#you minus well have told me to never leave the house

[snekdood]

Knowing i deserve better doesnt really do much when so many people are convinced im the devil, meaning i cant rely on them for anything let alone the better things i know i deserve

[daniswoso]

Short sight.

Leah Williamson x Reader.

Warnings: Angst, breakup, reader overthinking, reader breaks up with leah, online hate, overthinking, anxiety, self doubt.

Summary: In which you can’t see that you’re perfect for Leah like she says you are after a social media post gets negative attention.

*******

“Y/N, what the fuck are you on about?” Leah asked, incredulous. She couldn’t believe you were breaking up with her, she thought you were happy. She thought things between you were good! And better yet, she had allowed herself to actually fall in love again, to believe that she was allowed to be loved.

Well, that all went to shit, didn’t it?

“Leah, I’m sorry. I love you, you know I do. I just-“

“Just what, Y/N?!”

“I’m not right for you!” You finally snapped, tears streaming down your cheeks as you looked at her. She looked back at you as though she had been burned. It broke your heart more and more with every second longer you looked at the crease in her eyebrow deepen.

“Y/N, what? What do you mean ‘not right for you’?” She asked, her voice was softer than it was before, clearly she held some semblance of guilt for yelling.

“I’m sorry, Leah.” And with that you were out the door, your bag planted firmly on your shoulder.

She briefly considered chasing after you, but realised it was no use, you were already driving off in your BMW (A/N: im a bmw girl, sue me.) and leaving your relationship behind. But why?

She never did figure it out, not even a week later.

She had hardly left the house, much to chagrin of Katie and Beth who had been trying to make plans with her for the past 3 days. None of them knew, it’s not like Leah could tell them without there being a massive row, especially since Beth no matter how well she knew you from national teams, would always back Leah. And Katie… Well she bullied you enough on derby days, as you played for the blues of London, and Leah shuddered to think what she’d do to you if she actually had a valid reason to.

Meanwhile you weren’t much better off, having been crying in Sam Kerr’s lap for the past week. Which is where you still were now, Kristie rubbing your knee gently as you laid with your head in Sam’s lap.

“Sweetie, you never actually told us why you and Leah broke up.” Kristie pressed, tilting your head so you’d look at her. You sighed and sniffed, wiping your tears and lifting your head from Sam’s lap.

“There… We posted a picture. Of us at the beach. And it was a hard launch, I guess? She was kissing my cheek in it, all lovey dovey like.” You started, both of them silent showing support and patiently waiting for you to explain.

“And the comments were all just talking about how she could do better. I- I didn’t think much of it, y’know? Just thought it was another bellend on the internet, but then it was all the comments were filled with. I started to believe it.” You shrugged, picking at your nails, leaning forward. The two older women exchanged a worried look over your head.

“Y/N, Leah adored you. She wouldn’t have given you up for the world. And also she could never do better! You’re the best damn player on our team, minus me, and she’s lucky to ever have had you!” Sam insisted, her voice firm, but playful.

You chuckled, shaking your head.

“Maybe.”

Things with Leah were going much less smooth than they were going for you. She hadn’t left the house in days, skipping two training sessions in favour of wracking her brain desperately trying to find out what you meant.

Then it twigged. She found the post, scrolling through the comments.

“Oh, Y/N… You fucking idiot.” She breathed out, pressing her contacts list, finding your name and allowing her thumb to hover over the call button.

*******

A/N: Im evil, i know i know. BUT! p2? 👀

[h0nkch0c0late]

Heya,how are you?I love the way you write,if you are taking request for Sam Riordan,can you write something like reader has a power that can calm him down?Like he told Cate to not touch him to make him go to sleep,but with reader is different because he obviously likes her and she is the only one he really trust?Sorry if this doesn’t make any sense🥲

Abso-fucking-lutely anon! It makes perfect sense! <33333

Soother

Sam Riordan x Reader

SUMMARY: you have the power of serenity inducement. Most often you don't use it, but when it comes to Sam, it helps more than you think

Warnings: Sam's hallucinations, swearing, Gen V spoilers, doesn't follow everything from the fourth episode.

---------------------------------------------------------

You had arrived at the house just in time.

Cate was trying to calm him down, but it wasn't working.

"No!" He yelled after she asked to let the group help him, "you are NOT touching me again, Cate! Get the FUCK out of here!" He laughed, "you're all fuckingg puppets!"

Seeing Marie grab her knife to pull use her powers, you grabbed her hand, "I've got this." You whispered, moving in front of her.

His eyes widened at the sight of you, "No! I won't let him hurt you!" He yelled.

Your eyes held him in a gentle stare as you slowly walked towards him, "Sam, no one's gonna hurt me, okay? We just need you to calm down, please." Your tone was soft as you got closer.

He had always held a deep trust with you. While Cate had made him fall asleep, your touch had always ended up relaxing him, making the puppets go away, giving him peace.

He knew that out of all of them, you were least likely to have ill intentions. Well, minus Emma.

His breathing was ragged as you stopped directly in front of him, your hands reaching for his.

"Everything is okay, Sam. We're all just here to help you, okay? They don't want to hurt you." You soothed, feeling him practically melt into your touch.

Everyone tensed as he let go of your hands slowly, each getting ready to use their powers on him if he hurt you.

But he would never do that. You were the one person he could never hurt.

You didn't even move when he reached towards you, pulling you in for a tight hug to which you accepted, wrapping your arms around the back of his neck.

"I thought you left me." He whimpered softly into your ear.

You smiled lightly, "I could never leave you, Sam. Who else could make you feel less crazy than me?"

"Uh...Emma?" He questioned jokingly.

You scoffed, rolling your eyes playfully as you hugged him tighter, "say that again and I might kill you."

"Not if I kill you first." He remarked.

"You could never." You replied snarkily.

"Yeah, and neither could you."

"Dang, you got me there."

The others continued to stare at the two of you, confused at how quickly the situation had de-escalated.

And at some point of that whole ordeal, Doctor Cardosa had slipped away to join his husband and daughter.

"So...do you wanna explain why you were just about to murder Cardosa?" Andre asked, almost as if he was TRYING to get rid of the moment of peace.

Your head turned to the boy, "Andre I swear to god-"

---------------------------------------------------------

Apologies that this is so short. My writing juice for the weekend feels like its about to run out so I wanted to get something out before it happens completely! I'll most likely be back in full swing on Monday so please don't stop requesting!

Also, I hope this was to your liking <333

[undreaming-fanfiction]

Back for More

Written for @steddieangstyaugust - days 9 (Upside Down) and 11 (Temporary Character Death). They just happened to merge and I didn't stop them.

It was eerily quiet in the Upside Down. The rustling of demobat wings had died down, black tendrils lied still as their master fled to God knows where to lick his wounds. Only the constant storm that would never bring rain loomed over them.

Steve's vision was still blurry after the near strangulation at the Creel house, and Eddie? Well. Eddie was dying.

"Wait here until we can find help," they'd said. "Keep him safe. Keep him alive and talking." Robin and Nancy dragged Dustin away, screaming, crying, and Steve made a reckless promise to make sure that his favorite twerp of the twerp troupe (also known as the Party, the most annoying kids known to mankind) was out of danger. Or at least as much as one could be when the world was ending.

So, the promise? Keep Eddie from dying.

That was easier said than done. Demobats made Eddie their free buffet - Steve hated himself for thinking that, but maybe he could blame it on the dizziness - and now Eddie was even more full of holes than a golf course. Minus the flags.

Yeah, maybe Steve was panicking a little. But hey, who wasn't?

"Come on, man," he muttered as Eddie's hand dropped, letting go of the blood soaked cloth. "Keep it on the wound. I'm not an octopus, I can't plug in all of these, uh…"

Eddie laughed, but it made such a horrendous gurgling sound that Steve hoped he hadn't done that. "New entrances to the temple that is my body, Harrington?"

Steve's brow furrowed in disgust. Which was funny because, you know, they were covered in blood and grime, so this shouldn't have even fazed him. It still did. "Ew. Don't…just don't."

He still reached out and repositioned Eddie's hand to cover the less severe wounds. Which really weren't less severe, all were gnarly and jagged, but at least Eddie could reach them. Steve's hand didn't leave the most dangerous looking one on his neck, pressing down and slowing down the bleeding.

"Aww. Harrington is shy," whispered Eddie, but obediently used the last of his strength to cover the wound on his side.

"Am not. Your innuendos just suck. Where did you get those, in a history class?"

Eddie's mouth twitched into another smile. "Nah. In front of the mirror, like all proper men. Which might be…why they don't work. On other men."

Other men. Huh. Steve had never suspected anything.

His eyes were starting to close, his breathing more shallow, and yep, this was the moment that Steve would normally get up, get punched, get in the harm's way so the others could escape. But this time it wouldn't work. It was just him and Eddie and so much blood that just wouldn't stay on the inside where it belonged.

Keep him talking. That's what he promised to do.

He nudged Eddie with his knee. "Hey. Hey, Munson! Now I'm curious. How do you know they don't work? Have you tested them?"

Eddie groaned, but one of his eyes opened again. "Jesus H Christ, Harrington. Can I just die from blood loss and not embarrassment?"

"Nope. No dying either way. Tell me."

Another groan, another gurgle. "Didn't test anything, man. This is Hawkins. I never even told anyone. Shit, I didn't even want to tell you, but I'm feeling kinda lightheaded…"

Not good. Not fucking good at all. "It's fine, we're bonding, right?" But Eddie didn't respond, and Steve didn't have a third hand to slap him awake, so he just went for the conversational jugular. "I mean. I kinda get it. I saw a lot of stuff in the locker rooms and I've always thought Tommy has some nice shoulders and back. And��below."

That got Eddie's attention. His eyes opened again, and the bloodied grin he showed Steve was worth the mortifying admission. "Well well well. Who would have thought we have the same taste in men, King Steve? Type, I mean. Hagan's an asshole. But jocks…hmmm. Good for you to…have such a nice view."

Now he was talking too much, and his breath was getting even more shallow. Shit. "You'll get it too, man. Not all places are Hawkins. So stay awake, keep pressure on your…ugh, fine…new entrances to the temple of Munson, and I swear that when you're all healed up, I'll drive you to wherever you feel more comfortable, and we'll get you a jock to smooch or admire. Or both."

"Sounds nice," whispered Eddie. Then, after a pause: "being smooched, I mean. It's so lame, dying without being kissed. Ever."

Look, Steve was running out of options. There was no sound, no indication of help coming, and he had to keep his promise. The world was ending anyway. "Would you like not to?" he asked.

"Huh?"

"I mean," said Steve and even attempted his signature hair flip, which earned him a weak chuckle from Eddie. "I know I look like shit now, but I was a jock. And I'm pretty sure I'm a better kisser than Tommy."

"…have better ass too…"

Steve burst out laughing, and perhaps he managed to hide the slowly rising wave of hysteria. "Yes, thank you! I knew someone would eventually have good taste and say it out loud. But seriously, uh…I'm offering. I mean, as far as first kisses go, this whole scenario will be pretty memorable."

Eddie smiled at him from the ground, and it was so sad that Steve wanted to punch Hawkins, his younger self and everyone who made Munson look this self-deprecating. "You don't have to, Steve. Pity isn't a good look on you."

"It's not," he said quickly, with more force than he'd intended. "Seriously, Eddie. It's not. It's…curiosity for me too. And maybe I also need to take my mind off things, because this whole week has been so incredibly shitty, more for you than me, but still, and it's not like we have anything better to do anyways. So I'm asking again, a bit more tactfully this time - may I kiss you before you change your mind and stop liking jocks?"

"Not gonna happen," whispered Eddie, but his smile was wider now. There was a strange sheen to his eyes, but Steve was only focused on buying just a bit more time, a few more minutes, even seconds. "Come on, big boy. Deflower my lips. Or something."

"You just had to make it weird."

Steve leaned down and inspected Eddie's face. It was covered in drying blood, so were his lips, but it didn't matter. He moved even further, still maintaining the pressure on Eddie's neck wound, and pressed their lips together.

It wasn't much, he was careful not to obstruct Eddie's breathing, but it felt nice. He imagined what it might have been like under different circumstances - Eddie's stubble against his chin, maybe taste of his cigarettes instead of blood, hand in his wild hair and around his slender waist. He winced as Eddie's tongue darted out and licked the cut in Steve's lip, but he met him halfway without hesitation.

As he started pulling away to give Eddie more space to breathe, Steve had a sudden realization. Despite his loudness and abrasive behavior, Eddie deserved the gentleness, the caution. Steve wondered if he could have given it to him in another time, another life.

"So," he asked, still hovering over Eddie, "was that everything you dreamed of?"

Eddie's voice was barely more than a sigh now. "Bit…less blood in my dreams. But…yeah. I really wish…"

The hand on his wound was slipping again. Steve moved it back. "Yeah?"

"I really wish I could have come back for more."

His hand dropped again, and this time, no matter how much Steve threatened, argued or pleaded, it wouldn't rise again.

"Eddie." Steve nudged him again, but his body was still. "Hey, Eddie. Wake up. You can come back for more anytime you want. Just…just hold on, get better and then you can have as many kisses as you want. Come on. Don't…"

When Nancy and Robin finally made it back with supplies, they found Steve still covering Eddie's wounds, not leaving his side. When they tried to move him, to make him let go of Eddie's body, Steve could only say one thing - "I made a promise."

..

Two weeks passed. The world was still ending, Max was in a coma, and Eddie was gone. It felt wrong, being able to summarize so much pain in such few words. Steve couldn't look Dustin in the eye, grateful for the return of the California crew so that Dustin had someone to support him apart from Lucas. He broke two promises in the same day, probably the most important ones he'd ever made.

His body functioned on autopilot. Donations, disaster relief, he did it all to keep busy. He slept very little, but when he did, he no longer had the intense, terrifying nightmares. Instead, he dreamt of Eddie, alive and well, meeting him in a bar, at Skull Rock, kissing him again and again.

Every day he woke up, had a blissful moment when reality was hazy, and then it hit. Eddie would never kiss him again.

It was yet another night full of tossing and turning in his bed. When Steve finally fell asleep, he was in a familiar dream. Sweet and soft kisses, Eddie's hair tickling his face. But this time, his lips felt more rough, and there was sharp pressure on his lower lip.

When he woke up, he thought he was still dreaming. His head was gently cradled by slender hands, long hair was tickling his face…and Eddie was in his bed.

He was dirty, covered in crusts of dried blood. His clothes were torn and the unnatural sheen in his eyes that Steve had noticed back in the Upside Down made it seem like the whites of his eyes were glowing. His nails were sharp, his canines were peeking out from under his upper lip, but it was him, in flesh. In scarred but miraculously healed flesh. 

"Eddie?"

"You said," he whispered, and it sounded raspy, rough. "You said I could come back for more."

It might have been a dream - or maybe not, Steve would find traces of mud and a familiar looking bandana in his bed the next day. But Steve didn't know that yet. What he knew was this - even if it was a dream, even if he was about to have yet another painful realization the next day, he'd take it. Because Eddie was worth every single second of that pain.

He wrapped his arms around the dream visitor's neck and pulled him back into his bed. "I did say that. And I'm a man of my word."

[autistichalsin]

I'm writing this letter to my parents and posting it here because I'm never going to send it to them. And I want to post it somewhere.

Dear mom and dad:

For so long I've told myself, with most of what you did (minus mom actively abusing me for years when she was drinking) that you did your best. And honestly, I do still think that was true. But I also deserve the right to say: your best wasn't fucking good enough. Not by a mile.

Mom, you physically, emotionally, and otherwise abused us for years. You used everything as an excuse. Drinking. Trauma. Me reminding you of dad who you were pissed at for starting an emotional affair. But I guess me undergoing trauma through you was never an 'excuse' to talk about it since you always screamed at me for talking about it with anyone outside the house since that was 'private family business'. Bullshit, you just didn't want anyone to know what a bad parent you were. Dad, you let this happen. I know she was abusing you even worse than me. How many fucking times did I watch her hit you? But you know what? You still had a responsibility to protect us from her and you never fucking did. Not once. The best I ever got was you giving me permission to leave the house all day when she was hungover and screaming at me. Fucking thanks a LOT, dad. If you couldn't stand up to her when she was doing that shit to us/me, you could have at least had the decency to divorce her. "But I'm scared if I divorce her she'll drink herself to death" well great, thanks for deciding for me that I can and should endure abuse to save her from her own choices. That definitely didn't create any kind of complex in me or give me severe problems asserting boundaries because I then started to feel like if anything happened after I cut an abusive person out of my life, it would be my fault. Nope. No issues with that. Thanks a fucking lot.

Thanks, mom, for never teaching me (and my siblings) ANY life skills, not cooking, not doing laundry, not driving, because you "wanted me to need you so I would never leave" and thanks a fucking lot, dad, for not stepping in, saying "no that's fucked" and teaching us anyway. Really great parenting. Instead of disagreeing with your partner's shitty parenting decisions, just cosign them and go "well she's my wife". Do you feel no shame at all at the fact that none of your kids learned how to cook until they moved out (and the one still left with you is in his mid 20s and doesn't know how)? How does that not fucking mortify you? Your kids didn't know how to do more than nuke a burrito and that fucking means nothing to you?

Thanks a lot, mom, for repeatedly accusing me and dad of incest when you were drinking, because I was closer to him than you. And then, years after getting sober, hitting me with "I'm sorry, I never had a dad growing up so I didn't know how to deal with you having a good relationship with him" LITERALLY FUCK OFF SO HARD are you literally fucking telling me you had kids and anticipated we would only have a relationship with you and not him? Actually don't answer that, I know for a fact you did because guess what, grandma fucking told me you were jealous of dad doting on me as a literal fucking baby because you felt like it was a sign he loved me more. YEAH MOM, he is going to love the new baby more than you, actually! That is what parents are supposed to do when they think the universe doesn't fucking revolve around them! Also, FUCK YOU VERY MUCH for screaming at me every time I did literally anything with him that didn't involve you, guilt tripping me about "loving him more than you". First of all, that wasn't how it worked back then, but second of all, YOUR OWN BEHAVIOR made it so that yeah, I fucking do love him more than you now. You know why, mom? Because he never said that he wished he could kill me. Or how about the time you got mad that one year we had money around my birthday and he got me Elton John tickets, and you screamed at him for not getting them for your birthday next month instead (even though you'd already been) and decided the best fucking reaction to that was to HIT HIM while I watched? Not only fucking abusing your husband in front of your kids, but making your kid, you know, internalize a message that they should try to be as invisible as possible at all times but especially on their birthday so that people they loved wouldn't get abused for it, seeing as that was the SECOND TIME you abused that man over his birthday present for me? But no, it's fucking all about you feeling like he loved his kids more (WHICH HE WAS SUPPOSED TO DO) so fuck me, I guess. Fuck you.

And you know what, mom? While you were wailing that you were so victimized by him and I being close, you sure went out of your way to show favoritism to my fucking sister. Never missing a single one of her music performances but stopping going to mine after she quit. Missing EVERY SINGLE ONE OF my track meets. Yeah, I finished in last place in all of them, but I fucking loved doing it and wanted to fucking share it with you. Big fucking mistake. You got her a cello and private lessons with money we didn't have. You got the entire family to pitch in and help send her on a school trip, then the next year when I was old enough, you told them all I only played to be like her so that they wouldn't help so I wouldn't get to go on the trip. When I said I was hurt you missed my meets, you expressed bafflement that "I've heard of people in their 40s getting mad at their parents for that, but I never heard of anyone complaining while they were still young." When I told you about your fucking golden child sexually assaulting me, AFTER sexually assaulting my younger brother, telling you how she LICKED MY FUCKING NECK, you laughed and said "to be fair, I fantasized about your neck too." What the actual fuck is wrong with you? Do you actually think sexual abuse is funny when your golden child does it, or did you just want ME to think it was a joke so she wouldn't face any consequences for it? How about the fact that when the fact that she fucking RAPED my little brother, the son you were SUPPOSED to be able to pretend to give a shit about, you said that it didn't happen and I put lies in his head so his therapist would diagnose him with PTSD, implying I traumatized my OWN BROTHER just to get revenge on your golden child? How about the fact that you screamed at me for getting other family members to bring him to the police (where he was then laughed out of the station, which you obviously cared not at all about) but not doing the same when your BIL assaulted you, screaming at me that it was my fault that charges weren't pressed against him, when you were a GROWN WOMAN who could have filed the charges yourself, making me feel like it was MY FAULT that happened to you, and then trying to walk it back? Playing like you were some fucking paragon of responsibility and kindness for LATER coming back to me and saying it wasn't my fault? Too fucking late, mom. Thanks, though, for the decade of self loathing.

How about the fact that both of you decided you were "done" parenting when I was 15? My little brother was fucking 11 and he still needed you. Do you not feel even the tiniest bit bad that three of your four kids dropped out of high school? And the only one who finished- ME- still had to repeat a year? And that you promised me that if I finished this online program, because you were SO DESPERATE to see one of your four kids get a diploma (and had already written off my little brother instead of getting him fucking help, fucking fantastic job on that one) that we would go to the graduation ceremony on the other side of the state, then didn't because you blew all the money we had on cigarettes, alcohol for mom, and scratchy lotteries for dad? Remember how after that, you still tried to talk me into putting on my cap and gown and taking pictures at the park so that you would have pictures? (To your credit, you didn't push it when I said HELL FUCKING NO. Granted, I also didn't tell you the full truth that it was sheerly out of spite, because if I didn't get a graduation, no way in hell did you deserve pictures of an event that didn't happen.)

Hey, how about that one??? How about the fact that you fucking normalized addiction for me all my life, so that after watching you guys blow all our money on that shit, to the point we LOST OUR FUCKING HOUSE (yeah, real convenient to blame the 2008 recession when the foreclosure happened in 2010!) and after so many nights once I turned 18 when mom would drink and dad would bring me to the casino for a fucking break, how about the fact that I started struggling with it too? And then after I once lost my entire paycheck gambling, I came to you saying I'd realized I struggled with it too and entered GA and talked to my counselor about it so it would never happen again (and in fact while I have relapsed on gambling I have never blown more than $30 in a gambling binge since that day), and then you proceeded to FORGET it, and when I came home to visit you REPEATEDLY suggested going to casinos? I don't even use COOKING WINE when I visit because I care so much about mom's sobriety, but you can't fucking REMEMBER that I struggle with gambling long enough to not do that? I CALLED YOU AFTER THE SUPER BOWL saying that I was buying myself an imported plushie from Japan as my reward to myself for not relapsing, and you still can't be bothered to remember? But you sure as fuck remember my sister doesn't drink!

Oh, and speaking of you guys always fucking forgetting that I am hurt-able just as much as you are and am in fact my own person and NOT your fucking fixer! How about the fact that you repeatedly act surprised EVERY TIME I tell you I have anxiety? "YOU have anxiety?" YES! AND YOU ARE THE REASON I FUCKING HAVE IT! How can you be surprised I have anxiety when I literally spent a week in the hospital as a teen because I was suicidal. Literally how can any of this be a surprise. Did you think it just fucking went away? No, all that happened is that I stopped talking to you about any of it. Especially the fucking self-harm, on account of my sister starting to drink and do meth, and then starting to join you, mom, on terrorizing me. Did you forget the night she poured her beer on me, screamed at me that I was a 'faker' because she couldn't see me self-harm scars, and threw bits of meat at me because she wanted to upset me as a vegetarian? And the fact that you still let her stay with us after that? You must have been fucking thrilled to have a partner to fucking torment me with, mom. And then you both had the fucking nerve to mock me because I hid in my room all day and only come out for meals or for my classes at the community college. I was hiding FROM YOU, actually!!!

Speaking of addiction, how about you fucking smoking in the car constantly growing up, even despite me and my little brother being asthmatic. While constantly whining that the world is so hostile to smokers because we don't want to inhale your fucking poison. Thanks for the elevated risks of cancer from your secondhand smoke, really appreciate it.

Also, mom, fucking joke's on you! Remember those nights you'd fucking scream at me for not being girly enough? "Why don't you act like a real girl for once?" when I wouldn't start shaving my legs when I was going to take a swim class? "How can you be a girl if you don't do girly things, is it your long hair that makes you a girl?" Well fuck you, I'm not a girl. Eat my ass. I'm never telling you I'm not though. Even if I trusted you to be normal about trans people, I still remember how you fucking used my coming out as a lesbian to earn yourself brownie points online years after the fact. "My daughter told me she was gay, and I told her I already knew, and then she started to cry happy tears!" Bitch, I never once cried happy tears for you for any reason. What actually happened was that you and dad had a "cool, what do you want for dinner?" reaction, which I appreciated- BUT YOU FUCKING RUINED IT by trying to exaggerated it and then use it to get praise. So fuck you.

Also, hey, remember those times mom would throw me out of the house, often in the cold with no coat, and you, dad, would just let it happen? Fucking great times. Remember the times she threw things at me and you just said "leave the house as long as you can, I'll calm her down later"? Fucking wonderful. Thanks for the fucking support, dad, really.

Remember the times I'd take on your abuse, mom, to protect my younger brother? Remember the times I'd warn him to go hide and you'd scream at me for "interfering with your parenting"? And then you got mad when he started to see me more as a mom than you, and every time he had a discipline issue you'd yell at me to go deal with it because "you want to be his mom so bad, go be his mom" Remember the time I protected him, you screamed at me to leave, and then called up my grandma, told her I was attacking YOU and to call the cops (which she thankfully didn't do), kept the phone on while we were fighting so it would sound like I was the aggressor, pulled my hair, and fought so hard with me that it pulled my shirt off? This leading to my grandma labeling me a psychopath, threatening to say "what kind of person I really was" to the rest of the family, and leading me not to speak to her for years?

Remember when you, mom, heard me talking to my aunt making plans to move in with the in another state, and you wailing so hard that you were so sorry and you'd do better, only to stop the instant those plans were off the table?

Remember that time you, mom, walked in on me crying to my dad about shit you had pulled, and then glaring at me and saying "you're crying because I, what? Beat you?" before leaving?

Remember that time I had a UTI that wouldn't go away, requiring dad to bring me to urgent care twice in two weeks, and you, mom, screamed at me for "taking advantage of him"? Which led to me refusing to go to the doctor unless I absolutely had to because I was so afraid of people getting mad at me? And now you yell at me for never going to the doctor because while that shit rewired my entire brain chemistry, for you it was a fucking Tuesday?

Remember that time I was both really hungry and really tired after classes one day, so I asked my little brother to make me a sandwich, and then you, mom, screamed at me for acting like a "spoiled princess", making me feel like I am never allowed to ask anyone for anything no matter how small?

Remember when you both told us we could stay at home as long as we were either in college or working, and then when I announced my intentions to start working, you, mom, threatened to kick me out if I didn't do school, and then when I protested that I didn't want loan debt, snapped "everyone gets loan debt, suck it up" and then, after I started, laughed that you were never going to kick me out but you just wanted me to "get my life together"? Then later before I graduated with my two year degree tried to say it was because of you this was happening because you gave me that push? And then two days before graduation you had a crying fit in the kitchen because you were so devastated it wasn't my sister graduating?

Remember that time you, dad, were understandably upset and depressed after being abused by mom, but instead of getting therapy or divorcing her or literally anything, you decided to cry to me and then end the conversation by saying to ME, your CHILD, "if you had enough, you could kill yourself, but I'm stuck with her, you guys need me, I have no way out"?

Remember that time, mom, your best friend literally threatened to stop speaking to you if you kept treating me how you did, and rather than being a serious reality check for you, your takeaway was that I was "interfering with your friendships" and threatening that if I ever did that again, you'd find my best friend and tell her some of the bad things you think I had done?

Remember that time, mom, when I came to you upset about what my sister did to abuse my little brother, and you just snapped "you hurt him too!" and when I asked wtf you were on about, you said "you don't ever hug him!" when I was in fact refusing all physical contact from everyone but my toddler niece at that time due to the immense amounts of trauma you and everyone else in the family put me through? And rather than give me space to start feeling okay with it again, you encouraged my little brother to force me to hug him by blocking off the door to my room until I hugged him?

Remember how, mom, you admitted outright to trying to buy my sister's love? Remember how you arranged to have her meet some rescue guinea pigs in case she wanted one for her birthday, then when she got a snake instead, tried to cancel the meeting even though my birthday was very soon after, and it ended up being dad who said it was only fair I should be able to get one? Like could you make it any more obvious you'd fucking sell a kidney for her and would never do the same for me unless I had done something for you first? Could you make it any clearer that you just straight up can NOT stand to see me being any attention for two minutes of my life, even for birthdays or when I've achieved something huge, like, say, graduating with a Masters degree? But thanks for giving me lifelong issues with feeling selfish for asking even the tiniest bit, to the point that my therapist repeatedly had to tell me I wasn't selfish for wanting my family to fly out to see me graduate?

Speaking about graduations again, how about the fact that when I got my Bachelors degree, you, mom, yelled at me for wanting you there because flying would be too scary for you and my dad couldn't take enough time off of work to drive, and then when we realized COVID wasn't getting much better a year later and they were going to livestream the graduation, you yelled at me for saying that one of the few good things about COVID was that I could have you watching anyway, accusing me of "celebrating people dying so you could see it?"

How about the fact that you, mom lied about what happened, claiming that I flew my little brother out but never bothered to offer for you, when in fact I cried, begged, and offered to pay for the whole thing if that's what it took?

How about the fact that when I was presenting at an undergraduate research symposium for my major, you both said you weren't interested- not the issue, only some families watched the livestream anyway- but instead, you, mom, got mad when I later said I'd had my grandma watching, and denied you'd ever been invited? Because you only ever get mad when I include others in things you don't attend, either because you know it makes you look bad, or because you can't stand the thought that I could still enjoy celebrations without you?

How about the fact that you, mom, made me feel so guilty for trying to get you to come to my Masters degree graduation that I not only gave up entirely, but decided not to go myself? At least you, dad, had the decency to WANT to come and not make me out to be defective for thinking you should be there, even if you ultimately didn't fucking try hard enough to be there.

Remember the time, mom, right after I started college when you forced me to, when you demanded I use my student aid money to get you a bag of chips, and I said I couldn't because I didn't know how much books would cost yet, and then you yelled at me, and then I walked to the store and came back with the chips, and then you screamed at me that it wasn't about "the fucking Doritos" and then threw the bag at me and wouldn't touch them?

Remember that time, mom, when I introduced you via phone call to a girl I was seeing, and you immediately made the whole conversation about my sister, about how she was such a good person and you could tell this girl would really like her when they met? To the point that this girl finally texted me "I'M DATING YOU, NOT SAMMY'S SISTER! Why am I hearing all about your sister and not one thing about you, even an embarrassing story about you as a baby?" and left the phone call? And how you, dad, let it all happen, never once trying to stop her or redirect the conversation?

Remember, mom, when you needed dental surgery but couldn't afford it, so I took out a loan for you to get the surgery, and said my only ask was that you and dad pay it back on your own, and then you and dad only made TWO payments, I had to make the rest, and then when I stopped being able to afford it, you STILL didn't pay it, until the account got closed, my credit score took a hundred-point ding, and I got barred from ever having that line of credit again, meaning I can't use it for myself if I ever need a medical loan?

Remember ALL the fucking times all of you fucking used me as a therapist, and then when it was me, it was "YOU have anxiety?!" in the most shocked voice imaginable? I will say, it was nice of you to send a care package during that time my panic attacks were so bad I was having literally two a day for two months and I lost ten pounds, but you maybe... I don't know... could have like. Tried. To understand me as a person well enough to understand it was NO FUCKING SURPRISE I had anxiety, and "you're always the most put together of us all" is because THAT IS WHAT I HAD TO DO TO GET YOU THROUGH THIS FUCKING SHIT ALIVE, and I hid my emotions from all of you because they were only ever used to fucking hurt me! And even after that time things went right back to normal, as evidenced by your constant 'forgetting' what I told you about struggling with gambling.

I don't even know how to end this, to be honest. I'm fucking tired and well past the point of realizing that if I wasn't your kid, I wouldn't like you. In fact, if you were the parents of one of my friends instead and you treated them the way you treated me, I'd probably despise you and would do anything I could to help that friend leave. There's a reason my life got so much better when I left you guys and moved to the other side of the country. I still visit you a lot because, in spite of everything, I do fucking love you, and I know you're getting older and won't be around forever. But honestly, if it wasn't for me feeling so responsible for you, me feeling like your wellbeing was my responsibility... If it wasn't for all the issues I got growing up with you two where I felt, still feel, like my happiness is the least important thing and like anything bad that happens to this family is my fault by default, and like I'm a 'bad person' who 'mistreats' you any time I have boundaries and like I have some kind of duty to prove to you that I am better than drunk-mom thought I was by always taking care of the family issues to my own detriment... I would have cut contact years ago and never looked back. I barely talk to my older siblings. Maybe one day I'll be brave enough to entirely cut out everyone but my little brother. Or at least brave enough to tell you guys you've been fucking awful family to me, and often bad people too.

Mom, you fucking loved to read the Giving Tree to us when we were little. I used to think it was a really sweet story about the sacrifices of love. And then I got older and realized... huh. Why is it only the tree who ever does anything for the boy? Why doesn't the boy ever water her or plant other trees by her to keep her company? Why does it only ever go one way? Why does the tree only have duties to the boy just like I only have things I owe to you and not the other way around? And shouldn't it worry you/me/us that the story ends with the tree reduced to a stump that will probably die in a few years? And then it started making even more sense why you still love the damn book and read it to your grandkids when they visit, and I'm fucking horrified at it. The longer time goes on the more I see "but we're a family" ONLY ever goes one way. It's never "but we're a family" when I need you. It's only "but we're a family" when you need me to give up more and more for you all.

I'm fucking tired. And I really was willing to keep on going like the stupid fucking tree when I thought you were changing for the better. When you, mom, gave up drinking, and when you, dad, stopped enabling her shit. We worked so fucking hard to restore the trust. And that was the first time you started like... letting me have boundaries and you guys apologized to me and admitted none of that was okay. You got into counseling and started working on yourselves. And then you stopped. And it's really starting to fucking show. For now, it's just mom starting all the same old shit again... but I know how this story ends and I know that sooner or later it's going to be you, dad, enabling mom again at my expense. And I feel like the biggest idiot for ever thinking things would be okay as long as mom stayed away from alcohol. There's a reason folks in recovery talk about "dry drunks" and other equivalents. Because drinking didn't make you, mom, a bad person, you already were and it just removed the inhibitions that made you pretend. And you can remove those inhibitions just as well without it. You won't tell me you wish me dead without a drink, no, but you'll use and abuse me just as much, you'll scapegoat me just as much, you'll favor my sister just as much.

I messaged my little brother during one of my visits last year that I was so put off by how I felt loved, how I felt shocked that I could ask for favors or whatever else and not be yelled at for it and actually have it done to boot... and just that quick you slid back into what you used to be.

I'm really tired of asking you for just... the littlest things, okay? Dad, you at least... will see me and care about me. Like... you fucked up before, but at least I can still say without hesitation that you love me, no matter how bad you did fuck up. You actually care when I tell you about my struggles with job hunting, and I actually believe you when you say you're proud of my accomplishments. But when mom acts actively maliciously, you just don't care, and never have cared enough to stop her. You let her do all those things to me before and after. And it will never be any different.

Isn't it ironic? Because for all mom fucking abused me all my life for her suspicion that you and I, dad, loved each other more than we loved her, you and I both know that's never been true. You fought for her, but neither of you ever would for me. You were okay with me moving across the country to escape, but you would never leave her to keep us- me- safe. Not that it would have been okay for her to treat me the way she did even if I was the one you loved more, but it was never true. You'd never let me treat her the way she treated me. Ever.

So what the fuck do I do now? I hate that fucking Giving Tree book but there are times where I just feel like I'm too tired to stop any of this. Why should I have to be the bad guy and be the one to say this is the end? Maybe that's why the tree ended up as a stump in that stupid fucking book. Maybe the tree was just too tired to tell that stupid fucking brat, no, you can buy some fucking apples at the grocery store like everybody else. And maybe the tree was fully aware that no one cared about it unless it had something to give the stupid fucking brat, too, so what was the point of leaving anything for itself if either way it was never going to be fucking appreciated?

... Whatever.

I guess you're okay with how things are, anyway, because you always have been, even when things were 100 times worse. And I mean, let's be honest, I was always the only one who wasn't okay with it, for obvious reasons. And that in turn led to me being scapegoated worse and hurt worse. Everyone else was willing to play happy family, and I wasn't because I was being hurt the worst, but that meant everyone else kept lashing out at me worse because I was the one making a fuss and trying to tell family secrets outside the family and shit like that. So what does it matter anyway? It's always the same whether any of you are drinking or not. I'm the only one who sees a problem, always, so that means I'm the real problem.

Whatever. If you guys are happy with broken things, even when you started fixing them and saw how good things could be, I guess I can go back to pretending to be okay with broken shit too. I at least have a best friend, who is more my sister than the one who shares my DNA, who sees that I deserve more than broken shit, and maybe if I'm lucky one day I'll have a partner or someone who sees it too. And maybe if I keep doing things to fix my broken things, like therapy, maybe you guys will decide you want to start fixing things again too. Because despite everything you've done, I think you deserve better than broken shit too. I think you deserve better than just being passive aggressive with each other when you have problems, which inevitably grows into you yelling at each other. I think you deserve a happier and more stable marriage than that. I think you deserve to have hobbies and friends and things that get you to leave the house sometimes for things besides work and grocery shopping. Dad, I know you used to be a social butterfly and loved doing your sports leagues until mom forbade you from leaving her. You're a little too old for a lot of sports anymore, but maybe you could still find something to do. There's senior centers around you could maybe do stuff at. I think you deserve better than what you do to yourselves just as much as I deserve better than what you've done to me too. But I also know as well as you do that fixing things takes energy and sometimes it's easier to live with the broken things than it is to fix them. So I get it, too.

But I wish you would go back to how it was the last few years where I didn't get broke worse by talking to you. I miss the things you'd tell me you learned from your therapists. I miss hearing you catching yourselves when you'd do something like violate a boundary. I miss you realizing that some of the stuff you put me and my siblings through wasn't okay. I miss the Twitter posts you used to make, mom, about how you know it's kind of too late to not perpetrate the cycle that you went through with your stepdad, but that you're still going to try to fix it. I miss that side of you. The side of you that at least tried to be better than what you were when you were drinking. Now I think you've given up, I guess because of the health issues making you too tired to fight anymore, I don't know.

I'll be here as long as I can, I guess. Maybe you'll figure it out or maybe you won't or maybe things will go right back to how they were when I first moved out, with mom calling me every night to scream at me and dad just giving a milquetoast "I'd better go make sure she doesn't hurt herself, have a good night, love you sweetie." I guess that's up to you. But I can't promise you I'll be able to sit here forever. I was a teenager then, but now I'm an adult with a graduate degree, and I think I'm ready to start looking for a partner and maybe start a family one day, and I won't always have the energy or time to do the stuff I do for you now. Or who knows, maybe I'll be the fucking stump tree at the end of that stupid fucking Giving Tree book because I'm too tired and too scared to ever properly stand up to you. I guess that part is up to me, just like the rest is up to you.

I'm tired. I miss what we had the last few years. Please don't give up on that. I miss feeling like I actually have two parents who love me.

[pinky-mouse]

The Sorrow of The Blue (Prt. 2)

Note: Sorry if this is very erratic looking. (T-T)

“You can’t just—just abduct random people!” Pearl squawked, her hands grasping at her hair as if she were ready to rip it out. Knowing her, she probably was.

“I didn’t abduct anyone,” You reply, a little taken aback by everyone’s reaction. Your face becomes crestfallen as you look around you. “I just wanted the human to meet you all. He was so wonderful to me, I thought that I should share his wisdom with you all.”

Before Pearl could get another incoherent stammer out, the door to the house swung open.

“Blue!” Greg frantically rushes out of his coastal home, his son Steven following behind him.

You smile again, looking hopeful as you bend down to look at him at a more suitable level. “Hello again, Greg. It’s been a while.”

“Hi to you too,” He nods, a trickle of sweat running down his forehead as he looks at the older man next to your form. “Blue, you can’t just take whoever you please.”

“I didn’t take him, he came willingly.” You replied softly, your eyebrows turning upward with disappointment again. “He didn’t protest at all. And he reminded me so much of you, I thought you two should become acquainted.”

Everyone around you, minus Steven and the older gentleman who you had not taken the time to know the name of sighed and shook their head.

“What’s the matter?” You ask wearily. You felt so isolated and alone all of a sudden. You’ve done something wrong again, haven’t you?

The lump in your throat returned, and you couldn’t swallow it down. Your droopy eyes began to dampen, and unbeknownst to you, the environment around began to envelop in the blue embrace of your persistent despair and hurt.

“I’m sorry,” You murmur, large tears rolling down your cheeks. “I’m sorry, please don’t look at me like that…”

No matter how many times you’ve (accidentally) affected the gems with your sorrowful energy, they’ve never gotten used to it. It was like an anchor, weighing them down to the furthest depths of the dark and cold ocean.

And that was just a crumb of your pain. Even though your ability was so strong, you still bore the brunt of it all. Nobody could understand— fathom your agony.

Except Steven. “It’s okay,” He said quietly to you, snapping you out of your daze. His hand, which was so small in comparison to your giantess figure, pressed against your cloak. “you’re going to be okay, Blue. Just tell us what happened.”

You wiped your eyes, your lips parted slightly in awe at how quickly the boy took you out of that pit of self deprecation. He was so much like Pink. You almost shed a few more tears before you shook your head.

No, answer the question. You told yourself. Stop crying, that’s enough. You’ve done enough harm already.

“I was traveling through the human cities. And I found myself in a dark little place called Gotham City.” You say slowly, as if you can’t remember what you’ve done or have been to.

“I felt so…so helpless there. There’s so much suffering there, and I couldn’t bear to witness it anymore. So I found somewhere quiet to rest.” You look for the man you had taken with you from New Jersey all the way to Beach City, a place near Ocean City, Maryland.

You don’t seem him anywhere.

“Where is the human?” You question, your eyebrow raising as you look around him. Just as you had gone from bashful to distraught, your attitude was quickly souring. “Where has he gone off to?”

Greg was missing as well.

Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Steven watched you get yourself worked up silently.

Your fists clenched at your sides. “Why will none of you answer me? Where is the human?”

“He’s with my dad, inside.” Steven speaks up, his hand never leaving the fabric of your garments. “Don’t worry, he’s just helping Alfred get back to his family.”

“Family?” You repeat, your own hands loosening. “Alfred, his name is Alfred. How peculiar. You humans have the strangest names.”

“Uh, sorry?” The fourteen year old apologizes sheepishly, not sure what else he could say.

Garnet shifts, her hand going up to adjust her silver shades. “You,” She begins in her cool tone. “took the butler of Bruce Wayne.”

Everyone goes silent, the only things being heard was the sounds of the waves softly crashing against the shore and the seagulls flying overhead.

“WHAT!?” Pearl wails as Amethyst snorts. “YOU KIDNAPPED A BUTLER!?”

Even Steven gasps. “The billionaire?”

“What, what’s happening?” You ask. Is there supposed to be some significance to this? You don’t get it. “Bruce Wayne? Who is that?”

“An elite, very powerful businessman.” Pearl breathes, she looks as if she’s going to faint.

Amethyst chimes in. “Yeah, we’re probably going to get into a lot of trouble when he gets here.”

Despite everything that’s happened with Steven and the Crystal Gems, a majority of people outside the city didn’t know they existed. At all. So you kidnapping the servant of a prestigious human man was going to blow everyone’s cover.

“I’m sorry,” You sigh, running a hand down your arm. You didn’t have the energy to cry. Or do anything else, really. “I’m very sorry, everyone.”

“We-we’ll figure something out, don’t worry!” Steven says encouragingly. You almost smile, had it not been for the way he immediately turned to the others with a look of worry.

Of course he was looking at you like that. Like you were pitiful. You were.

You needed to leave, you’ve done more harm than good at this point.

As you went around to the back of the house, you shrunk your form so that you were no longer as large and problematic as you had once been.

You had no clue how long you had been sitting on that large rock, letting the ocean water splash against the hem of your clothings. You still didn’t crying you refused to.

You held your head in your hands, a headache worming its way into your body. Whispers etched themselves into your mind, and your chest tightened.

The only thing that brought you back to the real world was the yelling coming from Steven, and as you lifted your head, you heard his words more clearly.

The boy was running to you, his hand outstretched and a look of fear on his face as he cried, “No! Don’t!”

‘Don’t, what?’ You wanted to ask, but before you could get the words out, before you could turn your head to see who he was pleading to, you felt a piercing stab in your stomach.

You looked down, mouth agape as you saw the sharp blade sticking out of you. Just you blinked, your mind catching up with your eyes, you went *(Poof!)*

And your gem splashed into the icy waters of the ocean.

[thebottomfromhell]

Hello. I’m very like your blog. It’s very interested to read. English is not my first language so if I accidentally write something wrong the meaning or some words wrong the pronunciation, please forgive for my mistake.

I’m wondering if you can please do like the Uppermoons accidentally hurt their female human reader who is the love of their life. Like they’re having an argument with the reader and they accidentally hurt their reader feeling or their self-esteem or attack their reader, not on purpose (maybe) and their reader dislike that so they just leaving them.

And in one night, the Uppermoons just go in their reader house as usual to find them but they’re not there and the Uppermoons just couldn’t find them anywhere by that.

It’s a pleasure for me to know that you gladly to it and once again. I’m very love your blog, it’s very interested to read it :]

I'm glad you are liking my posts, I'm sorry this took so long to come out, also I excluded Hantengu's main body because I didn't know how to add him to this prompt. I hope you like it.

Also, I wanted to add Nakime but she would not fir in the prompt, both in saying something hurtful to someone she actually cares about and, most importantly, letting you leave 🥲 I need to write a One-Shot of her with how little I know how to add her in things 😭 Hantengu main Body is also not here for that same reason.

Uppermoons (minus Hantengu main body & Nakime) hurt Female Human Reader and she leaves

Warnings: Manga spoilers, Sad endings,Toxic relationships, Verbal abuse, Excesive use of violence and Threads of death to reader.

Gyutaro (ft. Daki):

"I'M TELLING YOU HE DOESN'T LOVE YOU MORE THAN HE LOVES ME! HE IS MY ONII-CHAN! YOU ARE JUST A WEAK UGLY HUMAN! HE WILL LIVE WITHOUT YOU WEEL ENOUGH SOONER OR LATER NO MATTER WHAT!" Daki doesn't like you, you knew that from the start, she alwaya tries to get in between you and Gyutaro. You have tried telling him that she is constantly being awful to you, but besides telling her to be nicer, he doesn't do anything. He doesn't scold her, punish her or even take your side on the argument.

You have had enough, you don't even remember your exact words, but you told Daki off. You called her a brat, a bitch, a parasyte and said worthless and useless somewhere in between, that is what you remember, and the next thing you knew Daki started crying. That was enough for Gyutaro to show up and start comforting her, giving you the nasty eye. "What did you expect me to do? Just stand there while being insulted? You never defend me!" But Gyutaro is not taking it. "FUCK OFF! NE!"

He faces you, angry. "You think you can compete with her?! Ne? Insult her?! My sister is worth more than ten times what you and your worthless species are!" He didn't even look regretful after telling you that and... it hurt, it hurt a lot, knowing that he thinks that of you and... you already figured out you were only second to Daki, and being told that... "FINE! GO FUCK YOURSELF, YOU UGLY PRICK! I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN NOT TO WASTE MY TIME WITH THE LIKES OF YOU!" And you leave, not planing in coming back, Gyutaro knows that, so he won't look for you. He will only stop Daki from hurting you one last time, but besides that? It's over.

Gyokko:

He says a lot of hurtful things when he gets upset, sometimes he says those things even when he is happy or bored. He doesn't like to hold his tongue, but he adores inflicting pain on others. Sometimes it's not even on purpose, he just has already rooted into his brain that.. well, you are a human, he is Upper 5. There is a difference, he is superior, in his mind, and can't comprehend why he would hide that thoughts. It's not that he constantly reminds you how he feels, it just casually comes up, but it still hurts.

You don't even remember what it was this time, you are probably mixing memories and if someone asked you to repeat what he said, you would not be able to do it, you just starting packing up your things and leaving. You can stay in a close inn, but you are not taking his crap a single more day. When he goes to your home, he finds it alone. "Mn? She left? How come she didn't tell me! Bet the stupid human forgot." It took him a few days for him to realize you left for good.

"That little BITCH! WHO DOES SHE THINK SHE IS!" He destroys your home, angry, his pride being more hurt than him, but that is still unacceptable. "The next time I see her, SHE DIES!"

Sekido:

Sekido says a lot of mean things when he is angry, and he is always angry. This is not the first time he calls you names, even if you were ok by this at first, it was general stuff like "little shit" or "woman", nothing really offensive in your book, but then... then the names became more personal. He started using personal information. The talk of the folk, your parents dissapointments, your ex's words, anything that would get under your skin. All of that because he is angry, and feeling the need of taking it out or something or someone.

"You know what?! I'm done! Get out!" He looks at you as if you were the one who offended him, as you were the problem. "Excuse me?" You don't want to hear it. "I SAID GET OUT! OUT OF MY HOUSE! LEAVE!" You start throwing things, desperate for him to leave, screaming, almost crying, as you feel your eyes hurt. After a while, he is gone... you have some minutes to relax... more or least. You breath harshly, trying to calm down, knowing he will return sooner or later. That is when you decide to grab your things and leave, go somewhere else.

By the time Sekido is back, you are gone... and he starts yo trash out your home. Everything is thrown, burned, ripped... your home... "Fuck her! If she wants to leave then that's her deal! Fucking useless human!" Sooner or later another clone will come to calm him down, but he won't be able to control himself the next time he sees you. You will be dead by then.

Karaku:

Karaku is not particulary hurtful, even if he is not careful with his words (unless he wants something), but he is nice, not good, but nice. Sometimes he makes jokes that might or might not be funny, it really depends. Again, he is not sensoring himself, so dark jokes might be offensive sometimes, specially considering his attitude towards humans. Sometimes it makes you feel.. a bit less, the way he talks about other humans around you, as if you and your kind where pigs or dogs.

Your have told him before, and he always says he will stop.... he never does. "Man, it's like they are all wanting to die. I mean, can you imagine running TOWARDS your natural predator? Only humans. I wonder how they got so far being so dumb.." He laughs and something inside you snaps, you look at him and know you can't continue like this. You don't say anything, just leave. Karaku doesn't follow you. You get home and pack your things, you need some space and safety, so you decide to spend some nights with someone close.

When he goes to your home, looking for you, you're gone. He looks for you inside, repeating several times the same places. He also looked in some odd places like the bathtub, under the bed and the wardrobe. Nothing. He went to look for you again the next night, and the next, and the next. The fourth night he got bored and decided to look for something else to do. He will move on.

Urogi:

Urogi hurts you a lot, but it's all physical and accidentally. You didn't think him able to use something intimate against you, but he did. You know you won't be getting an apology, he won't understand what he did was wrong. Come to think about it, there is a lot of harm he doesn't understand as hurtful. You were just remembering what he told you, trying to joke but only being offensive.

You thought about it, several time, if he did it once he can do it again, he will do it again. Also... is this how you want to spend the rest of your life? Trying to educate your partner? Is that what you want, girl? No. Not really, so, you decided to stop thinking about it and leave. You pack your things and leave over day, when he is away, and won't be able to follow you. You go somewhere else, staying with someone for a while, but you are not dtanding it any longer.

"Y/N! I'm back!" But you are already gone. He looks for you in the house to decide to wait for you, not understanding where you left or why. He waits in your house for days and nights, like a dog waiting for his owner. He really doesn't know why you are gone, but still thinks you might return if he waits. In the end the rest of the clones have to take him forcefully out of your housez destroying part of it in the process. Karaku says Urogi will heal with time, that he will forget you if they find him someone else. So they start looking.

Aizetsu:

Aizetsu is hurtful when he wants to be and only when he wants to be. It's cold, calculated, deep and meaningful. He can't help itz the fact that, that sadder, the most rooted is inside him. He barely does, but he knows how to make others sad, just like he is the sorrow clone. He doesn't like it, but sometimes... sometimes he just want others to feels as sad as they make him, even if it's not their fault, just his very nature as clone.

"Honestly, stop acting as if I couldn't kill you in a snap, don't forget you are just a sad human. Don't patronize me." Said one day he was feeling tired, tried to evade you but you kept following, trying to urge him to talk to you. You both stayed quiet a seconds before you leave, making him sigh. He is there when you start packing up your things, he can hear you, even if you think you are quiet. He knows you intend to go and not return.

And he does nothing about it. He doesn't even say goodbye or watch you leave, only sits and take pity on both. He is the sorrow clone, so the sadness of you leaving doesn't chsnge anything on him. He will move on, but for now he will mourn.

Akaza:

Akaza cares, you know that he does. Part of you feels guilty by this sense of hurt and betrayal when he hasn't done anything. He has never even glanced at other women, talked about others, Akaza is nothing but devoted to you, always ready to comfort, to nurture you. Then why you feel as if he is emotionally cheating on you? There is no other woman, but part of you knows... you ARE the other woman. And it hurts.

He loves you, but you can tell there is someone else he loves more, someone he misses and couldn't be with. You sometimes feel as you are nothing but a replacement. You try to comfort yourself, Akaza also comforts you when you feel bad, assuring you that there is no other woman, that he doesn't meet with anyone else. It's odd, because he is saying the truth, but at the same time.... "Koyuki." He said her name one day instead of yours, and that was all you needed.

"Y/N. Y/N! Please! I'm sorry! I don't know what came to me!" He apologies, almost crying, as you pack up, clearly wanting to stop you but afraid of hurting you if he touches you. You don't listen, you pack your things, only talking to him at the door. "It's over, Akaza. Don't follow me." And he obeys, he just stays there, crying for another missing love.

Douma:

Douma is... it's complicated, he really doesn't know better, because he doesn't know pain the same way you do. He doesn't know that pain... it's bad, you can't even start to comprehend how he doesn't understand that people don't like to be hurt, when he is above pain, sickness and death? When he can't feel anything. That is actually a big insecurity in the relationship, the fact that a traitorous voice in the back of your head reminds your "He can't feel anything, not even love towards you".

You have no idea why you did it, why you thought it was a good idea to ask, to voice out your insecurities... "Douma, what do you think about me? How do you feel for me?" but you did, and it was a mistake. He looks at you a few seconds, only to laught a bit. "Honestly? You are a bit interesting, nothing too much impressive, but I do enjoy being with you. I will make sure to eat you once I have got enough of you, though. I bet you will taste wonderful."

He probably thought he was complimenting you, but you didn't feel it that way. You felt unsafe and hurt, so you decided to leave when he wasn't looking in plain daylight. Douma doesn't look for you, but... if some night, when he is out to kill boredom and time, he finds you... the you will die.

Kokushibou:

Kokushibou ignores you, a lot. He also talks very little. Most part of the relationship you feel it as one-sided, you always have to reach out and even there you feel like you are not appreciated. Sometimes he even ignores you or look at you as if you did something wrong just by greeting him, as if you were annoying, a burden. You have tried to tell him, but as always, it seems to fall on deaf ears. This is not going to last, you know that.

All it took it was one time of him voicing ip this feelinsg instead of giving you a side-eye for you to have enough. "Would you stop bothering me, woman? I want to concentrate." And that was it, after the silent months, you had your limit. You went back home and packed your things to stay with a friend, you need to be with someone that shows care towards you. That is what you tell yourself.

After a month of you not going after him, Kokushibou decides to look after you. Then he finds you are not home, at first he worries, but seeing some of your things missings, he knows you did your choice. It's not his problem anymore then, so he leaves and never comes back. All with the same silence as always.

[imagine-silk]

Yandere Fallout Guys with a darling having been Kidnapped by Raiders, please?

》There is no better header than this one for this.

【Codsworth】 "This is unacceptable! How could this happen under your watch?"

What he means is his watch. As much as he's projecting he is the main force and advocate for your rescue. He goes to the current authority to demand ask for help. He tells them everything he knows, which is very helpful. What the attackers looked like, how they got in, what they said while they were there, etc. As soon as your back he, carefully and tearfully, hugs you. He takes you home after thanking everyone involved in your rescue personally and draws you a bath. You'll be treated like a king for the next few days, minus the fact he doesn't let you leave the house.

【Danse】 "This place really is unsalvageable."

All the Wasteland does is take and take until you have nothing. But he doesn't have the Brotherhood to back him to this mission. Not that the Brotherhood would go for that, being captured is weak. He goes on a rampage, killing everything in his path. He has no idea where you are but every mutant or person in his way gets shot. No one can contest him when he's like this because he took power armor.

【Deacon】 "Boss told me to let this one go. Ransom went through."

Of course he sneaks in and just gets you out. Was that ever in doubt. He dresses as one of them and lies his way out. Before anyone can verify your both already gone. That's as far as it goes... that's what you think. The food and water they have is suddenly making everyone sick and a lock underneath the compound is busted. None of them are fast enough to react when ghouls flood in through the busted lock.

【Hancock】 "I'm feelin' pretty merciful so I'm just gonna kill you. Not you though. This was your idea after all."

There are a lot of things that describe him, vindictive is one of them. He constantly parades you around and won't go more than an hour to mention you, everyone knows you aren't up for grabs. The only reason he didn't torture everyone involved in taking you is the fact it would take time and he didn't want to use that time to be away from you. So he has his town take you home and he follows soon after. There's still blood on him when he kisses you.

【MacCready】 "You took the wrong person."

There are exactly two people he cares about; his son and you. Everyone else isn't his problem. The second they took you they might as well have put a target on their foreheads and stood in front of him. You'll be there for about a week while he watches them, learning how they operate, then he takes them out one by one quickly and quietly at the end of the week. However, if you are beaten during the time he's watching he will mark whoever participated in his mind and they will die slow.

【Nick】 "Sorry about this."

It takes him no time to find out where you are and negotiate a ransom. He does know who half of them are. That doesn't save them however. He gives them the payment and takes you but the second they open the container of caps it sets off a chain reactions and the compound is destroyed. Of course it's not ideal to kill that many people but sometimes he needs to make a point.

【Preston】 "All settlements that can spare people send them to the Castle."

He was never one for war but if the raiders thought they could get away with kidnapping the General's spouse and hold them ransom he needed to march on the Commonwealth. He didn't care about the message farther than 'do not touch them'. After years of serving the Commonwealth most simply thought this was a natural progression and he was justified in doing it. The overwhelming support he got was enough to move a mountain. And when you got back he doted on you like nothing changed.

【Travis Miles】 "The radio is down for the time being. Until the safe rescue of [Name]."

He tried to rally the city for you but that didn't work so he decided to hold the radio hostage until the authorities did something. It wasn't his idea, the Bobrov brothers gave that to him, but he followed through. Last time he tried to be the hero he had your help but he decided he would come to your rescue with the others. The sight of Travis covered in blood is something you thought you'd never see.

【X6】 "I failed to keep our promise. I would apologize if I felt it was necessary."

After the Institute was taken down you told him he didn't need to kill people anymore. He didn't agree, seeing as people are killed in the Wasteland everyday, but he promised he wouldn't hurt anyone. When you were taken he couldn't stop it because he wasn't armed. He couldn't get to you fast enough while trying to focus on nonlethal means. To remedy this injustice he armed himself and killed every single raider in his path to get you back. There is a silent 'I told you so' while he walks you back.

【Vadim & Yefim】 "I told you not to rush in, Vadim. Let's get you two out of here."

Vadim rushed in immediately after he learned where you were from a patron who told him. Yefim tried to stop him but he didn't listen. He was captured along side you. Yefim was able to rally the city and save the both of you. Don't ask how he was able to convince the new mayor, he won't give you an answer. Vadim also tells you not to worry about it so he knows. At the end of the day they don't let you out of their sight for more than ten minutes. Vadim will also play up his injuries to guilt you into doting on him. Yefim however will ask you to stay close to him because he's too tired to chase after you again, do this favor for him, you owe him that at least.

[bambolinawrites]

I caught the L-O-V-E

Pairing: Katsuki Bakugou x femme!reader (reader has a pussy, uses she/her pronouns and is referred to as a girl/woman)

1.6K words

Synopsis: enemies to lovers, reader wants him but tries to fight it. Set in a quirkless AU where they're in their second year of college. This will have more parts once I write them lol

Warnings: language, mentions of drugs, mentions of sex, f!masturbation, drinking, reader gets drunk, breeding mentions, reader imagines having sex with Bakugou

MINORS DNI

Math should be illegal; you think to yourself as you toss your maths book and pencil across the room. You're in college, why should you have to learn trigonometry? You're never going to use it.  

You groan and lean back in your chair, cracking your knuckles behind your head. There's a weird stain on the ceiling that's been there since you moved in, you and Ochako used to lie on the floor and try and guess where it came from. You'd joke about how it kind of looked like Aizawa when he used his powers.  

There hasn't been a lot of joking going on lately. Both you and Ochako are so stressed about the exams you've hardly said two words to each other, if you're honest you kind of miss her. Ochako is the first real friend you've ever had, spending most of your childhood and teenage years alone in your bedroom reading and playing with your gerbils, Dasher and Dancer. Now you feel like that same lonely kid again.  

A knock on the door drags you out of your thoughts and you get up to answer it before you can get too sad. You leave your books (minus your maths book) on the kitchen table and pad barefoot towards the door to your apartment. You and Ochako decided to move off campus for your second year so you could feel more independent. Also, because it was cheaper.  

You swing open the door expecting to see Izuku, Ochako's kind-of-but-not-really boyfriend. Instead, the doorway is taken up by a muscular, and kind of angry looking blonde. In jeans and a black tank top that showed off his huge biceps, his spikey hair falling in his face, his vermillion eyes trained on you. He may be the most attractive man you have ever seen.  

You know who he is obviously, Katsuki Bakugou. You've seen him hanging around Kirishima and the other 'frat bros'. He's supposed to be one of the smartest in your college, always coming in the top 5. From what Ochako's said, he's slept with every girl on campus too.  

"You gonna keep starin' at me, sweetheart, or are ya gonna invite me in?"  

His slightly irritated voice snaps you out of your thoughts and you realise you've been staring at him this entire time. Your cheeks flush red and you babble apologies as you step to the side to allow him to come in. You figure he's probably here for Ochako and hope he's not a serial killer.  

"Need to speak to Ochako, go get her." He demands as if you're a waitress who got his order wrong. You're taken aback by his tone but decide to ignore it.  

"She's not here." You say, folding your arms over your chest, hyperaware of the stain on your hoodie. You think it's pizza sauce but can't be sure. You can't study without this hoodie and lately all you've been doing is studying so it's been a while since it's seen a washing machine.  

"What do you mean 'she's not here'. She's supposed to help me with something now go get her." He snaps at you. You blink at the aggression and straighten your back.  

"I told you; I can't go get her. She isn't here." You seethe trying to stay calm. Bakugou steps forwards and you resist the urge to shy away. He stops when you're practically nose to nose and you can see him clench his jaw in frustration.  

"Well, where the fuck is she then?" He barks, so close you can smell his toothpaste and aftershave. Mint and burnt sugar. You tilt your chin up and glare back at him. There is no way in hell you are going to let a man talk to you like that in your own damn house.  

"I don't know where she is, but you can go and wait for her somewhere else." You grab his vest and begin to drag him towards the door. His eyes widen in surprise and you've no doubt that's the only reason he lets you drag him.  

"The fuck do you think you're doing?" He looks utterly bewildered, like he's never heard the word no once in his life. It would be comical if you weren't so pissed off.  

"I'm kicking you out. This is my house and I'll be dammed if I let a man walk all over me in it." With that you give him one last push out the front door and slam it in his face, slipping the chain on the hook for good measure.  

 

When Ochako gets back and you explain everything she laughs for a good twenty minutes straight. You were afraid she might be mad at you but she seems delighted.  

"You're definitely not mad?" You check when she calms down. She lets out another soft giggle and shakes her head.  

"Hey, I'm just glad someone finally put him in his place." And then she's in hysterics again and you can't fight the grin that spreads across your face.  

 

You don't see Bakugou again until Ochako drags you to a party under the guise of 'letting off steam' when you know all she really wants is to see Izuku. You pull on a tight black dress that shows off a lot more cleavage than your used to and follow her to the party anyway.  

It's at the same dumb frat house Bakugou lives at but you honestly couldn't care less. And yes, maybe part of that is the vodka shots you, Ochako and Izuku did before you left but part of it is also because you refuse to be afraid of a man like Bakugou.  

You walk through the doors and the music is so loud you can feel it in your chest. Weirdly, you kind of like it. Ochako and Izuku immediately disappear to God knows where but you try not to mind. You think they're cute together and you want Ochako to be happy, even if that means leaving you on your own.  

You make your way to the kitchen and pour yourself a vodka coke, classic and it'll get the job done is what you think. You lean against the counter and survey the scene before you. This isn't the first party you've been to but it's definitely the biggest. From here you can see at least two people having sex, three doing drugs, at least seven people passed out and someone doing the macarena to a Nicki Minaj song. The whole scene makes you want to laugh.  

You haven't seen Bakugou yet, not that you've been looking for him. It's just that if you'd seen him, you definitely would've recognised him. But you definitely weren't looking. You take a sip of your drink.  

 

A while later, when you're drunk enough to forget any anxiety, someone changes the track in the middle of some indie slow song with misogynistic overtones and Sabrina Carpenter’s Nonsense comes on and you let out a little squeal. This song has been your obsession as of late.  

You abandon your cup and run into the living room and start dancing. You've never been a particularly good dancer, far too clumsy for that but the alcohol makes you forget that and your start to have fun for the first time all night. Maybe all year. 

You're still dancing wildly three songs later when you smack into the wooden coffee table and start to fall over. You feel a strong pair of hands grab you by the waist and right you on your feet. You spin round a little too quickly with the intention of thanking the person but you wobble a little and they have to right you again.  

You giggle and look up, your eyes meeting a familiar pair of vermillion eyes. You gasp a little and then curse yourself for being stupid. It's his house, of course he was going to be here. Before you can say anything, Bakugou smirks at you, his large hands still on your waist, squeezing slightly.  

"You should be more careful, doll." He chides and then walks away. You watch him disappear somewhere in the crowd and leave you wondering what the fuck just happened.  

 

You go home that night, tipsy and still thinking about Bakugou and his big, strong hands. You own hands make their way down your body and below the waistband of your pyjamas. Your mind cloudy with thoughts of Bakugou's much thicker fingers, the cocky smirk on his face that makes you think he'd know exactly how to handle you.  

You rub slow circles on your clit and close your eyes, imagining it was him touching you instead. You think about the way it felt when he touched you, the burnt sugar smell of him, the way his eyes lingered on the low neck of your dress. You wonder how many girls he’s actually been with. Whether he actually knows what he’s doing. You wonder how big he is. His frame is huge, broad shoulders, rippling muscles, more than double your size so he must be big.  

You think about his mouth, how good it would feel to have him between your legs, strong hands gripping your thighs while he laps at your clit.  

You’re arching off the bed, fingers swirling faster and faster on your sticky, wet heat. Other hand under your shirt to play with your nipples, tugging and pinching them just the way you like. You try hard to stay quiet but the thought of what Bakugou could do to you, what you want him to do to you, has you crying out so loud you’re certain everyone in the building heard. You don’t have it in you to care though as you’re hurtling towards your release.  

The thought that makes you come undone is picturing how pretty he’d look when he cums. Brows furrowed, lips bitten and falling into a pretty O shape, moaning your name as he cums deep inside you.  

------------------------------------

Hi, I hope you enjoyed! I will definitly be making more parts to this as I see this as a whole enemies to lovers fic. Likes and rb's appreciated, let me know what you think!

[vodkawriter]

Okay so... this is an idea not the full first chapter obviously.

Thoughts???

Sam was with Jay in the kitchen when the doorbell rang.

“It's a girl!” Shouted Flower “Oh, such pretty hair she has.”

Sam smiled at her and went to open the door, she looked at the ghosts, turned and smiled before opening.

“Welcome to the Woodstone B&B!”

The young girl smiled nervously at her, murmuring a soft ‘thanks’ before following the blonde inside.

“Do you have a reservation?” Sam asked already behind the front desk, searching on the computer.

“No, actually I came here to ask you something” the girl said, nervously twisting her fingers “my name is Haven, I was born in this house fifteen years ago.”

Sam looked at her in shock, hearing the gasps from the ghosts, mainly Isaac.

“That's not possible, there was an old lady living here.”

“Well, from what I was told, she wasn't at the house in that moment” the girl stated “she was out of town for a whole year.”

“Then how is it that you were born in this house if no one was living here?” Sam asked visibly confused.

“Oh no” said Alberta before steeping closer to Sam “we should probably talk about that year.”

“I don't know” the girl said “I just know that I was born here, my parents left me at an orphanage and all I had was a letter and this” she held a heart shaped locket “unfortunately it didn't have a picture.”

All the ghosts had started to speak at the same time, minus Hetty and Trevor.

“SILENCE” Sam shouted “I mean, we need silence to have this conversation, why don't you come with me to the kitchen? I can make you a cup of tea if you'd like.”

The girl nodded, following her to the kitchen while the ghosts trailed behind them.

“Haven, this is my husband Jay, Jay this is Haven” Sam introduced them.

“Nice to meet you, Jay” the girl smiled.

“You too” Jay answered.

“Well, what does the letter say? If I may know that is.”

The girl handed her the paper and sat next to Sam.

“My dearest daughter, my beautiful princess” the girl started, knowing the contents of the letter by heart “we know you might have so many questions one day, about us and why we left you in this place. Unfortunately we won't be able to answer them, but the one certain thing we can assure you of, is that we love you, so very much.

Parting from you is one of the hardest decisions we have made.

I hope that the questions you have, may be answered one day at Woodstone.

P.s: Please don't date until you're like thirty, I know what I tell you, I'm a man.

P.s 2: Don't mind your father, but please, no Irish men.

Love, your parents H and T.”

H AND T? Sam was reading and reading the end of the letter, looking desperately at the ghosts. Especially Hetty and Trevor, both of them were looking at the girl.

“WHAT THE HELL?” Sam stood up, standing next to a shocked Jay “This is literally not possible, is it?”

“Actually, it is,” Trevor said, stepping forward, “we need to talk about that year.”

“We must” Hetty whispered, her eyes never leaving the young girl. Her auburn hair a match to her own, her blue eyes just as blue as hers “because she is Trevor's daughter… and mine too.”

[wildglitch]

Ninjago HeadCanon

So we all know how Kai is like a year older then Nia right? Well I personally like the idea the he is maybe 4-5 years older than her.

Have it be that his parents left when he was like 5 or 6 right? Ok...Now imagin poor little abandon 5 year old Kai just sitting out on the porch of his house with a baby Nia bundeld in his arms just waiting and hoping to god that his mom and dad will comeback like-

"Dont worry Nia, everythings gonna be ok. Mama and Papa will be back any minute now and soon you be able to eat. But in the meantime, your big brother here!"

And they just never return-

I think Kai stole. Kai 100% stole shit from people. He stole food, he stole medicine, he stole a red dress from some hanging landrey for Nia and she never knew. Kai was either taught by a group of criminal how to steal cause they took pity on the poor boy, or he fucked around and found out. There no inbettewn. He was like a Little Aladdin minus the monkey.

I also think Kai or dropped out of school or just never whent so he could focuse on raising Nia.

He would probably be forced to leave Nia alone, or leave her with the neihbors while he "went to school in another village" as he told them. Which really meant working a lot of odd jobs and stealing. Later on when he got older, he probably did a couple of crimes to earn money. Everyone thought he was a Darkly student and the cops even sent him there a few time, be never botherd correcting them.

Kai didnt really care much about his own education and health, but Nia? You better belive he did everything he could to make sure she had the best shot at a good future. He would steal books and tools so his sister could study and "grow up super smart!". Though, since he didnt really now much, he didnt really give her stuff that was really her level

7 year old Kai gave a 2 year old advance robotics book and thus, genieuse machanic Nia was born!

When Nia was 6 and old enough to go to school Kai cried tears of joy she actually got to go. This is also around the time that things got a bit easier cause he got a part time-job and started up his dads blacksmith. He was really bad at it but the money was coming in.

Kai fought tooth and fucking nail to hide all of the struggle from Nia to the point that she has no clue they had it so bad. Her conscious came online when she entered school so anything that was really bad she dosent remember.

She hasent conected the dots about the fact that she was a baby when she was abandon, and that her 5 year old brother raised her.

By the time they are with the Ninja, the others only sort of understand the fact that they were abondond. Except for Lloyd.

Only Abondond, runaway, took care of himself, Lloyd clocked what Kai went through and all of a sudden, "the guy that bullied me a bit and also saved me" becomes, "the guy who was just like me once" and he sort of just..."our big brother"

We dont talk enough about the fact that Kai be it this headcanon or in canon, was abondond as a child, and had to just deal with.

[thebrickinbrick]

Minus Five, Plus One, Part One

After the man who decreed the “protest of corpses” had spoken, and had given this formula of their common soul, there issued from all mouths a strangely satisfied and terrible cry, funereal in sense and triumphant in tone:

“Long live death! Let us all remain here!”

“Why all?” said Enjolras.

“All! All!”

Enjolras resumed:

“The position is good; the barricade is fine. Thirty men are enough. Why sacrifice forty?”

They replied:

“Because not one will go away.”

“Citizens,” cried Enjolras, and there was an almost irritated vibration in his voice, “this republic is not rich enough in men to indulge in useless expenditure of them. Vain-glory is waste. If the duty of some is to depart, that duty should be fulfilled like any other.”

Enjolras, the man-principle, had over his co-religionists that sort of omnipotent power which emanates from the absolute. Still, great as was this omnipotence, a murmur arose. A leader to the very finger-tips, Enjolras, seeing that they murmured, insisted. He resumed haughtily:

“Let those who are afraid of not numbering more than thirty say so.”

The murmurs redoubled.

“Besides,” observed a voice in one group, “it is easy enough to talk about leaving. The barricade is hemmed in.”

“Not on the side of the Halles,” said Enjolras. “The Rue Mondétour is free, and through the Rue des Prêcheurs one can reach the Marché des Innocents.”

“And there,” went on another voice, “you would be captured. You would fall in with some grand guard of the line or the suburbs; they will spy a man passing in blouse and cap. ‘Whence come you?’ ‘Don’t you belong to the barricade?’ And they will look at your hands. You smell of powder. Shot.”

Enjolras, without making any reply, touched Combeferre’s shoulder, and the two entered the tap-room.

They emerged thence a moment later. Enjolras held in his outstretched hands the four uniforms which he had laid aside. Combeferre followed, carrying the shoulder-belts and the shakos.

“With this uniform,” said Enjolras, “you can mingle with the ranks and escape; here is enough for four.” And he flung on the ground, deprived of its pavement, the four uniforms.

No wavering took place in his stoical audience. Combeferre took the word.

“Come,” said he, “you must have a little pity. Do you know what the question is here? It is a question of women. See here. Are there women or are there not? Are there children or are there not? Are there mothers, yes or no, who rock cradles with their foot and who have a lot of little ones around them? Let that man of you who has never beheld a nurse’s breast raise his hand. Ah! you want to get yourselves killed, so do I—I, who am speaking to you; but I do not want to feel the phantoms of women wreathing their arms around me. Die, if you will, but don’t make others die. Suicides like that which is on the brink of accomplishment here are sublime; but suicide is narrow, and does not admit of extension; and as soon as it touches your neighbors, suicide is murder. Think of the little blond heads; think of the white locks.

Listen, Enjolras has just told me that he saw at the corner of the Rue du Cygne a lighted casement, a candle in a poor window, on the fifth floor, and on the pane the quivering shadow of the head of an old woman, who had the air of having spent the night in watching. Perhaps she is the mother of some one of you. Well, let that man go, and make haste, to say to his mother: ‘Here I am, mother!’ Let him feel at ease, the task here will be performed all the same. When one supports one’s relatives by one’s toil, one has not the right to sacrifice one’s self. That is deserting one’s family. And those who have daughters! what are you thinking of? You get yourselves killed, you are dead, that is well. And tomorrow? Young girls without bread—that is a terrible thing. Man begs, woman sells. Ah! those charming and gracious beings, so gracious and so sweet, who have bonnets of flowers, who fill the house with purity, who sing and prattle, who are like a living perfume, who prove the existence of angels in heaven by the purity of virgins on earth, that Jeanne, that Lise, that Mimi, those adorable and honest creatures who are your blessings and your pride, ah! good God, they will suffer hunger! What do you want me to say to you? There is a market for human flesh; and it is not with your shadowy hands, shuddering around them, that you will prevent them from entering it! Think of the street, think of the pavement covered with passers-by, think of the shops past which women go and come with necks all bare, and through the mire. These women, too, were pure once. Think of your sisters, those of you who have them. Misery, prostitution, the police, Saint-Lazare—that is what those beautiful, delicate girls, those fragile marvels of modesty, gentleness and loveliness, fresher than lilacs in the month of May, will come to. Ah! you have got yourselves killed! You are no longer on hand! That is well; you have wished to release the people from Royalty, and you deliver over your daughters to the police.

Friends, have a care, have mercy. Women, unhappy women, we are not in the habit of bestowing much thought on them. We trust to the women not having received a man’s education, we prevent their reading, we prevent their thinking, we prevent their occupying themselves with politics; will you prevent them from going to the dead-house this evening, and recognizing your bodies? Let us see, those who have families must be tractable, and shake hands with us and take themselves off, and leave us here alone to attend to this affair. I know well that courage is required to leave, that it is hard; but the harder it is, the more meritorious. You say: ‘I have a gun, I am at the barricade; so much the worse, I shall remain there.’ So much the worse is easily said. My friends, there is a morrow; you will not be here to-morrow, but your families will; and what sufferings! See, here is a pretty, healthy child, with cheeks like an apple, who babbles, prattles, chatters, who laughs, who smells sweet beneath your kiss,—and do you know what becomes of him when he is abandoned? I have seen one, a very small creature, no taller than that. His father was dead. Poor people had taken him in out of charity, but they had bread only for themselves. The child was always hungry. It was winter. He did not cry. You could see him approach the stove, in which there was never any fire, and whose pipe, you know, was of mastic and yellow clay. His breathing was hoarse, his face livid, his limbs flaccid, his belly prominent. He said nothing. If you spoke to him, he did not answer. He is dead. He was taken to the Necker Hospital, where I saw him. I was house-surgeon in that hospital. Now, if there are any fathers among you, fathers whose happiness it is to stroll on Sundays holding their child’s tiny hand in their robust hand, let each one of those fathers imagine that this child is his own. That poor brat, I remember, and I seem to see him now, when he lay nude on the dissecting table, how his ribs stood out on his skin like the graves beneath the grass in a cemetery. A sort of mud was found in his stomach. There were ashes in his teeth. Come, let us examine ourselves conscientiously and take counsel with our heart. Statistics show that the mortality among abandoned children is fifty-five per cent. I repeat, it is a question of women, it concerns mothers, it concerns young girls, it concerns little children. Who is talking to you of yourselves? We know well what you are; we know well that you are all brave, parbleu! we know well that you all have in your souls the joy and the glory of giving your life for the great cause; we know well that you feel yourselves elected to die usefully and magnificently, and that each one of you clings to his share in the triumph. Very well. But you are not alone in this world. There are other beings of whom you must think. You must not be egoists.”

All dropped their heads with a gloomy air.

Strange contradictions of the human heart at its most sublime moments. Combeferre, who spoke thus, was not an orphan. He recalled the mothers of other men, and forgot his own. He was about to get himself killed. He was “an egoist.”

Marius, fasting, fevered, having emerged in succession from all hope, and having been stranded in grief, the most sombre of shipwrecks, and saturated with violent emotions and conscious that the end was near, had plunged deeper and deeper into that visionary stupor which always precedes the fatal hour voluntarily accepted.

A physiologist might have studied in him the growing symptoms of that febrile absorption known to, and classified by, science, and which is to suffering what voluptuousness is to pleasure. Despair, also, has its ecstasy. Marius had reached this point. He looked on at everything as from without; as we have said, things which passed before him seemed far away; he made out the whole, but did not perceive the details. He beheld men going and coming as through a flame. He heard voices speaking as at the bottom of an abyss.

But this moved him. There was in this scene a point which pierced and roused even him. He had but one idea now, to die; and he did not wish to be turned aside from it, but he reflected, in his gloomy somnambulism, that while destroying himself, he was not prohibited from saving some one else.

He raised his voice.

“Enjolras and Combeferre are right,” said he; “no unnecessary sacrifice. I join them, and you must make haste. Combeferre has said convincing things to you. There are some among you who have families, mothers, sisters, wives, children. Let such leave the ranks.”

[blackjackkent]

We get a little cutscene of the city beginning to rebuild and a nice little speech from the narrator:

Narrator: It's over. And it's all because of you. You, who were destined to become a thrall. Thanks to you, there will be no Illithid Empire, no Death Gods' tyranny. You have earned your place amongst the legends of the Sword Coast. You are the saviors of Baldur's Gate.

Which is all very well, and quite as it should be, though Hector is not thrilled with his name going down in song and legend; he never really wanted stories told about him.

But all of this pales before the actual end of the game for Hector (minus the epilogue of course, which we will get to in a moment), because it is ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC ACTUALLY.

They crash through the portal out into the Hells and for a moment Hector is sure that they're too late after all; Karlach has barely been able to stand in the last few moments before they passed through, and she sinks to her knees, still wreathed in fire, as they arrive. And gods, what a terrible irony that would be, to have finally brought her back to where she would live, only to watch the flames consume her anyway.

But a minute passes, and then another, and her engine begins to settle, and he feels the fear that he has carried for so many months start to loosen its grip on his heart.

"Well, soldier..." she whispers. "Here we are."

Here we are indeed. Hector takes a moment, now that he is sure she is safe, to look around, to truly absorb what they have chosen to do.

He remembers that acrid brimstone scent all too well from that day aboard the nautiloid. The heat is tremendous; it is like standing in a sauna or within an active volcano. Sweat begins to pool at his hairline and lower back almost instantly. And in all directions is nothing but fiery wasteland broken by rivers of lava.

He has never been so happy to see such a place in all his life.

He pauses to examine his feelings for a moment. There will be no more monastery, no more days of quiet prayer and study. This is home and life now, this fiery place that smells of sulfur, because Karlach is here. And Wyll, his friend, at their sides-- truly the best of their little band; even though he and Hector were never tremendously close, Hector has admired him tremendously and is proud to choose to be brothers-in-arms with him now.

And one day, in this place, they will find Zariel, and he will exact Selune's vengeance on her for her cruelty.

It is a purpose he would never have imagined himself having before. But he is no longer the man he was when he began this journey, whose only aspiration was reverence and solitude. He has learned that to stand at the side of his friends in the service of something greater is its own kind of divine act.

And he will not have to learn to live without the woman he loves.

"It worked..." Karlach says, slowly pushing herself to her feet. The column of flame around her fades; her engine settles into its usual steady pulse. The agony fades from her eyes, replaced by a calm steadiness that he remembers from their visit to the House of Hope, the last time he saw her without that underthread of pain. "My engine's calmed down."

She turns to look at him; with the moment of intensity past, she too is seeing what they are committing to for the first time. "I shouldn't have let you come here," she says with a heavy breath out and a wry smile. "This isn't going to be easy, you know. Zariel's going to come at us with everything she's got."

He looks back at her steadily, reaches out to take her hand. Their fingers interlace - automatic, instinctive - and he presses his lips against her knuckles, his eyes not leaving hers. I know what I'm signing up for. Just as all of you have made your choices, I am making mine... he thinks. So long as you're with me...

He opens his mouth to speak, to tell her this, but they are interrupted by an unearthly scream in the distance.

A pack of imps are gathering on the horizon. Hector shoots a look at Wyll; both of them square their shoulders, ready for battle.

Karlach hisses out a laugh. "Gods. Like clockwork. They'll be on us soon - but there's just enough time."

To his surprise, she reaches into the pack at her hip and pulls out a set of small cylindrical items - cigars.

"Thought I was done with these," she says, and shoots him a playful grin.

He raises his eyebrows questioningly, a smile playing at his own lips. You didn't want to come back, he thinks. And I know why. But gods... the way you look when there's no pain pressing on you... gods, I could look at you forever...

She winks at him and tosses him one of the cigars, passes another to Wyll, lifts the third to her own lips. Hector looks at his in some puzzlement, then tucks it into his pack like a lover's keepsake.

With a snap of her fingers she flares a burst of fire up on her thumb, lights the end of the cigar. She takes a slow draw, puffs out a mouthful of smoke. "But then there was you lot," she finishes lightly.

"Imps are fast but careless," she goes on conversationally - and he sees a flash of the soldier she used to be, briefing the troops before battle. "Don't let 'em tire you out - just get rid of 'em."

She grins crookedly, flicks the still-burning cigar aside. "And don't forget -- you asked for this."

He can hear a sort of question under the words. Do you regret this choice? Do you regret coming with me, now that you see what lies ahead?

But he doesn't. And he won't. He made this choice long since, and the only surprise is that it is actually coming to fruition.

He reaches out to cup her cheek, pulls her to him, kisses her fiercely, letting his fingers curl into her hair. I'm with you, he says silently in the touch. No matter what comes. And he feels her relax into the contact, the certainty flowing between them, shared, steady.(*)

She draws back and grins, looking between him and Wyll. Hector gives her a slow nod; Wyll lifts an arm in his trademark salute, the Blade of Avernus ready to stand at her side.

She pulls the greataxe from her back with a sudden air of determination. "Better let these fuckers know I'm back," she says.

"And this time... I'm not alone."

She breaks into a run, her boots digging into the ashen ground, and Hector and Wyll spare only a moment to look at each other before darting out behind her, flanking her on both sides, ready for the battle ahead.

-----

(*) Mild artistic license. No kiss here Larian, for real? :P Also please know that this whole scene was playing out to the tune of a HEAVY METAL VERSION OF DOWN BY THE RIVER which was incredibly badass, and also Hector would have climbed Karlach like a tree right here if there weren't a band of imps coming.

[one-vivid-judgment]

Well, since you said something about Beer's Pokemon team (Though, admittedly, I stole half of these from you)-

Snivy -> Servine -> Serperior (Grass)

Honedge -> Doublade -> Aegislash (Steel/Ghost)

Beldum -> Metang -> Metagross (Steel/Psychic)

Pawniard -> Bisharp -> Kingambit (Dark/Steel)

Gimmighoul -> Gholdengo (Steel/Ghost)

Karrablast -> Escavalier (Bug/Steel)

I have reasoning for all of these, but I do find it funny that between you and me we determined Beer is a steel-type trainer (minus his queen, but we love Serperior in this house).

As royalty, Beer has his queen in his starter Serperior. We know her, we love her and the sheer chaos she caused from mating with a certain architecture student's Seviper.

Then there are her knights: Kingambit, Escavalier, and Aegislash. Beer got gifted a Honedge, but he caught a Pawniard and Karrablast on his own and was so proud of himself. I imagine he caught Karrablast first, because it is easier to catch bug pokemon.

Beer found a wandering Gimmighoul, then showed the Gimmighoul his family's treasure room because he thought it was a lost coin. The Gimmighoul refused to leave because, come on, that is the holy grail for a Gimmighoul. All the other Gimmighouls are going to be so jealous. Due to this, some chaos went on in the treasure room and the royal workers were pissed and told Beer to come get his Pokemon and it was a whole comedy sketch.

Finally, Metagross. I chose Metagross because Beer would have a megaring, or some equivalent to it, and because I wanted one overt reference to Beer being an engineer and Metagrosses are described to be smarter than computers so... yeah.

Naturally, I do think Beer would have other Pokemon stored away on his family's property but those are the ones he keeps on him.

So far, in my head Beer is a Steel type trainer, Peem's a Water type trainer and Fai's a Fairy type trainer—mostly anyway, cause I do think Fai with a Pom-Pom style Oricorio would be adorable, and I think it would be hilarious if instead of giving Peem a buffalo plushie, Phum straight up handed him a whole ass Bouffalant 😭😭😭 Peem's just like,,, "tf do I do with this"

Then there's Kluen with his mostly Poison types and Matt with his little Joltik and Sewaddle, and I think other tiny Bug types would love him so he's keeping those. 

It's actually funny that my idea of "Beer has Pokémon that evolve in very weird ways because he's the only one with enough braincells to figure out how to do it" kinda transferred to this team tho 😭 Like, except for Serperior who's a starter, you have a stone evolution (would've never figured out Doublade evolved with a Dusk Stone if I hadn't looked it up after being sick of levelling up my Doublade and getting nothing), a pseudo-legendary that levels up very slowly and you gotta have patience to raise (mostly cause Beldum ONLY learns Take Down thru level up which,,, why), a Pokémon you need to trade for another specific Pokémon to get it to evolve, and whatever the fuck they did with Kingambit and Gholdengo 😭😭

People think Beer just got them handed to him in his final form because "he's royalty, he gets everything handed to him on a silver platter" but reality is no, he just had to work his ass off to get his team where it is is now. Maybe he got some help from Matt who wanted to evolve his Shelmet, and maybe Mick's Zorua came home with a Dusk Stone stolen from Arceus knows where one day and Beer's Doublade happened to touch it and "BEER WHY DOES YOUR SWORD HAVE A SHIELD NOW, WHAT THE HELL??" But aside from that? All Beer's doing.

Anyway, this may be becoming one of my favorite things to discuss, I love giving characters random Pokemon teams 😭😭

[aquagrunt]

life update

so my husband walked out of his job last Wednesday bc they were absolutely fucking awful & an incident occurred that was so beyond mishandled and insane that he no longer felt safe working there.

we have been planning on moving to the Minneapolis/st Paul area sometime in the near future. This has been our plan for the last two years.

he had an interview with a company in the twin cities that we are waiting on hearing back from, but he felt that the interview went well. It would be the exact same job he was doing at his old job. problem is that they want him to start in like. a month.

Now MY job as some of you know is bridal store manager. the bridal store that I work for is a failing business (and has been as long as I’ve been there [10 years]) and I am the ONLY employee and work directly with my boss/the store owner. small business you know. so as you can imagine… immensely improper relationship (she thinks of me like a daughter she never had). at one point many years ago I was planning on buying the store; as I explained earlier this business is NOT profitable and any bank would laugh at anyone trying to take a loan out to buy this business. so I told her that I was not buying the business anymore like. 5/6 years ago? and told her when we made our minds up to move to the twin cities two years ago. originally gave her a timeline for the move at anywhere from 2-4 years.

well, of course she did nothing to plan for me leaving. and now that I very much could be leaving in a couple months is all like “WELL I just don’t know how you expect us to sell everything off ((for the purpose of closing the business)) by then” and is giving me intense guilt trips about this. and wants to hire someone (? literally who is going to work somewhere that’s actively trying to close ?) and all this and expects me to stay on through busy season (which will end after October) because we have weddings with tuxes on the books. and it’s just all so much!!!

AND on top of that, I have to try to find a job when I haven’t been doing that in 10 years, we have to try to find a place there that will be affordable and close enough to our jobs, AND we own our house here so we have to sell it, AND we have to move four hours away and have a shitload of junk that we have to figure out what to do with. we’re planning on renting for a year before we buy a house there just so we really know if we like it there & also so it’s not so hard to go to showings and stuff for houses (like it would be from 250 miles away)

I have lived in the town I live in my whole life. my entire family is within 15 minutes of us (minus a few). it’s not as hard for my husband who has moved away from his family before.

It’s all so sudden and so stressful and I don’t think he really understands just how scary and hard this is for me. I do want to move. But I thought I had at least until next year. My grandma is 90 years old and I don’t want to be that far away from her. my grandpa went so suddenly and I don’t know if I could live with myself if the same thing happened to my grandma and I didn’t get to say goodbye.

also unrelated but I got a bad manicure today.

[erscogadatabase]

20: A Very Belated Very Erscoga Christmas #4... Probably.

Date: 3-3-2024 IDST, 8-20-2018 EST

(It’s a beautiful, temperate day on Termata. Birds are singing, flowers are blooming… and Nalitie is balanced precariously on a step ladder inside the Spectre Opera House, trying to put the star on a very large Christmas tree. There’s a table set out with a decent looking spread (minus the questionable chip dip from last time) and banners set up in the Erscogan national colors. It is August.)

Nalitie: *struggling* Dang, I feel like we just had Christmas earlier this year… Maybe we should just leave this stuff up in case Christmas strikes when we’re not ready.

Dukermin: *outside hanging lights* What? Did you say something??

Nalitie: Nevermind… *climbing down the ladder very slowly*

(Christine brings out a large cake and sets it on the table. It may or may not be Human SOUL flavored. Ask Erik! Tobias trails along beside her. She tells them not to swipe any frosting.)

Dukermin: *heads back inside* Merry Christmas everybody! You know this time only comes once (or twice or three times) a year so lets make it count!

Nalitie: Do we have guests this year? I made sure to send out invitations but with how our mail and stuff has been acting up… 

Dukermin: Mickey whipped up a special surprise this year! They’ll show up later to set them off!

Nalitie: “They”? That’s new. 

Dukermin: Well I realized that Mickey has never actually told me their pronouns? I just assume because like it’s Mickey Mouse but we have never really spoken aside from that lovely serenade during the war since we got married so I’ve been wondering…

Nalitie: Ah, gotcha. Let’s see, I sent invitations out to everyone on Pluto, now that they’ve rebuilt after the whole. Uh… Narissa getting killed thing. And I tried to mail some to Lux and Dunkel but I’m not sure that they ever get my mail?? Cause my pigeons never come back when I send them there… 

Dukermin: Hmm thats suspicious. Hopefully they’re not trying to contact us about any terrible crises or anything like that.

Nalitie: Yeah… We kinda dropped the ball with Pluto. Hopefully the ambiguously Human SOUL-flavored cake is a good apology though. 

(The cake, to Nalitie’s request, has “I’M SORRY PLUTO” frosted on it in big letters, followed by a much smaller “Merry Christmas!”)

AE Tobias: *eyeing the frosting*

Christine: *busy making sure ET doesn’t crawl anywhere he’s not supposed to*

Dukermin: *eyeing AE Tobias and gives a warning glare* *points to the frosting then makes a throat slash gesture*

AE Tobias: *backs away from the cake, disappointed* *sadly* no touch… 

Dukermin: *To Nalitie* So should we go check on… one of the many places we should check on?

Nalitie: Yeah, we can invite people in-person. It means more, anyway. Where do we want to start? Our guest list was pretty much everyone in Erscoga. 

Dukermin: Maybe lets do Dunkel, but we still have some setting up to do here before we bring people over. *starts arranging centerpieces*

(Everyone continues decorating, with light Christmas music playing in the background, when there’s a sudden, small earthquake.)

Nalitie: *stops and looks around* … 

Dukermin: *dropped the centerpieces* :(

Christine: What was that? *soothing ET*

Dukermin: *Hot gluing centerpieces back together* Just a little earthquake I think, its probably nothing.

Nalitie: Yeah, I mean. We have a lot of new plot developments settling since last doc, so maybe it’s just that. Anyway, it’s Christmas, and nothing bad ever happens on Christmas! 

Dukermin: So True! Anyway! Lets leave this place and go to Dunkel.

Nalitie: Heck yeah… *to Christine* Are you good watching the kids, Car… Christine? Willia… Willy is in the other room, but I can take one of the kids with me if you want.

Dukermin: Wait a second, did we ever get the Universal Translator ? I know our mail has been a little weird. 

Nalitie: Yeah! *pulls a small device out of her pocket* *it looks vaguely like a walkman* They sent this over a couple months ago, after we sent that first shipment.

Dukermin:  Oooh gimme *snatch*

Nalitie: Be careful with it, we only have one and our agreement never specified if they’d send us another one… 

Dukermin: I'll be so careful until we can get it to Alphys to make more and then I can break it all I want.

Christine: *continuing the conversation thread from many lines ago* Actually, if you could take Lisa and Leonarda, that would be nice. 

Nalitie: On it! *runs into the other room* *comes back absolutely engulfed in small children* to Dunkel!

Dukermin: *lunchboxes to Dunkel*

(You have arrived on Dunkel. It is very dark and you cannot see anything.) 

Dukermin: *puts on cool DunkelVision glasses that she's painted flames on even though you can't really see that on Dunkel*

Nalitie: Oh, right. *digging in her pockets* *eventually fishes hers out and puts them on as well*

Lisa and Leonarda: *not sure if they like the darkness* *babbling*

Dukermin: Alright… where did we end up.

(You’ve arrive just outside of a large city, there’s a sign that says New Prosperite. The buildings are low to the ground and tightly compacted with one another. A few people are outside but they all seem to be in a hurry to get indoors.)

Nalitie: *yelling into the streets, in English which most of them probably don’t speak fluently* Hello citizens of Dunkel!!! Come to our Christmas Party!!!

Dunkelian: *yells at Nalitie in Dunkelian and gestures wildly at a building*

Dukermin: Uhh they said to get inside… And a bunch of other stuff that the translator didnt catch.

Nalitie: Uhhh ok??? That’s not where our SUPER COOL party is though.

Dunkelians: *yanking children off the sidewalk and throwing them indoors*

Nalitie: Maybe this is part of their Christmas traditions and that’s why they never come to our parties??? *finding the nearest building*

(From beyond the city, you hear a deep rumble, then are blinded as your Dunkelvision goggles are bombarded with a harsh white light. You hear creaking as some of the buildings are bathed in the light.)

Lisanarda: *crying, naturally*

Nalitie: WTF was that???

Dukermin: Uhhhhh *goes inside*

Nalitie: *also goes inside* *phone starts ringing obnoxiously* *fishing around in her pockets*

(The place you’ve entered seems like someone's home. A Dunkelian pokes her head out from a trapdoor in the ground and ushers you down into a cellar.)

Nalite: *on the phone, looking concerned* Uhh ok. Thanks… *hangs up* Santa says Christine says there was another big earthquake on Termata… I don’t know why she didn’t just call me directly??? 

Dukermin: Who would have ever guessed that that little earthquake would be a bad sign!!?

Dunkelian: *has taken a seat on a mat on the floor next to a pair of children and an older Dunkelian. She invites the two of you to sit as well* We’ll be stuck here for a bit I’m assuming so make yourselves comfortable

Nalitie: *did not catch any of that, is still standing around* So is this all part of your Christmas or something? Seems. Um. Intense and unnecessary???

Dukermin: She says we’ll be stuck for a bit which is not great considering the termata thing? You can ask *gives Nalitie the translator*

Nalitie: Oh ok *puts it on* *to the Dunkelians* can you understand me now? *is talking in their language without realizing it*

Dukermin: Thats rad

Dunkelians: *nod*

OG Dunkelian: Can you understand us? Did you catch that thing about making yourselves comfortable? I can get you a tea… or like a snack?? We’ve stocked this cellar up now because of the situation…

Nalitie: I’m good right now. *to Dukermin* do you want tea?

Dukermin: I am curious about what tea made of darkness is like but maybe we shouldn’t mess with that right now…

Nalitie: *to the Dunkelians* We’re OK for now. So what’s with the giant Christmas light thing? That seems… Like I love that y’all are celebrating the season but it kinda hurts the eyes??? *oblivious to what’s actually going on*

OG Dunkelian: Christmas? We haven’t been able to celebrate anything in months. The “Light Show” is not of our doing. Who are you??

Nalitie: Wait you guys aren’t responsible for that big light??? But it came from your planet??? 

OG Dunkelian: What are you personally responsible for every little thing that happens on the planet that you live on??

Nalitie: I mean. Kind of. Not entirely, I guess, Dukermin and I share that responsibility. 

OG Dunkelian: Oh. Wait a second. I know that name. Dukermin and uh… you are?

Nalitie: *dodging the question* Yeah, Dukermin and I are the queens! *points to Dukermin* That’s Dukermin over there.

Older Dunkelian: *elbows the OG Dunkelian aggressively*

OG: Ow! Pardon my… disrespect, my queens! I did not realize you were… anyway. My name is Maestri and this is my mother Cuber. I’m surprised you don’t know more about our situation…

(There’s another deep rumble from above and some dust slips through the floorboards)

Nalitie: Yeah we’ve been getting that a lot lately… *to Dukermin* Did you know anything about the situation happening here on Dunkel? 

Dukermin: *shrugs* We’ve been here like… thrice. 

Nalitie: I guess. *to the Dunkelians* Y’all should have. like. called or sent us a letter or something. 

Maestri: Mother, didn’t you say that the elders had tried sending letters? We receive the pigeons and send them back wth distressing messages.

Cuber: *nods* You haven’t received the pigeons?

Nalitie: Oh… no, we haven’t. Are all of my pigeons stuck here on Dunkel??? *to Dukermin* dude we really need to get our mail system checked out. Apparently we’ve been missing mail for a long time. No wonder the electric company keeps sending people to my house claiming I haven’t paid any of my bills. 

Dukermin: Man and I thought the pigeon system was flawless. Glad I don’t have electricity in my cave.

Nalitie: Yeah, but you DO have a magic man who can make lights out of nothing. With a stick. 

Dukermin: Yeah but hes super petty about it. 

Maestri: *Only catching Nalitie's half of the conversation* This doesn't seem pressing. Anyway, you’re not beings of darkness… perhaps you could take a look? 

Nalitie: I mean… we can. How come you guys can’t? I’ve seen Dunkelians on our other planets before… Is there something weird about this light that I should know about? I have kids I don’t want my face blasted off. 

Maestri: Well number one… Im not a mercenary or anything and its not my job to go inspect creepy lights. That was rude.

Cuber: *glares disapprovingly at Maestri* These lights… nobody has gotten near them. They first appeared in the Wilderness. But they’ve steadily started showing up closer to civilization and in increasing frequency. We’re worried they’re connected to the beasts in some way, but we dont know for sure. It also could be connected to Lux, even though there is a truce, we don’t want a war. And going over there guns-a-blazing is not going to make a good impression.

Nalitie: We don’t want a war either, NO WAR. Yeah, Dukermin and I can take a look. *to Dukermin* Hm… between the stuff going on here and the earthquakes, do you think whatever’s happening is happening on all of the planets? Maybe we just can’t see it because it’s already light everywhere else?

Dukermin: Hmm perhaps, I mean this light seems insanely bright here but could be very normal anywhere else I guess.

Nalitie: Ok, so we should go check that out, see what’s up. *has not filled Dukermin in at ALL* *starts leaving*

Dukermin: Oh cool guess were leaving *leaves*

(You leave Maestri and Cuber’s house without saying goodbye.)

(You once again are blinded by the light. It seems to be coming from about a half a mile outside the city. The streets are empty and the buildings crackle, scattering dark dust everywhere. Once your eyes adjust, you can make out what looks like a perfect cylinder of light coming from about a half mile outside of the city.)

Nalitie: Let’s go I guess! *heading off in that direction*

Dukermin: *follows staying as far away from buildings as possible*

(As you approach the light you can hear very confused voices and see figures milling about, may with arms outstretched)

Voice 1: Oh shoot is this moon eclipsed??

Voice 2: No i checked I swear! Maybe we failed to make quota??

Voice 3: *in the distance* 💧︎🕆︎👌︎☺︎☜︎👍︎❄︎ 📂︎ 🕈︎☟︎☜︎☼︎☜︎ ✌︎☼︎☜︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎✍︎

Voice 4: *in the distance in the other direction* Paimon doesn’t think we’re in Teyvat anymore… 

Dukermin: Hello??

Voice 2: OH SHOOT IS THAT A SKINWALKER STAY AWAY I THOUGHT I DELETED THAT MOD

Voice 4: Hello!!! 

Voice 3: 🕈︎☟︎☜︎☼︎☜︎📬︎📬︎📬︎✍︎

Nalitie: *fishing a flashlight out of her pockets* I don’t think they have DunkelVision… *turns it on, shines it at Dukermin* EVERYONE COME OVER HERE!!! FOLLOW THE LIGHT!!!

Voice 1: *takes out their flashlight too * Is this an Easter Egg orrrr..??

Voice 4: Look, over there! I can see a person, Traveller, we should go say hi! 

Dukermin: *to nalitie* So… this is more silly portal stuff…

Nalitie: I guess, yeah. Crazy that it’s so bright here, though? But I guess if you’re portalling somewhere that’s NOT made of darkness, it’s gonna look pretty crazy. Don’t know why it’s destroying the towns, though??? 

Voice 3: *still standing at a distance* *to self* ✂︎💣︎✌︎👎︎☜︎ ⚐︎☞︎ 👎︎✌︎☼︎😐︎☠︎☜︎💧︎💧︎✂︎✍︎

(Two of the figures have made their way close to you. One of them is a girl with blonde hair with cool-looking flowers tucked into it. She’s wearing a white dress and carrying a sword. A very small person with a blue scarf hovers near her shoulder.) 

Dukermin: Welcome to Dunkel! We’re not sure how or why you ended up here, but you’re here now! 

Voice 4: Dunkel? I’ve never heard of that before. Oh! Paimon’s Paimon, and this is the Traveller! What’s your name? 

Dukermin: Dukermin’s Dukermin, and this is the Nalitie!

Nalitie: “The” Nalitie??? Anyway. Oh, and these are Lisa and Leonarda, my kids *gestures awkwardly* *looking into the distance, forgetting to point the flashlight at people* Who are your friends over there?

Paimon: Friends over where? *did not know that anyone else was here, just heard indistinguishable voices in the distance*

Nalitie: Oh, right… *shines the flashlight over at the people who also have flashlights* Hello! You over there, you should come say hi!

(You see four people in orange jumpsuits and full-face helmets. Two of them are pointing their flashlights at the other two which are doing a little dance. They stop and point at you two before walking over)

Voice 3: *is too far away to see any of what’s happening, can only perceive vague silhouettes of people* 🕈︎☟︎☜︎☼︎☜︎ ✋︎💧︎ ❄︎☟︎✌︎❄︎ 👍︎⚐︎💣︎✋︎☠︎☝︎ ☞︎☼︎⚐︎💣︎✍︎

Nalitie: *to the jumpsuited people* Yes hello, what are your names?

Jumpsuit person: I’m Employee 1, and this is Employee 2, and Employee 3, and Employee 4. Do you also work for the Company?

Nalitie: Um. *to Dukermin* Quoi istest ie thas Diction Game cheulgen… *to the Employees* No, I don’t think so. Um… so are those your names or your titles? 

Employee 2: We call each other by many names. So the title is most effective at this time.

Nalitie: I see… 

Voice 3: *muttering to self in the distance* 💧︎⚐︎💣︎☜︎ 💧︎⚐︎☼︎❄︎ ⚐︎☞︎ 💧︎❄︎☼︎✌︎☠︎☝︎☜︎ ✋︎☠︎📫︎👌︎☜︎❄︎🕈︎☜︎☜︎☠︎ 💧︎❄︎✌︎❄︎☜︎📪︎ 🏱︎☜︎☼︎☟︎✌︎🏱︎💧︎✍︎

Nalitie: Well, welcome to Erscoga, I guess. *gestures with flashlight to Dukermin* This is Dukermin, and we’re the queens here in this dimension. You can’t see anything because we’re on the planet Dunkel right now, and Dunkel is made of darkness, so that’s why you can only see us and each other with the flashlights.

Paimon: Woah! Paimon has never been in a place like Dunkel before! 

Dukermin: It’s rather unique! Say, do any of you remember like… what you were doing before coming here? Like… did you… enter this portal of your own freewill or did you just.. Find yourselves here…?

Paimon: Er… *thinking* Paimon doesn’t remember. Do you, Traveller? 

Traveller: *pauses for a moment* *shakes head*

Employees: *point at each other*

Employee 1: I think we were just… on the ship? Or maybe we weren’t? Yeah I don’t remember either.

Nalitie: *shining flashlight into the distance, towards Voice 3* *yelling because they’re far away* HEY GUy Over There you should come over and introduce yourself!!! No point in walking around in the dark alone!!!! *waving flashlight like a laser pointer at a cat*

Voice 3: *can’t quite make them out, but starts heading over* *stops about halfway, as soon as they can see that you are a group of humans* ✏︎✏︎✏︎

Dukermin: pspspspsps

Nalitie: Yes hello you were doing very good, but we are over here *waving flashlight more insistently*

Voice 3: ☠︎⚐︎📬︎

Dukermin: Oh you sound kinda familiar..?

Nalitie: *tilting head, thinking* Yeah, you do. *louder, to Voice 3* Do we know you????

Voice 3: *you can’t tell, but they sound derisive* ✋︎ 👎︎⚐︎☠︎🕯︎❄︎ 💧︎🕆︎🏱︎🏱︎⚐︎💧︎☜︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎🕯︎☼︎☜︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎ ☟︎🕆︎💣︎✌︎☠︎💧︎ ☼︎☜︎💧︎🏱︎⚐︎☠︎💧︎✋︎👌︎☹︎☜︎ ☞︎⚐︎☼︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎ 👎︎☜︎✌︎❄︎☟︎💧︎ ⚐︎☞︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎ 💣︎⚐︎☠︎💧︎❄︎☜︎☼︎ ☼︎✌︎👍︎☜︎ ✋︎☠︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎ 🕈︎✌︎☼︎✍︎

Nalitie: Uh we can’t understand you but if you come closer you would probably be in range of our Universal Translator and we could talk!!! Also, like, we can all go to one of the planets where we can see stuff rather than fumbling around in the dark, I don’t have any more sets of DunkelVision on me at the moment… *carefully walking closer, also wants to get a look at the portal before it closes*

Voice 3: *backing away, magic coalescing at their fingertips* 

Nalitie: *trying to peer into the portal* *catches a glimpse of some rainbow colors before the portal closes*

(Everything is dark now, except for whatever is in your flashlight beams.)

Nalitie: *stumbles* Dang! I have no idea what that was… *to Voice 3, yelling only a little because they’re far away* Anyway do you remember how you got here???

Voice 3: ✋︎🕯︎💣︎ ☠︎⚐︎❄︎ ❄︎☜︎☹︎☹︎✋︎☠︎☝︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ ✌︎☠︎✡︎❄︎☟︎✋︎☠︎☝︎📬︎ ☟︎⚐︎🕈︎ 👎︎⚐︎ ✋︎ 😐︎☠︎⚐︎🕈︎ ❄︎☟︎✋︎💧︎ 🕈︎✌︎💧︎☠︎🕯︎❄︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎☼︎ 👎︎⚐︎✋︎☠︎☝︎✍︎

Dukermin: Hmmm he seems angry…

Nalitie: *to Dukermin* Laet unum ienens acna Termata… unis alalnic prohe acna querum… 

Dukermin: gucte ansil. *Sets up a lunchbox portal to Termata Opera House* Head on in everybody!

Paimon: Ooh, what’s that? *has never seen a lunchbox in her life*

Dukermin: This is like… our method of transportation. We’re gonna go to a cool christmas party and… not be here in the darkness.

Paimon: *has never heard of Christmas* *to her companion* What do you think, Traveller? We should go, right?

Traveller: *shrugs*

Nalitie: *heads back over to the group* Here, I’ll show you how! We have it set up so all you have to do is climb in! *does that, looking awkward squeezing into a tiny lunchbox with two almost-one-year-old infants strapped to her body*

Employees: *point at the thing and one by one go through*

Paimon and Traveller: *follow*

Voice 3: *still standing in the distance, squinting suspiciously*

Dukermin: You too! *Cosmic bubbles him and slam dunks him into the portal* *Follows behind*

Voice 3: *flailing uselessly*

(Everyone tumbles out in the Spectre Opera House, in the middle of the Christmas party. Things are hopping compared to when you left. Sans, true to form, has set up a “fruit punch slip’n’slide” and is charging like 5 Loaves per person. Papyrus is nagging him for it. Christine is re-arranging presents underneath the Christmas tree while Willy and Steven read a story to the Tobiases. Doug and Homeless Henry have returned, for actual Christmas this time and not the bean convention. Artemis is in the corner, admiring the lights, and Bruce is playing with her squirrel. Ask Erik! Tobias squeals as everyone comes crashing onto the dance floor in a heap.)

Dukermin: *forgot to take off DunkelVision glasses and screams in agony before ripping them off*

Nalitie: *squinting, feeling around her face to take hers off* 

Lisanarda: *asleep after being in the dark for so long*

Traveller: *stands up, squinting around while her eyes adjust* ???

Paimon: *sees the food on the table* Woah…. Is this some sort of party??? *to Dukermin* Can we have some?!!

Dukermin: Yes go ahead! Merry Christmas!

Papyrus: *goes off to visit with Henry and Doug*

Voice 3: *you can see now that he’s a skeleton in a dark sweater and a long white coat, with glasses taped to his face. He looks… concerned.* *in the cosmic bubble, freaking out* 🕈︎☟︎☜︎☼︎☜︎ ✌︎💣︎ ✋︎ ✌︎☠︎👎︎ ☟︎⚐︎🕈︎ 👎︎✋︎👎︎ 🕈︎☜︎ ☝︎☜︎❄︎ ☟︎☜︎☼︎☜︎✍︎ *probably eye-glowing in some sort of freaked-out way*

Dukermin: Oh sorry about that *frees him*

Nalitie: *once again tries to go over to talk using the Universal Translator* Hello this is our Christmas Party! We’re on the planet Termata now so we can see! Can you tell us your name? 

Voice 3: *distracted, sees Sans in the corner* ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎📫︎📫︎ ☟︎⚐︎🕈︎ 👎︎✋︎👎︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ 👎︎⚐︎ ❄︎☟︎✋︎💧︎ ✌︎☠︎👎︎📬︎📬︎📬︎ 🕈︎☟︎✌︎❄︎ ✌︎☼︎☜︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ 🕈︎☜︎✌︎☼︎✋︎☠︎☝︎✍︎ ☟︎⚐︎🕈︎ 👎︎✋︎👎︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ ☝︎☜︎❄︎ ☟︎☜︎☼︎☜︎✍︎ *storms over there*

Dukermin: Heyyy skeleton pals! That's wild, but I don't know if you’re from the same thing..?

Sans: *sees Voice 3 coming* heyo buddy, it’s 5 loaves to go on this slip’n’slide. unless you’re looking for the special discount, in which case it’s 6.

Voice 3: *stops in his tracks, utterly baffled by the string of words that Sans just said* ✂︎💧︎☹︎✋︎🏱︎🕯︎☠︎🕯︎💧︎☹︎✋︎👎︎☜︎✂︎✍︎ ✂︎☹︎⚐︎✌︎✞︎☜︎💧︎✂︎✍︎ 🕈︎☟︎✌︎❄︎ ✌︎☼︎☜︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ ❄︎✌︎☹︎😐︎✋︎☠︎☝︎ ✌︎👌︎⚐︎🕆︎❄︎✍︎ ☟︎⚐︎🕈︎ 👎︎✋︎👎︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ ☝︎☜︎❄︎ ⚐︎🕆︎❄︎ ⚐︎☞︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎ ☹︎✌︎👌︎✍︎ 🕈︎☟︎☜︎☼︎☜︎ ✌︎☼︎☜︎ 💧︎🕆︎👌︎☺︎☜︎👍︎❄︎ 📄︎ ✌︎☠︎👎︎ ✌︎☹︎🏱︎☟︎✡︎💧︎✍︎

Dukermin: *to Nalitie* This guy seems real interested in the slip’n’side, maybe it’s a skeleton thing.?

Nalitie: I guess… *squinting suspiciously now that she can see him, he seems familiar* *gives the translator to Dukermin* maybe you could try getting close enough to talk to him?

Dukermin: Mission Accepted. *somersaults under the table towards the slip’n’slide*

Sans: *to Voice 3* so uh… did you come over here just to stare at me or are you gonna ride the slip’n’slide? dunno about you, but 4 out of 10 folks at this party have said it’s pretty fun. 

Dukermin: *using the universal translator as a walkie talkie even though no ones on the other end* I’ve approached the target, attempting translation now. *beep boop*

Voice 3: *doesn’t notice that she’s there yet, still thinking about Sans* *muttering to self* ✋︎ 👎︎⚐︎☠︎🕯︎❄︎ ☼︎☜︎👍︎✌︎☹︎☹︎ 💧︎☜︎☜︎✋︎☠︎☝︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ ✋︎☠︎ ❄︎☟︎✌︎❄︎ 👎︎✌︎☼︎😐︎ 🏱︎☹︎✌︎👍︎☜︎🖴︎ ✋︎☞︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ ☞︎☜︎☹︎☹︎ ✌︎☞︎❄︎☜︎☼︎ 💣︎☜︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎☠︎ ☟︎⚐︎🕈︎ 👎︎✋︎👎︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ ☝︎☜︎❄︎ ☟︎☜︎☼︎☜︎ 👌︎☜︎☞︎⚐︎☼︎☜︎ ✋︎ 👎︎✋︎👎︎✍︎

Universal Translator: I DON'T RECALL SEEING YOU IN THAT DARK PLACE; IF YOU FELL AFTER ME THEN HOW DID YOU GET HERE BEFORE I DID?

Dukermin: Hm. Don’t know what that means. *attempts to silently get Sans’s attention by waving*

Sans: *has become uncomfortable with the guy staring at him and muttering to himself in a language he can’t understand, looks around* *sees Dukermin* oh, hey. wanna ride the slip’n’slide? with the royal discount, it’s only 8 loaves.

Dukermin: *facepalms and checks to see if voice 3 noticed her*

Voice 3: *did in fact notice her* *has his arm outstretched, hand glowing blue like he tried to do something* *whatever it was didn’t work and he looks at his hand, confused*

Dukermin: *waves awkwardly at voice 3 from under the table* So uhhh… come here often?

Voice 3: Who are you and how did you bring me here? I know humans are unthinkably powerful, but you’re not gods. 

Dukermin: Welllll… nevermind. We didn’t do this. We’re as confused as you are. My name is Dukermin, and the other human that was with me is Nalitie. *still under the table*

Nalitie: *off in the background, sharing a cupcake with Ask Erik! Tobias* *has given Lisanarda to Willy Wonka for the moment*

Dukermin: Who are you?

Voice 3: *muttering to himself again* perhaps some sort of alternate reality? If the CORE functions by maintaining an uncollapsed quantum state over a large homogeneous mass of magic[1], then…

AE Tobias: *has been going around talking to all of the new people* *has heard Voice 3 talking and comes running over* is void friend! but different? ✋︎ 💣︎✋︎💧︎💧︎☜︎👎︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ 🖳︎✆︎

Dukermin: Did Tobias just speak in wingdings…? Anyway hmm so void friend plus skeleton plus knowing Sans plus wingdings… Nalitie knows something about this.

Voice 3: *is staring at Tobias like they have three heads* How on Earth…?

Tobias: 👌︎🕆︎❄︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ ⚐︎☠︎ 🏱︎☹︎🕆︎❄︎⚐︎✍︎

Voice 3: *squinting suspiciously at the obviously human child who should not be able to understand Wingdings, much less speak in them*

Dukermin: Hey Nalitie are you getting any of this?

Nalitie: *is way across the room sampling beans*

Dukermin: *To Voice 3* You stay here. *runs to Nalitie and relays information about tobias knowing voice 3 from the void, knowing sans but sans doesn't know him, wingdings, uhhhh yeah thats the main stuff*

Nalitie: Oh THAT’S where I know that guy from!!! *yelling across the room obnoxiously* You’re Dr. Gaster and you made the CORE in the Underground! How did you get here, do you remember what happened before you got to Dunkel??? 

Party Guests: *turning to stare*

Tobias: *running over to Nalitie* is friend! Is void friend! 🕈︎✌︎💧︎ 🕈︎✋︎❄︎☟︎ 💣︎☜︎✏︎

Nalitie: *concerned look at her roommates mysterious child from the void, thinking about other weird things they’ve done since coming to Erscoga* Ok.

Gaster: *heard “you made the CORE”* *walking over so that they stop yelling, but maintaining a respectable distance* Ah, so you’ve heard about my work? Of course you have, I'm responsible for every great accomplishment of my species. Well... almost every accomplishment. Really, in a sense, you're privileged to know me.[1] *is wary, but also very conceited when it comes to his work*

Dukermin: oh that’s interesting hmm… I thought we brought every Undertale character over that… you know… existed ..

Nalitie: *to Gaster* did you miss coming through the Erscoga hole the first time? Cause we opened that to land on Pluto, not Dunkel…

Dukermin: How could we have missed someone though? Like if we were being selective even accidentally why would we have a flowey. 

Nalitie: Also, didn’t Mettaton mention once that you guys met a Frisk who fell into a totally empty Underground? You’d think that if there was just one monster left in the Underground, they’d be able to find them… the Underground’s not THAT big…

Gaster: *is trying to follow the conversation but has no idea about the whole “we ground severed everyone out of the Underground” thing and is confused* What do you mean an “empty Underground?” What is this “Erscoga hole” you keep talking about?

Dukermin: The Hole to Erscoga of course. Ok so… you know about the character so obviously this character like is a thing, but somehow is like… disconnected from the.. I guess physical Undertale location because… Wait where do you live?

Gaster: Why would I tell two human strangers where I live?

Dukermin: Like you live with the other monsters right? Not on some secluded desert island that we might have missed with the ground sever tool?

Gaster: “Ground sever tool”?

Dukermin: Y know like we would use to sever the ground to then put in the hole to Erscoga.

Gaster: *squinting suspiciously at Dukermin*

(As you continue going back and forth about Erscoga-specific terms in very vague ways, you hear a large clap of thunder. The ground shakes again, this time harder than before. Christine catches a bowl of chips before they can land on Erscoga Tobias, who has been crawling around near the table. Sans slips on his fruit punch slip’n’slide. The lights flicker momentarily.)

Dukermin: Oh yeah that’s happening too.

Nalitie: Maybe we should go see if that’s happening elsewhere, too… Or if there’s any portals happening with those earthquakes, like on Dunkel…

Dukermin: Yeah, we do need to figure out whats going on because the portals seem to really be messing with the Dunkelians buildings.

Gaster: *deep in thought* Portals…? *thinking about an experiment he did somewhat recently that went BADLY*

Nalitie: Ugh hopefully that’s not messing with the buildings here on Termata, we’ve already had so much building to do on Pluto. Also hopefully there’s nothing messing with the buildings on Pluto, we JUST rebuilt again. 

Dukermin: if we’re going to pluto, we should bring Gaster, because it might give us some answers on why we missed him the first time… *preps a lunchbox*

Gaster: I’m not going anywhere with you. Why should I trust you when apparently you’ve been abducting monsters?

Dukermin: Yeah yeah yeah *puts him in a bubble and sends him through*

Nalitie: *follows* 

(You arrive on Pluto. Something has, in fact, been messing with the buildings on Pluto. Undyne’s newly-rebuilt house is OK and no longer on fire, but there are a bunch of melted holes in her yard. The newly-rebuilt Best Western is mostly OK, but there’s a large hole underneath one wing of the hotel that looks precarious. Papyrus’s shed is still surrounded by yellow police tape, but their house looks ok. Alphys’s lab is at a much less violent angle than before, because the ground on one side of the hole it’s been sitting in is melted. The surface of Pluto is pock-marked with holes of various sizes.)

(Callie and Chara are sitting in their box, unperturbed. Undyne is filling in a hole with the help of a red-haired guy in a large black coat that you don’t recognize. Two surprisingly normal-looking men are gazing up at the Mettaton statue on the Callie/Sans box in wonder.  A pink-haired woman with a monocle is taking pictures of Papyrus’s shed.)

Nalitie: Oh. Well that’s not as bad as usual, I guess. 

Gaster: *tumbling around in the bubble* *probably cursing at them* … is that my house?

Dukermin: Wait which one is your house??

Gaster: *is attempting to stand up, but can’t because he’s in a round bubble* *looking at Sans’n’Pap’s house*

Dukermin: Ohhh so yeah this doesn't make sense *frees him*

Nalitie: *walking towards Sans’n’Pap’s house* This one? *falls in a hole because she’s not watching where she’s going and becomes soaked and COLD*

Dukermin: *helps Nalitie out of the wet and cold* Soo you did live in Monster Town so you definitely should have been picked up with everyone else… Unless… 

Gaster: “Monster Town”?

Nalitie: Oh, actually, if anyone is going to know our mystery guest maybe it would be Asgore. He probably took a census at some point, right?

Gaster: *is very confused by everything that’s happening* You know Asgore…? 

Dukermin: Do you know Asgore?

Gaster: … Of course I do. He is my king, just as he is for any other monster. 

Dukermin: And yet… Its almost as if you… *turns to camera* don’t exist…

Camera girl: *snaps picture of Dukermin and jets off*

Gaster: I beg your pardon??? I’ll have you know that I am a well-known monster in the Underground, responsible for our civilization’s main power source and many other groundbreaking discoveries as the Royal Scientist! 

Dukermin: Sans didn’t seem to have any idea who you were.. And yes we know that you’re the Royal Scientist… like by word of mouth only.

Nalitie: Uh isn’t Alphys the Royal Scientist? 

Gaster: ???

Dukermin: So maybe we should go talk to Alphys, theoretically she should know you really well if you worked on the CORE

Nalitie: That’s a good idea. This way! *going over to Alphys’s lab, shivering and trying not to fall in any more holes* Is it just me or is the door closer to the ground than usual? *looking at the ground/holes* 

Dukermin: Sinking probably. It’s fine. They’ve seen worse.

(After less climbing than usual, you enter Alphys’s lab. The lights are off, and the door into the True Lab is open. Piggy and the Narrator are here, looking frightened.)

Dukermin: Oh heyyy how’s it going? Probably not great…

Nalitie: How did you guys get up here? I thought you lived downstairs. Anyway, have you seen Alphys?

Piggy and Narrator: *literally do not know who Alphys is*

Dukermin: Lab coat… yellow…

Narrator: *points at the True Lab door*

Piggy: *grabs his hand to stop him from pointing* Oh no, you don’t want to go down there. Something bad’s happening down there.

Dukermin: That’s fine. Lets go squad *through the door*

(You head down into the True Lab. Gaster seems to recognize the place, but also looks a little lost. You can hear the amalgamates in some of the other rooms and… you think you hear someone crying.) 

Dukermin: Probably want to follow the crying noises, huh? *follows crying noises*

Nalitie: *following her, happy to be indoors and trying to figure out which layers she can shed without being indecent because they’re cold and soaking*

Gaster: *following, shutting up for once* *is looking around and seems to not be finding what he’s looking for*

(As you head down the hall, the crying becomes more distinct, and you can hear Alphys’s voice apologizing, as well as a vague, echoey “nyeh heh” followed by eight repetitions of “who’s there?”)

Dukermin: We’re here, the Queens! And some guy!

(When you step inside the room, you can see Alphys huddled on the ground in the corner. In front of her, standing at like 7 feet tall, is a very squishy-looking being that looks a little bit like Papyrus, if Papyrus normally had Sans glitched through his chest.) 

Dukermin: Oh that’s new.

Gaster: *has never seen an Amalgamate before* Dear God…

Nalitie: Uhhhh that is new. Weren’t Sans and Papyrus just at our party though??? *takes out her phone, attempts to call them…* 

Alphys: *sees everyone* *sobbing* I swear I didn’t do this!!!! T-they just walked in here like this!

Dukermin: We believe you, don’t worry! We’re going to sort this out! There have been some portal shenanigans… anyway… no worries *stares in horror*

Nalitie: The call didn’t go through. *staring up at what’s probably the Papyrus head* Hello there… You’re Sans and Papyrus, right? 

🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴: *says something unintelligible*

Dukermin: Cool. *To Nalitie* Universal Translator didn’t get any of that… It doesn’t seem hostile though..?

Nalitie: *digging through her pockets* Would you like, um… *pulls out some SPLARGH* some cereal? *offers two handfuls*

🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴: *grabs like three pieces with their very goopy hands, shovels them in* frie…nd? (hungry…)

Dukermin: Yyyyes!! Friends!

Gaster: *staring in horror*

Nalitie: *gives them a very careful pat on the Sans head since it’s the only part she can reach* *comes away with sticky hands* There’s lots of friends around here for you… 

🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴: iissss ffriendddd *attempts a hug*

Nalitie: *is now uncomfortably wet AND sticky* OKAy, yep…! Friend… 

Dukermin: Umm.. anyway.. We did come find you for a reason… *scoots past the new friend*

Alphys: *has calmed down a little* *stands up*

Dukermin: *points to Gaster* You know this guy?

Alphys: *thinking very hard about it* Um… I-I don’t um… sorry, no…? *looking him up and down* But um… are… are you… ok? You have uh… *gestures at two very large cracks in his face and what looks like small fractures in other places on his body* 

Gaster: *staring at her in confusion* Alphys…? What do you mean you don’t know who I am? We’ve worked together for years… 

Alphys: *blank stare* I’m uh… I’m sorry, I don’t understand you… 

Dukermin: *Translates for her*

Alphys: I-I’m sorry, I don’t, um… As far as I know I’ve worked alone since, um. For. Uh. P-pretty much the whole time??? (Not, uh, counting Mettaton’s “help” on his body…)

Dukermin: Who all worked on the CORE?

Alphys: *opens mouth to respond* *pauses* *looks very confused* I’m um… I’m not sure, actually. It… It must have been whoever was, um… it must have been the Royal Scientist before me b-but… Now that you mention it I… I don’t… I c-can’t think of who that was…? (I feel like I should know that…)

Dukermin: It’s alright. Have you heard the name Gaster before?

Alphys: *slowly shakes her head*

Gaster: *staring intently* 

Dukermin: Hmmmm… Interesting… something voidy is going on here it seems.

Nalitie: *half-encased in a very goopy hug* Maybe he’s from a different timeline…?

(As you muse about this, the ground beneath the lab shifts. Everyone is thrown off-balance.)

Dukermin: *cosmic bubbles as many as she can as she goes flying*

Everyone: *tumbling around in the cosmic bubbles*

(Eventually, the lab settles again. Everything has been thrown off of the shelves. Nalitie is all tangled up in 🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴. Gaster is at the bottom of a bubble, flat on his face in a super undignified manner. Alphys didn’t fare much better.) 

Dukermin: *looks super cool in her cosmic bubble and not undignified cuz she’s used to this stuff* So… anyway.

Nalitie: *getting up, scooting away from 🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴 inside the bubble* We should probably figure that out… Alphys, do you wanna keep them *gesturing at 🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴* here while we do that? Otherwise uhh… They could go in my bunker??? 

Alphys: *🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴 makes her incredibly uncomfortable but she’s too polite to ask Nalitie to take them with her*

Dukermin: That seems like a good idea. Maybe we should get the lab secured and then set them up at your place.

Nalitie: Yeah, that’s probably good. Christine and the kids should all be at the Christmas party still, so they won’t be uh… freaked out by all of this.

Dukermin: yyyeah. Okay cool any ideas on how to keep the lab from falling in?

Nalitie: Hmm… *taps on the bubble* We’d have to go outside to look but maybe if we just put something under it??? Or we could move it, I guess, but there’s holes all over so I don’t think that would work very well…

Dukermin: *frees everyone from the bubbles* Lets go outside!

Gaster: *falls flat on his face on the ground* *cursing*

Dukermin: *to the outside*

(The giant hole underneath Alphys’s lab is bigger than when you last saw it. If you look inside of it, you can see what looks like an oceanic world. Best not to let the lab fall into that… The half that’s usually buried in the ground is still buried in the ground a little, but the other half of the lab dangles precariously over the hole. It’s nearly in the normal orientation for a building, rather than perpendicular to the ground.) 

Nalitie: *peering into the hole, trying to figure out where that is* *unsure if that’s just what’s always under the Pluto glaciers*

Dukermin: So… do you think these are the portals that have been showing up everywhere or that this is something different?

Nalitie: I mean… it could be. I don’t think we’d really know unless we went in, though. *fishing in her pockets for a rock or something* 

Dukermin: Well now I kinda wanna go in.

(Inside the hole, you see a suspiciously human looking girl swim by, followed closely by a sea lion. She doesn’t appear to be wearing any kind of diving gear. She disappears from view as she crosses the other side of the hole.)

Dukermin: Okay so probably a portal. Unless Pluto is known for having people swimming around near its core…? 

Nalitie: Given the stuff happening on Dunkel, my bet’s on portal, yeah… 

Dukermin: So… I mean it seems like the portal is about done since we can see clear into the … other side. So maybe it would be better to find some way to secure the lab in this location rather than move it since another portal could just appear. Perhaps a hammock or something?

Nalitie: Ooh, yeah… … I don’t have a hammock on me umm *digging in her pockets for something to make a net or something out of.

Alphys: *trying to avoid 🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴 without making it seem like that’s what she’s doing*

Gaster: *watching all of this go down with a blank look, unsure what all this portal stuff means*

Dukermin: *checks in her pockets for something too* *pulls out two snails and then puts them back gently* I don’t have anything.

Nalitie: *pulls out the Pocket Magician™* Hey, Pocket Magician™, long time no see… any chance you could magic up a big net for us? 

Pocket Magician ™ : *gasps for air* HELLO HELLO HELLO AUDIENCE!! WHAT A LOVELY DAY IT IS *throws a bunch of tiny cards in the air and they all land in a deck in his hands* PICK A CARD ANY CARD!!!

Nalitie: Um… not sure how that’s gonna help us get a net but… *points at a card*

Gaster: *raises an… eyebrow? brow bone? at whatever this is*

Pocket Magician ™: EXCELLENT CHOICE! NOW ILL JUST PUT THAT BACK IN THE DECK *does a flip up to the tiny card in nalities hand and snatches it* *puts the entire deck into his mouth and chews it up* ALRIGHT NOW CHECK BEHIND YOUR EAR

Nalitie: ????? *does so*

(There is a very tiny card behind Nalitie’s ear, it’s of course your card)

Pocket Magician ™: ILL TAKE THAT BACK IF YOU DON’T MIND!! *Holds his lil hand out*

Nalitie: *gives the card back* Look, that’s… nice, but uh… we kinda have a crisis to deal with so if you can’t make a net that’s fine… 

Pocket Magician ™: NOW FOR MY NEWEST TRICK: FEAST YOUR EYES ON THIS ILLUSION TURNED REALITY WITH THE HELP OF….. MAAAGGGICC *starts blowing into the card*

(AS the Pocket Magician ™ starts blowing into the card, it inflates, the paper turning into a woven net. He pauses for a bit)

Pocket Magician ™: LET ME KNOW WHEN ITS BIG ENOUGH TO SUIT YOUR FANCY!! I COULD DO THIS ALLL DAY!! *huffs and puffs*

Nalitie: *stops him once it’s more than big enough to fit underneath the whole lab* Holy buckets! That was good. *applauding with the hand that isn’t holding the Pocket Magician™*

Gaster: ???????

Dukermin: WHOOOO *applauds*

Pocket magician ™: THANK YOU THANK YOU I’LL BE HERE ALL WEEK *flash of light and lasers come out of Nalities pocket* * he does a somersault back into said pocket*

Nalitie: … OK! *grabbing a corner of the net* This’ll work… *secures her corner to the ground, outside the hole*

Dukermin: *grabs another corner and slides it underneath the visible parts of the lab* *stakes it into the ground*

Nalitie: *securing the other two corners*

(It’s not your prettiest work, but it’ll hold.)

Nalitie: OK cool, so we should bring these guys *gestures at 🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴* back to my vent hole, and then… figure things out from there.  *fishing in her pockets for a lunchbox portal*

Dukermin: *To Gaster* We’re all heading to Nalitie’s place now. You as well.

Gaster: *unhappy* I suppose I don’t have any choice in the matter?

Dukermin: Nope! *invites him through*

Nalitie: *lightly shoving*

Gaster: *goes through the portal*

Nalitie: *to Alphys* I’m sure we’ll be back at some point to uh… help fix whatever’s going on here. Don’t worry too much about it! *heads through the portal, holding 🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴’s hand*

Dukermin: *gives Alphys a thumbs up and heads through*

(You have arrived on Termata, just outside of Nalitie’s house. Nalitie goes up to her front door, 🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴 trailing behind her, and fishes around for her house key. She unlocks the door and invites everyone inside.) 

(The house is quiet, and all the lights are off, since everyone is at the Christmas party other than Mog Jr. The couch blasts off into space.)

Gaster: O_O

Nalitie: Don’t worry about it. *leading 🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴 towards the VR room, laying down pieces of SPLARGH in a little trail* 

Dukermin: *Giving Gaster an unwanted tour* So that was the couch that goes to the space station, uhh here’s a kitchen with kitchen stuff in it… here's the VR room… here's the shower/tub combo, revolutionary…uhh down here are some coffins… 

Gaster: *spends an uncomfortable amount of time staring at the coffins, which just so happen to be the ones Asgore used to have in his basement, with the bodies of the first 6 fallen humans*

Dukermin: The SOULs are gone but there are still bodies in there for some reason. 

Gaster: Do I even want to know why you have these? *gesturing* *pauses* *looks at the one with a red SOUL icon on it and frowns*

Dukermin: Probably not. *starts to leave*

Gaster: *under his breath* “Chara”...? That’s… odd.

Dukermin: oOh *turns back* Do you know them? Could give us some clues…

Gaster: This is the first human’s coffin, is it not? Why does it have someone else’s name on it? Or does your friend simply have a macabre sense of humor? 

Dukermin: Hmm what name would you expect to be on it?

Gaster: … Radic. That was the first human’s name. *frowns, then finally actually looks at Dukermin, catching himself* I’m not sure why I’m even bothering to tell you about it. 

Dukermin: *shrugs* People like telling me stuff. I’m a good listener sometimes!

Mog Jr.: *making noise from the other room*

Nalitie: *upstairs, wondering where everyone went, having successfully secured 🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴🦴 in her bunker with a bunch of cereal and candy and stuff* Hello???? 

Dukermin: HELLO! We’re with the dead bodies!!

Nalitie: *coming down the stairs* … why? 

Dukermin: I like it down here it’s peaceful also do you know anything about the first human being known as Radic?

Nalitie: I mean… not in the version of Undertale that we emptied out, no… We literally have that human on Pluto and their name is Chara??? They live in the box with Callie and Sans??? 

Dukermin: Maybe it’s like a cool nickname. Anyway Gaster seems to recall the first human being Radic, not Chara. Kinda interesting.

Nalitie: *frowning* *kind of glances back at him* Ic cogar quer istestnic evon unrer amiagenet abensio… Ellvie istest waum quer iscirnic diidgen abed quoi.

Dukermin: Abed quer iscir mati diidgen aber Undertale. (“But he knows many things about Undertale.”)

Nalitie: Etti… Deive Undertale abensio, tuun?

Dukermin: Ellvie ninic canon? (“Maybe not canon?”)

Gaster: “Undertale”? “Canon”? If you two are done talking about me directly in front of my face, I’m sure there’s something better we could be doing other than standing in this room full of coffins. For example, you could let me go about my business in peace and stop dragging me with you everywhere.

Dukermin: Okay but what is your business exactly??

Gaster: None of yours, thank you. 

Dukermin: In case you haven’t noticed, you’re not exactly in Kansas anymore.. AKA wherever you call home, whatever dimension that is. We can’t help you get back to where you came from if we can’t figure out where it is that you came from.

Nalitie: And we can’t do that until we figure out why a portal would have opened up from wherever you’re from to Erscoga. Are you sure you don’t remember what you were doing before you got here? 

Gaster: Plummeting to my death. I can only assume this is some twisted sort of afterlife where I’m going to spend eternity atoning for my sins in the form of being forced to accompany idiotic humans on meaningless adventures for the rest of my days. 

Dukermin: *translates for Nalitie* Doesn’t sound pleasant to us either, frankly.

Nalitie: Yeah, Dukermin already lives with one grumpy old man, and my house is WAY too full to accept more residents. Although I’m sure Bee would enjoy it… *still confused about her roommate’s confusing void child*

Dukermin: We definitely don’t have to stay in the coffin room, though. I suppose we should get back to the party…

Nalitie: Oh, right, the party… *heads back upstairs* *the couch has returned* Oh, good. *heads out the front door*

Dukermin *adios* *to the party*

(As the three of you head down the street towards the Opera House, there’s another HUGE clap of thunder. You can see some sort of light in the distance, far to the west towards Mackinac, clearly too bright to be actual lightning. The ground beneath you shakes violently.)

Dukermin: Ahh I can never remember what I supposed to do during earthquakes *stop drop and rolls*

Nalitie: *lays on the ground in the middle of the road*

Gaster: *wondering how he got himself into this, probably even more convinced that this is just his own personal version of Hell*

Dukermin: *gets up and brushes herself off when the shaking stops* That isn’t ominous at all.

Nalitie: *also getting up* Where did that even come from? *standing on her tiptoes, looking west as if that’s going to let her see wherever that was*

Dukermin: From Mackinac’s general direction. Should we… go take a look or…?

Nalitie: Probably, yeah. Maybe whatever’s making the portals is over there. *trying to figure out the best mode of transportation* 

Dukermin: Hmm is it van time?

Nalitie: I think it is! *to the van* *gently but insistently pushing Gaster towards the van*

Dukermin: *excitedly hops into the very reliable van*

Nalitie: *getting the portal set up*

Gaster: *came from an era before cars, has never been in a van*

Nalitie: *backs out of the driveway, then activates the van’s portal powers, aiming for Mackinac Island*

(The van lands in the front lawn of the Best Western in Mackinaw City.) 

Nalitie: Oh, dangit… *the van is stuck in the mud, unable to get enough traction* We might have to walk and take the ferry. 

Dukermin: *attempts to use a cosmic bubble to give it some leverage*

(The van sputters. It seems the battery has died.)

Dukermin: Yeahhhh i guess *to the ferry*

(And so the trio walked to the ferry, stole a boat, and finally made it to Mackinac Island…)

(Night has fallen over Mackinac Island, and the streets are fairly empty. The air is tense, though. You can see people in the windows of hotels pointing into the sky, talking to each other. A few people stand in doorways, looking down the street, speaking in hushed murmurs.)

Dukermin: *looks up to where everyone is pointing*

(The clouds are swirling in the sky over the forest of Mackinac Island State Park.  It looks like a storm is brewing, but there’s no rain and—as far as you can tell—the air is dry.)

Nalitie: Dang… That’s, um. Probably not normal. 

Dukermin: Probably not. *Looks to see if the storm is like… centered over a specific spot or swirling around a certain point*

(The clouds funnel down towards the ground in a perfect cone. Looks like a tornado is brewing, but it seems to not be moving.)

Nalitie: *actively stealing a bike*

Dukermin: Lot of stealing today *snags a tandem bike for her and Gaster*

Gaster: *reluctantly getting on the bike* *has never seen a bike before, either* 

(You head off down the road towards the State Park. The air seems to thicken around you, and you can feel Gaster gathering a static charge behind you. The swirl of clouds seems centered over Skull Cave.)

Dukermin: *hair getting all staticky in the back* Hey gaster could you knock that off… Your static is messing up my hair.

Gaster: It’s not my fault. It must be this strange thunderstorm that’s brewing. *seems a little spikier-looking than usual*

Dukermin: You better not get struck by lightning while we’re sharing a metal bike *ducks into the cave for cover being careful to NOT TOUCH THE WALLS*

Nalitie: *gets off of her bike before going in*

(Deep inside the cave, you can hear someone sobbing. There’s a huge flash from somewhere deep in the cave, and another deafening clap of thunder. The ground shakes momentarily, but the cave doesn’t collapse on you, at least. The static charge in the air dissipates.)

Dukermin: *trying to smooth her hair back down* Alrighty then, we got an ominously named cave with sobbing coming from inside. Cool stuff. *heads deeper in*

Nalitie: *shrugs and follows her, dragging Gaster along behind them*

(As you come to the back of the shallow cave, you see a woman curled in a ball on the ground, sobbing. She’s barefoot, a pair of sturdy leather boots sitting next to her. To her left, a big interdimensional portal is open, a swirl of purple and stars.  Two women come out of it—one dressed in fantastical colors, and the other in a blood-stained floral shirt and red vest.)

???: And in this universe—*stops and actually looks around, sees Dukermin and Nalitie and Gaster* … Actually, this one doesn’t look familiar at all. 

???2: What? What do you mean it’s not familiar??? We just came from a universe where we were rocks and you’re telling me that this one is weird to you? What about the one where I have hot dogs for fingers??? 

Dukermin: Umm… Welcome to Erscoga!

Nalitie: I’m Nalitie, and this is Dukermin, and that cranky skeleton man is Gaster. *pointing at everyone in turn* And I don’t know who that person is *points at the sobbing lady, who looks up at everyone with uncertainty* 

Dukermin: To put it simply, portals have been opening up in our… dimension here and dropping folks in. We’re working on it but you’re probably going to be stuck here for a bit…

(As if on cue, the portal behind them closes.) 

???: Hmph. It’s no matter. I can’t be bound by time and space. You wouldn’t understand. *pauses for an awkward amount of time* *mutters* why isn’t this working?

Dukermin: Were you… trying to do something just then?

???: Why… why can’t I feel any of the other… *looking around, panicking, as if she’s forgetting who she is*

???2: Joy? What’s wrong? 

Joy: *angrily* shhh! *waves a hand in ???2’s direction* I’m trying to… where… who… *suddenly very confused* Where am I? This… this isn’t my home??? *looking at herself* What am I wearing? 

Dukermin: Uhhh…

Nalitie: Welcome to Mackinac Island I guess? We are in a very creepy shallow cave! 

Sobbing Woman: *no longer sobbing, stands up* *putting her boots back on carefully* Oh God, I’m so sorry… I–I didn’t mean to do this… I haven’t meant to be doing this, and I thought if I buried myself here it would stop but… *about to break down again*

Dukermin: Whoa whoa whoa doing what exactly?

Woman Who Is No Longer Sobbing: The portals, I… All these people, oh God, I’ve been making such a mess of the multiverse and I can’t get it to stop…! *having a panic attack*

Dukermin: Oh no I’m bad at this stuff *sits down to join her* Hey, what’s your name?

Woman Who Is Sobbing Again: My… my name? O-oh, I guess I didn’t, um. *taking deep breaths* I’m Aubrey. 

Gaster: *being grilled with questions by Joy and the other woman who came with her* *uncomfortable, but supposes he deserves this as his afterlife*

Dukermin: It’s nice to meet you Aubrey. I’m Dukermin, this is Nalitie, we’re the queens of this dimension and we will do whatever we can to help you.

Aubrey: *laughing and crying now* Of course I would draw the attentions of the queens of the whole dimension… ugh what a mess. I’m surprised you didn’t catch me sooner. I really really didn’t mean to pen all those portals, I know that’s not supposed to happen here, I just—I… do what you want with me, I guess, but know that I really wasn’t trying to do any of this! *wasn’t really listening to what Dukermin said*

Dukermin: I believe you. Let’s take this one step at a time okay? How did you get to this dimension?

Aubrey: Get here? Um… I don’t remember for sure, but I think it was at the same time as everyone else on this island…? S-sorry, it’s a little fuzzy. We all just woke up here one day… 

Dukermin: So you’ve been here for a little while then, okay. But the portals didn’t start right when we brought Mackinac, right?

Nalitie: As far as I know… *to Aubrey* have you always been able to open portals like this? 

Aubrey: I… *memory is a little fuzzy* No. There was… Ugh, you’re never going to believe me, but I was in this… place? But it was also sort of a not-place, and this… I guess he was a person, of sorts? Art, his name was, he said that he couldn’t get out of that not-place, but he was able to give me the power to, and then suddenly I was back home again… And since then I’ve had these… episodes, I guess, fluctuations. But they’ve been getting worse and worse lately. They hadn’t been opening portals before, just the thunder and the lightning. And then suddenly the portals started opening, a-and I thought maybe it was just going to be the one or two, but now they won’t stop and I can’t control it, and even the boots aren’t enough anymore… 

Dukermin: The boots stop the portals from opening?

Aubrey: The boots help keep the powers in check, a little. Um… are you familiar with that really popular movie that came out in 2013? Frozen? It’s a little like that… B-but they never made portals before recently, so I guess not… 

Dukermin: So making portals is not the only power that you have. 

Aubrey: I… I guess I don’t know exactly what the powers are? At first, before I found out that the boots could help, it was just earthquakes and thunderstorms. Changing the weather in that way. 

Dukermin: Gotcha. So where did you find the boots?

Aubrey: Oh, those? Um… There’s this antique shop, over in Mackinaw City. The owner… he’s this really weird guy, but he assured me the boots were just normal boots. Ones that his… sibling donated, I think?

Dukermin: Wait. Old guy, sells a lot of sweaters??

Aubrey: yes… Have you been there? It’s a curious shop, but… the prices are pretty good.

Dukermin: Yeah we’ve been there… *side-eyes Gaster*

Nalitie: We have??? When???

Dukermin: Mettaton and I went. You went home. It’s Frisk’s shop.

Nalitie: Uh… Frisk the child who lives on Pluto owns an antique shop in Mackinaw City? 

Dukermin: No Frisk the old man. Who lives in Mackinaw and owns an antique shop.

Nalitie: … huh.

Gaster: *tired of answering Joy’s questions, comes back over by Dukermin and Nalitie* Do we have to be having this truly riveting conversation inside of this cave? *won’t admit it, but had been enjoying being not underground finally*

Aubrey: *doesn’t have the translator, and so hears nothing but Wingdings* *stares at him with wide eyes* It’s you…! B-but… how? 

Dukermin: *points at both of them*

Gaster: Excuse me?

Aubrey: *can’t understand him* You told me that you couldn’t get out of that not-place… I-I don’t understand, Art… 

Dukermin: *points both fingers at Gaster* Okay one second -- so Tobias recognized you and spoke to you in Wingdings, and now Aubrey recognizes you also… from a not-place. This is voidy!!

Nalitie: Right, because Bee recognized him as a “Void… friend…” *realization* Oh my God???? THAT’S WHY YOU SOUNDED FAMILIAR. But wait, you look different and also seemed to not understand Pluto?

Dukermin: Right and why would a character in the void come through a portal?

Gaster: What is this “Void” you keep talking about?

Joy: *eavesdropping* You haven’t heard? It’s really quite the place. You could say I’m there all the time, even when I’m not. *sardonic smile* I could be there a lot more if Evelyn would just follow me into The Bagel… 

Dukermin: …Righttt… um so the Void is where deleted characters go. Congratulations we figured it out you’re a deleted character! *jazz hands*

Gaster: *levelling a really unimpressed look at her* I think I would remember being somewhere like that.

Dukermin: *translating everything* UnlessssSS! Because time is weird ! The portal picked you up from some time before you were deleted OrR from some sort of AU??

Nalitie: Well, the last thing you said you remembered was plummeting to your doom, though, right? So maybe you were dead in there and for some reason you’re alive now…? But I guess AU is possible, some timeline where you weren’t erased… … *frowning* but if you don’t remember being on Pluto at all, which is where we put you, then maybe you are a different guy? Cause like… I distinctly remember that we usually write back and forth to you??? But you don’t have your whiteboard, and you look significantly less… melty than usual, and also you have those hands *pointing at the magic hands that have been following him around everywhere, moving as he talks* which are DEFINITELY new and uh… all that’s to say maybe we should go back to Pluto… We can drop these guys *gestures to Joy and ???2* off at the Christmas Party.

Dukermin: Yeah that’ll be nice. 

Nalitie: *prepares a lunchbox portal, you know the drill…* 

(After dropping off the new guests at the Christmas Party, you, Aubrey, and Gaster head to Pluto. It’s about the same as when you left it. Alphys’s lab is stable. Undyne and that guy in the big coat are still filling in holes. The two normal-looking dudes are throwing pennies into one of the melted holes, making wishes.)

Aubrey: *nervous about her powers acting up* Are you sure it’s safe for me to be here? 

Dukermin: We’ll find out! *off to find Mr. Face Man*

Nalitie: I’m sure it will be fine! *dragging Gaster along behind her*

Gaster: *clearly does NOT want to be here, did not want to be involved in any of this*

(Callie and Chara are sitting in their glass box, napping. Sans’s chair has a “Back Soon” sign taped to it. The lights are off at Sans’n’Pap’s house, since they’re at the Christmas Party. A dark figure stands at the entrance of their shed, behind the yellow police tape.)

Dukermin: um excuse me this is an active crime scene???

(The figure turns to look at you. It’s Mr. Face Man, looking as unreadable as ever with his ever-present smile. He doesn’t have his whiteboard on him. The pile of glittery dust that used to be Narissa sparkles behind him as he stares at you.)

Mr. Face Man: ☟︎☜︎☹︎☹︎⚐︎ ✌︎☝︎✌︎✋︎☠︎📬︎ ✋︎ 🕈︎✌︎💧︎ 💣︎☜︎☼︎☜︎☹︎✡︎ ☼︎☜︎☞︎☹︎☜︎👍︎❄︎✋︎☠︎☝︎ ⚐︎☠︎ ❄︎���︎✋︎💧︎ 🕈︎✌︎💧︎❄︎☜︎ ⚐︎☞︎ ☹︎✋︎☞︎☜︎📬︎ 💧︎🕆︎👍︎☟︎ ✌︎ 💧︎☟︎✌︎💣︎☜︎ ❄︎☟︎✌︎❄︎ ✌︎☠︎⚐︎❄︎☟︎☜︎☼︎ 🕈︎✌︎☼︎ ☟︎✌︎👎︎ ❄︎⚐︎ ☟︎✌︎🏱︎🏱︎☜︎☠︎ ☟︎☜︎☼︎☜︎📪︎ ✌︎☠︎👎︎ 💧︎⚐︎ 💧︎⚐︎⚐︎☠︎ ✌︎☞︎❄︎☜︎☼︎ ❄︎☟︎☜︎ ☹︎✌︎💧︎❄︎📬︎

Gaster: *has not met anyone else who speaks Wingdings, at least not in a very, VERY long time, is baffled* *also this guy feels… a little familiar?*

Dukermin: *translates for Nalitie* Yes it’s a shame… So we wanted to introduce you to this guy, Gaster…

Mr. Face Man: Ah… how interesting. It is rare to see this man so untouched by The Void… 

Aubrey: *looking between the two of them, confused now* Art…? 

Gaster: What do you mean, “untouched by The Void”? Who are you?

Mr. Face Man: *ignoring Gaster, turning to Aubrey* Hello, child. I have not seen you for a long time. Or perhaps lack there-of. We both know that time means naught in The Void, and yet here we both are, finally in a plane of existence.

Aubrey: *can’t understand him*

Dukermin: *translates*

Aubrey: It is you…! Then who… *looking at Gaster now* I’ve never met anyone else who could speak the way you do. I suppose I thought that was something only you could do.

Mr. Face Man: It is in its own way, I suppose. No two voices are alike, after all.

Nalitie: *interrupting* Uh did she say your name was Art? I guess we never asked AFTER we gave you that whiteboard… 

Mr. Face Man: Ah, yes, how foolish of me for not re-introducing myself after we learned to communicate. S. G. Art, at your service. 

Dukermin: Hm. Well nice to formally meet you, Art. How do you recognize Gaster?

Art: Child, have you forgotten our first meeting? Where I was at that point in not-time, I was an Observer of worlds. Erscoga, yes, but all of the others as well. You would be surprised how often your friend comes up.

Gaster: I’m not their “friend.” What do you mean, you’re an Observer of worlds? What is this Void you all keep speaking of? *is not up to date and also was not answered earlier*

Art: I would say that you’ll know firsthand soon, but since you’re here and I’m not there to view your destiny, I suppose I can no longer say for certain… *giving him a critical appraisal* I must say, it is a very rare occurrence indeed that a version of you in this state would be spared time in The Void. Those cracks in your face, the state of your coat… I can tell you are not one to choose mercy. And I can see by those fractures lining your body that you’ve already gotten a taste of Our Friend, The Void Itself in one way or another… Oh, yes, it wasn’t too long before you were meant to be swallowed up. I suppose our dear Aubrey must have done you this kindness without even knowing, the dear… 

Gaster: *reflexively putting a hand on the back of his neck, which is littered with hairline fractures from a recent experiment that went Terribly Wrong* *squinting suspiciously at this person who knows far too much about him, just like that thing*

Dukermin: *has been frantically translating* Okay that was a lot… anyway. Uh yeah.

Aubrey: *frowning* *to Gaster* I don’t recall you coming through any of my portals, but… if Art says it, it must be true. *to Art* Certainly now that we’re out of The Void, you could take these powers away again? We don’t need them anymore, we’ve both escaped…!

(Art’s face doesn’t change, but you can feel a shift in the air, a tension.)

Art: Oh, my dear, how I would love to relieve you of this burden. But I cannot in this state, not by myself, anyway. When we were there, I could grant you that kindness due to the nature of The Void. But when we are here, I am subject to the same rules as any other Erscogan. … Hm, but perhaps, with the help of our illustrious queens, we could reach… a resolution.

Dukermin: For sure! That’s what we’re here for after all! What can we do to help??

Art: Do you recall your “A Very Belated Very Erscoga Christmas the Second”? There was a certain man, a doppelganger if you will, in one of the dimensions you travelled through. Although he himself is seemingly mundane, he has ties to the magical version of himself who lives in your house here in Erscoga. All you need to do is obtain his knowledge of the multiverse, of traversing the planes of reality and manipulating worlds within worlds… This will give you the power needed to remove this curse from our dear friend.

Dukermin: …Really? That’s it? Just go talk to Snape’s doppelganger?

Art: Oh yes, certainly less exciting than I’m sure you were hoping for. But the key to this dilemma resides in him. He may not realize it, though, and is likely to resist giving you the answer you seek. But I am sure with enough persuasion, you will find the proper information.

Dukermin: Like… is there a more specific thing we’re looking for from him? Like a password or… coordinates to a super secret wormhole that will take us to some fascinating land of behemoths?

Art: You will know it when you hear it. Perhaps it might be prudent to ask him of The Oracle. A hint may suffice—you may be able to get somewhere if you ask him what it means to “beware of the man who came from the other world.”[2]

(The ground rumbles. Aubrey looks frightened. Gaster mulls over Art’s clue with a weird look on his face, as if it sounds familiar to him.)

Art: Ah, but you must hurry. I fear time is not in Erscoga’s favor.

Dukermin: uUUgh fine.

Nalitie: I… guess it can’t hurt. *to Dukermin* Istest unis enpere Gaster itap unum?

Dukermin: Quas alst wuram quer faen?

Nalitie: *shrugs* Alrighty, then, I guess we’re… off to school. *muttering under her breath* I hope they don’t remember our faces… *to Gaster* And you’re coming with us, old man! 

(To be continued…)

~•*•~

(Previous)

(Next)

(Table of Contents)

[1] Dialogue taken from @zarla-s's Ukagaster. (Handplates!Gaster and Sixbones also belong to her.)

[2] Dialogue taken from The River Person in Undertale.