#yes- she's their caretaker

[shy-peacock]

Have a sneak peek at A Story Told Before's next chapter.

(They are four years old y'all- and a bit bratty XD)

Atitaya was diligent with her foraging, whereas Raya and Namaari mostly played. They helped, for sure, but it was never long into the morning before one of them had gone and made a game of something, causing the other to follow right after. Which, most times, ended with them fighting. Sparring, yes, as was one of their lessons…but also actually fighting.

“Get off!” Namaari huffed, slamming her hand down angrily against the dirt.

Raya smiled ear to ear, refusing to budge. 

“Say please!”

“NO-..MOVE!”

“Say please…”

“Ugh..fine…please!”

Raya shrugged, giving her a wicked grin.

“Nope.”

“ATI!” 

“Raya..”

Their mentor didn’t turn from her work, sitting at the water's edge as she fiddled with the nets here. They had become tangled and she was focused on the knot she had to undo- however, she did raise an eyebrow up as if she were looking at Raya who was sitting on Namaari’s back then. Pinning her down only by sitting on her, refusing to budge after their sparring turned into a loud wrestling match instead. Namaari, as usual, always seemed to wind up losing with Raya sitting on her back to keep her down. Knowing she wasn’t strong enough to push her up and off her, hence the reason Atitaya always had to step in.

“What-..” Raya pouted, “I didn’t do anything..”

“You won’t let me get up!” Namaari shouted back.

“It’s not my fault you’re too weak!”

“It’s not my fault you’re too FAT-”

“I am not-!”

“Tell that to your BUTT-”

Raya gasped, her face scrunching tight in her anger.

“ATI-..SHE CALLED ME-”

“I heard-..” Atitaya sighed, “both of you need to get back to work.”

Raya folded her arms, truly pouting now. But she stood, stepping over Namaari as she stormed away. Namaari got onto her knees and turned to see Raya climbing up one of the trees surrounding them, quick as if it were the simplest thing to do, refusing to stop until she was high up within its branches. Staying there, pouting still, as she ignored the two of them on the ground. 

“Hey, you can’t just sit up there-!” Namaari began, only to be cut short by Atitaya.

“Leave it be, Namaari.” 

“But-!”

“You worry about you, let Raya have a few minutes to calm down.”

“But she-!”

“Namaari..” Atitaya stated, her tone warning, “leave her be.”

Now it was Namaari’s turn to pout, stomping over to her mentor and sitting down at her side. Folding her arms with a huff, practically feeling the heat escape her ears as she stewed in her anger. Even moreso when Ati chuckled under her breath, finding Namaari’s fit cute instead of taking her seriously.

“I don’t know why you two fuss at each other so much..” she chuckled, “like an old married couple or-”

“Gross.” Namaari spat, forcing her face to look as angry as she could possibly make it.

Ati gave her a sideways glance.

“I mean to say, you two are very similar..the same side of the same coin,” she stated, “you shouldn’t fight as much as you do.”

“She started it!” Namaari whined.

“No-..you did!” Raya yelled down, her voice echoing from the trees above.

Before Namaari could say anything back, Atitaya was quickly getting her attention again.

“It’s not about who starts it.” she said, loud enough that Raya could hear, “it matters how you fix it.”

[frasermints]

i just can't explain my love of warehouse 13 enough...

nineteen year old schizophrenic hacks into a sentient building and it decides to keep her (literally) forever because it loves her so much

woman gets scouted to work for said sentient building because of her intelligence and skill; man gets scouted because of his feminine wiles

canon morally grey bisexual ends her character arc on a high because of the positive influence of her female love interest best friend

gay guy that plaintext destroys the bury your gays trope by coming back to life through the power of friendship and destruction of property

black women in some of the highest positions of authority telling the US government to go fuck themselves on a regular basis

old man literally regrows organs by force so he can see (and get cut open by) his sexy doctor friend once a year

[essektheylyss]

Honestly I am still experiencing emotions over Artifice stepping in front of Everett unwaveringly and Dot doing the same thing for Cleo moments later. The Fold wizard crewmates might be inscrutably cryptic and speak at utterly bizarre volumes but they will put themselves between the people they care for and a tearror without a second thought, regardless of the danger, and I love them.

[bumblingbabooshka]

[Tuvok & Janeway: Control, Distance, Duty & Connection.] Sources: St Voyager Transcripts / Mitski 'First Love Late Spring' / Disco Elysium

[that-foul-legacy-lover]

Your bird adeptus reader posts have me gnawing at the bars of my enclosure theyre so good

Okay okey I see your Bird Adeptus Reader and I raise you one Dragon Adeptus Reader, bonus points for that “not quite mastered shapeshifting yet” human disguise that has reader running around with dragon features.

This doesnt have to be considered a request but I feel compelled to share my thoughts with you in gratitude for the absolutely fantastic works you put out okey brainrot time lets go

Bumping foreheads with Foul Legacy like cats (lets be real here dragons are just lizard hardware running cat software) and having to be extra careful because of y’all’s horns so that makes it even more special. Or reader kneeling to like meditate or something, their tail is swishing behind them, and Legacy goes “!” before swatting at reader’s tail because he’s just Abyssal Moth Beast hardware running cat software.

A Dragon Adeptus would likely be very durable as well, so Legacy doesn’t have to worry about squeezing reader while cuddling or knocking into them by accident; they’re still soft and squishy and cute, but very very sturdy and able to handle all that Moth Affection.

Mutual purring, also another good thought. Legacy likes shiny objects, reader is compelled to hoard shiny objects: you really cannot lose in this situation.

It’s cat-like creatures solidarity babey!!

*unlocks your enclosure* i like the way you think anon

amongst dragons and dragon-type creatures you're considered a bit of an oddity. dragons are grand, powerful beasts that command attention or at least respect, like your secondary caretaker Zhongli (Cloud Retainer is still your adoptive mother- just because you're not the same type of adeptus doesn't mean you're not her child!) but you're smaller with softer scales and a long tail with a tuft on the end of it, still plenty durable and armed with sharp claws and adeptal powers, but you don't really have the same intimidating presence as most dragons. that's just fine with you, though- you're far more content keeping to yourself and spending time with Foul Legacy, who, in contrast, looks strong and vicious but has the softest, sweetest personality you've ever encountered, and that includes the few humans you've met and your fellow adepti

you both share several of the same habits, being essentially cats covered in either scales or armor with you being slightly more put together so you can listen to people's wishes and prayers, meditating for a couple of hours each day. whenever you sit down and close your eyes Foul Legacy always sneaks up behind you, not to spook you or anything, just to playfully bat at your tail as you work- you've taken to handing him a brush whenever he does, feeling him happily comb through the tuft of fur on the end. once he tied a little bell around it and broke into chitters of delight when you stood and instantly started jingling. you got your revenge by adoring his horns with some of the ribbons and ornaments you have for yourself- although, he seems to rather like it, so now you take a few minutes each day to pick out accessories for each other's horns, and you have plenty of shiny items to choose from

napping together is essential, particularly in sunny patches of grass. the warmth makes both of you drowsy and lethargic, Legacy nuzzling his head against your cheek and your tail wrapping around his leg. if you're particularly tired you'll change into your draconic form and completely curl around your very happy Abyssal beast, your purrs synchronizing with his. you also nap together in the most smushed clingy positions, since you want to be as close as possible- someone's face is always buried in someone's neck or chest, at all times. Legacy does make a point to be more alert in sleep than you are- you seem to fall into the deepest sleep whenever you doze, maybe it's something to do with you being a reptilian adeptus- just in case someone comes walking by, so he can wake you and help you cover your horns and tail

[thenexusofsouls]

{i am the caretaker of souls} Not me considering adding Aeryn Sun from Farscape as a muse on here. Someone please stop me, I have a problem. XD

[presiding]

formerly an essay in tags but - billie lurk. half-nameless, misremembered woman. her powers derived from the things taken from her, without any catharsis or empowerment. the rat charm, tied with deidre's hair, her lover's voice in the mouth of rats. her arm and eye, taken, given back only to cause her chronic pain, then lost again. foresight seems a cruel gift for a woman who botched the timing of her takeover of the whalers, and bet wrong when it came to delilah.

she never bore the outsider's blessing; his first visit to her was more like an assault. every other dishonored POV character gets the choice to be selfish, and for that selfishness to mean something, but billie's actions have no effect on the world at large, either, in a game without a chaos system.

some say that corvo is the ghost, but he can reach out and change things. billie's buried herself twice and come back and nothing she does seems to matter - she is less a protagonist, more a convenient full stop in the narrative.

try this: open doto, start a new game. sit in her cabin. notice how little of billie there is. even the woman she loved more than anyone has the face of another named character.

she sits amongst the assets of other games: empty canvases and a dressmaker's mannequin that wears nothing.

[bubblegown]

STOP BABYING GLINDA!!!!!!!1!1!1!1!1!1.

[ghostlightfic]

how old is Petronille? Because i dont think her age has ever been confirmed, neither in ISAT or in your book 🙏

my nille is like 18/19 😌👍

[adoredmarigold]

Once I’m done with this commission I have I wanna draw this Toki and Abigail comic I’ve had in my mind for a bit now because I am a Toki and Abigail are besties truther

[anthromimicry]

adding this to my wishlist now because OMG — imagine your muse and misao being lost somewhere after they'd miscalculated just how big the area they were exploring is ( i was thinking someplace with mountains, in particular, for some reason ) so they have to camp out in this unfamiliar, kinddd of scary place that may or may not have dangerous animals living in it. then, because of this, your muse gets scared (rightfully so, honestly) because they aren't sure whether they're even going to be able to find their way out of the mountains at all and there's no cellphone service around here so like? they can't call anyone to come help them??

and as a result, misao gestures for them to ' come here ' + when they do, she very calmly tells them to put their head in her lap and when they do... she just starts running a hand through their hair to comfort them / make them less scared like. and misao would probably be slightly scared herself at the time, but then she'd tell them that 'they have nothing to worry about because i'm going to keep both of them safe?' like OMG 😭 idk what it is about this idea (i guess it might be that misao is scared herself, but has put the other person's emotional needs before anything else) buttt just the thought of her taking the initiative to be brave + volunteer to watch over the other person as they sleep (bonus points if they let misao make them a blanket out of her silk + tuck them in) is just too good

[outer-edges]

r/regretfulparents is my hellscape. i know most of them are just going through hard times and venting and probably don't actually regret it but like. i genuinely think motherhood would be my most awful prison. the whole sub is like the scariest horror game the internet has to offer for me.

[pigeonwhumps]

Graveyard horrors

Everything taglist: @painful-pooch @i-eat-worlds @a-funeral-romance @rainydaywhump

So I intended to write this for Halloween but I didn't finish it in time, but here it is! Ta-da? Enjoy.

Set in the same world as A Death in the Family.

A human flees into a graveyard and unearths something unexpected.

1.6k

CWs: Vampire, minor character deaths, amputation for non-medical purposes, cauterisation, mentioned human experimentation, emotional whump, planned vivisection, mentioned dismemberment, sadistic whumper, fear, discrimination

Whumpee limps across the road, staggering into the nearest gatepost and pulling themself around it. In the distance, getting closer by the second, is the sound of stalking footsteps.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are."

The moon is the smallest sliver in the sky by now, glinting off the edges of branches and clouds and... and gravestones. Old, crumbling gravestones.

Oh. Oh, of course this is where they've ended up. Where no-one can hear them scream.

Whumpee puts on a burst of speed, almost bringing them up to normal walking pace. Sharp sticks scratch and pebbles embed in the soles of their feet, but they keep going. They run through the churchyard, falling, skinning knees, biting back a scream as they hit their injured leg.

Through the open gateway, the rusted gate dangling off its hinges, creaking in the slight breeze. Off hallowed ground now.

The footsteps are getting closer, low, even. Stalking. Whumpee's breath catches.

"Don't be scared. We just want to play."

Whumpee spins around, backing away as two silhouettes appear in the entrance, tripping over graves as they go, not daring to look away. Unhallowed ground on All Hallow's Eve and the humans are still scarier.

They're always scarier.

A low, hollow, mocking laugh.

"Oh, they're not listening to us. Come on now. We're not going to hurt you."

"Not much, anyway."

Whumpee ignores their words, focusing on trying to scramble away. But their tormenters are getting closer, and Whumpee can't run.

Blood drips down their leg onto the soil. They back up. Stumble. Fall. Grasp the wooden stake. Pull themself up. Uproot the wooden stake. Fall again.

They can actually see the people now. Too close, getting closer.

Whumpee scrambles backwards and hits a wall they didn't remember was there.

Disorientated now, they can only struggle as their arms are grabbed and they're forced to their knees.

"Please. Please, I'm not a monster, my mam's not a monster, please let me go."

"Your mother's a freak. She shouldn't even exist, but the weird scientist and the lightning came and now we have to treat her as a person. You should be back in that grubby little orphanage."

"Why are you doing this?" sobs Whumpee, as Whumper A twists a zip-tie around their wrists and does... something, lifting them up in the air behind their back. They can't move when he lets them go. "I haven't done anything to you, please, just let me go, I won't tell anyone."

Whumper B pulls something long and jagged from a duffle bag. There's something dark and gleeful in her voice when she speaks.

"Don't worry. I don't care that you're a monster. I only care that no-one who actually matters will even notice you're gone. They won't search. That's what we need you for."

"Sadism?"

Whumper A hums. "Wouldn't put it quite like that. I want to see what the child of a monster is made of. Are you more mature or nurture? Sugar and spice and all things nice? Slugs and snails and puppy dogs' tails? Or something else altogether? She's just here for the fun though."

Whumper B shrugs, holding up the... the... oh, hells, that's a bone saw isn't it? Whumpee recognises it from anatomy classes. They whimper.

"What can I say? I enjoy a good dismemberment."

"Please, please you can't even see me here, there's no point, please don't, you can have all my medical records and everything, anything you want, just please don't– aaaaAAHHHHH!"

Their foot. Their foot is– it's– it's–

"There. That'll stop you running. Cauterise that and then we need to get gone. See, we're not stupid. We're not taking you apart in the dark. But this makes it easier. You're already injured, a foot will stop you escaping."

Whumpee screams again as Whumper B steps back to allow Whumper A forward with the heated tong. He presses it against their cut-up foot, a hand over their mouth. No gloating, just efficiency now, and Whumpee realises with sudden lightning-bolt clarity that there's no mercy coming. Ever.

Is it their imagination or is a shadow falling? Is it getting darker in front of them, behind their tormenters, a darkness falling over them? Is their vision going already?

No. No, because Whumper B has frozen, going deadly still. Behind Whumper A is something very tall. Human-shaped, possibly human but hopefully not, part of it is glinting in the moonlight. Two pointed, triangular parts...

Whumper A's head snaps sideways and there's a gurgle as the creature's fangs disappear into his neck. Not human, then.

Whumpee could try to free themself, pick up the stake, stab the vampire into dust. But then what? Their tormenters won't be grateful. They'll still die, and it'll be worse.

Whumper A drops limply to the ground. Whumper B screams.

Her screams are cut off abruptly as the fangs glint again and then dive in. She spasms in the vampire's arms.

Her neck is at an unnatural angle as her body falls limply to the ground.

Whumpee sits, frozen, as the vampire turns its (his? Xer? They don't know and they probably won't ever find out) full attention on them. It cocks its head to one side and strides up to them. They can't even find it within themself to shy away.

Is that the vampire's power or just their cowardice?

The vampire lunges and Whumpee braces themself but it simply shreds the zip-tie. Whumpee collapses to the ground in a heap.

"Thank you," they whisper hoarsely.

"You... summoned me back to life," the vampire says slowly and carefully, as if picking long-forgotten words with the utmost delicacy. "It was your blood, yes?"

"I mean. Probably?" They don't think anyone else has bled in this graveyard tonight.

"Then it is a life for a life, and all debts are settled."

Whumpee shakes their head. They're not. That's not a fair deal. But they don't say that. There's something more important, and they grasp onto it to drag them out of their spiralling shock, even as it makes them blush.

"Clothes."

The vampire looks down at itself in apparent surprise, then proceeds to the taller of the two bodies. It strips him carefully, methodically, pulling them onto itself with all the care of someone stepping into a new designer outfit. Everything except underwear and shoes is taken and added to its new look.

It's all too small, and Whumpee starts to giggle. Everything is suddenly hilarious. Why wouldn't it be? They're in a graveyard on Halloween with a vampire who's killed two people and is wearing one of their clothes, and with a chopped off foot that is too far gone to save. What's not to laugh about in this situation?

"You are in shock. Put this on."

Whumpee shrugs on the black turtleneck, trying not to think about the way it's sodden and crusting in turns.

"Thank you."

Neither of them says anything for a while, Whumpee sitting there, staring at nothing. Their foot. Their poor foot. They pick stones and grit out of the remaining one, trying not to think.

But then the ground shifts, and they realise the vampire is still there too. It's functionally new to the world, possibly, depending on how long it was dead for. Does it have anywhere to go? Maybe she can think about it instead.

"So um. What's your name?"

"Vampire."

"Do you have anywhere to go?"

"I was murdered. I do not think they would have left my house intact."

"Oh. I'm sorry." Vampire shrugs, and Whumpee speaks before they can think about the idea enough to take it back. "Would you... well, I have a spare bedroom. And you have nowhere to go. Absolutely no pressure of course, I didn't mean– forget it."

Vampire cocks its head and stares until Whumpee blushes again and looks away. Was that a bad idea?

"I will come."

The wave of relief that floods through Whumpee at that is strong and unexpected.

"Good. Good."

Vampire stares down at Whumpee.

Whumpee stares back.

Oh. Oh, right.

They should probably stand, huh?

Whumpee braces themself on the nearest gravestone and tries to use it to pull himself up. 'Tries' being the optimum word here, because the stone starts to crumble and Whumpee has no idea how to walk on one foot. They unbalance and their knees wobble, collapsing.

Ow. Fuck.

"You can lean on me."

Whumpee grasps Vampire's side and pulls themself up, staggering against it, allowing it to wrap a firm arm around them.

It could feel like a cage. It doesn't.

"Cheers."

Vampire bows its head in reply, and they start to make their way slowly out of the graveyard, Whumpee leading the route, like they're in some weird slow-motion three-legged race.

Whumpee's nerves are shot. It's only Vampire's strength keeping them up, and not just physically. They want to fall to the ground and stay there, for as long as it takes. Does anyone care? Actually care? What even are they? This might not be a border town any longer but they've spent so long among monsters, are they even human anymore? And does that even matter when people will treat them like something disgusting anyway?

They can think of a hundred, a thousand, rebuttals they'd have to a resident or visitor at Crossways thinking this way, but they don't have the heart to say them to themself.

A tear drops onto their bare foot.

Just one step at a time.

[bumblingbabooshka]

Voyager should have had an episode where the command trio beat the absolute hell out of each other while blaming each other for being stuck in the delta quadrant as the fever pitch of a rising tension that was building throughout the episode. Like, they're absolutely being pushed to do it by some outside force. Maybe it's a telepathic being - maybe it's that they're stuck in some arena or an alien court or a time loop only the three of them are aware of - no matter the specifics, the sentiment behind their words has to be true and it has to be something they've been keeping back for months, maybe years. That fear and hatred and blame that doesn't really have an actual target because it's not actually rational but 'who's to blame' doesn't have to be capital T true to feel true. If Chakotay hadn't been in the badlands, If Janeway hadn't made that choice, If Tuvok hadn't supported it... "You trapped us here. It's your fault. If you hadn't-! If you hadn't-! If you hadn't-!" are just echoes of "I trapped us here. It's my fault. If I hadn't-! If I hadn't-! If I hadn't-!" Because at the end of the day more than being angry or hateful they're despairing in their own ways. Episode probably has a somber end - they beat whatever it was and it's a victory! They won by working together even after they beat each other half to death! But after the celebration we see them alone in their quarters...silent. Gazing out at the stars, into a candle's flame, at that same family picture before turning away. Because even though they won they're still there in the delta quadrant. Is that really victory?

[ccieatchildren]

Caretaker watched as her father was taken away in handcuffs, the ever present smile plastered on his face. Her mum was already inside, annoyed with her husband’s antics, choosing instead to answer emails from her coworkers, while her brothers stood next to Caretaker watching their father get hauled off.

“Get back before dinner, Baba!” Two shouted, earning an elbow from One. 

Her father laughed boisterously, “You know I will!” This did not go over well with the officers dragging him away, who turned to glare at him even harder. Furious because they all knew it was true.

Baba was untouchable, too good at what he did to leave any identifiable evidence behind. Each time the police tried to pin him for a job, there was nothing. They’d just hold the man for a few hours, or the full 48 hours if he really pissed them off, before releasing him back to his family. 

Cat burglary was an art passed down the generations, but her father was the one who truly put the family name in the spotlight. The villain had cultivated a reputation for being able to pull off any heist, no matter how secure the facility was, without ever having to kill anyone. Various other villains and businessmen had tried to hire the man to steal for them, but he was never interested in it for the money, using whatever he collected for charity. He simply did it to keep up a legacy, for the fun, and, most importantly, the challenge. 

Caretaker had learned to expect her father to be out for the day if she ever saw the news cover a big heist. He never told her or the twins about his operations, only Mum was ever privy to that information, so she always learned about it after the fact from other sources. It used to bother her as a child– she wanted to be just like him– and then when she started as a hero– it put them at odds– but as Caretaker got older and grew into her role, she found herself being grateful for the secrecy. It meant she didn’t have to jail him herself. 

Most other heroes didn’t trust her because of her father; figured the villainy was in her blood, and that meant that her family was evil. It was black and white for them, little room for grey.

As Baba knocked his head on the top of the police cruiser, all Caretaker could think was that they were right. Heisting was in her blood. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t use those skills for good.

She was the best in the department for breaking into supervillain facilities, cracking safes full of confidential information, and sneaking in on illegal deals. And having her mother’s muscular build didn't hurt one bit either. Caretaker was a force to be reckoned with.

Her moral compass may not completely align with those around her, but she knew her right and wrong– learned it all from her father. Nobody seemed to understand that, nobody except Whumpee. Maybe that’s why they butted heads so much at the beginning of their partnership. They seemed like everyone else because they were frustrated with her uncooperativeness, not her family, while Caretaker was uncooperative because she expected them to be like everyone else. A vicious cycle that thankfully didn’t last too long.

Turning from the scene, Caretaker opened the door and motioned for her brothers. “Come on, Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee, time to head in. You’ve seen this all before.”

“I knowww, but it’s way more fun to watch Baba get dragged away,” Two replied, “and seeing how mad the coppers get is hilarious.”

“And it’s therapeutic,” added One. 

“Let’s go. I have to get to work, and I can’t leave until I make sure y’all don’t do something stupid like last time.” It frustrated Caretaker to no end that she had to watch over her college-aged brothers, but after they almost set a cop car on fire, she made sure not to leave them alone with the law. 

Both of them looked dejected, even the usually stoic One, as they shuffled inside, turning one last time to watch as their father drove away. 

Caretaker waved bye to her dad once more, before heading inside to join the rest of her family.

[thisloveforyourmom]

the pearlrose tag is sure full of takes