I’d give him an excuse to dice me into furry cubes!”

And because this is a Tigra character beat page, she also thinks about how easy the hero gig used to seem when it was for smaller stakes. But with the actual literal fate of the world at stake... “I never thought that when the big test came I’d be a scaredy cat!”

But she remembers what Cap said during the Ghost Rider story that its not wrong to be frightened if you don’t let fear dictate your actions.

So she creeps out into the night to Molecule Man’s bedroom.

Oh, that’s a neat touch.

Her shadow on the wall looks a lot like a tiger because her hair curls at the end like a tail.

Neat.

So anyway, she doesn’t understand how Molecule Man can be so confident that he’s just sleeping with his door wide open and with no defenses and wonders if there’s a trap or whether he’s just counting on her to think that there’s a trap.

She’s about five seconds from a full-blown I know you know that I know that you know episode.

The only way to find out is just go for it so she creeps into the room. The garish room.

This is even more wow than Tigra’s room.

But as she creeps into the room and up to the enormous, ridiculous bed, she realizes that she has to kill him. If she attacks and doesn’t kill him with the first strike, what he could do is too horrible for her to imagine.

But what she doesn’t realize is that Molecule Man isn’t sleeping soundly and isn’t unprepared. 

He’s stretched monomolecular filaments across the room, too thin for even Tigra to spot.

Now usually monomolecular filaments is one of those ‘oops I’ve been cut to pieces by invisible wires’ thing. You’ve probably seen it in a couple of anime. But this is more like a bunch of cans on a string.

Tigra breaks one of the filaments while she creeps forward. Something that she couldn’t possibly know but which instantly alerts him.

And his response is a “Oh, ho! Just wait’ll she tries it! This’ll be fun!”

Because Tigra’s instinct was correct. Molecule Man was keeping her around just to kill when she finally tried anything. Its been a game. See how far he can push Tigra and how messily he can deal with her when she loses.

This is pretty tense stuff! Well, it lasts a page so it doesn’t overfocus on this specific tense scenario but still!

Tigra: “I’m in range! All I’ve got to do is spring and... and kill him! He murdered my friends! He’s going to destroy the whole world! I’ve got to kill him! Come on, lady! Do it! What’s wrong? He deserves it! He’s a murderer -- ! A rotten little wimp! He calls you ‘kitty’! Kill him! I hate him! I hate him! but... i just can’t kill him!”

And apologizing to Cap for not being able to go through with it, she slinks out of the room trying to think of another way.

Inside the room, Molecule Man sits up disgruntled, just not understanding at all why she didn’t go through with it. There’s no way she could have known that he was ready for her so why wouldn’t she try to do a murder!

And then as Tigra is wishing she had someone to talk to, someone grabs her and pulls her around a corner.

Boom, a comedy after all that one page of tension.

And it’s Cap because there’s like four people it could have been.

Tigra is elated that the Cap is alive, that she’s not alone anymore! And she tries to confess that she attempted to kill Molecule Man to avenge the Avengers. That maybe she should have because now she might lose them again!

Tony: “You did fine, Tigra! Relax!”

But she doesn’t feel like she did fine so she tries to explain that she let the Avengers down by giving into cowardice. She told Molecule Man she liked him to stay alive.

Cap: “Good strategy, Tigra -- preserving your life so you’d be able to carry on the battle!”

She tries to explain it wasn’t strategy so much as being terrified but she gets distracted because she’s just realized that in this group of Cap and Silver Guy there’s two people she doesn’t know.

Cap: “Dr. Don Blake, who’s secretly Thor and Tony Stark who is Iron Man’s alter ego!”

Her mood immediately flips.

Tigra: “You guys are really Thor and Iron Man? Really? And it’s okay for me to know? Really?”

Tony Stark: “Why not? Somehow those secrets seem pretty trivial, what with the world on the verge of being the Molecule Man’s breakfast!”

He says that but he still looks pretty annoyed at Cap just blurting it out.

And geez, Cap, you gotta let people reveal their own secret identities. Or make up some dumb excuse that everyone instantly believes.

Its the done thing.

In terms of Avengers drama though this is pretty good. Thor, Cap, and Iron Man have been working together for a really long time. Even though Cap didn’t form the Avengers he’s basically been there so long they consider him an honorary founder.

Cap learning Iron Man and Thor’s secret identities can be a ‘we should have told you sooner!’ thing.

Tigra just joined the team! Like a week ago!

They need to work together now and there’s probably no smooth lie that could paper over where Iron Man and Thor went and why these two are here now but its probably still a little galling that Cap just blurts it out to the newest person on the team.

Its great. I’d love to see the repercussions of this.

Anyway, time is short so Tony gets to explaining the plan.

He found his broken armor and managed to scavenge enough bits and pieces to make a little device he’s calling a screamer. It’ll emit a high-pitched noise that should disorient Molecule Man.

And then the device just poofs into smoke in Tony’s hand.

Whoops, Molecule Man overheard their plan to beat up Molecule Man and also heard Tony call him names.

So he pulls together all the loose dust in the room and uses it to strangle Tony.

Wow, they’ve gone from having a “layered assault” to watching someone literally choke on Molecule Man’s dust. That’s got to be the quickest turnaround from hope to nope.

Tigra goes wild, rushing at Molecule Man and screaming that she shoulda killed him before and she’s damn well going to scratch his face off now!

But Molecule Man asks her to talk to the hand. Zing.

Puns.

Although “Don’t scream at me, Kitty! ‘Cause I’ll slap you down!”

Sure. That’s good wordplay too.

Having just been comedically (although seriously) WHAP!’d across the room, Tigra has her own words to say.

Tigra: “You -- you weak, slimy excuse for a human being! How could I have stooped so low as to humble myself to garbage like you? So you’ve got power! Big deal! You were a nerd before -- you’re still a nerd! You were a mistake! You shouldn’t even have been born! You crybaby! All you do is blame the world for your own inedequacy! Go on, kill me, nerd! I despise living in the same world with you!”

Wow. She really took all those personal details he shared and slapped him upside the head with them.

Goes to show. Don’t try to destroy the world. People will have rude things to say.

Meanwhile, Cap and Silver Surfer are trying to save Tony but can’t clear the super condense dust faster than Molecule Man gathers it.

Cap tells Tigra to get Molecule Man because that’s their only chance but Tigra is too hurt from being slapped by a giant hand.

Molecule Man: “I’ve got to hand it to you guys, it must’ve taken some doing to escape my crusher! This time, I’m going to make sure you’re dead! Hmm... someone’s missing! But who?”

And he’s done process of elimination and realized that the guy Thor turned into is missing and figures he ran away when Entirely Normal But Furious Dr. Donald Blake tells Molecule Man to grit his teeth.

And then Molecule Man runs off yelling because Dr. Donald Blake can throw down. He possibly broke Molecule Man’s nose with that one punch.

Good job, Dr. Donald Blake.

With Molecule Man not focusing on the dust thing, Tony is free of the dust thing but unconscious. Dr. Donald Blake tells the others that he’ll take care of Tony and that they should go chase Molecule Man since they can run better than he can.

So Cap, Tigra, and Silver Surfer go off in pursuit of Molecule Man.

Silver Surfer reminds that he can track Molecule Man’s unique energies. Cap helpfully points out that they can also just track the trail of blood drips from Molecule Man’s nose. And Tigra goes ‘also I can smell him’ because its good to have three different ways to find a guy.

They find him in some sort of throne room (curled up in pain on the throne) and charge at him. But he’s not in the mood for their shenanigans.

So he sends a tidal wave of molecules at them.

Cap shouts for Silver Surfer to do something and he does do something indeed.

The Surfer blasts the wave of matter with the power cosmic so hard that it transmutes into raw energy and just explodes through the top of the palace in a beautiful pyrotechnic display.

It also completely exhausts the Surfer and he just kind of plops down for a nap right there on the ground.

Cap tells Tigra to watch the Surfer and then goes to take the Molecule Man on alone.

This isn’t a great plan but also their already small roster has kind of dwindled to this point.

And maybe Cap sort of doesn’t want to throw Tigra at Molecule Man when she’s already been hurt and was voicing all those doubts earlier. Can’t say for sure. She’s about to offer for help but Cap is like ‘WHOOPS NOW OR NEVER!’

Molecule Man must be in a whimsical mood, I mean more so than usual have you seen what he’s been getting up to? Because he converts some of the furnishings into a bunch of stars to shoot at Cap.

Its funny because Cap wears a star. It’d be ironic if he got smacked in the face with one, probably.

But Molecule Man activated Cap’s speechifying and that buffs him because nobody likes hearing Cap talk about freedom and justice and doing right more than Cap probably.

What I’m saying is that he leaps and gambols between the stars and I feel its because he has Stuff To Say that he’s doing so well.

Cap: “You make me sick, mister! They say power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely,  and you’re living proof of it! You might kill me! After all, I’m just an ordinary man -- but men like me have always found a way to bring high-and-mighty tyrants like you to their knees! There’s never enough power to save madmen like you -- from ultimate, bitter defeat!”

WAK!

And perhaps it wasn’t just his agility that was improved by inspirational speeching himself. Because he knocks Molecule Man down with that one punch and he doesn’t get back up.

Or maybe Molecule Man just has a glass jaw.

Don Blake and Tony Stark show up and Silver Surfer wakes up but he runs in with the rest anyway for some reason. Tony tells Tigra to watch Molecule Man while he has an Important Debate with Cap.

See, Tony has realized something. Knocking down Molecule Man is just the first step. If Molecule Man gets back up, he might start eating the Earth again and the Avengers might not be able to stop him.

So he asks Don Blake if there’s a medical way to just sort of keep Molecule Man knocked out.

Don Blake: “How? We can’t just keep hitting him on the head -- this isn’t a T.V. show! I mean, how hard do you hit him? How many times can you do that before causing serious brain damage... or death?”

Realism? In a comic book? What are YOU doing here??

Anyway, Tony doesn’t see any other option but to kill Molecule Man.

Cap protests that Molecule Man is a human being with rights to due process and a trial by jury of his peers!

But Tony is convincing the others. As an Actual Doctor, Don Blake doesn’t like to hear this. He wants to save lives. But he can’t refute Tony.

And Silver Surfer also seems on Team Tony.

Silver Surfer: “I understand what it is to sacrifice one life so that a multitude, a world might live! It seems clear that this Molecule Man cannot be imprisoned or held in check! He... must die to save the Earth... though I could never bring myself to slay him!”

Don’t you have the power cosmic? Surely there’s a power cosmic option available?

To be fair though his the power cosmic might be exhausted at the moment.

Still. Geez, Silver Surfer. ‘He gotta die but 1-2-3-not-it’ is really how you’re playing this??

Meanwhile, Tigra has decided that being asked to watch Molecule Man implies a certain duty perhaps even responsibility to tell him how much he sucks. Which is a lot.

And recall that she’s already told him how much he sucks earlier in the fight. So she has found a second wind in telling him how much he sucks.

Tigra: “You little jerk! Don’t you see? Cap was wrong! Power very seldom corrupts! It usually doesn’t change anything! It just magnifies what’s already there, whether it’s good and noble or evil and petty!”

“You were a nerd before... now you’re a powerful nerd! Big deal! Dummy! The shame of it is that with your power you can build... you can contribute! You don’t have to be a loser anymore!”

“Why are you such a fool? Why can’t you see that killing a planetful of people doesn’t make you even -- it just make you lonelier than ever!”

Wow. It feels like Tigra could hypothetically be talking about all different kinds of entitled nerds who then become the jerks as adults!

Anyway.

Tony and Cap are still arguing.

Tony, at least, isn’t going to ask someone to do something he wouldn’t do himself. I.e., he’s going to kill Molecule Man himself and save four billion people.

Cap: “Tony... please! I can’t let you do this!”

Tony: “You can take me in for murder afterward, Cap, but for now, stand aside! I’m warning you...”

Cap: “You’ll have to go through me, Tony...”

You’re warning him, Tony? You don’t have armor. You don’t even have pants. What are you going to do to supersoldier Captain America?

Logic aside, what strikes me is how much this foreshadows.

Before Civil War contrived that superhero registration, the big hot button superhero debate issue is whether superheroes should kill in extreme circumstances.

Spoilers for the NINETIES but the Regular and West Coast Avengers will come to schism and Cap and Iron Man will basically break up over whether or not to kill the Kree Supreme Intelligence after it engineered a war that killed 90% of the Kree people on purpose.

Shooter is long gone by that point but I guess someone is going to pick up the thread.

Because the debate doesn’t get settled here or rather does, sorta, in favor of Cap but not in a way he expects.

Interrupting the sad fist fight between Cap and a nearly naked man, Molecule Man pops up and tells everyone that Tigra has convinced him to turn his life around.

Tigra: “Guys, Mr. Owen Reece and I have talked, and, well, I convinced him to give himself up!”

Mr. Owen Reece: “Yes, I want to start seeing a therapist!”

Cap: “huh?”

Mr. Owen Reece: “I know I’ll have to go to jail... but that’s okay! It’ll give me time to think things out! I’ll make an opening in the dome now so you can call the authorities!”

Don Blake: “s-sure!”

God, that is just great. I love this as a resolution so much. This is a resolution that Squirrel Girl would bring us, although we’d get more of the actual convincing.

Still very, very good. Good to be optimistic in comics sometimes. Sometimes villains can seek redemption if only a cat yells at them long enough.

Although I think the best part is how baffled everyone is by the plot twist.

So with but a “Soon...” caption, the police have come to pick up Mr. Owen Reece and brought Miss Hanrahan who is going to be his therapist.

Holy crap, a therapist in Marvel who isn’t Doc Sampson but will work with superpowered nonsense!

Can we bring Miss Hanrahan back??

A couple things I like here.

One is that Mr. Owen Reece has changed off-panel into a suit instead of his supervillain costume. Now that’s him making an honest effort.

Two is Very Annoyed Tony Stark in the back of the pack of Avengers. He’s wearing a handkerchief as a mask because someone might recognize him as Tony Stark and then wonder ‘hey why is Tony Stark here.’

Three is the proud smile from Tigra when seeing Mr. Owen Reece meet his therapist.

Melts my heart a little.

Before he goes away to jail, Mr. Owen Reece takes a quick sidebar with the Avengers.

He retroactively feels just awful about ruining their various gadgets so he decides to make right.

He reintegrates Mjolnir, Toomie the surfboard, and Cap’s shield exactly as they were. Original molecules and all! They were so weird that he remembered where they all went.

As for Iron Man’s Iron Man armor.... look, he did his best.

Mr. Owen Reece: “But your armor, with all those complicated electronic gadgets is just too tricky for me to reassemble! You needed something more proper to wear till you get home, though -- so I whipped up some red and gold cloth and made you an Iron Man leisure suit! I hope it’s okay!”

Amazing. Simply incredible.

Although I think my favorite part was Mr. Owen Reece realizing ‘hey Iron Man should be wearing pants!’

Anyway, he also takes apart his Molecule Man Doom Fortress and puts those molecules back where he found them. More or less. He tries.

And, yes, he does rebuild the entire town of Netcong, New Jersey. Except the plumbing.

In a funny call back to Reece admitting he doesn’t really understand plumbing, none of the plumbing in the rebuilt town works.

Later, back at Avengers Mansion, Silver Surfer is offered a spot on the team but turns it down.

FOR THE PATHS OF DESTINY DO BECKON HIM DOWN A LONELY ROAD THAT MUST BE TRAVELED ALONE

Its the only who he has ever known. Except for all the time he spend with Galactus. Or the Defenders. Or later on when he has a companion to take on space nonsense.

Tigra also takes this time to say farewell.

Tigra: “I’m just not in the same league as you guys! I mean, sure I’ve got lots of super-ability, and, usually, I'm even pretty heroic -- but not up to your standard! I mean two of you, without your powers, no less, really showed me what it’s all about back there! And let’s face it, you guys mess with some heavy-duty opposition! I think I’ll quit while I’m ahead!”

=C

Noooooooooo

But but but Tigraaa you were a source of joy and fuuuuuuuun

You only joined at the end of #211! It’s only been about a week in-universe!

Darn.

The three other Avengers all say their goodbyes.

Thor reminds her that she was the one who turned around Mr. Owen Reece but Tigra says she got lucky.

Iron Man gives her one of Tony Stark’s cards and tells her to call Tony Stark who is definitely not him anytime she needs anything.

Jarvis even tears up at her leaving, although he denies it because a good butler never dies on duty and then blames his allergies.

And then Tigra is off. Damn. If I didn’t know who might be joining the Avengers soon I’d be completely inconsolable instead of just very.

So now the Avengers are down to just three members. That’s not a team. That’s a crossover. Probably why Jarvis wonders if a membership drive is in order.

NEXT: The return of... Yellowjacket, the Wasp, and Egghead!

I’m game for Wasp coming back! Don’t think it likely that Yellowjacket is just going to come back to the team just like that! And Egghead? The villain who blew up a city with a killsat and killed Hawkeye’s brother? Unlikely recruit!

(No I know that’s not what the NEXT means)

Hey, follow @essential-avengers​ because the Hank Pym just keeps happening. Like and reblog too please. Be sad with me that Tigra is gone.

[pippytmi]

listen, i KNOW SC + “aren’t you a little old to be trick or treating?” is so deeply expectable of a choice but. that.

Every year Kara and her neighbors have a Halloween-off. Which, really, is not so much a “who can decorate the best” competition as much as it is a “how can we annoy stick-in-the-mud Cat Grant” competition.

This year Kara is sure she and Alex have the best house. Not only is it uber-scary, but they have the most intricate jack-o-lanterns on the block. Kara is particularly proud of the pumpkin sporting a whole dragon—Winn gave it a thumbs up when Kara texted him the picture. Winn does not partake in the Halloween festivities because he’s a scaredy-cat, but he is always their house’s #1 supporter.

Tonight Kara has prepared all the stops. They have two big bags of candy, candles that will last all night, and a realistic zombie animatronic that crawls two feet (Brainy’s work, but he'd conceded this design because he has opted for a skeleton theme this year). The Danvers house is absolutely perfect.

Unfortunately, they have overlooked one teeny-tiny problem: their house is not kid-friendly.

No one seems to want to approach the whole block, actually. All houses on the cul-de-sac are decked out in their creepiest (minus Cat’s, which only has a large “no candy” sign plastered on its gate). The few kids who have braved trick-or-treating tonight are all high school age, and even then some of them are shaking when Kara distributes candy bars.

“I think it’s the zombie,” Winn offers, unhelpfully. “Maybe you should’ve gone with a black cat theme. Kids love cats.”

Alex snatches a pack of gummy worms out of Winn’s hand. “Winn, go home,” she says, “and stop eating all our candy.”

“I can’t! You know Nia lives right next door. Her house has clowns.”

“Perfect, you’ll fit right in.”

As a sputtering Winn tries to defend himself, the doorbell rings; Kara takes it upon herself to answer it. Not that she’s keeping count, but—this is only the fourth time the doorbell’s rung in two hours, and she is severely missing the thrill of seeing kids race down the block in their polyester costumes.

So as she prepares her best friendly smile (and the overflowing candy bowl), she is secretly hoping this means the turnaround of her night. But when she opens the door, she’s disappointed to see again that there are no children on her porch.

In fact, the person waiting on her doorstep isn’t even high school age. A woman—a woman who is probably Kara’s age—is on the other side, wearing a lab coat with its sleeves rolled haphazardly up to her elbows.

Kara gapes at her for a moment. “Aren’t you a little old to be trick or treating?” her mouth asks before her brain catches up.

The stranger quirks an eyebrow. “Yes,” she says plainly. She has a sparkly pumpkin temporary tattoo on her cheek that looks like it’s been hastily applied, and her hand reaches up to brush at it before she yanks it away, as if just remembering it’s there.

Something about this woman, this stranger who looks exhausted and keeps brushing flyaway dark hairs from her messy ponytail away from her forehead, gives Kara pause. She’s not quite sure what it is, though.

“I didn’t mean that to be like—accusing,” Kara says quickly. Then, to make up for it, she adds: “I-I really like your costume.”

The woman frowns, confused. “I’m not wearing a costume,” she says, but when Kara gestures questioningly at the lab coat she goes, “Oh. This is actually not a costume. I came from a class.”

Kara perks up slightly. “Really? Wait, do you go to National City University?”

“Yes, actually. How did you guess?”

“I go there! I thought you looked familiar,” Kara says. “So...you must be a science major.”

“Chemistry,” the woman affirms, smiling just the slightest—a smile that does not show teeth, but is sweet nonetheless. “What’s your major?”

“Journalism!” Kara shifts the candy bowl to one arm in order to offer her hand. “I’m Kara, by the way.”

“Hi, I’m Lena.” Lena shakes Kara’s hand, smile morphing into an amused kind of half-laugh, half-grin.

Before Kara can keep the conversation going, a few gangly boys on skateboards come screeching down the block; something about the sound must remind Lena of why she’s here, because she suddenly digs through her coat pockets to produce a small paper bag.

“I’m sorry, I meant to ask—can I take some candy for my niece? I’m supposed to take her trick or treating, but she’s terrified to leave the car. Your zombie scares her.”

“So you’re…you’re not trick of treating for yourself. Right. That, that makes a lot of sense,” Kara says slowly. “I’m sorry I assumed you were! Honestly, I would go trick or treating now. At my age. I don’t have anything against people who trick or treat when they’re in their twenties.” A beat. “And you didn’t ask all that. Uh, yeah, of course, take our candy!”

And in Kara’s haste to make up for her mistake, she…accidentally offers the whole bowl.

Lena blinks. “All of it?”

“...yep. That’s exactly what I’m saying,” Kara says. Privately, she wishes a real life zombie could emerge from the woods and take her out of her misery.

“Okay, well, thank you.” Lena hesitantly takes the bowl in her hands, awkwardly hugging it to her chest. “Sorry, I forgot to mention that your animatronic is very impressive. What kind of hydraulic system did you implement?”

“I don’t—know? My friend designed it, and my sister built it, so…I’m not sure.”

“It’s really good, but it could be improved somewhat,” Lena says. “Maybe next year I can help you fix it.” She takes a step back, a mysterious kind of shy half-smile lingering on her mouth. “If you’re interested, of course.”

“Y-yeah! That would be awesome,” Kara says, maybe a little too enthusiastically.

This time when Lena beams it’s softer, flashing enough hint of teeth to show off a dimple in her left cheek. “Then I guess I’ll see you around, Kara,” she says.

“Bye,” Kara says weakly, this time her voice coming out dreamier than necessary. She doesn’t even realize she’s been staring off into the night (or more accurately, in the direction Lena has disappeared), until Alex comes up beside her.

“Hey, where’d all the candy go?” Alex asks.

Kara glances at her in mild surprise. “Oh. That,” she says. “It was…raccoons.”

“Raccoons?”

“Yup. Beautiful raccoons,” Kara says, and Alex gives her a weird look.

“I think that’s enough sugar for you,” she decides. “Go check out the zombie, will you? Just to make sure it’s still working. Brainy said to keep an eye out.”

(When Kara does as she’s asked, she is thrilled to see a paper bag tied to the zombie’s arm—Lena’s paper bag, now adorned with Lena’s phone number.)