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robininthelabyrinth · 3 years

Note

LXC is the legal guardian and adopter for LSZ or LJY, and NMJ has questions.

part 2 of the LJY-adopted-by-LQR fic (now also on ao3)

“So, did I knock you up before I went to war or something?” Nie Mingjue asked. “Because I feel like you should’ve mentioned it if that was the case. Possibly in a letter.”

Lan Xichen was so tired that it took him a solid minute to parse what was wrong with that sentence and how to respond, and it was not by following his first instinct to apologize that he should’ve written better letters.

“Stop making fun of me,” he said instead, groping towards some measure of dignity.

Sadly, dignity was in very short supply when you were taking care of babies. Multiple babies. Well, one baby and one toddler, which was somehow worse?

Lan Xichen was pretty sure they’d figured out how to time their crying off each other.

“I would never,” Nie Mingjue said, like a liar, and then he picked up little Jingyi and – Lan Xichen simply cannot find another way to put it – shook him, in a manner not unlike testing a melon for freshness.

For some reason, this made Lan Jingyi stop crying and start making snuffling little giggles instead.

“How did you do that?” Lan Xichen asked, eyes wide.

“Do what?” Nie Mingjue tucked the baby into the crook of his arm and scooped up some food off the table, offering it to him, and Lan Jingy actually ate it. “Xichen, are you feeling all right?”

“Shhh!” Lan Xichen hissed, eyes fixed on the baby, which was neither spitting up everything nor wailing as if his heart was broken. “No unnecessary noise during meals.”

Nie Mingjue snorted in amusement. “Sure,” he said amiably, in the tone Lan Xichen had long ago learned meant ‘nice rules you’ve got there, it’d be an awful shame if someone found a loophole in them’. “This isn’t a meal, though; it’s just a snack.”

Lan Xichen eyed the still-not-crying Lan Jingyi and decided that now was not the time for a spirited debate on the virtues of discipline and fulfilling the merits rather than the word of a rule.

“Where’s monster number one gone?” Nie Mingjue asked abruptly. “He must be very good at hiding, because I looked away for a blink of an eye and he was gone.”

Lan Xichen’s eyes slowly dropped down to where a cloth-covered lump was not-so-sneakily edging towards Nie Mingjue’s foot.

Nie Mingjue was one of the foremost front line fighters of their generation, and possibly the previous one as well. His physical ability was matched only by his incredibly keen senses.

There was no way he was not aware of the lump.

“It’s a real shame, too,” Nie Mingjue continued. “I was planning on doing a test of how far you can throw children, but I think monster two here’s a bit too small to make the test worthwhile. But I guess it just wasn’t meant to be –”

You can’t throw children, Lan Xichen was about to say, except Lan Sizhui was tearing off the tablecloth and jumping up in excitement, shouting, “Here! Here! I’m here! I’m big enough! You can throw me!”

“Why does he want to be thrown,” Lan Xichen murmured, bewildered. He’d never wanted to be thrown around as a child. Had he?

In fairness, he wasn’t sure. No one had ever offered.

Apparently, though, Lan Sizhui did very much want to be thrown around, and Lan Jingyi even condescended to allow Lan Xichen to hold him while he watched.

“Higher! Higher!” Lan Sizhui shouted.

“Really? Is this high enough?” Nie Mingjue held him up at eye level.

“Higher!”

“Like this?” Above his head.

“Higher!”

“You sure?”

“Yes!”

“All right. How about –” Baxia slithered out from her place by the door, zipping over until she was right in front of Nie Mingjue, allowing him to step onto her like a stair, and then zipping upwards to about hip-height, lifting Nie Mingjue and Lan Sizhui with her. They very nearly hit a tree branch with their heads. “– this?”

Lan Sizhui shrieked with laughter.

“It’s too early to introduce them to flying,” Lan Xichen objected, because it was. “Mingjue-xiong…”

Nie Mingjue hopped down with a laugh. “All right, one last toss,” he told Lan Sizhui. “Then you nap. Okay?”

“Okay!” Lan Sizhui, who had never once willingly succumbed to naptime in the entirety of the time that Lan Xichen had known him, promised earnestly.

Back into the pile of soft grass he went, giggling the entire time, and amazingly enough he really did fall asleep afterwards. Lan Jingyi, too, had fallen asleep at some point.

“I’ve decided that your brother needs more experience running a sect,” Lan Xichen told Nie Mingjue, who raised his eyebrows. “Starting immediately. I promise to allow you to leave when Jingyi is, oh, shall we say five years old..?”

You could reason with a five year old.

Nie Mingjue laughed.

It was a type of laugh that suggested that he thought Lan Xichen was making a joke. This was incorrect.

“You’d be amazed at how serious I am,” Lan Xichen told him threateningly, “I’m sect leader here, this is my territory, I can have you arrested any time –” but by that point Nie Mingjue was already bundling him off to bed, too, combing out his hair and plying him with snacks and –

This was not helping his argument that Lan Xichen should be allowing him to leave rather than keep him trapped in the Cloud Recesses as a babysitter-slash-love-slave.

Well, he wouldn’t really do that, of course. He’d let him go. Eventually.

It’d probably be good for Nie Mingjue’s stress levels, honestly.

“Seriously, though, how did you do that?” he asked, his head on Nie Mingjue’s lap. “They didn’t cry once.”

“I’m good with kids,” Nie Mingjue said, his fingers digging into Lan Xichen’s scalp in just the right way. “Now can you explain to me how exactly you ended up with them? Two, no less?”

Lan Xichen groaned and covered his eyes with a hand. “Sizhui’s Wangji’s,” he explained. “Not biologically, but he’s put his name down in the family register under his own. But, you know…”

“I know.”

Lan Xichen appreciated that he didn’t need to go into it. The doctors had estimated that Lan Wangji would regain full mobility within three years, so that was the period the elders had mandated for his so-called ‘seclusion’, but with Lan Wangji being locked away like that – even with visitors, even though he was trying his hardest to care for the child from where he was – meant that someone had to care for the child’s day-to-day life until his brother was ready to resume the role.

“Jingyi is a cousin, I think,” he continued. “His parents are dead, and uncle accepted guardianship for him…I think he’s going to adopt him, actually.”

“Then why is he with you?”

“I volunteered.”

“Xichen, I say this with a full heart of affection and tremendous respect for your capabilities,” Nie Mingjue said. “But why in the world would you go and do a stupid thing like that?”

Lan Xichen sighed. The worst part was, he couldn’t even argue that it wasn’t stupid – he was, quite obviously, terrible with children.

“Uncle’s still injured from the war,” he admitted. In fact, his injury was probably even older than the war, dating as far back as the burning of the Cloud Recesses – his uncle had never been much of a fighter, his impressive cultivation strength stemming almost entirely from gentler arts like music and learning and meditation, but when his home and his family and his students were at risk, he’d fought, while Lan Xichen ran. Not just fought; he’d kept fighting long past the point that his body allowed. It only made sense for the bill to need to be paid. “He had a recurrence of an old complaint, not long ago; he started coughing up blood. The doctors insisted that he try to avoid anything that might cause him stress.”

“Stress. Like, say, a rowdy infant?”

“Exactly like a rowdy infant,” Lan Xichen agreed, glad that Nie Mingjue did not mention that what had happened with Lan Wangji was also likely a source of stress. At least the two of them had slowly started to repair their relationship recently – the heartbreak would kill their uncle sooner than anything else, and Lan Xichen might be weak, but he really couldn’t tolerate the idea of suffering any more loss.

And also, if Lan Wangji could see his way to forgiving their uncle, he might one day agree to forgive Lan Xichen, too.

“I see. So you ended up with the little one, too.”

“Yes. And they hate me.” Nie Mingjue coughed a little. “No, don’t deny it. They clearly hate me. They always cry and spit and yell -”

“They’re children, Xichen,” Nie Mingjue said. “Traumatized children. They do that.”

Lan Xichen didn’t need to open his eyes to know that Nie Mingjue was frowning in memory of pain long past. Lan Xichen remembered, with painful clarity, how young Nie Huaisang had been when Lao Nie had died, how badly he had taken it.

There’d been a lot of crying and vomiting and yelling there as well.

“You’re good with kids,” Lan Xichen said instead of commenting, trading delicacy for delicacy; he would not touch Nie Mingjue’s still-bleeding wounds just as Nie Mingjue avoided his own. “Very good.”

“Well, I like to think so, anyway.”

They remained in blissful, comfortable silence for a while.

“How would it have even worked?” Lan Xichen finally asked. His eyes were still closed, Nie Mingjue’s fingers running through his hair; he never wanted to move again.

“Hmm?”

“If you knocked me up before you went to war. I mean, they’re not even the same age.”

“Well, one of them’s from the affair, obviously.”

“I’m sorry, am I cheating on you now?” Lan Xichen opened an eye and pinned Nie Mingjue with a fierce look that instructed his lover to reconsider.

“Of course not,” Nie Mingjue said, mock-solemnly. His eyes were dancing. “You were so distraught after receiving incorrect news of my untimely demise that you conducted a ghost marriage with my spirit, and then went and had a child to continue my name.”

“…they’re both surnamed Lan.”

“So what? Are you saying I’m not good enough to marry into your sect, is that it?”

Lan Xichen’s cheeks were hurting from trying not to laugh. “I wouldn’t dream of implying such a thing.”

“There you go, then.”

“Can I ask why I felt the need to have a child to continue your name if I had one already?”

“…well, fuck,” Nie Mingjue said. “I’ve got nothing.”

Lan Xichen burst out laughing.

#mdzs #lan xichen #nie mingjue #nielan #lan sizhui #lan jingyi #my fic #my fics #whistling brook #I know this doesn't quite match the prompt #but it ended up fitting in perfectly with the previous ficlet #walburgablack

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willgrahymn · 3 years

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Strangely Estranged

this is my gift to @romansandersprotectionsquad for the @sanderssidesgiftxchange!! I really hope you like it :]

Description: Remus just wants to make his art, but Roman is still distressed by the events of SvS Redux/POF and it's affecting both of their abilities to create. When Remus goes to confront him about it, he gets a little more than he bargained for. Content warnings: Some Remus being Remus-y type lines, blood mentions (again, Remus), a good amount of swearing, and throwing some shade at Janus. Word count: 2747 I’ll rb with the ao3 link :]

- ’Honestly,’ Remus thought, ‘this painting could use more blood.’

He stared at the incomplete project. It was at least the 7th time he started on something today, but no matter what he always came to a pause.

Roman, that motherfucker, he probably had a creative block. Remus didn’t care much about only being half of Creativity, hell, it was fun coming up with the most gory stories he could imagine, but it seemed like whenever Roman hit a block he just had to drag him down with him.

He leaned back against his wall, tossing his paintbrush and catching it again. He stuck the brush in his mouth. Blue paint didn’t taste as good as green, but maybe he was just biased.

Remus glared at the painting. If it had eyes, he was sure they would be staring back, mocking him. Maybe he’d scrap the thing and use it as a target next time he played with his throwing stars.

He ground his foot into the stained carpet. Whether it was paint or blood didn’t matter. Come to think of it, he’d been at a pause for some time now. Roman hadn’t left his room nearly as much either. The only people he’d seen Roman hang out with recently were Virgil, Logan, and (inescapably) Thomas. Then there was Patton and Janus who hardly spent time together before. Now they never left each other's sides. Remus would be a liar if he said it wasn’t somewhat upsetting.

Remus loved drama. He loved watching people fight and be seconds from either murdering each other or making out right then and there. It was exciting to see people so close to their limit. Roman’s drama wasn’t fun though, it was just fucking sad.

He was pretty sure it would stay that way unless he took matters into his own hands. He grabbed his morningstar. He didn’t think he’d actually use it, but if he had to literally knock some sense into his dear brother, then so be it.

Walking down the hall of the mind palace the lighting got brighter. Silently, he wondered how the hell Virgil had managed to live with the other three for so long. With Roman’s obnoxiously loud personality and old villain accusations, he doubted the rogue raccoon could’ve slept the day away like he did when he tried to avoid him.

He stood in front of a tall, white door. It looked like something you’d find in a children’s movie or fairy tale that told the protagonist there was some sort of grand adventure on the other side…

How boring.

Without bothering to knock, Remus opened the door to his brother's room. Maybe for Janus, he would have knocked. There was hardly anything that could truly shock him anymore with all the fun little fantasies that ran through his head, but Janus’ wrath was something he would save for a day when he needed that extra kick.

Then again, maybe he was wrong to say that he couldn't be shocked. Not when Prince Perfect’s room was such a mess. Not when one of his mirrors had been knocked to the floor. And certainly not when he took in the sight of the other half of Creativity, sitting there at the side of his bed in his black undershirt and dress pants.

Something in Remus’ guts told him there was something wrong here, and this time it wasn’t because he had been impaled or ate something Logan and Janus insisted he shouldn’t have. No, this was something else. Something he hadn’t been allowed to see since the two split up. One brother deciding he needed to be pure as white, and the other allowing himself to be the darkest black imaginable.

He stepped closer. Roman hadn’t made a sound, not yet, but it felt like approaching a lion. A lion that stood for courage yet fell to shattered pieces of what it once was.

And maybe if he hadn’t been feeling real, genuine concern for something other than Thomas’ lack of flare in his art, he would have laughed when his mind went to Scar and Mufasa.

It wasn’t like he cared though. Concern, maybe. But he couldn’t be bothered to care for his brother who he hardly ever spoke to for purposes other than making him uncomfortable with his ideas.

Roman shifted on his bed, still not bothering to look to see who entered. “I already told you I don’t want to talk about it.”

Remus rolled his eyes. Of course his brother would choose to be a little bitch about this.

“First off, you didn’t tell me shit.” He said. Roman sat up, looking at him. A mix of defense and curiosity in his glare. “Second, I’m not the one making your life any harder than I normally would.” His brother scoffed. “Aren’t you though?”

“You’re the one affecting my work!”

Roman huffed, pulling his legs up to his chest and hugging them closely. He liked the pressure. Logan would probably be able to tell him why if he asked. He remembered hearing a conversation between him and Virgil when the darker first showed up. Something about pressure was a stress reliever.

At the same time, Remus crossed his arms, tapping his boots and rubbing his fingers against his sleeves. Whatever response he had been waiting for didn’t come. Maybe he should leave. Pretend whatever this was wasn’t happening and go focus on something else until the other half got his shit together. That would be a lot easier than standing here, the air of the room suffocating him into silence.

Either way, neither brother knew what to say. It would be easy for the pensive prince to turn around, to tell the other not to speak to him and to go back to wherever he came from. At least it should have been.

Remus bit down on his lip not minding the pain. It wouldn’t do any good to try to beat at what was already broken. “I can go find someone else.” It was more of a statement than an offer.

His twin tensed. “Please don’t.”

Remus just nodded. He didn’t know what to do or what to say. Normally he didn’t have to think this hard. He didn’t want to care about his brother and his problems. He knew at least part of the reason behind the other’s mood was because of him because Roman hated him and being compared to him. Yet still, despite being twins he couldn’t help but feel like he had to care for his baby brother.

‘What the fuck am I supposed to do now?’

He was Dark Creativity, the embodiment of intrusive thoughts and other so-called disturbing ideas and imagery. It wasn’t something that ever upset him, and hell it was fun making the other Sides and Thomas uncomfortable. It was fun telling Patton things that would make him shift in his seat and try to change the topic as if nothing had happened. It was fun to create thoughts that would fuel anxiety and haunt the sad little Side who harbored them. It was more than amusing to sit beside Roman, watching as he tried to do his work and ignore his bothersome brother’s constant suggestions that ruined his fairytale fantasies.

If Thomas didn’t want to use all the available ingredients he gave him to create that was fine. He could manage just fine! Really, the repression only made him stronger.

But Roman knew how to make people feel those warm fuzzy feelings that were like caterpillars in your ribs. Something that looking at it now, maybe Remus regretted not trying to pick up on the wholesome little messages that his brother always cared about. At least maybe then he’d have a better idea how to deal with all of these emotions going on. Even Logan would have done better in this situation.

His brother sighed, sitting up and turning to finally face him. He looked worse than expected. No wonder he didn’t want to see anyone else. Remus couldn’t tell what he was feeling, taking in the sight of this mess. Roman’s brow furrowed, his jaw clenched. He leaned against the wall with his arms crossed, his nails digging into his skin.

“Why are you still here?” He asked.

Remus bit his lip and chose to ignore the question. “I know you’re pissed about Jan being accepted.”

“Yeah duh,” Roman scoffed. He sounded like a dam ready to break. “Excuse me for not being absolutely overjoyed at this… Manipulative Malefactor being accepted by our very own Moralidad.”

The Duke nodded. Sure, you could call him friends with Double D, but he wasn’t going to be like him and lie and deny that Janus certainly had… a way… of getting what he wanted, whether it meant using others as a stepping stone or not.

“I never should have trusted him.” Roman continued. “I mean, I never even liked him. Hell, right after he revealed himself to Thomas I said I hated him… I only went along with what he wanted because he pretended to be someone I’m supposed to be able to trust, and then he used me again by flattering me with fake love and bringing up Thomas’ dreams. And I just– I just keep falling for it because I’m an idiot and I keep fucking everything u—”

He hadn’t noticed Remus approaching him or pulling him into a hug until it happened.

It was tense at first. Roman froze at contact. Slowly, he sunk into his brother's arms, not caring about the way the material scratched against his face. He just wanted to feel safe.

“What’s happening?” He asked.

Remus wasn’t sure he had an answer.

“I think Patton would refer to it as brotherly bonding, but I really don’t know.” Remus laughed lightly.

Eventually, Remus slowly pushed his brother off of him, still holding onto his shoulders and smiling in a way he could only hope came off as sympathetic. On any other occasion, Roman would despise the fact that his brother was just the tiniest bit taller than him, but right now he didn’t care. He wouldn’t tell him it was good for hugs though, he hadn’t lost all of his dignity.

“Listen, Ro-bro, we’re twins. What affects you affects me too. I know it might not change much, and you might still not want to be around me. That’s fine. Just… remember that we’re two Sides in a trenchcoat trying to make up for one, got it?” Roman nodded, rubbing at his eyes and smiling slightly. “I would have expected a darker way of phrasing that from you.”

Remus shook his head. “I may not think much, but I do know enough to understand it’s probably not the best timing for it.”

He smiled, watching as his brother lightened up a bit.

The room was still a mess. They’d have to fix it up later. Not right now though, he didn’t think his brother was ready enough to face his own destruction.

“C’mon, get your outfit on.” “Huh?” “You weren’t planning to stay locked up in here like Rapunzel all day, were you?” “I mean… kind of, yeah?” Remus shook his head. “Not happening,” He said. “We gotta do some dumb shit to make you feel better.” “Ree, I’m fine now, really.”

He ignored him, grabbing Roman’s stupidly bright white shirt off the floor and throwing it at him. Checking around for his sash afterwards.

“You at least gotta put yourself together! I know how you are about your looks– even if mine are better.”

Roman rolled his eyes before pulling his shirt on, grabbing his sash from under his pillow. “I can’t stand you.” They both knew it wasn’t the truth. Not right now at least.

“I’m going to fix… this.” Roman said as he waved his hand in front of his face.

The prince left to his bathroom, grabbing some of his makeup from his desk as he went. Remus flopped onto his brother's bed. This wasn’t exactly where he expected his day to go. It was fine though. Actually, it probably went a lot better than whatever he originally planned. Bitching at Roman could be fun, but he doubted it would have made anything better. Hopefully getting rid of some emotional block would stop the art block too. It sounded like something Logic would approve of.

Remus stared up at the glow in the dark stars that littered his brother’s ceiling. Roman’s room was less loud than usual. More quiet. Like a heartbeat that once echoed so loudly had suddenly stopped, or a fire which finally died out leaving nothing but smoke and ash behind.

He heard it when the faucet turned on, when a hairbrush hit the floor, and when Roman cursed at his eyeliner.

‘His hands must be shaky.’ They’d have to fix that.

Remus got up again, half-assedly making his brother’s bed and tidying up the place. He didn’t know where everything went, so he could only hope he was putting stuff where it shouldn’t have ever been. Even if he was trying to cheer up his brother now didn’t mean he couldn’t work in advance to cause trouble for him later.

When Roman came out he looked as if nothing had happened. Like nobody would be able to look at him and think twice of if he was okay. It was an art in itself to be a raging storm and to settle down to the tranquility of dewdrops on flower petals within a matter of minutes.

When had he learned to do that?

Or maybe it was just that he didn’t spend enough time around the other to know. Maybe if one of the other Sides saw Roman now, they wouldn’t even have to study his movements or expression to know he had been upset. It would be as easy as looking at him and recognizing the scripted smiles and rehearsed words for what they were. Was he really that bad at being a brother to fall for his own twins’ tricks?

Roman shifted on his feet. “So… What are we doing?”

“Oh!” Remus bounced, the beads on his shirt clicking together. “Well I was thinking about it earlier and since Papa Patton and Daddy Dee are spending so much time together–” “Never call them that ever again.” “You never let me have fun! But fine. You know how those two have been hanging out more.”

“I can’t let you do anything mean to Patton, he’s off limits.”

Remus pouted. “I thought you were mad at him!” “He’s Patton!” Remus glared, and Roman glared back.

Remus sighed. “You’re so lame, but I guess we can just focus on the snake. Oh! And don’t worry, I can take the fault. Besides, I haven’t fucked around with him in a while and have been waiting for a good day to do it.” He grinned. Roman would have considered it evil, but this, this was pure sibling mischief. “I was thinking we could start subtle like moving his shit 2 inches to the left and work our way up from there. I was thinking about leaving my pet rats in his room and letting them go wild, but he is a snake and I don’t trust like that…”

Roman tried to stifle a laugh. Remus tried not to smile. Remus turned away, heading to his room to put his abandoned work away before anything else. Roman, he noticed, hadn’t followed. Slowly, he turned to him. “Are you coming?” “Oh, yeah I just...“ Roman paused, taking a deep breath and smiling softly. A real smile, not the mask he had given before. “Thank you. For doing all this.” Remus’ eyes softened, nodding as he spoke again. “Don’t go getting too soft on me, Ro-bro. I’m still going to attack your side of the Imagination.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less.” The two brothers stood there, an awkward yet comfortable quiet moment of understanding neither wanted to interrupt. “C’mon,” Remus said, waving his brother along. “We have vengeance in our hearts and glitter in our pockets. Let’s fuck shit up.”

The prince glanced to himself in the mirror. Now wasn’t the time to focus on his shattered world view, or how his brother may not be as horrible as he thought. Now was the time to have fun messing with the one who had messed with him.

He looked to his brother, eyes sparkling. “Let’s do it.”

#Sanders Sides #Roman Sanders #Remus Sanders #Creativitwins #platonic creativitwins #aaa #I hope this is good #Virgil's Volumes

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knoepfchen · 3 years

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Thank you Alex, my fellow “I have a URL that no longer really fits the fandom I’m in but I’ll be damned if I change it now” TOG AU conspirator, @meet-the-girl-who-can, for tagging me in this!

I enjoy “end-of-year reflection” a lot actually, but I’ve not really gotten round to it much in previous years, and so I’m making the best of my planlessness this year. (Also it’s Theodor Fontane’s birthday tomorrow, and I believe it’s what he would have wanted.)

Rules: It’s time to love yourselves! Choose your 5 favorite works (fics, art, edits, etc.) you’ve created this year and link them below to reflect on the amazing things you’ve brought into the world in 2020. If you don’t have five published works, that’s fine! Include ideas/drafts/whatever you like that you’ve worked on/thought about, and talk a little about them instead! Remember, this is all about self-love and positive enthusiasm, so fuck the rules if you need to. Have fun, and tag as many fellow creators as you like so they can share the love! <3

The Old Guard found me at a strange little time in my life. I lost my job earlier this year and decided to take it as a clean break, try to go back to university and take it from there. The Old Guard came out the day I got the acceptance letter from my uni, which was great – but also meant I would definitely be starting all over again, and find myself in a long-distance relationship after years of living with my partner. I guess what I’m trying to say is, when I randomly saw the film on Netflix and pressed play, I was in a bit of a mental and emotional limbo from all the uncertainty suddenly going on in my life, and I latched onto the ideas of immortal love and the only true difference we can make is through acts of kindness like a baby koala to its mother. I wrote my first TOG fic a day later, and what a ride it’s been since.

I’ve read fics by and spoken to so many amazing people in the past couple of months, but I think they’ve all already been tagged (because I’ve been reading these posts like the morning paper) and so I will cop out of tagging on this one. (If you haven’t been tagged and want to do this, feel free to use me as your tagger though – I mean it when I say I love reading these posts!)

5 - a slow landslide AND what i wouldn’t gif

I can’t pick between the two so I’m including them both. This is probably surprising to anyone who’s read both because they could not be more different if they tried, but that’s exactly the problem – I like them equally, but for entirely different reasons. (I also wrote them really shortly after one another, and so it’s quite hard to disentangle them in my mind.) But because while I think I personally just want to read the same fic with the same topic from the same authors over and over, the fics I write sure are all over the place in tone, theme, setting and relationship tackled, and nothing has made me happier than seeing people read and enjoy both :)

4 - i am lost, in the robes of all this light

Writing Andromaquynh fic can be a bit demoralising if you also write Joe and Nicky – and I don’t mean this as a dig at all, it’s just that that part of the fandom is smaller and so there’s less people reading/commenting/leaving kudos – but I really like how soft this one got. My friend somewhat rightfully pointed out to me that it’s basically an atonement fic because I felt guilt for writing an absolute angstfest of a witchhunt retelling beforehand, but if you can’t guilt trip yourself into writing fix-it fics, who can you guilt trip?

3 - and you smiled, because you knew.

This is the first thing I wrote in this fandom, and it’s a silly idea (five times Joe proposed and one time he didn’t) executed with a degree of serious introspection I’m not sure the trope is made for. Looking back, the narrative voice is off, the tense I used for flashbacks questionable, and the imagery quite literally all over the place, but it also has some of the best lines I’ve ever written and it introduced me to @avaniesque, who has taught me so! much! about history and been a wonderful beta whenever I forayed into historical settings with the guard, so I can and will not complain about it. (She’d tell me to shorten that sentence, too.)

2 - we that are true lovers run into strange capers

Okay so. For my brain, writing this fic was a little like going to my favourite fast food restaurant every day for a month. It was a strangely addictive endeavour, occupying most of my waking thoughts and causing my Spotify Wrapped to look like a fever dream, but it was also the most fun I’ve had writing anything, ever. By all rights, it should have been a hot mess, (I guess it kind of is, but by the time I noticed it seamlessly transitioned from rom-com to corporate heist it was too late) but that’s the way of self-indulgent fic! I still read the comments on this fic when I have a bad day, because everything about it is my happy place.

1 - not sleepy enough to give it up

I was tempted to put this here just because it’s the last thing I’ve written, and the last thing I’ve written is always the momentary best thing I’ve written. But more than that, I think this is the first time I managed to actually write the fic I intended to write; a fic that, reading it, feels exactly the way I imagined it would in my head. I don’t usually reread my own work, but I’ve reread this one a couple of times for non-editing purposes, and I still love it.

#tag games #my fic

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jcmorrigan · 4 years

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In Defense of Archibald Snatcher

Oh, wow, we’re coming up on almost the sixth anniversary of The Boxtrolls, my favorite film of all time, and though the fandom for it seems to be either dead or in hibernation, I still have the torch lit.

I actually have been of the mindset of the opinion/s I’m about to present here for all those six years, but never really thought it prudent to lay them out until I recently had a friend I was recommending the film to who I warned about some of the elements considered “problematic” and I offhandedly mentioned that I could do a whole essay about why they don’t bother me and said friend replied with a desire to want to hear it because we share infodump for infodump, so here we go, I’m poking the hornet’s nest surrounding a controversial film with a dead fandom.

But if you were on Tumblr back in the heyday, you might’ve seen the reaction to this film when it first debuted. Specifically, what a lot of people honed in on wa that the villain, Archibald Snatcher, employed a dragsona to be able to push his agenda and implement his evil scheme. There was outrage. There were accusations. There was lambasting. And above it all, one question hovers: was this transphobic?

I want to start, before we get into the weeds, by saying that if you are anywhere on the LGBTQ+ spectrum and you were offended by this film or this character, your experiences are completely valid. I’m about to present the counterargument in language that assumes my take is fact for the purpose of not having to write fifty thousand clunky disclaimers, but analytical as this may be, it IS an opinion, and if you don’t think it’s right, then hey, that’s super valid, and I’m not gonna try and change your mind, because if you’re hurt, then you’re hurt! You just may want to nope out of this post right now because I’m about to lay out my observations and thoughts to the contrary of the accusations of this being homo/transphobic.

First of all, the obvious facet that comes to mind is how strange it is that we only ever saw the word “transphobia” put on this phenomenon rather than “homophobia” when using a female alter ego as a disguise or a performance art is not the same as being a woman assigned male at birth. One only needs to take a look over at RuPaul’s Drag Race to see examples of this culture. Lots of gay men wearing dresses. No women perceived male.

All the same, I will say that on the surface, adding any kind of queercoding to the story’s villain, who the audience is supposed to boo and hiss at, looks really, really bad on paper. However you interpret it, Snatcher is definitely queercoded. He openly flirts with the man he’s trying to trick as a means of getting what he wants, he displays sincere enjoyment of wearing the dress, and he runs the gamut of flamboyant hand gestures. But if you dig a little further, there’s even more to the story: his tale is one of a man who desires to pass as one of the elite class in his society, but is held back by something he can’t change about himself no matter how he denies it.

Let’s look at the rest of his story. Snatcher is in pursuit of the White Hat: the ultimate status symbol. To that end, he’s decided to otherize the Boxtroll population of the town and play upon the culture shock in Cheesebridge to convince the humans of the “upper world” that the Boxtrolls are predatory monsters who must be killed. This sounds like a pretty black-and-white good-and-evil scenario, right? You’ve got your population of innocent sweethearts being attacked and your genocidal racist orchestrating their destruction. But there’s a third layer still: Lord Portley-Rind, the chief White Hat himself. Lord PR is actually the worst of the lot. It’s because he doesn’t accept Snatcher that Snatcher feels he has to resort to this tactic. He demonstrates open hatred of the Boxtrolls and of Snatcher (”I’m not sure who should be more worried: the Boxtrolls or us!”). There are implications in how he treats his daughter that he’s a textbook sexist who believes there are men’s roles and women’s roles in society and nary the twain shall cross. And he’s the rich guy controlling the entire city and letting children’s hospitals and crumbling bridges go to waste by spending the budget on frivolous cheese. In short, Lord PR is basically the ur-example of a nightmarish fictional Republican (and oh, how I WISH he hadn’t been so prophetic).

I’m not saying Snatcher was justified or good. No. He’s in no way redeemable. But over the course of his interactions with Lord PR, you can see just how much society’s elites treat him as inhuman or like a dirty buffoon. He’s looked down upon, he’s insulted even when he’s doing the “service” Lord PR desires, he’s rejected until he’s gone above and beyond his contract and I think it’s even a little bit implied that Lord PR would’ve reneged on the whole deal if the mob hadn’t cheered for Snatcher in the end. So what you have is a prim and proper billionaire who subscribes to gender roles telling a man of the lower class, obviously economically downtrodden, that he doesn’t deserve what Lord PR has.

The idea of meritocracy is woven throughout the film. Listening to the speech in the background of Snatcher’s anaphylactic attack, while the visuals are focused on Eggs rescuing Fish, you can hear Snatcher rambling about how his father told him that if you work hard, you will receive a White Hat, but he worked hard all his life and got nothing. One of the White Hats literally says he got his through being rich. It’s not hard to infer that Snatcher has figured out how broken the system is and realized the only way to win the game is to cheat.

But there’s still one more thing holding him back from his victory, something that actually trips him up when he achieves what he wanted. Cheese is presented as another status symbol: the rich eat it and are connoisseurs of its flavor. Snatcher is deathly allergic to it. The goal he’s chasing, he can’t even have without threat to his own life. His reaction is to pretend he isn’t allergic and to expose himself to having allergic reactions on the regular to show how much he’s ready to become part of the elites. I’ll reiterate: Archibald Snatcher wants to join the elites, but is held back because of something about himself he cannot change that only matters because the upper crust said it should.

Okay. So we’ve established the man is gay, or somewhere on the queer spectrum. How is this not really, really horrible?

Because the narrative invites you to feel some sympathy for him. No, not for his actions or any secret soft side or tragic backstory (that’s a job for the fans), but because he is chasing a dream he cannot attain. Perhaps the film’s biggest shortcoming is how little consequence comes to Lord PR in the end, because Lord PR, for all intents and purposes, is the worse villain on the board. Snatcher’s ploy is to take the class below the one he inhabits and paint its members as the bad guys: a nuisance that must be exterminated for the betterment of society. And we’ve seen this. We’ve seen plenty of real-life examples of have-nots turning on have-lessers because the haves benefit from oppressed groups infighting and being distracted from who holds the money and the power. A lot of times, you see that while intersectionality is definitely something we need to pay attention to, racism, sexism, and homophobia are not concepts that are all explicitly linked. If you experience one, that doesn’t mean you don’t project one or two of the others on other people - particularly if you’re trying to make yourself feel better about the discrimination you face.

When you look at the hierarchy, Snatcher is, I reiterate, a very bad person. But he’s also a victim. Not as much of a victim as the poor Boxtrolls, who get the malice trickling down from both the Red Hats and the White Hats, but he is a victim. We see him mocked, laughed at, turned away. And though he’s not redeemable, there are aspects in which he is sympathetic.

But what about Frou Frou? What about that particular disguise?

Well, for one, it’s used to make yet another allegorical statement. Snatcher is able to get attention paid to him if he weaponizes female sexuality - though it is a very shallow attention that largely results in the straight men of the town swallowing his propaganda while also objectifying him. Most of the comments made on Frou Frou are slimy, smarmy “compliments” on her body from the White Hats. Lord PR’s wife harbors a distinct distaste for Frou Frou because her husband most certainly prefers ogling Frou Frou to actually paying attention to their marriage. Frou Frou is a propaganda vehicle to make it look like more than one person is on the same page as Snatcher; Snatcher himself drives the action of his scheme and gets the dirty work done.

It’s also worth noting that if you take away the implications, villains using alter egos to trick their nemeses is a tale as old as time, from sea witch Ursula making herself more supermodel-esque in order to marry the prince to mythological Loki actually crossdressing much in the same vein in order to fool the Frost Giants. There’s a reason disguise masters and shapeshifters are intriguing villain archetypes: because we’re always a little bit afraid that someone isn’t who they say they are, and because - yeah, I’m about to go here - I think we all wish we could shift shape ourselves to take on new forms that suit the goals we’re trying to accomplish, even if that means “fooling” others. So it’s reasonable to think Laika wasn’t aware that there was any queercoding to even be had here - but I do think the crew was aware, and not in a malicious way.

However, watching Snatcher’s scenes as Frou Frou, there’s something that comes across in his character that you don’t see so often when he’s presenting male: he’s legitimately having fun. He dances, he flirts with the crowd, he adds more flourishes to his speech, he gets sassy. Frou Frou is a means for him to express himself, to allow himself to be feminine when he has built his philosophy on needing to do “what a man does” (he repeats this at least twice) in order to achieve greatness. He can be a little more himself when he’s Frou Frou, even though Frou Frou isn’t him. Taking a new identity that’s allowed the other half of the gender roles allowed in Cheesebridge (which runs on a binary because it’s run by the White Hats) lets him act a little less like what he needs to be to be taken seriously and a little more like he has freedom.

Put this back in context of the greater narrative: given all the parallels we’ve seen, it’s safe to assume that Cheesebridge, as a whole, is not accepting of deviations from gender roles, whether it’s being open and proud of your LGBTQ+ identity or simply wearing the clothes that don’t belong to your gender. Snatcher is taking an enormous gamble here by using Frou Frou at all. On one hand, it’s a calculated risk; he knows if he can appeal to Lord PR’s unchecked sexist libido, he can secure another avenue to being heard. On the other, however, it’s not really much of a leap to say this is something he wants to do, someone he wants to be more like, and isn’t allowed to, and since he’s cheating at the game anyway, he might as well go all the way and do what he wants with his life.

I’ve seen a lot of people take issue with the scene where he reveals himself to Lord PR and comparing it to some actual homophobic/transphobic media. And again, if that still stands to you as your primary analysis and emotional reaction, then feel free to turn away, reject my analysis, and know your thoughts and feelings are completely valid. But I think this scene differs from your usual “person with male parts tricked you into thinking they were a woman” scene in a couple ways.

For one, Snatcher decides to out himself on his own. To Lord PR, it’s when he’s got nothing left to lose. Again, when he realizes the game is broken and the odds are against him, he takes control and decides to be himself a little more. Now everyone knows he likes to act a dragsona because he wanted them to. But also, earlier on, when he revealed himself to Eggs, it was again on purpose. Eggs didn’t figure him out. Snatcher needed Eggs to know the level of the threat he was dealing with: that he was the person Eggs has been running from since the start and is no less dangerous in a dress. It’s always been of his own volition. There’s no “I thought you knew” or disrobing to see a body that doesn’t match expectations - Eggs ripping Snatcher’s wig off is maybe a little iffier, but again, in context, that’s him trying to show Snatcher’s identity, not as a man but as Archibald Snatcher, to expose the corruption, and Snatcher actually plays it completely off because he’s that good of an actor.

Which brings me to my second point. There’s only one person who reacts in an “Oh, gross!” manner to this revelation, and it’s Lord Portley-Rind. The one we’ve established is sexist, homophobic, and your textbook Rich White Straight Cis Man. The one at the top of the food chain. The one who’s been objectifying Snatcher and acting like a slobbering pervert about Frou Frou from the beginning. The homophobe realizes he has been a little gay. The sexist realizes his objectifying a particular person he perceived female has consequences. And this is why to me, that scene is actually hilarious. Because I don’t feel like I’m laughing at Snatcher’s expense. I’m laughing because Lord PR just got called OUT, and this is exactly the kind of discomfort that is karmic given how he’s treated his daughter, his wife, and everyone in his city who’s needed him.

Cycling back to when Snatcher outs himself at the ball, Eggs doesn’t really seem to care that there’s a gender-role-play involved here. His concern is not that this is actually a man; his concern is that it’s specifically the person who he knows is trying to ruin everything. Same with Winnie when Eggs passes it on. Eggs trying to reveal Snatcher to the crowd doesn’t even begin with “Frou Frou is fake,” but a line I will never forget: “Archibald Snatcher has lied to you all.” Not even drawing attention yet to the fact that he’s in the room. Starting out by having everyone remember that guy they are all sure ISN’T there and pointing out he’s bad news.

To look at Lord Portley-Rind’s “Oh my God! I regret so much!” as a dig at Snatcher is to say that Lord Portley-Rind is the lens through which we should be viewing this story, which it most certainly isn’t. The lens is Eggs and Winnie. Adjacent lenses are Fish, Shoe, and Jelly. Lord Portley-Rind is an antagonist to every single character in this film save the other White Hats.

Which is why if this film falls flat anywhere, it’s in letting Lord Portley-Rind get away without consequence. I think I can take a guess as to why this primarily happened: it needed to wrap up in a little under two hours, and dismantling systematic oppression and abuse of socioeconomic power can’t be done in a two-hour escapade. I still wish he were at least villainized a little more, as that’s where the narrative was leading up to that point. One of his earliest scenes with Winnie foreshadows that he will have to choose between her and the hat, and it takes him two tries to make the right choice. This story, until the very last act, has not supported him being a character to like or sympathize with, even in such subtle ways as Trout and Pickles stealing his hat and running around with it to taunt Snatcher - showing that a symbol is really only a symbol, and doesn’t indicate your worth. Anyone can put on a hat. Lord PR has just been brought onto an equal footing with them, if only for a moment.

Okay, so why have this whole three-layer narrative anyway? Couldn’t we have made this story more clear-cut between the Boxtrolls and White Hats, with no queercoded villain to get in between?

Yes...but I’m not sure that would have been best for the viewing audience. And there’s plenty of precedent as to why Laika thought it was a move for the better.

Queercoded villains are in every aspect of our fictional and fandom lives. Here’s a bitter pill to swallow: all your favorite Disney villains are queercoded. All of them. “But Frollo’s arc is about - “ Being a man in a religious system afraid of being tainted as sinful for being attracted to the wrong person. “Gaston, though, is - “ Very chummy with LeFou, and I’m talking the animated versions. They’re all colorful, flamboyant, foppish for the men and full of socially-unacceptable strength for the women. These were the cornerstones of our childhood nostalgia and characters we still feel culturally attached to.

It’s not just in Disney. Are you a fan of musical theater? Well, then your favorite villain probably got a big song and dance in which they wore some glitter. Classic lit? Google the name of your favorite literary canon villain and “queer theory” and see what happens.

I don’t think we can really say this is good or bad. On one hand, it’s not great that a marginalized group can only see themselves in the character we’re supposed to hate. On the other, though, we don’t always hate that character. Villains hold a unique place in our culture. They do bad things, horrible things, but the story can’t take place without a conflict, and we like when that conflict has a name and a cool design such as a tall, imposing sorcerer/witch in flowing robes - or perhaps a tall, graceful man in a long red coat and a towering crooked top hat.

I’ve had lots of friends and trusted Internet reviewers talking about how queercoding in villains can actually be really empowering. If you’re a fan of the villain, you get to see a power fantasy in which someone who has something very big in common with you gets to enact karma on others for wronging them! You get to wear the cool robes, sing the fun song, do things that are not really legal or acceptable! I think a great analogy is if you check out the book “Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers” by Sady Doyle. It’s primarily about sexism rather than queer issues (though it does touch upon them!), but examines how women throughout pop culture and storytelling history have always been the witch, the monster, the demon, and how that sucks, but it also means that women have a great pile of fictional power fantasies to pick from to indulge in. It’s the same principle. I myself may not be same-gender-attracted, but I am asexual, and still waiting on my glamorous villain who uproots society as revenge for being forced to do something analogous to having a sexual relationship...*taps wristwatch*

Meanwhile, queercoding is not as prevalent in heroes. And I think that’s where everything’s tripping on its own feet. Because a gay villain among a bunch of straight heroes does look pretty bad. Are some of the heroes queercoded as well, though? Well, that’s just realistic diversity. People are gay, and there happen to be some good ones and some evil ones here. I don’t think Snatcher’s dragsona is entirely unproblematic, but I do think it could have been mitigated a lot with more implications that Eggs and Winnie might be queer in some way (and believe me, I choose to interpret them that way, because the more the merrier).

The thing is that in pop culture as of late, there seems to be a trend to scrub away all villainous queercoding because it’s seen as a black-and-white issue. To go back to the Disney villains, do you feel like the live-action recreations of Jafar, Scar, and Gaston are missing a certain je ne sais quoi? Well, think about it through this lens and it might be that you savez quoi after all. They’ve all been made incredibly straight as of late, with off-the-record actor confirmations about having obsessive crushes on the film heroines. I can’t speak to why this has happened; there’s a lot of history behind any given social movement, and I haven’t managed to really unpack this one. “Blame Tumblr” is too easy; I would want to know who were the loudest voices, why they said what they said, and what was the intended accomplishment, not to mention if this had built on other social-media or real-life platforms over the years and was influenced by any outside source by news or marketing. I can’t say why queercoded villains are being burned; I can only say it’s happening. And it was happening big-time in 2014, when The Boxtrolls was released.

I also feel like I would be remiss to mention that The Boxtrolls is based on “Here Be Monsters,” which I believe to be one of the worst books I’ve ever read, bar none. That version of the story has...pretty much everything that’s perceived to be in the film version’s text as problematic. Frou Frou is presented as something to laugh at Snatcher about throughout, largely because everything about Snatcher is presented to make him seem gross or like a buffoon. There’s a whole scene of the hero rifling through his desk to find soiled underwear. Not to mention that the original purpose of Frou Frou in the text was to manipulate the town’s women by dictating the fashion trends they should follow and the beliefs they should hold in order to fit in. This is something that does need commentary on it, but in that text in particular, it seems like the women are silly and easily swayed, and that they’re the town’s weak link because they’re slaves to fashion. The Boxtrolls completely flips this around so that the town’s weak link re: Frou Frou is the rich MEN who objectify women, particularly the men that happen to be in charge of the whole town, and looking at that divide alone tells me how much care was put into this adaptation at every level.

So why’d I do this, besides having a friend who wanted to read it? Because Archibald Snatcher is legitimately one of my favorite fictional characters. Yeah, I know, he’s a horrible person and terribly racist, and no, I don’t think his demonizing an entire people is anything to be emulated. But on one hand, there are places where I not only empathize but identify with him, particularly where it comes to living out the majority of one’s life trying to live up to a meritocracy - I did everything right, so why am I not on top? He’s also just fun and satisfying to me. He’s the exact brand of evil I eat up. He’s quippy, flamboyant, sadistic to a point, and altogether enjoying his job way too much. Even though he isn’t in power all that long, he is a power fantasy for me, too - wishing I had his talent to talk my way into others’ hearts by saying the right thing, and maybe cultivating a little bit of that I didn’t realize I had (but not to use for evil purposes). I loved him from the moment he turned up because of his sheer dynamic presence - his drawn-out vowels, his sinister smile, his silver-tongued manipulations - and to this day I find him an inspiring character when it comes to writing fiction, both in the realms of fanfiction and original villain creation. You could say he’s a comfort character to me. And maybe this has been the delusional rambling of a woman trying to protect a character she likes for surface reasons by spelling out what look like analytical points of discussion.

But I don’t think Laika was trying to be mean-spirited or homo/transphobic in their character creation. I think they were trying to make an engaging villain who had some layers you could pick at to see more about the narrative as a whole and the message of societal corruption and how the way to overcome it is to be true to yourself rather than defined by your status: a lesson Snatcher fails at the finish line when Eggs gives him one last chance to “make you.” And ultimately, if you really and truly did like Archibald Snatcher, you’re not wrong or invalid in the least.

#archibald snatcher #the boxtrolls #boxtrolls #laika #analysis #discourse #long post #hot takes #controversial opinions #you know...all the fun stuff #and then the sequel: op gives him a crossover villain ship to help him self-actualize

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witchcraft-in-wonderland · 4 years

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Cori's Tale (Pt.1)

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I was never much for listening to the old stories they told us about monsters and humans fighting. It wasn't that I didn't care- I just had better things to do, like drawing. I had a black backpack with gold spikes for all my sketchbooks and drawing materials, I never leave home without it. The other kids at school think it's weird, I've never taken the thing off since I got it, but I like it! That's all that matters.

Oh, how rude of me, I haven't even introduced myself have I? Cori Sable, resident nonbinary disaster child. Not that it's of any consequence what my gender or lack thereof is, after all I'm only twelve years old aren't I.

But back to the important stuff! I live in a community of lots of people, it's fun, we get along pretty well when people aren't calling me names or telling me the backpack I wear is pointless and stupid and I should just get rid of it.

If I had to complain about anything, it would be the fact that no one seems to notice how many kids go missing at Mt. Ebbot every year. Every year some kid gets dared to climb it, and every year they don't come back. With the way the other kids look at each other sometimes, I worry they know exactly what they're doing when they send someone up there.

"And that's the story of how the humans were victorious in the Battle of Mt. Ebbot," the teacher closed her book, placing it on a shelf next to her. I hadnt heard a word of what she said, not that it mattered since I already had the whole thing memorized to begin with. I glared enviously at the back of the room, where teenagers sat on their phones, willingly able to ignore the story and not get in trouble. We werent allowed to get phones until we were fourteen, and even then we had to get jobs first, and recite the story of monsters vs humans. I don't think I'll ever get a phone, I'm terrible at doing work for one. For two the way everyone here tells the story of our fight seems very biased, it's almost like they didn't try to cooperate with the monsters at all, just maim and kill and lock away where no one else can find them. It's rather rude in my opinion, monsters just seem like weaker magical humans, they just look different and have a different culture, I don't see what's wrong with that.

Of course, bringing this up would be a detriment to my already tediously hanging reputation here. A kid who isn't well liked would be ill-advised to go spouting off about how monsters and humans aren't so different, about how maybe if we'd shown a little mercy we wouldn't be in this situation.

See, we used to be able to live in separate houses, used to be able to get stuff whenever we wanted. But it turns out a lot of that was because if decent trading with monsters, and of course, no monsters, no nice things. Not to mention, going through an entire war is hardly good for anyone involved, it's actually probably the worst possible event to go through. That's what led us to here, with so many orphans the human race decided "why not just make all children orphans" and took us away from our parents nearly as soon as we were born to be raised in these communities, only able to escape once we prove sufficient enough to survive on our own.

I'll probably never get out, they'll kick me out at twenty-one of course, but the problem with that is, I don't think I'll get the hang of life by then, or ever really. There's just to many things to learn! How to drive a car, how to use a phone, how to get a job, how to talk to people, it's all way to much. And with no one helping me out, I'm basically trying to operate a plane where all the buttons are the same color and the switches don't have labels.

Recess was my least favorite part of the day. I used to like it, but now I get pushed off of everything I try to use. On top of that, recess is when The Choosing happens. If you haven't figured it out yet, that's when someone gets dared to climb a giant mountain or risk being labelled a coward and ostracised, one time a kid refused and they got them kicked out entirely!

"Cori!" I heard a rough grumbling voice call my name. I turned to face the girl, her name was Ulana, and she was the one who decided what happened to all of us. Red hair braided behind her back, Jean's ripped in so many places it couldnt possibly be intentional, the only thing scarier than her was the twin brothers that always followed close behind. Sora and Pevril were oddities of their own, with Sora having black and blue eyes and Pevril being abnormally tall for a child. They were of course, only scary when around Ulana, other than that, I didn't see them as much of a threat, sometimes it even seemed like we could be friends.

"What is it, Lan," I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't call me Lan," growled the girl, she was nearly a foot taller than me, and almost old enough to age out of the community to. But she was looking for a reaction, and I learned long ago that I should never give one to a bully, not if I had any self-respect.

"Right, well what do you want then?" I tilted my head to the side, focusing more on the sound of children playing in the distance than Ulana.

"I bet you can't climb Mt. Ebbot and survive," I froze for a second. I was aware I wasn't well liked, but perhaps i should've paid attention to just how deep that disdain went.

"And if I don't accept?" I said, digging my feet into the ground.

"Then I'll take that nice backpack of yours and chuck it in with the next kid, and you'll get kicked out," I wrapped my hands around the backpack straps subconsciously.

"Fine, I'll play your game, but if I do make it back, you can't send anyone else down ever again," I said, looking her directly in the eyes. There was a glint there, one I that sent shivers down my spine.

Mountains were, of course, cold, but my legs had a weird relationship with temperature. I had a blue and indigo striped hoodie on, one with little grey horns at the top, and black shorts with black boots. The ever important backpack was still tossed over my shoulders, sketchbook and art materials jostling around inside.

I reached the top of the mountain soon after, there was a crater at the center. I thought to myself for a second, whether Ulana had mentioned anything about going into the mountain, or if I could go home saying I had climbed it myself. I was in fact, so caught up in this decision, that I was caught off guard by a light shove from behind, and sent hurtling down the crater, my backpack clutched to my chest.

I landed, miraculously, in a pile of soft flowers, that seemed to cushion my fall.

I couldn't tell where I was, just that I was really far down, and the sky was really far up. I made the decision to keep walking.

After a few mere seconds of this I came across a patch of grass, where an orange tree stood at the center. I paused for a second before realizing- the tree had a face.

"Howdy! I'm Orangey, Orangey the orange tree!" It spoke, in a voice that sounded cold and calculated.

"Uh- hi- I'm Cori- the not orange not tree-" I said, doing a sort of two-finger salute in return.

"You're new to the underground arentcha?" Said Orangey, I nodded in response.

"Let me help you," suddenly something jumped out in front of me. It was glowing, different shades of pink blue and yellow faded in and out of what looked like a heart.

"This is your SOUL, the very culmination of your being!" Said Orangey, he seemed unphased by the tri-color phenomenon of it.

"Your SOUL can get stronger when you gain LV, that stands for LOVE," he said. I wasnt sure that sounded right, Love didnt seem like the kind of word one would need to abbreviate.

"Down here, LOVE is shared through friendliness pellets," spinning orange shapes appeared on all sides, I eyed them suspiciously "Go on! Catch as many as you can!" Said the tree. I chose to go the opposite route, backing away as the shapes closed in on me.

The tree's expression changed, it was one of anger and hatred "Smart kid, aren't you," its voice was deeper, less calculated, more angry and bordering on psychopathic.

The pellets surrounded me on all sides, preparing to close in. The tree began to laugh, a cold and unfeeling cackle that sent a chill down my spine. The pellets were inches away from my skin, when suddenly they'd disappeared, the tree was gone. Something- no- someone- walked out if the shadows. He was tall, with white fur and horns, and a tossle of light brown hair at the top of his head, adorned with glasses, a blue shirt, khakis, and a grey cardigan.

"What a cruel creature, torturing such a poor innocent youth," he spoke in a softer voice, one that reminded me of how the guardians back at the community spoke to the younger children.

"I am Patton, caretaker of the ruins, come with me, I will keep you safe," Patton held a hand out, I accepted it after a few moments hesitation. Patton walked with me through an archway, into an elaborate structure, covered with vines and flowers. I felt something spark in me, I thought back to the sketchbooks in my backpack.

"Can I sit down for a second? That was a little scary," I said. Patton smiled and nodded, setting himself down in a pile of flowers between two sets of stairs. I sat down as well and pulled out a sketchbook, beginning to draw the things surrounding me.

"Oh! An artist!" Patton said excitedly.

I smiled and brushed it off slightly "Not so much artist as bored little kid with to much creativity," was my only reply as we sat there, trying to ignore the things my head was telling me.

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@misunderstoodshadowling

#cori writes #ts patton #ts orange side #cori sable #undertale cw #undertale #cw undertale #tw bullying #bullying tw #war mention tw #tw war mention #war mention #bullying #cori's tale

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skvaderarts · 4 years

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Apocrypha Chapter Two: Homecoming

Masterlist is being made and will be available soon!

Chapter Two: Homecoming

Note: A warm welcome back to everyone who's returning for book two! It was great to talk to so many of you again! If you're a new reader, I recommend that you read Soliloquy first so that you have the proper context for this story, but either way, welcome! Nice to meet you! I hope to say hi sometime in the comments! Now on to chapter two!

-~-

In the seven weeks since the Redgrave City calamity, the local news stations had struck a collective balance between bated silence, unintentional misinformation, and useless conjecture. No one in the general public really knew anything meaningful about the events that had taken place in that forsaken city except for a handful of ground zero survivors, and most of them had stayed surprisingly tight lipped about the ordeal as a whole, knowing little about the events that took place after they had fled to safety. A few had come forward to thank the mysterious white haired vigilante in the black coat that had been rumored to have stalked the streets at all hours during the month long siege in what seemed to be an attempt to help stem the tide of demonic activity, but reports were conflicted to say the least. Most couldn't decide if he -or she- possessed black or white hair, some were unsure as to if they had been working with or against the demons as they claimed that they had commanded several themselves, and several others claimed to have been saved from attacking demons by them and told to flee town while they still could. A few even speculated that perhaps this individual could be a demon themselves, though they all seemed to come to the conclusion that they didn't care all that much and they were simply happy to be alive and eternally grateful to whoever the person had been that had saved their lives.

Graffiti on abandoned city walls told horrifying stories of desperation and fear, while some even depicted what some had thought to be their savior in an indirect attempt to thank them. But the vast majority of the outside world would never see these works of art in person. The entire city aside from the very outskirts on the north side had been claimed by the government and a perimeter was in the process of being erected. They wanted to study it and try to figure out a concrete answer as to what had led to this horrible tragedy so that they could try to combat it effectively in the future, but it was slow work. They had started on the east and west sides of the city to try and keep neighboring municipalities and their citizens from meddling in what they considered "government affairs", and a considerably weaker foot perimeter had been established at the southern end of the area, leaving the northern side relatively accessible to prying eyes. They were apparently stretched quite thin at the moment and simply didn't have the resources and manpower to do anything more.

And that was good news for Nico and Nero since they had work to do.

Nero craned his neck to the side as he stared blankly at Nico, unsure as to what to say about the scene unfolding in front of him. Sitting along the side of the van were three medium sized moving boxes that were practically overflowing with old books. Most of them were covered in dust and slightly worn from the elements, but probably still readable while others looked to be in need of serious repairs. Some looked just fine. But the question was why were they here?

"Nico… Since when do you read? What the hell is with all these books?" Nero said as he examined one of the boxes of books disinterestedly, shaking his head at the sheer number of books. There were at least two large bookcases worth of them. This seemed beyond excessive to him.

She plopped down the box that she was in the process of loading into the van, allowing it to come to rest on the couch. A loud groan escaped her lips as she turned to step down the step that led to the pavement. She knew that old books were heavy, but these ones had to weigh more than she did! Her back was going to pay dearly for her generosity.

"Oh shut your trap! You know good and well I'm not reading any of these old things," She says as she held up one of the books for emphasis," I'm doing V a favor. He said he'd owe me one if I brought back as many of these as I could find that were still in one piece."

Nero did a slight doubletake, his brow furrowing in a mixture or surprise and confusion. While that made perfect sense, he had to admit that this was news to him. He'd never seen Nico accept an "I owe you" before. Cash was almost always a prerequisite to service when it came to her valuable time and effort. But she'd made an exception for V?

"Your doing him a favor? That's… well, that's nice of you, I guess." Nero said as he shrugged and reached for a nearby box. He knew that she wasn't going to let him help her with the ones she was already carrying. And besides, she'd managed the first one just fine without his help. But tossing the last two boxes in the van for her wasn't going to hurt anyone. Well, accept maybe their backs. How the hell was V going to pick these up anyway? One at a time?

The young mechanic put the box down next to the previous one and shrugged, not really sure what he expected her to say about it. "Yea, well he gave me some pretty rare stuff a while back that I used to make a pretty sick devil breaker, so I kinda owe him. It's whatever. Just a couple books. No bige."

Nero took a moment to consider what she'd said. He recalled a time in Redgrave City right after they had rescued Lady when V had found his way to the van with a chunk of some sort of glowing rock. Nico had seemed pretty excited about that at the time. Was that what she was talking about? Better yet, why did he care so much? Their dealings were none of his business and there probably wasn't anything more to them than V wanting something else to read. He'd tapped out the few books laying around their place that weren't for little kids several days ago (and some of those too, although mostly for the sake of providing entertainment to the children. They enjoyed when he read to them.) and Vergil still had his book at Dante's office, so he was probably starving for mental stimulation. But most of these didn't really look like the types of books you just read for entertainment's sake. Besides the heavy damage they'd incurred due to being left out in the elements for so long, most were educational texts such as dictionaries, legal books, and encyclopedia sets. Who the hell would read a dictionary for fun?

Oh.

As they loaded the final boxes and Nico climbed back into the drivers seat of the van, he couldn't help himself from digging just a little bit further. Now part of him kinda found this funny. As he flopped down into the passenger's seat and put his feet up onto the dashboard, he decided he'd ask a final question and then drop the matter entirely.

"Did he actually ask you for all these boring dictionaries and crap? I thought he was more into poetry." Nero said offhandedly. He'd heard his brother quote that damn book enough times to glean that from him. Despite popular belief, he wasn't clueless.

Nico shrugged again as she started the engine. "He just said he wanted "collections of books' '. Most of them just happened to be boring shit. Now stop playin' twenty questions with me before I tell him you read his damn book so he can quiz you to death on it!"

He wasn't sure if he actually did it, but he could almost swear that he visibly paled at the statement. That was the last thing he needed. After V had "died" and the rest of his family had swan dived into hell, the book had been left in his care. What had at first been just a few curious glances had somehow turned into him reading the entire book cover to cover despite the fact that he didn't really understand a lot of the concepts covered in the texts. It was all a bit philosophical for him. While he'd done plenty of reading in his lifetime, none of it had been on this kind of subject matter. The only thing it had really impressed upon him was the fact that V was pretty damn smart for his age. After all, they couldn't have been born that far apart.

And yet, Nero had actually enjoyed reading it. The context behind a lot of the quotes V had rattled off made a lot more sense to him now and they helped paint a picture of a person who was solemn and mournful, but still personable and easy enough to get along with. If he had to describe V in a single word, he'd say he was just misunderstood. Despite being surrounded by people, he always seemed so lonely and out of place. But he'd never say any of this to his face. The last thing he was ready for was a deep conversation with V, though he got the feeling it was an inevitability.

As they drove through the ruined streets of Redgrave City on their way back home, a shared silence fell over them as they crossed the barrier into ground zero. An area twice the size of the colosseum that used to consist of family homes and businesses; parks and plazas. None of that remained now, the entire city block now leveled and covered from head to toe in a thick layer of white ash. Jagged chunks of earth that seemed to jut out of hell itself stuck up out of a massive ravine in the center. On the far side of the clearing were the remnants of the house that V had once pointed out to him, a place he was admittedly curious considering the fact that it was somehow still standing after everything that had happened to this place. What had been the significance of it?

It was a haunting sight to behold, and a terrifying reminder of what his family was capable of when they got carried away. He couldn't stop thinking about how easily something like this had almost happened to Fortuna just a few short years ago. So much death and destruction. It chilled him to his very core and he suddenly felt an intense desire to leave this place and not think about it any further, at least for a while.

As they passed through the far side of the clearing, Nico suddenly slammed on the breaks. Nero jolted forward and smacked his head on the dashboard, his ears ringing and head throbbing. While the impact wasn't hard enough to give him a concussion, it still hurt like hell and he couldn't help but become instantly pissed at the fact that it had happened.

"Nico, what the fuck is-" Nero started to take her to task for her awful driving, only to realize as he sat up that she was no longer in the van. A quick, somewhat panicked glance confirmed that she was standing a few yards away from the van, her back to him. From what he could tell, she seemed to be looking at something on the ground. Nero let out a sigh that was equal parts relief and frustration as he threw the seatbelt over his shoulder and headed over to meet up with Nico. He was curious to see what all the fuss was about. As much as his head hurt, it had better be good.

Before he could say anything, Nico gestured to the ground in front of her. She seemed to know that he was on the brink of scolding her for nearly breaking his neck on the dashboard of their ride, although she didn't seem concerned. She knew he was durable. As he approached, Nero was surprised to find a small patch of red glowing flowers in the middle of space before them. He'd seen them before in the train station, but this was a relatively uncommon occurrence. From what he could tell, they had just grown in since they hadn't been here during their last visit to the city. Apparently something about the Qliphoth pollion made the soil hospitable. At least that's what he was willing to guess. Maybe Magnolia could tell them? After all, she was a botanist.

But as unusual as it was to see the demonic flowers just growing wildly out in the open, another sight caught his eye. More specifically, Nico gestured towards it in mild disbelief, a slightly wide eyed and giddy look on her face. Impaled smack dab in the middle of the small field of plants was a very familiar piece of shiny metal, a handful of vibrant blue feathers accompanying it. Somehow during everything that had happened at the top of the Qliphoth including it's violent destruction, V's cane had made its way down here and embedded itself in the ground. It was almost unbelievable. They had passed by here once before, but it had been dark out. How on earth had it managed to land in this exact spot so close to one of the only remaining roads? And why had this field of plants sprung up around it? The entire situation was nothing short of astonishing.

Nico shook her head and folded her arms, looking down at the scene unfolding before her. "Looks like I need to run some more tests on this damn thing! Guess I missed somethin' the last time. This is just weird. And what's up with these flowers? We're gonna need some samples of these things. Wonder if there's somethin' to em."

Nero nodded, agreeing in silent bewilderment. While it made perfect sense that it could survive a fall from the height that it did, he was amazed that it hadn't landed in the nearby bay or fallen into a casem somewhere. He wondered how V would react to seeing it again after all this time. More than likely, he'd be relieved considering how he'd used it to assist himself with walking up until the point where it had been lost during their final battle with Urizen. Well, Vergil. He needed to stop thinking about it. That whole situation was complicated and messy and sad and they would all get to it when the time came.

For now, they needed to find something to put these plants in. As supernatural as they seemed to be, they were practically screaming for a visit to Magnolia's shop. Nero was willing to bet that she could help them out with this. "Maybe… but we're never going to find out if we don't grab a couple. Oh, and if your awful driving gets us killed on the way back!" Nico shrugged nonchalantly as she headed back towards the car to grab the supplies they needed. "Quit cryin' you big baby, you're gonna be fine! Your heads made of thicker stuff than that, trust me. Now come grab a shovel and help me start diggin! I don't plan to still be in this damn place come dinner time."

Nero groaned and dragged himself over to the van. She made a valid point. Several valid points. V and the kids were definitely going to eat all the food if they didn't get back in time. And the last thing Nero felt like dealing with was being hungry and tired after having to fight off an entire city of demons if they were still here come nightfall.

-~-

It's great having you all back again for book two! Thanks so much for the ongoing support! I'll see you all again on Friday for chapter three. In the meantime, stay safe and have a great week! I hope it's not half as hot where you live as it is here!

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jaehunn1es · 4 years

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「 chapter 1 」

𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵 : https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6IItoVQ3fGBnawcwWJorLd?si=fdl-nECpQ9KHtD7FIB06Bg

♡　♥　♡　♥　♡　♥

3.7k words

pov // Y/N 1st person

I close my eyes and enjoy the kiss of the sun on my cheeks. I step into the shade of the breezeway, relieved from the burning gold in the air. Although the sun has barely risen, the heat from the impending summer is intense. The coolness from the cover of the breezeway feels nice, and the cool breeze passes through the hem of my pink sun dress.

This is my favorite time of the week. Friday morning classes. The campus is a ghost town, as no college student wants to wake up at 6:00 a.m. on Friday's for a math class. It feels as if I am the only one alive, the emptiness being oddly comforting. I approach the math building and step into the pleasingly silent hallways. The loud text notification of my phone disturbs my serenity, and I scoff audibly to myself. I pull my phone from my dress pocket and a smile trickles across my face as I see the text message

>> renjun ₓₒ⋆:°*: hi!! good mornin g asf~

I laugh to myself at the message he sent me. I simply like his message, not feeling like responding as my brain is barely functioning. I approach the dark stairwell and climb the 2 flights of stairs to reach Mr. Shindong's class. I think about how I will be spending the never 3 hours in his class, and I sigh. I dread having to sit in there for 3 hours. I just have to suck it up, I think to myself. I will be out at 10:15 for breakfast. Only one math class per week. I reach the second floor and stop at the vending machine right outside of the corridor leading to the classrooms, picking a cotton candy BANG. Being a few minutes early, I drag my feet to my desk and plop into my seat. The classroom of around a dozen students is quiet and relaxing. I take my phone out of my pocket to respond to Renjun as I begin to feel my eyes flutter shut, and sense a pair of eyes glaring at me. I look up and see Mr. Shindong's beady eyes lasering into my skull. I sigh and slip my phone into the front pocket of my book-bag. This is going to be a long 3 hours.

তততততততততততততততততততততততততততততততততত

I walk out of Mr. Shindong's class, my stomach growling painfully loud. I groan to myself, a migraine approaching as it travels up my body. I head out of the dark math building and am exposed to the bright outdoors, teeming with college students rushing to their next class or the cafeteria. The sunlight nor the noise help with my impending migraine, and I walk through the breezeway to reach the east side of the campus. The trip to the cafeteria is but a blur, my mind sleeping as my body falters to the east side of the campus. I suddenly find myself at the entrance of the cafeteria, not entirely aware of how I even got here.

With my energy drink in my left hand & my student ID in my right hand, I am permitted into the crowded cafeteria. My eyes scan the cafeteria for a place to sit, and I decide on tall stool and small table in the corner. I set my drink down and I climb to the top of the stool, plopping right down. I look over hopelessly to the lunch line. Fuck, I think and scoff to myself. Wrapping around the entirety of the right side of the cafeteria, I don't even feel like entering the line to eat. However, the pounding in my head is telling me otherwise. BOM! BOM! BOM! my head goes. It continues louder & louder. I feel like I'm going to pass out. Please stop please stop please stop please-

I am distracted from the pounding in my skull when I feel slender arms wrap around my waist suddenly. I jump at the sudden warmth against my back, and smile when I catch a whiff of the familiar cologne.

"Hiiiii" the familiar voice says warmly, limbs still draped around my torso. I accept the hug and breathe in the pleasing musk of the cologne. Sandalwood and ivory. "Stop smelling me, weird bitch." they say through a smile, and unwrap their arms from around me. "Renjun, my head hurts and your cologne makes it worse" I lie. I catch his eye roll as he walks over to the table over, grabbing a stool to place beside me and jump onto. "Oh, shut up Y/N. I know I smell good" he says. I sigh. His arrogance annoys me, but he is right.

"Why does your head hurt" he asks while looking past me, pretending to be uninterested by my answer. "I'm definitely not starving." I say blatantly. Can he not see my table without food on it and the long ass line? He signs dramatically and shrugs his shoulders. "Well. I guess I will have to eat these two McDonald's hot cakes combo all by myself" he says through a cracky voice, and proceeds to fake cry into his hands, moving like a Sim. I giggle a bit. I take notice at his hands, now completely ignoring his animated fake crying. Wow. His slender, pretty fingers that his face is buried into. They look so clean and soft. I feel the sudden impulse to grab his hands. What the fuck? I think. I must be really tired. My brain finally processes what he earlier said and my attention is redirected to his book bag. "Wait you have food?" I ask, my mouth watering at the thought of sinking my teeth into a chicken biscuit. Or better yet, a sweet, fluffy pancake drenched in sweet syrup. I want to eat. Now. He looks up, & utters a cheeky "Maybe." I smile, the hunger ravishing through my stomach. He studies my face a bit, & then breaks from the stupid little character he was playing, flashing a warm smile. His beautiful teeth are on full display, glossy from the light reflecting onto them. "C'mon, lets go eat it" I say, hopping off of the stool and pulling his book bag to get him to follow me.

🙤 · ┈┈┈┈┈┈ · ꕥ · ┈┈┈┈┈┈ · 🙦

We reach his dorm room, and he unlocks his door with the key. The contrasting smell of the dank hallway compared to the room hits me in the face. The smell of his dorm never fails to catch me off guard— fresh for a dorm room, especially a guys dorm room. My nose is happy as it is flooded with the smell of faint lilac. Renjun's nose turns up, and eyes scan the room suspiciously, until they are frozen on the coffee table by the couch. "That bastard!" He exclaims, throwing his hands up. "Can Haechan never clean up after himself?" He scolds, tossing the paper plate and slightly aged pizza into the trash can. I smile to myself. Haechan. He sprays some air freshener and his body tremors as he makes a disgusted face. Renjun is very particular about how things are organized and cleaned, he has been as long as I've known him. His roommate, on the other hand, is not. "Here," he says, gesturing at the small couch, "the couch is clean." He lays his book bag onto the couch so I can go ahead & dig in, and he struts to his bathroom. I unzip his backpack at the speed of light & pull out the brown paper McDonald's bag. I grab one of the plastic containers & rip the lid off, eyes lighting up when I see a stack of pancakes and syrup. I spread the syrup all over my pancakes, stomach growling in anticipation. The warmth of the container radiates on my legs, my mouth is fucking watering.

Renjun returns from the bathroom after he washes his hands and flops on the couch beside me, lazily forming a C shape against the cushions. I sit criss crossed beside him, facing towards him. He looks at me, looking at the container of food on my leg. He raises an eyebrow. "You gonna eat?" he asks.

I nod quickly & cut the first piece of the pancake. As soon as it enters my mouth, my eyes roll back. So fluffy & sweet. I chew slowly, savoring the taste. I open my eyes back up & see a wide eyed Renjun in my view. "Do you always moan when you eat McDonalds pancakes?" He asks. Moan? I didn't realize the involuntary whimper exiting my mouth as I dug into my food. "Yea actually I do" I say, continuing to shove pancakes down my throat, not even caring to cut them. He smirks and laughs to himself, grabbing a couch pillow & places it over his lap. He takes off his lid & digs in.

»»——⍟——««

I finish my food quite soon, as I had been digging into it like a caveman. Cavewoman.

"What do you wanna do tonight?" Renjun muffles to me with his mouth full of pancakes. I let out an "Oh," remembering it is Friday night and neither of us have classes tomorrow or Sunday. I shrug my shoulders, no idea popping into my head. He holds a finger up and closes his eyes, an idea popping into his head as he chews the remainder of his bite. "There's an art showcase tonight down the street," he exclaims. My eyes open widely in excitement, and a smile runs across my face. I nod quickly, showing my appraisal for the idea. An idea them crosses my mind.

"I have weed." I say. I think about how fun it would be to smoke and then go see a bunch of art. His eyes light up and he puckers his lips. "I mean, if you're willing to share, I'm definitely not declining." He says. We haven't smoked together in a while, only hitting his roommates pen every once and a while. But it isn't the same as an actual blunt. The sensitivity and happiness from a blunt is so much better than the oversensitivity from pens. It feels as if I'm pleasantly floating, my body warm and mind pleasingly empty.

I reminisce on the first time we smoked together, thinking of junior year of high school. It was the first time we had met, one of my friends had known him. A fun group hangout. I attended Millie Hill High School in the suburbs, and he had attended the rival school in the city. We had became friends after the first hang out, immediately getting along. At first, we would see each other only at sports games and in group hangouts. Eventually, we became pretty close and would meet a few times a week to hang out. Those were the good old days. I realize how much easier high school was than college now. I used to have the biggest crush on Renjun, too. I would be lying if I said I haven't daydreamed about making out a few times. Sometimes my mind wanders to a little more. Imagining his hand gliding up my thigh, softly whimpering into his ear. The noise of appraisal he would give me as I roughly grab his hair. God. A singer he is, I can only imagine he would produce the most beautiful moans. I've heard him groan before, but never in a sexual way unless he was joking. The way his hips would snap against me as-

"Oh shit, what time is it?" Renjun calls out, interrupting my train of thought. My cheeks flush, as I come into realization of what I was thinking of. I feel guilty suddenly, seeing the innocent look on my best friends face as he checks his phone. What the fuck, Y/N I think to myself. I really just thought about fucking him. Again. I shake my head to relieve myself of the thoughts as if my brain is a Etch-a-Sketch, feeling guilty when I think of him like that in his presence. "Shit, I gotta go to my class" he says, throwing his book bag over his shoulder in one swift move. I am a little too mesmerized, & he looks at me with a puzzled expression with an open mouth. I pull out my phone so I am not subjected to any questioning. "Ok uh, I'm going to class. I'll see u in a few hours." He says. I nod, looking at a blank screen on my phone. "Are you just gonna stay here?" He asks. "Yea I think, is that ok?" I speak in a monotoned voice. "Sure. Haechan should be here soon. See you later." he says, and blows me a kiss. I blow him one back, our signature farewell. It never fails to make me blush a little. He turns around on his heels, and makes his way out of the dorm room door.

I flip my body so I'm laying down across the couch, and my eyes pan in the direction of the stagnant TV. I reach for the remote on the ground, and turn the TV on. The college logo and promo video is the first thing I see, and I scoff. I decide to watch the full promo video, as I never have sat through it's entirety before. I see Jack Gruthford, one of the Kappa frat house members throwing a football. His body is impressive, but his head is absolutely empty I think. The screen uses some tacky PowerPoint slide transition and fades to a picture of the photography majors setting up their props to shoot the basketball players. My eyes scan the photo, and I see Renjun gracefully taking a photo from afar. I stare at him for a second. He is dressed in a linen crop top with baggy jeans. My saliva gets caught in my throat when the fact that he's wearing a crop top settles into my brain. Crop top. Ok. Very nice. Cool.

I would by lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed when yet another PowerPoint transition crossed the screen, more tacky than the next. For the next few minutes, I am met with photos of different sororities, frat houses, sporting events, and random photos of students in class. As the next photo crosses the screen, my brain recognizes the familiar face. It takes me a minute, before I realize it is a photo of me. I'm biting a pencil, my eyebrows furrowed. I am sitting in a fuzzy chair in front of my window. The lighting is super pretty. This was taken in my dorm room. A hot flush crosses my face, as I am suddenly both embarrassed and honored. I am puzzled before I see the watermark in the bottom left corner, reading renjun☆. A hot flush crosses my face, as I am suddenly both embarrassed and honored to have been photographed and put into the video. I didn't know he took that picture of me. I wonder how many he has. I do look pretty in it, I have to admit. Besides the dumb ass expression on my face, the sun is passing elegantly through my hair and my hands are daintily holding a textbook. I am concentrating hard on whatever I was studying, and my lips are pursed. The image fades away, and is replaced by a photo of the debate club competing with another college. I sigh, picking up the remote to scan through the channels available. I am mindlessly faced with multiple boring looking television shows and movies, scoffing to myself.

I am interrupted by the bursting open of the dorm room door, and a familiar "Hi!" booms through the room. "Hi Haechan" I say lazily from the couch. He marches over and flicks me in the head. I don't move, I feel too tired. I realize I never drank my energy drink, as it is still in my book bag. "Hyuck, do you mind handing me my energy drink from my bag?" I ask. "Of course, my princess!" He says in a painfully high pitched voice. I roll my eyes as he pops open my drink and hands it to me. I sit up so he can sit on the couch with me. He settles down to the opposite corner of the couch. I have known Haechan since senior year. Renjun has been friends with him since middle school. He attended Renjuns' high school, and I met him during a hang out.

"I never realized," I say & take a sip of my energy drink, "that I was in the school promo video." Haechan looks over at me with his eyebrows furrowed. "It's been there for a month." He says as if I were stupid. "Oh..." I mutter. That picture has been there a month? "Renjun took it of you. He thought you looked pretty." He says, and catches himself. "I-I mean, he thought the photo was pretty. The lighting was cool." He says. I nod my head slowly, taking in what he first said. Looked pretty. It rings through my head. Renjun told Haechan he thought I looked pretty in it? I know it doesn't mean anything because both Renjun and Haechan compliment me, but something about the way Haechan corrected himself made it more special. "Yeah, I know I look pretty in it." I say to Haechan, in a triumphant tone. He clicks his tongue, & rolls his eyes. "Maybe." He says. What is up today with them? They are in love with me lol. I laugh to myself at my thoughts.

"Do you want to play Minecraft?" Haechan asks me. I nod my head, feeling my energy drink finally kick in. He reaches over to grab the controllers, and brushes his finger delicately over the turn on button of the X-Box. His hands are beautiful, his honey skin grazing over the gaming console. What the fuck. Why am I so horny today? He hands me the controller, his warm hand grazing against mine, sending shutters down my spine. I twitch, and he laughs to himself. "You cold?" He asks teasingly, and I get timid as I realize he noticed how I reacted to his touch. He sits against the couch, parting his legs to man spread, his back forming a C shape against the cushions. His knee touches against mine as his legs are spread a little to far to be accidental. My saliva is caught up in my throat as my eyes settle to his crotch. It's not like I can see anything, but his suggestive pose has my mind racing. Can my mind please stop? They're some of my closest friends. Why am I thinking this way towards them?

I gulp a little too loudly, and open my mouth to speak to Haechan. He immediately catches this and looks over at me, looking into my eyes. "Are you going to the art showing tonight with me and Renjun?" I blurb out. He bites the inside of his mouth, contemplating in his mind. He shrugs his shoulders after pondering a few seconds, and speaks. "I don't think so." I nod and glance at his Adam's apple bobbing as he replies. I squeeze my legs together, feeling my core get warm. He looks up at the sudden loss of warmth from my knee, looking at my thighs squeeze together. He stares for a second, and I freeze, not knowing what to do. He smirks to himself, and redirects his focus to the TV to turn the game on. That bastard. He knows what he's doing. I am horny today. I need to stop. These are my best friends, I cannot be thinking this.

"I have a question," Haechan blurts our, breaking the tense silence as he clicks through the menu to select our Minecraft world that Renjun, Haechan, and I occasionally work on. "Hm?" I ask, my eyes glued to the screen. "Have you kissed Renjun yet?" He asks. I can't detect the exact emotion in his voice as he asks. "No, I haven't." I quickly blurt off, taken off guard by such a personal question. I answer truthfully. I've thought about it hundreds of times, but I have never kissed Renjun. Back in twelfth grade, there was a period of time where there was a rumor that I had given him head at a party. It wasn't created by him; in fact, we never figured out who had said it. All I knew is that it made our friendship awkward as hell for a little bit. Every time we would hang out during that time, there was a sort of sexual tension. A few times we got close to kissing, but we never went through it. "And what do you mean yet?" I ask, now aware by how he phrased it. Yet? What the fuck does that mean? Haechan laughs.

"You guys have known each other for years & you have never kissed?" He half says, half asks. I divert my focus from the screen where I have began building the porch of my house, over to him. "I've known you for years and we have never kissed!" I exclaim. He throws his hands up in defense. "Hey, hey, hey. I didn't say we did." I shake my head, and wonder if he is reading my thoughts right now. I've imagined of kissing both of them, and much more than that. "You should try it." He says. My ears perk up at this odd statement. Does he mean try kissing him or Renjun? Do they now know I have never kissed anyone? I am a kissing virgin? I don't want to fucking embarrass myself. "Yeah, ok." I say sarcastically, half meaning it, but hoping to relieve some of the tension. I see his eyes widen from the corner of my eyes. He reaches over to his phone to blast music from the speakers, and I am thankful, for we no longer have to exchange words.

—— to be continued

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kaywriteswords · 4 years

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The Art of Purging...

There is something liberating about discarding old possessions. A freeing of space within our space and in our minds. I might not have believed it, if it hadn’t worked for me.

My hoarding was bred into me by a family who seems to never throw anything out. The most glaring realizations came when we had to sort through those things left behind by family members who had passed on. The aunt who died with drawers full of brand new items, but who needed frequent runs to the store for this or that. The grandma with several closets full of clothes, but who seemed to only ever have on the same 5 shirts. Then there is a room in a basement with two generations worth of random items from people who haven’t walked this earth in over 20 years and which sits, untouched.

Gramma passed in 2017 and one of the last things she wanted to do together was start pulling out boxes of her stuff to go through. The tiara from her first communion was in one of those boxes. She was 79. Guess where most of it, including that tiara, ended up… donated or in the trash. It was her stuff, she could do whatever she wanted with it. Some items were so old it rendered them useless and others had a sentimental value long since forgotten. Finally accepting the fact that she was dying (cancer is a b*tch!) and not being able to take anything with her, it ended up where it probably should have 50+ years ago. However, those of us who would survive her did keep several sentimental items because there is value in the memories some objects hold.

After almost 30 years of accumulating things and discarding the bare minimum, the amount of stuff I had started to overwhelm me. Faced with the prospect of trashing all my earthly possessions while on my deathbed one day, I decided to part with some of that stuff sooner rather than later. Not only does my home feel more open and organized, I feel a opening of space within myself to focus on what’s actually important to me. Here’s how I did it.

The first and simplest step to begin purging is to have a designated donation bag or box. Something you keep readily available, but also out of sight so as not to create undue stress about adding to it. This should be a liberating experience. Place things into the bag and when the bag is full, donate it. If the thought of parting with some of your possessions in such a way is giving you anxiety from just thinking about it, know that you can also go back through these donation items from time to time. If there’s something that you REALLY REALLY want, pull it back out, put it away. No harm in keeping things you feel like you can still use, but in my experience those things end up right back in that donation bag. There was a reason you put it there in the first place. It can be a vicious cycle of self-doubt and wanting to move on. Each time you fill a bag or box, start a new one.

Deciding what should be purged can be tough. I started with items that had been sitting unused for years. This can be anything for anybody depending on your lifestyle and hobbies. For me, it was accumulated kitchen items rarely or never used, supplies for projects waiting to be done and clothes, so many clothes. A few questions to ask yourself when looking at these items:

Have I ever used this?

When is the last time I used this?

Will I ever use this?

Honesty with yourself is a key component to this decision making process. Whatever you decide to keep will be allowed a space in your home. Decide if each item is worthy of that space. Some items came with a heavy price tag so you may prefer to sell them. Yards sales, garage sales or the internet are good places for that. If you do opt to try to sell, just make sure to set a deadline for yourself to get rid of it anyway. Otherwise, you’ll end up with things you’ve already decided you don’t need cluttering your life.

Deciding which clothes to keep, donate or toss was the most time consuming for me, especially when I had to try something on to make sure I really didn’t want it anymore. There are probably clothes in your closet that you do not wear, I had plenty. Maybe they’ve even made it out of the closet quite a few times for a potential outfit only to be tossed aside and left unworn. A shirt that hugs your arms to tightly or rides a bit higher on your torso than you’d like. A dress in an unflattering cut. Something that fits your body, but doesn’t fit your style. Put the item on, look at it in the mirror, tell yourself what you don’t like about it. Just because you wanted this piece of clothing at some point doesn’t mean you have to keep it now. When we evolve, our bodies and styles change too. If you can’t remember why you bought it in the first place then toss it in the donation bag. If you can’t find anything wrong with it, then and only then should it be granted space in your closet or drawers.

For bulkier items like kitchen appliances and tools, items that take up a lot of space but don’t get much use, weigh the value of having that item against the amount of space you give it. I liked my sewing machine. The idea of altering & repairing my own clothes seemed fun, practical even, thinking of the magic I could make with too large thrift store finds. After some practice, I was certain I was well on my way to becoming a thrifting, altering goddess. With clothes ready and the sewing machine still placed prominently in the middle of my workspace, it was only a matter of time. I altered one romper. One! Then the sewing machine sat there for months collecting dust. After spending a few more months moving it from here to there and there to here, it was relegated to the closet, where it sat untouched. I had to confront myself, Am I ever really going to alter clothes or was it just a nice idea?

The beauty of this life is that we don’t have to be just one thing. We can be anything we want and we can decide to change any time we want. I thought I wanted to be a seamstress, just like I thought I wanted to be a painter or sketch artist, a dog bone peddler. All things I flirted with, distractions from the calling I always felt for writing. Confront yourself. Dig deep. Here’s where that brutal honesty with yourself comes into play. If it doesn’t serve the ideal vision you see for yourself, get rid of it. Create the space you need to pursue that vision.

The painting supplies went first, then the sketchbook, then the dog treat molds and finally the sewing machine. They all went at different times over the course of 2 & a half years. That sounds like a ridiculous amount of time, I know, but getting rid of things is hard and we can only part with them when we are ready. Purging can be a long process depending on how much stuff you have and how long you’ve had it. The longer we’ve held on to something, the harder we can find it to let that something go. Whether it’s because we are holding on to an old piece of ourselves or someone we love or because we aren’t yet ready to change, that thing feels like it is a piece of us.

The painting supplies went to a mother who crafts with her daughters. The sewing machine to an old family friend who will put it to use. The other stuff was donated. Letting go of those things, I felt an unburdening. Those items were no longer distractions because they no longer existed for me. Plus, it felt good knowing that some of it was being appreciated by someone else.

You’ll have to go through everything and I mean EVERYTHING. Storage areas will probably be what takes the longest because this is where hidden memories lie and anything you wanted out of sight, but not out of reach. If you don’t have one cabinet or storage bin with knick-knacks, memorabilia, mementos, etc., then I applaud you, I truly do. But this isn’t the case for most people.

Take a look at what you are storing for future use. Don’t just look at a tote or cabinet as a whole, assuming you know what’s inside and leave it as is. Open all of them. Look at each item. Ask yourself:

What am I saving this for?

What occasion, life circumstance, event?

Is this something that will last over time or will too much time render it useless?

I have a lot of holiday decorations so having space to store all of these is necessary. Stacks on stacks on stacks of old newspapers and magazines, not so much. Keep the things you actually use.

Make your ideal life circumstance more immediate. Think about the reason you are saving a particular item. What do you envision as it’s ideal use? Has the time since passed that an item like that was relevant to your life? I had a black dress, classic girl’s night out LBD, and I was saving that bad boy for the perfect night. After a few years of waiting for that perfect night, I had gained some weight and the dress no longer fit. I kept it as a talisman to my old body and vowed that I would get in that dress one day. For years, I kept that dress hanging where I would see it daily, but that day never came. Even when I got back down to a healthy weight, my body had changed so significantly I was never able to wear it. It was donated with the price tag still on.

It is important to evaluate how much longer something can sit untouched before it’s useless from old age or is no longer relevant to you. Every day is a great to use your best stuff. Celebrate yourself. Try to think back to why you wanted this item in the first place. Have you changed in a way that makes an item useless to you?

Purging isn’t something that you can accomplish in one night or even one week. You’ll likely have to go through this process a few times. There may be some things you need to hold on to now, but in 3 or 6 months, after having saved it from the discard pile originally you might finally accept that the item is not for you. THIS IS OKAY! It is okay to get rid of things and you should. Change is good. Feel the burden lift, feel your space expand. After a lifetime of holding on to things so tightly, I was drowning in possessions that had no longer served a purpose for me. A person can only keep so much stuff. At some point you have to just let it go and trust me, it feels great!

Drop your purged items off periodically, then give yourself a pat on the back. You can even feel good about donating something that somebody else will be able to put to use. While donating is better than just throwing things in the trash, there are some things really do need to go into the trash. Face it, you’re probably not using it/wearing it because it’s raggedy AF. Nobody else wants your junk either. Look at that raggedy, broken, used up item and know it has lived its best life. Thank it, say good bye and drop it in the trash.

I know how hard it is to part with our beloved treasures. When I moved from the one bedroom I occupied in my parents’ house into my own two bedroom apartment, it was like my stuff exploded to fill the space. I still don’t know where I had been keeping it all before. Instead of purging during that move, I found a way to keep it all. For almost 10 years I moved all that stuff around and reorganized it, trying to continue to fit it into my space along with 10 more years’ worth of newly acquired items. It was disorder so apparent that it seemed to be organized. I knew it was time to do something about it when I helped Gramma get rid of things she’d been holding on to for half a century or longer.

It’s in the nature of humans to always want more, like the number of possessions we have somehow defines us. With all that I’ve accomplished in the short time since I’ve finished purging, I try not to be upset with myself for not doing it sooner. With the extra space in my home, I was able to reorganize my kitchen storage, create a functional workspace and give my plants room to flourish. The energy changed because the space had changed. Even though it was the same apartment, it felt brand new. That’s what I needed. What you need is probably different, we’re all unique in our own ways. Figure out what you need and envision your ideal space. Once you have that first encounter with the bliss of eliminating what no longer serves your goals, I promise you’ll like it.

#purging #donate #get rid of it #unburden #moveon #bestlifenow #kaywriteswords

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sorceress-coffee · 5 years

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Trollhunters Episode 8

Adventures in Trollsitting! Special thanks to @insanity6666 for the lovely idea of making the newest OC addition to the story a changeling! I will be posting drawings of Eemeli as a human and Troll after finals! Thank you to everyone who reads these, I have a lot of fun writing them!

Episode 1

Episode 7

Episode 9

I awoke to the sound of a foghorn, my alarm. I groaned trying to roll over but I was pinned down by something heavy sitting on my waist. My bed began to shift under me. I was confused until I decided to finally open my eyes, coming face to face with blue stone. My brow furrowed before I recalled the events and shock of last night. Draal was subbing in for my bed so he could keep an eye on me last night. I nuzzle under his chin as he sat up, seeing that the heavy object I was pinned under happened to be his arm.

Draal chucked at the gesture, handing me my blaring phone. “Good morning, does it always make that awful noise?” He huffed through his nose, rattling the ring in a disgruntled manner at the alarm.

I smiled turning the alarm off, yawning as I snuggled up to him more, still tired. “Only when I need to be awake at a certain time. Jim, Toby and I are supposed to head to Trollmarket this morning. I need to speak with Vendel about armor designs.” I paused thinking over last night, “Sorry for… worrying you.”

Draal nodded as I spoke of going to Trollmarket with Toby and Jim, peering down at me in confusion when I apologized. “You are my mate; it is now my duty to worry for you and take care of you.” He smiled, nuzzling my jaw with his nose. “It is not something you need to apologize for. The news last night was a ‘shock’ as Jim put it.”

I smiled softly, hugging around his neck. “Thank you for watching over me then.” I pulled back, stretching before getting up. “For a being of living stone, you’re pretty comfortable as a bed.” I teased, heading upstairs with Draal, going up to the second floor to my room.

Draal followed close, stepping into my room for the first time since he threw Nomura out of my window his first night here. He sniffed over the desk with a canvas about 5 feet tall and 3 feet wide leaning against it, with various spray paint canisters laying around. “What is this?” He asked, nudging the canvas with the beginnings of a dark figure in bright green and blue swirls.

I was digging through my closet for a change of clothes, peeking out to see what he was asking about, I grinned. “That’s a piece I’m working on for an art show, it’s later on in the year but I’ve been working on it since the beginning of the school year. I’m hoping to be the first spray painter accepted into the show!” I pulled on black leggings covered in the same green and blue paint on the canvas and a black long sleeve with a silver spaceship on it. “Do you think I have a chance?”

Draal chuckled, looking over the picture closely. “Human’s are… moronic, usually, but they’d be blind to turn this away, who is in the painting?” He traced the swirls of blue paint.

“I’m not sure actually, it’s a scene I’ve dreamt about a lot growing up. He shows up a lot in them so I don’t know if it’s a tv character or someone I’ve met a long time ago and forgotten about. Usually, there’s a person wearing blue too, but I haven’t figured how to draw them yet.” I explained, standing next to Draal, staring at the painting.

Draal hummed, tilted his head hearing a thud from Jim’s room. “Our Trollhunter has been bested by his bed it seems.” He smirked, waiting by the door as I grabbed my school stuff before heading out with him.

I checked mom’s room to make sure she left for the day before going to Jim’s door, knocking. “Jim? You okay in there?”

Jim groaned from behind the door. Loud shuffling could be head before he opened the door, yawning. “Morning River, morning Draal.” He greeted, trudging past us. “Remind me to never let Blinky talk us into visiting before school.”

“We both know that’s not going to happen,” I smirked, following Jim downstairs, Draal right behind us.

Jim nodded, grabbing his bag off of the banister, “Yeah, he can talk anyone into anything.”

Draal laughed, shaking his head. “He’s not used to a Trollhunter that needs to sleep either. You’ll get used to it.”

Jim smiled up at Draal, “I hope so. You gonna be good on your own?” He asked, glancing between Draal and me.

“I will be looking for Killahead Bridge while you attend your training and learning dungeon,” Draal smirked, content with his job for now. “I will return by the time your mother returns to guard her and the house.”

Jim nodded, pausing to tilt his head in confusion, “Learning dungeon?”

I laughed, “School, he means school.” I explained, realization crossing Jim’s face as he laughed.

Draal nudged my cheek with his brow, “You don’t want to keep Vendel, or the fleshbag Tobias,” he nods to the window where we see Toby yawning, tapping his foot impatiently as he waits for us.

I chuckle, pressing my brow to Draal’s before heading out with Jim, “Bye, Draal! We’ll see you later!”

Toby waved to Draal as we left, snickering at me, “You’ve gotten comfy having Draal live with you.” He remarks, trying to tease.

Jim shakes his head, chuckling, “Why wouldn’t she be comfortable with Draal there? They act like a married couple already!” He snickered as we headed into town for breakfast at Stuart’s Taco Truck, before going to Trollmarket.

I smirked at both of them, rolling my eyes at the obvious teasing, “Seeing as he’s the equivalent of my fiancé, yeah, of course, I’m comfortable with him living with us. I’m surprised you’re not uncomfortable.” I remarked to Jim, elbowing him.

Jim shrugged, “Draal’s like a brother already, he fits right in with us. Besides, like I told you, as long as you’re happy, I won’t have a reason to use Daylight,” he snarked back to me, joking about using Daylight. He would never use the sword on Draal.

Stuart opened the Taco Truck window as we approached, “Morning my best customers! How was your date River?” He asked, starting on the breakfast burritos, knowing our usual orders.

“Date?” Jim and Toby asked in unison, turning to me.

I laughed, shrugging a bit, “I picked up tacos and burritos for Draal and me, Stuart put two and two together. It was great, he actually enjoyed raiding the scrap yard with me!” I grinned leaning against the window to converse with Stuart as he cooked.

He laughed, wrapping the burritos, “Now that sounds like a keeper to me! Find anything good?” He asked, handing the bag to Toby as Jim paid. He still owed Toby from the fight with Draal.

I nodded, “Yup, I found some old tech I’ll bring to the shop next time it’s open.”

“Thanks! River, Boys have a good day,” Stuarts waved us off with a grin.

Jim shook his head, “You make some really weird friends. Not that they’re weird, it’s just who you end up making friends with isn’t the usual for a high schooler,” He corrected quickly as I gave him the side-eye of disapproval.

“You’re telling the non-human dating a troll, that who she makes friends with isn’t typical?” I asked, smirking to Jim as Toby handed out the breakfast burritos. I tore into mine quickly, waiting for an answer.

Jim floundered for a response as Toby snickered, unwrapping his burrito, “You walked right into that one Jimbo.” He teased, biting into his burrito.

Jim huffed, eating his food while sulking a bit. I paused outside of the Vespa shop, “Hey, Jim. Aren’t these the Vespa’s you’ve been drooling over?” I asked, finishing off my food.

Jim whistled, stopping next to me, fighting the urge to drool over it. “Vespa 300 GTS Super. Single-cylinder. Catalyzed four-stroke Quasar engine,” he sighed. “Can you imagine me going down the road on that? Wind whipping through my hair, Claire holding tight to my back,” he trailed off, lost in his head.

I rolled my eyes as Toby sighed, “Me, cruising in the sidecar next to you,” he spoke, interrupting Jim’s fantasy.

I shook my head, snickering at Jim’s disgruntled look directed at Toby. “Tobes, that’s for a motorcycle,” I remarked.

Toby pouts towards me before seeing Jim’s look, “Oh. You imagined you and Claire alone, didn’t you?” He asked Jim with a sheepish smile.

“We both know the odds of mom getting you a Vespa for your 16th birthday.” I sighed, knowing Jim was hoping for one.

“Only slightly worse than me winning the lottery and buying it myself, but still slightly better than you getting a motorcycle for your 18th birthday.” He snickered, teasing me back. I grinned ruffling his hair at the remark. Jim whacked my hand away glancing at the window, frowning. “Did you see that?” He asked, turning to quickly to see a goblin on a powerline holding a bundle.

I turned, following his eyes, barring my teeth slightly, “Goblin!” I yelled as Jim and I took off after it.

“What?!” Toby yelled, having looked at the window instead of the power line, groaning as he sees Jim and I running, “It’s just a bird!” He yelled after us, trying to catch up.

“It’s a goblin, with a baby!” Jim yelled back to Toby, seeing little baby arms poking out of the bundle the goblin was holding, gripping a rabbit plushie.

Jim and I followed the goblin to the alley behind Alex’s game shop, “Dead end.” I growled, heading to the back looking for a way up to the roof.

Jim knelt behind me, picking up the rabbit plushie the baby had been holding. Toby finally caught up to us, trying to catch his breath. “Come on guys, it’s just a bird!” He groaned, not having seen the goblin at all. “Chill out guys, this Trollhunting is making you hallucinate,” He tried to reason, clasping Jim’s shoulder.

“Two people don’t hallucinate the same thing at the same time,” I quipped back, frowning as I couldn’t find a way up, losing the goblin and baby. Sighing as I turned back to the boys. “The baby was holding that.” I nod to the bunny in Jim’s hands.

“What would a goblin want with a baby?” Toby asked, shaking his head. Though his tone was filled with disbelief, he was obviously worried in the case it was an actual baby.

Jim frowned, examining the rabbit plushie, “I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.” He headed out of the alley, Toby and I following close. “Blinky should have an idea why, let’s get to Trollmarket,” he spoke, leading us to the canals quickly.

I took out the horngazel, opening the entrance quickly, heading down to Blinky’s library with the boys. “I have to go see Vendel. I have my alarm set so I’ll come get you for school.” I waved to the boys before running to Vendel’s study. Steeling myself as I walked in, not having seen Vendel since I left Trollmarket with Draal. “Morning Master Ven-” I cut my greeting seeing Vendel.

Vendel was facing the entrance of his study, gemstone staff pointed at me, “You’ve missed three days of training, run off with a disgraced troll after courting him in front of every troll in Trollmarket, and all you have to say is ‘Good morning?’” He scolded me, sounding like a disappointed parent.

I winced, bowing my head slightly, feeling like a small child, “I wasn’t sure if I’d be welcomed back after everyone’s reaction to that…” I admitted, rubbing my arm. Not used to being scolded.

Vendel sighed, lowering the staff, “You are my charge, of course, you’re still welcomed here… though I’ll be surprised if no one says anything about the display after the fight.” He shook his head, sitting at a stone table, gesturing me to the seat next to him.

I sat quickly, snarling a bit, “If they want to speak ill of Draal they can fight me.”

Vendel laughed, in a better mood after getting the scolding out of the way, “I shouldn’t be surprised considering your lineage.” He pats the top of my head with his large hand, as one would a child.

I pout at the patting before I furrow my brow, registering his words, “Did you… You knew I was related to Merlin?” I asked, looking up at him from under his hand.

Vendel hummed, realizing I hadn’t known from the confusion on my face. “I forget there is much you don’t know yet,” he sighed, pulling over a volume of ‘A Brief Recapitulation of Troll Lore’ opening to a page with an illustration of a woman clad in armor, holding an ax. She was surrounded in swirls of blue and white, similar to the painting I was working on. “This is Lady Ganieda, Merlin’s sister,” Vendel pushed the book closer to me, “Your mother I presume, from your magic.”

I studied the picture closely, smiling softly, “She could wield daylight?” I asked, looking to Vendel as he hummed in answer. “Then, you knew I could too?”

Vendel nodded, “I could tell from the burns on your hands when we met. That is why I am so insistent on training you. If you befriended trolls, as you have, and remained untrained…” he trailed off, shaking his head sadly.

“The Forge wall I shattered could’ve been a friend,” I concluded, looking back to the picture. “I’m glad I finally have a picture to relate to her, I’ve never seen her before.” I smiled, running my fingers over the armor in the picture, pausing on the shoulder plates. “I want to design something similar, and since my arms and shoulders get hit the most, maybe I should make those pieces a priority.”

Vendel smiled softly, nodding. “Take the book, uses it as a reference for your armor.” He spoke, placing his hand on my shoulder, “I’ll see if we have any more pictures of Lady Ganieda, you should have them after all.”

I smiled hugging Vendel, “Thank you Master Vendel, I really appreciate this.”

Vendel smiled softly, hugging me, “Of course,” he jolted as my phone alarm began to sound, looking at me confused, poking at my frame trying to find the source of the noise.

I laugh pulling my phone out to turn it off. “Sorry, it’s time for me to get the boys and head to school. I’ll see you soon with plans for the armor.” I grinned, hugging him again before taking the book and running off to get Toby and Jim from the Forge.

As we walked to school, Jim explained what Blinky told them about changelings being replaced with babies and growing up in the human world. We paused at the lockers, still hugging the book to my chest as I open my locker to put it away for now. “So, we have to find out which baby is missing?” I asked, tucking the book away, and grabbing my paint for art class, closing the locker.

Jim nodded pulling the rabbit out, sighing. “I am going to find out who it belongs to and when I do-”

Toby interrupted Jim, grabbing his shoulder, “Maybe you didn’t see what you thought you saw. You’ve been spending so much time in Trollmarket, maybe your minds are playing tricks on you.” He suggested, looking between Jim and me.

Jim frowned, looking at the rabbit, leaning back against his locker, “Maybe you’re right,” he conceded to Toby making me groan, refusing to believe we hallucinated a goblin kidnapping a baby.

“You have Suzy Snooze?” Claire’s voice startled the three of us as she approached, gesturing to the stuffed rabbit. “My brother’s bunny, I’ve been looking all over for him.”

Jim handed her the bunny, “You’ve been looking for this?” He asked her, worry etched over his face.

“Yeah,” she smiled, taking the bunny. “He’s been acting weird without it. Where did you find it?” She asked us, confused that we had it.

“We found it in the alley behind Alex’s Game Shop,” I spoke up, worried for her baby brother.

“What do you mean, he hasn’t been himself? Exactly how has he been acting?” Jim asked quickly, mind racing to changelings.

“Easy, Jim.” Toby grabbed his shoulder, holding him back a bit. Turning to Claire, trying to play it off. “Always concerned about the children, but just for clarification, are we super sure this is his? I mean you could probably pick this up at, like, any store,” He asked, hopefully.

Claire smile shaking her head, “I think I know the stuffed bunny I grew up with,” she answered to Toby. Mary ran up to Claire, yelling her name. She paused to catch her breath and began to explain that she wasn’t available to babysit Enrique for her tonight.

Jim began to freak out as they talked, whispering to Toby and me, “She doesn’t know her brother is missing because he’s been switched with a changeling!” He waved to Claire, quickly interrupting the girls’ argument, “I can babysit for you,” he offered.

“Tonight?” Claire asked, grinning. “Really? You would? Wait,” she paused, eyeing Jim, “have you ever babysat before?”

“Uh, yeah,” Jim answered quickly, “Yeah, no. They call me ‘Jim the Baby-Handed,’” he remarked, using Bagdwella’s insult from when Chomsky stole his amulet.

I snickered, turning to stand next to Claire, patting her shoulder, “He’s great with kids, a real ‘mother hen’,” I joked, earning a laugh from Claire and Mary.

“Oh, my gosh, you’re a life-saver. I could kiss you.” She grinned, leaning up to kiss Jim on his cheek, “Come by my house at seven, no sooner. Thank you, Jim. Thank you,” She waved to us, heading off with Mary as the bell rang.

“Time to go, I’ll see you two later. Try to behave.” I smirked, running right into someone. The impact strong enough to knock me on my rear, paint rolling out of my bag. I groaned shaking my head.

“I’m so sorry,” a thick accent spoke in front of me. I look up to see a hand extended towards me, connected to a blonde male with dark blue eyes.

I blink, staring at the hand for a moment before taking it, “No, I’m sorry for running into you,” I apologized as he helped me up, “I should’ve been watching where I was going. I’m River, I don’t think I’ve seen you before?” I asked.

“Eemeli,” He introduced, picking up the paint that rolled from my bag, handing it to me. “I saw you had paint and figured you must be in an art class, I just transferred here and I’m a bit lost.” He admitted, scratching the back of his neck.

Jim and Toby exchanged looks before waving to me, running to class. I nodded, “Sure, which class are you looking for, Eemeli?” I asked, waving for him to follow me as I headed to the art classes.

“Ms. Harper?” Eemeli asked, reading off the schedule in his hands.

I grinned, “Oh, you’ll be in my class then!” Quickly guiding the way, we walked into Ms. Harper’s class with only three other students.

“Where are the rest?” Eemeli asked, gesturing to the mostly empty room, confused.

“Ms. Harper tends to scare students off wither her… eccentricities. She’s amazing once you get used to her though, this will be the fourth year I’ve had her.” I explained grinning as Ms. Harper walked in, wearing a dress covered in paint and a neon yellow sweater.

“Good morning class!” She greeted enthusiastically, pausing when she sees Eemeli, she grabs his shoulders, grinning, “You must be my new student. Oh, I’m so glad you’ll be joining us,” She turned to face me, “Ah, I see you’ve met River, care now, she bites.” She teased, letting Eemeli go. “What medium do you use?” She asked Eemeli.

Eemeli looked like a deer caught in headlights, looking from Ms. Harper to me. I smiled softly, “She wants to know what kind of art you do.”

He nodded, recovering his composure. “I, uh… I work with metal. Sculpting.” He spoke quickly.

Ms. Harper hummed, hands on her hips as she tilted her head in thought. “River, are you still storing metal here from last year’s project?” She turned to me, a hopeful glint in her eye.

“Of course! It’s in with the theater equipment.” I confirmed, “How about you and I go get it so you start working on something?” I asked, turning to Eemeli.

“Wonderful idea River, just grab the hall pass,” She waved to a paint pallet hanging by the door.

Eemeli grabbed the pallet as we walked out of the class, waiting till we were a good distance from the class before speaking, “I see what you mean, she’s very… excitable?” He tilted his head.

I laughed nodding, “Yup, she’s also very involved in projects, so just to warn, she will hover,” I shook my head, heading into the theater storage room, “The metal should be back here.” I called, moving props out of the way.

Eemeli helped me dig till we reached the metal, “I’ll grab a-” he began as I lifted a large portion of the metal onto my shoulder, “cart… or not.” He chuckled, picking up the rest of the metal, “You are stronger than you look.” He comments.

I pause, looking at the amount of metal, chuckling nervously, “I, uh… train a lot?” I tried to state but it came off as a question.

“I can tell.” He smirked, heading out of the storage. “What do you train for? Sports? Fighting?”

“Well, it’s fighting I guess, but it’s for fun,” I explained quickly, following after him before taking the lead back to class.

“We should spar,” He grinned, looking over the metal to me.

“Spar?” I asked, worried about doing actual damage to him since I was used to sparring with Draal. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

He chuckled, “Oh? Scared you won’t get a hit in?” Eemeli asked, his smirk growing.

I huffed, leveling him with a stubborn stare, “No, you might be leaving with a few breaks if we spar is all.” I snarked, bantering with him as we entered the class, setting the metal down.

“Now I really want to spar, I need to know if you can make good on that,” he grinned getting to work on sorting the metal.

I smirked back, grabbing my paint as I head to my canvas near him. “I can, and will. You’re on Eemeli.”

We continued teasing and goading each other about the spar till the bell rang.

Ms. Harper approached us grinning, “I’m so glad you’re making friends. River, why don’t you work with Eemeli on the group projects this year? I know you prefer to work alone since most students don’t fit with your medium...” She trailed off.

I look to the structure Eemeli began shaping during class. “Well, that would depend on if he wanted to work with me. I don’t mind.” I answered, putting my paint away.

“Splendid, Eemeli,” She called to him, waving him over.

Eemeli set the metal pieces he was working with down, approaching Ms. Harper cautiously, “Yes ma’am?” He asked, a bit nervous about Ms. Harper.

“Each year my students collaborate in groups on a piece, I was hoping that maybe you and River would collaborate this year?” She asked hopefully, leaning in as she awaited his answer.

“Of course,” Eemeli grinned, “with metal sculpting and spray paint we could make an amazing piece this year.” He turned to me, excited about the project.

“Awesome,” I returned his grin, excited to have a partner that didn’t sneer at spray painting. “Why don’t you come over after classes today and we can start planning it?” I asked, walking out of the class with him.

He nodded quickly, “Sounds like a plan,” he paused, looking over his schedule, “Do we have anything else together?” He asked, handing me the schedule.

I looked it over quickly, “Looks like your last class with Strickler,” I smiled, “You’ll like him, nowhere near as excitable as Ms. Harper, but he’s really nice. Do you need help finding your other classes?” I asked, handing the schedule to him.

“No, I saw my next class on the way here this morning, I’ll see you in Strickler’s class,” he grinned, heading off to his next class with a wave.

I returned the wave before running to Spanish with Senor Uhl, trying to will the day to go by faster.

Once the last class rolled around, Eemeli was introduced. Stickler sat him behind Jim, next to me.

“Hello partner,” He greeted, whispering as Strickler began teaching.

I chuckle, nodding to the front for him to pay attention, “Hello to you too, don’t get too distracted, I’ve already got one boy drooling off over here.” I remarked, nodding to Jim, hand still on his cheek where Claire kissed him.

“Has he been that way all day?” Eemeli asked, having seen the exchange at the lockers.

Toby looked back to Eemeli and me before looking at Jim, “This is actually an improvement…” he sighed, shaking his head slightly. “I’m Toby by the way. Drooly here is Jim, River’s brother.” He introduced himself and Jim.

“Eemeli,” He nodded, to Toby.

“Cool accent, where did you transfer from?” Toby asked, trying to keep the conversation quiet as Strickler was either unaware or ignoring us so Eemeli could become acquainted with the students.

“I’m from Finland, moved here to live with my uncle,” He offered, tuning back into class.

We stayed focused on the class until the final bell rang. I stretched, shaking my wrist out from the amount of writing. “Ready to head out?” I asked Eemeli as I packed up.

Jim snapped out of his day, turning to me, “Head out?” He asked confused, jumping slightly as he noticed Eemeli sitting behind him, “Oh, uh… Hi, I’m Jim,” he held his hand out to Eemeli, smiling.

Eemeli grinned, shaking his hand, “Eemeli,” he offered, amused that Jim completely missed everything. Toby shook his head at Jim.

Jim looked to me, confused again, “Where are we going?”

“Eemeli and I were partnered for the group art project so I was asking him if he was ready to come over to start planning it,” I explained, smirking at Jim.

“Oh,” Jim laughed, “Don’t you usually do that on your own?” He asked, shoving his notebook in his bag as we left to the lockers.

I nodded, switching the paint out for the troll lore book, hugging it again, “Yup, but Eemeli here is a metal sculptor and agreed to work with me on something.”

Eemeli grinned, interjecting, “I’m actually looking forward to this project, I’ve never painted my works before this, so I can’t wait to see what we make together.” His grin turning into a smirk as he emphasized making something together.

Toby and Jim exchanged glances, Jim speaking up, “So, uh, isn’t your boyfriend visiting today?” He asked quickly, glancing at Eemeli.

I looked at Jim confused, unsure why he was bringing Draal up, “Oh…” My eyes widen realizing I couldn’t bring Eemeli in without letting Draal know someone else would be in the house. “I’m so sorry, Eemeli, I got really excited to plan this project, it slipped my mind.”

Eemeli smiled shaking his head, “It’s not a problem, we can start planning it in class tomorrow. I’ll see you later.” He hugged me, side-eyeing Jim as he walked by, throwing him a smirk.

Jim shook his head slightly, hoping he was just seeing things. “That could have been dangerous.” He remarked as we headed home.

I groaned, nodding “I know, what if Draal thought Eemeli was someone sneaking in or trespassing. Not to mention that could drag Eemeli into this craziness,” I sighed.

Toby looked at me confused, “Are you serious?” He asked me, pausing near the house, “I’m more worried about finding out if Draal’s the jealous type, he could snap Eemeli in two.”

I furrowed my brow, looking between Toby and Jim, “Jealous type? Am I missing something here?”

“Okay, I know we joke about you being dense, but you honestly can’t tell me you didn’t notice that?” Jim exclaimed, gesturing in the general direction of the school.

“Notice what?” I asked exasperated at the situation.

Toby sighed, grabbing Jim’s shoulder, “Maybe we should leave it be, it’s not like anything’s going to happen.” He spoke.

Jim sighed, “Yeah, it’s probably nothing River, sorry. I think I’m just on edge from this morning.”

I smiled, nodding, “It’s okay, I don’t know what’s okay, but it is.” I shook my head, going inside. “Have fun at Claire’s tonight!” I called, heading straight for the basement.

Walking down I grin seeing Draal stuffing some pillows, I set my bag next to the stairs. As I approached, Draal’s nose twitches, sniffing the air as he looks at me confused.

I frowned, “Draal? What’s wrong?”

He got up, sniffing close to me, “New scent.” He growled softly, picking me up.

I looked up at him confused, not sure what he was doing. “Uh, Draal? What’s going on?”

He sat down where he was, nuzzling his nose against my neck. “You have a new scent on you, it’s unsettling.” He huffed, smelling Eemeli.

“Oh, that!” I laughed, “There’s a new guy in school, my art teacher paired us up to work on a project. I needed to talk to you about that. He might be coming over to plan it here,” I explained, petting Draal’s horns as he continued to scent me.

Draal growled, “Why did he scent you?” He asked, purring at the petting.

“Uh Draal, he’s a human, he doesn’t know what scenting is. All he did was hug me as he left. No courting gestures.” I smiled softly at the purring. Hopefully calming his irritation.

Draal hummed, considering my explanation, “Does he have to come here?” he asked after a moment, uncomfortable with the idea of an unknown male hanging around, human or not.

I chuckled, “Well, I figure it’s better than working somewhere else, at least I have control over this space.” Draal tilted his head in confusion at my statement, making me grin, “I can kick him out of the house whenever I want or need to. Though it should only be once or twice, we’ll be working on the actual project in class. This is just for planning.” I explained.

Draal hummed, nodding. “Then I am okay with this. Though, human or not, it’s unsettling that he was able to scent you, you hug the Toby fleshbag and this never happens.”

I tilt my head thinking, “Maybe it’s cologne or body spray? Something that would affect someone’s scent and cling to other people they come in contact with?”

Draal considered this, sniffing again, satisfied with his removal of the scent. “I suppose it’s possible,” he conceded. He looked up at the ceiling of the basement, realizing it was silent beside us. “Are Jim and Toby out?”

I nod, snuggling in his hold now that he was finished scenting, “Toby is introducing Aaarrrgghh to his new home since he’ll be protecting Toby’s home with the rise in changeling activity, and Jim is heading to Claire’s house to babysit her baby brother, who we believe has been switched with a changeling.” I explained, tracing the markings on Draal’s arms as I spoke.

Draal frowned at the mention of a new changeling. “We should go keep an eye out, in case this baby is an impure now.” He stood, letting me sit on his arm. I nod in agreement, making sure my lance was hooked to my belt. Draal left through the basement exit, as I directed him, using my phone’s GPS to find Claire’s house.

“Alright, we need to exit here, the sunset so we should be good.” I pointed to an exit, “We’re almost there,” I cut off getting a call from Jim. I answered it as Draal exited the sewers. “Jim, are you okay?”

Jim groaned, “You put it in the diaper bin, didn’t you?” He asked, someone on the other line, “Hey River, Toby is getting another gaggletack, apparently ‘Enrique’ decided to hide the one I brought with me.”

“I’ll be there soon, Draal and I are close by I’ll help you look for it.” I chuckle, pointing to the Nunez house.

“Thanks, River, the back door is open.” He hung up, losing sight of ‘Enrique.’

Draal climbed the fence into the Nunez backyard, entering the house before setting me down.

I nuzzle under his jaw before heading upstairs to find ‘Enrique’ at the top of the stairs babbling, “Hey there cutie, why don’t you come with me while Jim rifles through your diaper bin?” I cooed, picking him up. “Jim, I’ve got the baby, I’ll be downstairs,” I called out as Jim ran to the bathroom to wash his hands. I head down to Draal, holding the possible changeling out to him, “Look, I found a squish,” I grinned, joking as I cradled him, being careful in case he wasn’t a changeling.

Draal huffed before sniffing Enrique. “I forget how tiny fleshbags are at first,” he chuckled as Enrique blew raspberries at him.

I smile, snuggling him, “Are trolls ever tiny?” I asked, sitting on the kitchen counter.

Draal nodded, poking at Enrique’s stomach, trying to tickle him, “Yes, I was only slightly bigger than this as a whelp.”

My eyes widen, holding Enrique up, grinning, “I’m trying to picture you all tiny, it’s not working.” I laughed as Toby came running in with the gaggletack.

“Oh, hey River, Draal.” He greets, “Awe, is this Enrique? Has Jim been a big bad trollhunting-man?” He asked, setting the gaggletack on the counter near my leg.

Draal snarled, flicking the gaggletack away from me to the end of the counter, leveling Toby with a hard glare.

Toby wince, realizing what could’ve happened, “Oh, right. Sorry River, I forget those could hurt you too.”

I waved him off as Jim ran down the stairs, “There you are,” He grabbed Toby’s shoulders, “did you bring it?” He asked as Toby rolled his eyes, pointing to the gaggletack down the counter.

“Word of warning, don’t get close to River with it, Draal is guarding.” He joked, stepping out of the way of Enrique.

Jim grabbed the gaggletack, “Can you get him though, it won’t hurt him. I just want to make sure.” He asked Toby.

Toby nodded as I began to hand Enrique over. When he looked up and saw Toby was taking him, he began to cry, clinging to my arm. “I don’t think that’s happening.” I sighed, pulling Enrique back to me, bouncing him to calm him down. “Just do it while I’m holding him, it’ll just be a small burn if it touches me. I shrugged, Draal growling at the suggestion. “Draal, I can heal myself if I get burned.” I nuzzle his cheek before nodding to Jim.

“Alright, here we go.” Jim got close and Enrique began to cry harder. I winced as he started climbing up my shoulder. Jim was trying to be careful not to touch me but with Enrique climbing, it was getting difficult.

“Don’t worry about me and just do it!” I finally yelled, pulling Enrique down in front of me with a firm grip. Jim lunged, hitting Enrique and my hand. I yelped at the burn, trying to keep my hold on Enrique.

A snarl came from ‘Enrique’, I turned him around, seeing a tiny troll in my hand, “This… is much cuter than Enrique.” I grin, hugging him close.

“Stupid flesh-thing!” He yelled, swiping at the burn, forcing me to drop him with a yelp.

I held my burnt and now scratched hand close, glaring down at the tiny green changeling, “You may be cuter, but your attitude sucks.” I growled out, baring my teeth.

Draal snarled, slamming his fist down as Jim and Toby try to catch ‘Not-Enrique,’ as Toby keeps shouting. Growling still, Draal picks me up, pulling me away from the chase as the house gets destroyed.

Jim’s phone rang and he answered, finding out that Claire and her parents were on their way home early. “Oh no,” was all he got out as Not-Enrique began to blast music. Utensils were thrown into the back door, we heard Blinky yell to Aaarrrgghh before they broke the door down, chasing after Not-Enrique.

As Not-Enrique shot peas out of his mouth, Toby drew the fire away from us and Aaarrrgghh punched up into the ceiling, squishing Not-Enrique and catching him on a plate with a smug little grin. He brought Not-Enrique down so he was level with us, Jim approaching him first. “All right, enough! Where’s the bridge?” Jim asked, irritated.

Not-Enrique sat up on the plate smirking at Jim, “What bridge? London Bridge? I hear it’s falling down.” Aaarrrgghh began to squeeze him, Not-Enrique tried pushing his hand off, “Ow! Fleshbags… no sense of humor,” he sneered.

“Where is the bridge?” Jim asked again, getting in his face.

Not-Enrique began to wheeze as Aaarrrgghh squeezed slightly harder. “Give me a break! I don’t know anything. It’s me first day,” he tried to reason.

Blinky came to stand next to Jim, glaring at Not-Enrique, “Squeeze him till he pops!” He directed to Aaarrrgghh.

Aaarrrgghh began to squeezes harder, and Not-Enrique finally snapped, shoving his hand away, “Okay, okay, okay!” He yelled, relieved that the pressure was gone. “Can’t blame a guy for looking out for himself.” His ears drooped and he crossed his arms over his chest, “But you can’t tell anyone I told you. I got a pretty sweet deal going here. If the bossman hears I squealed, he’ll feed me to Bular.” Not-Enrique tried to negotiate quickly.

“Bular’s working with someone else?” Blinky asked confused, only knowing of Nomura until now.

“Who?” Jim asked, looking to Not-Enrique, “Who is Bular working with?”

Not-Enrique cleared his throat, stammering, “Oh, er- forget I said anything.”

A car pulled up out front and we all looked at the windows, “Draal, we gotta go.” I nod to him. He took off out the broken door, carrying me as the others argued over Not-Enrique before leaving him with Jim for now in Enrique form.

I sighed, seeing Jim get in trouble with the Nunez family. “This complicates things, we can’t do anything with Not-Enrique or the Nunez family will freak out that their baby is missing.”

“He is missing though.” Draal interrupted, holding the hand I wasn’t sitting on palm up, wanting my injured hand.

I sighed, placing my hand in his so he could look it over before I healed it, “I know he is, but they don’t…” I began the healing incantation, the wound glowing a soft blue before healing over.

Draal hummed, checking over my hand again once it was healed. “No more changeling hunting, you keep getting burned,” he frowned, not okay with how tonight was handled.

“Hey, it was my choice, I told Jim to get it over with because I can heal myself,” I pouted slightly, knowing he was just being protective.

He paused his steps, nuzzling my cheek, “One day, it won’t be a small burn. What am I to do with you then?”

“Hmm… let me heal myself because I’m stubborn and never back down from a fight or challenge, which is part of the reason you knew you wanted me as your mate.” I smirked up at him.

He chuckled, continuing home, “You’re damn stubborn,” he snarked back, grinning.

“I have an excellent teacher.” I giggled, snuggling in his hold as we make it home. “Can I stay with you again?” I asked, yawning softly.

Draal chuckled, taking me upstairs, “Change, then we can go sleep.” He yawned, finally to the point that he needs to rest.

I smile hopping off his arm and running into my room to change into pajama shorts and a tank top. I grab the pillows and blankets off my bed heading out of my room to Draal. “Ready,” I smiled up to him.

Draal chuckled, scooping me up and heading down to the basement where the finished nest was set up. “I returned early and finished the nest, just in time for resting.” He got in the nest/bed we built, laying back into the pillows.

I smiled, laying along his chest, keeping my pillows close in case I needed them. “Do you like it?”

Draal hummed, wrapping my blanket around me, resting his arm over my waist as I curled up. “It’s an excellent nest,” he smiled, nuzzling the top of my head.

“Good…” I began to nod off, nuzzling his chest as I give in to sleep. “Night Draal, love you.” I smiled, passing out quickly.

Draal smiled softly, “I love you as well, River.” He chuckled as I passed out, falling asleep as a while himself.

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chelseawolfemusic · 5 years

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Chelsea Wolfe Interview / Cover Story // Revolver

Full feature via REVOLVER

Chelsea Wolfe has escaped into the woods and she's not about to come back. You'll find the singer-guitarist in the mountains of Northern California, hours from her Sacramento hometown, where the closest she gets to city life is in some tiny, ancient hamlets left behind from the Gold Rush days.

It's quiet up there, which might help explain the acoustic direction of her next album, a mostly solo project she's been writing and recording in her living room, her garage, wherever there's space to dig into Wolfe's new songs that are both intimate and biting, delicate and fierce. As an artist, she was already hard to pin down, with elements of folk, goth, post-punk, industrial, metal and more woven deep into her grooves. "I move in extremes, hot or cold," she says. "I tend to combine those two things at all times."

The still-untitled album is a left turn from the explosive rock guitars that dominated 2017's acclaimed Hiss Spun, with its churning songs of white noise and epic melodies. This year, she returns to her core inspirations, and the playlist Wolfe is spinning on infinite loop are recordings by Townes Van Zandt and Neurosis, Johnny Cash and David Bowie, disparate songwriters who cut deep. That makes the new album a kind of follow-up to her smoldering 2012 release Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs, which gathered leftover folk tunes of a certain understated volume that hadn't fit on her other albums.

This one is different in that Wolfe is building this collection from the ground up, intentionally working within her own version of folk on songs written over the last year. She has longtime collaborator Ben Chisholm co-producing and engineering, and occasional guest players to add subtle layers of sound, including drummer Jess Gowrie. But she is determined to make this a solo project as raw and as cooked as the early country music and folk she heard growing up, with a modern message suited to the moment.

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With Hiss Spun, her following only grew wider, and she's seeing fans with her lyrics tattooed to their skin. Wolfe is responding with new songs that both embrace and challenge, exploring the trials and triumphs of feminism, present and past, within an ever-changing world order that she's encouraged to see has a new wave of women rising to power in the U.S. Congress.

"I just follow my instincts and I follow all the strange and different voices that live inside me and I don't hold them back," says Wolfe, "especially not anymore."

photograph by John Crawford

YOUR LAST ALBUM, HISS SPUN, HAD A LOT OF EXPLOSIVE GUITAR MOMENTS. IS THIS ACOUSTIC RECORD A REACTION AWAY FROM THAT? CHELSEA WOLFE Honestly, I didn't know exactly what I was going to do next. I was so completely enveloped and focused on doing that record. And it was cathartic for me. That record felt very internal, but very explosive, as well, letting a lot of things out I hadn't thought about or talked about before. Maybe the natural reaction to that is to retreat into the wilderness and just write a really quiet album. It's introspective, but it's also about the history of women and what we've gone through over these years and how a lot has changed, a lot hasn't changed.

IS THAT INSPIRED BY RECENT EVENTS IN THE WORLD? I'm sure it is. Part of it has to do with just being a woman and getting older and understanding things more and just feeling that really visceral reaction to the way women are treated and seeing it on the daily in our society and on the news.

THIS ISN'T YOUR FIRST ACOUSTIC PROJECT. DO YOU GET A DIFFERENT FEELING ONSTAGE WHEN YOU'RE ALONE VERSUS BEING WITH A BAND AND HAVING AN ELECTRIC GUITAR IN YOUR HANDS? I haven't done shows by myself onstage in a really long time and it's not so easy for me. It's definitely more comfortable to have your band with you and to be able to lose yourself in all these sounds and things that you're creating together. But I also feel really ready and excited to do that, even though it's scary. I like to push myself into new territories musically and physically. Heavy music can be really intimate, and solo can be very intimate. So in a way it's the same thing, being up there and baring your soul for people.

HOW IS THE NEW RECORD BEING MADE? I'm recording it at home. Originally, I really wanted to do everything myself. Sometimes as a female artist, if one man is involved with one little thing on your record, they end up getting a lot more credit for it. I was being a little defensive at first. But as I started approaching it, I felt like that was actually a very lonely way of doing things and it didn't sound like much fun. So I decided to involve Ben, and he's helping engineer it so that I can just focus on recording the parts and not having to run back and forth to the board or computer.

I really wanted to play every song just with me and an acoustic guitar. That was important for me. So they all started in that way. We might add some electric guitar, or some kind of electronic beats to it.

I sat down with Ben and that really helped me finish everything — we would talk about a song and then I would run upstairs to my writing room and suddenly have all these lyrics that finished a song.

HOW ARE THE NEW SONGS RELATED TO SOME OF THE QUIETER MOMENTS ON HISS SPUN? I think it's different. I did Unknown Rooms, which was a compilation of a lot of acoustic songs I'd written over the years. They were just written with the idea of playing them as a solo artist in mind. I think every record definitely is going to have some heavy moments and some soft moments. Abyss had "Crazy Love" and Hiss Spun had "Two Spirit." It's just part of me to oscillate between the two.

CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT ONE OF THE SONGS? One is called "Be All Things." It's very introspective and it's very triumphant. Conceptually, it's about a Victorian-era woman who is a maiden but very much wants to be a warrior — and just thinking about nature and environmentalism and how long that has been a problem and how we're trying to make changes but still we're just destroying the earth. Just when it seems like something's changing, it just gets worse. I think my music in general represents the soft and the strong, embracing the feminine and masculine of myself. This album is very much along the theme of that dichotomy. And I think a lot of people can relate to that, as well, whether it's a man or woman, a non-gender-specific person. I think a lot of people are starting to embrace that about themselves, the soft and strong, and then really finding that empowering.

DID THAT COME AS A REACTION TO SOMETHING? It's a bit of a reaction, but it's also just something that's really been a part of me for a long time. I'm not just one thing. You can't really put me or my music into a box. Sometimes that's frustrating for me because I think maybe it holds me back in a way, but then sometimes I think that is why I've been able to do what I do and why I have any kind of success as an artist and a musician. I'm saying in the song: "I want to be all things." I don't want to be held back anymore and I don't want to feel like I need to quiet my voice. I just want to be who I am and be free.

IT SEEMS LIKE A LOT OF PEOPLE FEEL THAT WAY. JUST LOOK AT HOW MANY WOMEN WERE RECENTLY ELECTED TO CONGRESS. Exactly. It's amazing. And I think it's very indicative of this time and more and more women and non-gender-specific people are really starting to speak up for themselves and let go of the fear of that. So that's definitely a strong theme with this new album.

HOW HAVE YOU EVOLVED AS A LYRICIST SINCE YOUR FIRST RECORDS? I'm a much better writer and I'm taking the time to really make sure I'm saying the right thing. As a younger artist, I would just write a song and then that was it. I never really went back and fixed up the lyrics or changed a word if I didn't like it. I love words and I love reading and I love thinking about language and how to make something sound the best way but also infuse a lot of meaning into even just a short phrase. On this new album, I'm using some archaic language to talk about new things.

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HOW ARE YOU USING ARCHAIC LANGUAGE? I was spending some time with my great-grandmother before she died and I would often write down a word here and there that you don't hear anymore. Jess is very much like that, too. She was raised by her grandparents, so she has a lot of cute old phrases that she says that you don't hear very often. There's a moment [on the record] with the word "daylight plumed my skin." That's something I've probably read in some old poetry books. It's something sensual, and I'm always trying to bring sensuality into language and keeping that alive because I feel like sometimes that is a dying art.

ASIDE FROM YOUR OWN TOURS OVER THE LAST YEAR, YOU DID TOURS WITH MINISTRY AND A PERFECT CIRCLE. HOW DID THAT GO? I'm such a big fan of Ministry and they're really great — but I don't think their audience was as open as I thought they might be. So it was a little bit tough if I'm honest. I got really aggro on the Ministry tours because sometimes it felt like their audience was just looking at us with disgust. Not all of them. Of course, there were some really nice people that wanted to be open to it. It ended up being fun and it brings you and your band closer together, too. I just took it as another learning experience.

Al [Jourgensen] was so great and he would invite us onto his bus after the show and just talk about music and stuff for a long time. We would overhear him describing us to other people, talking about me and Jess: "They're women and they're angry and they're making good music!" It was really cute.

A Perfect Circle was very different. Their audience was a lot more accepting of us for some reason. Definitely bigger venues than I've ever played. I have a long way to go in knowing how to work a room of 8,000 people because that's totally different than what I'm used to be playing. Maynard actually invited us out to his winery. We got to experience his wine and homegrown vegetables and stuff. It was really cool.

YOUR FANS SEEM WILLING TO FOLLOW YOU THROUGH YOUR SHIFTS IN TONE. AND NOBODY REALLY KNOWS WHAT THEY LIKE UNTIL THEY SEE OR HEAR IT. That's true. And I think it makes you a better artist when you do things that people aren't expecting. It's like when I heard Black Sabbath doing the song "Changes" the first time — after hearing all their other heavy music. Them doing something so touching and intimate helped me understand the freedom to just sing whatever song is calling to you.

#Chelsea Wolfe #REVOLVER

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mareebird · 5 years

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I'd love the director's cut on what Thor is thinking when he kind of calls Loki's bluff on Cora. I think it's chapter 16, when they're talking about her and Thor is like, so you guys are good friends now? (Or something like that.) Basically Thor's pov/reaction on Loki's crush. XD

I went back and forth a little on how to do a commentary. For one, it’s a long-ish scene. I considered the possibility of actually re-writing it from Thor’s POV, which would have been fun, but again, long. Also, it wouldn’t really be a director’s commentary at that point. So I decided to just copy-and-paste an abridged version with Thor’s POV added.

Thor begins…

“Last we talked, you seemed as ready as I to strangle the lot of them. Has getting your powers back lifted your mood so much? Are you inclined to forgiveness?”

“Never. I merely prefer to focus on one solution at a time.” And to retain some sense of calm. After the morning spent in a near-panic, Loki was loath to stir up any more agitation than necessary.

Thor’s eyebrow went back down. “To help Cora then?”

**This is when Thor officially begins to notice that something is…weird. Loki’s mind has moved so quickly from Ross/Strange. Too quickly. Historically, Loki doesn’t let things go, but his recent trauma has already become an afterthought. His mind is on Cora. Thor has got to be looking at him like this

“It’s the least I can do after nearly killing her.”

“What was it that brought the two of you to the coffee shop?” asked Thor, his voice more penetrating than before, enough to inject a bit of stiffness into Loki’s neck. “I had Strange leave me at the apartment because I assumed you would be there.” **Catching Loki in the shop is basically the equivalent to catching him in Cora’s house. Or her room.**

“It’s a long story.” Loki narrowed his eyes on a random curio, a small watercolor of a coastal scene. Thor snapped a chip between his teeth and the noise seemed to echo. With a sigh, Loki turned around.

**Did Thor snap the chip loudly on purpose? No, I don’t think so. Loki’s paranoia is at work. The possibility of being ridiculed is just too much because, in the past, it happened often. But he begins to dig his own grave by becoming overly defensive. It’s sad on many levels. Thor would be overjoyed at the idea of his brother finding happiness with someone, but Loki cannot see that. He can only imagine being insulted. And on the other side, Thor has put a lot of work into showing Loki how he loves him and it has to be frustrating that Loki continues to wall himself up.**

“Cora came by because she had misplaced her phone. I don’t know if you realized, but I never packed a bag for our trip. I don’t need to pack bags. But after I showered, I realized that had no clothing of my own and no ability to conjure anything, so… She saw I was wearing some of your things and offered to take me to a shop in town.” Loki clasped his hands behind his back. “In case you were unable to convince Strange to undo what he had done.”

Thor nodded and pushed another chip into his mouth. “It was kind of her to do all of that.”

**Yeah, Thor is definitely suspecting things. Of both of them. And punctuating his comment with the chip was more or less on purpose the second time.**

“I agree,” said Loki.

Overhead, a pipe began to rattle. The muted but unmistakable sounds of a shower running vibrated through the small home. Cheap construction, cheap plumbing. The sound escalated in Loki’s overly-sensitive ears. “I suppose she decided to wash the glass out of her hair,” he offered.

Thor nodded, lifting one shoulder with a shrug, and the hint of an incredulous squint. The back of Loki’s neck abruptly felt hot, as though he had wandered to stand beneath a lamp. He glanced toward the ceiling. The pipes continued to rattle. It had not required commentary. He did not know why he had said anything about it.

He turned back to the art displays on the walls.

**Loki has not only dug that grave, but he’s jumped straight in it, as well. Commenting on what Cora is doing in the shower? I mean…**

“The two of you have become fast friends,” said Thor.

Loki shot him a look. Why did his brother insist on being such an ass? He and Cora were no longer at war with one another. Was that not enough to satisfy?

**Thor pushed things about as much as he can with that comment and Loki’s reaction is exactly what one would expect. His perfectionist tendencies flash. Being seen as falling for a creature beneath him, even being seen as a sexual being at all–it’s about losing control of what people think of him.**

“What?” Thor’s eyes lit with surprise.

“What do you mean, what?”

“What do I mean…? Loki, what are you talking about.”

“You’re implying–”

“Implying that I’m glad the two of you are getting along? I don’t mean to imply anything. I mean to be candid. I’m happy to hear all of this.”

Loki swallowed. His mouth had gone sour. He very much doubted he had entirely misread Thor. “Whatever,” he said, with no shortage of acid.

“Loki, what? I swear to you, I am not implying anything.”

**So, from Loki’s perspective, Thor’s word choice becomes confusing. Suddenly, Thor sounds much more innocent than before, and Loki starts second-guessing his judgment. And I think, for the most part, Thor is being honest–he’s implying only as much as he can, just to take Loki’s emotional temperature, because he knows Loki won’t be ready to talk about this until he brings it up himself. He’s prodded the issue a little, but he won’t go further. He back-peddles the slightest bit, just to keep from offending Loki. And Thor is typically so sincere that Loki has no choice but to accept that Thor might not have been insulting him.**

Loki clenched his teeth, wondering if it was possible that his imagination was getting the better of him. The day was weighing on them both, overlong before it was even half-complete. Perhaps Thor truly had meant nothing. Perhaps they were both doomed to miss the mark.

“Nevermind.” Behind his back, Loki pinched the palm of his hand. “It’s fine.”

…So, Thor and Loki are centuries old. This isn’t the first time that either of them has observed the other developing feelings for someone. I think for Loki and Thor, it’s more complicated than for most siblings–because isn’t everything? In DW, there’s that part where Loki tells Thor his feelings for Jane will only end in heartbreak, that there is no happy ending possible. He’s concerned about his brother being in pain, but he’s also warning Thor not to be a fool. Loki definitely equates a loss of control–and openness to pain–with foolishness.

Thor innately understands that Loki is wrong, or that his claims are wrong because we all know that Loki is very willing to be a fool for love of Thor. He has the capacity to risk everything. Thor wants Loki to be happy. And if Cora makes him happy…

Let’s just say that Thor and Loki are going to need to have a heart-to-heart about this.

#the relic fanfic #mareebird #meme #director's commentary #loki #thor #brodinsons

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multimetaverse · 6 years

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Andi Mack 2x24 Review

Bought, Lost or Stolen was probably one of the best written episodes we’ve seen in 2b but they’re handling Buffy’s crush very poorly.

Positives:

It was nice to see Jonah act confident and mature around Walker, which is what I thought would happen, if he makes a scene at the art festival I doubt Andi would agree to go on their first official date the very next ep.

It was also nice to see Jandi actually having a good time and it seems like a lot of their communication issues are resolved. I’m still 70% sure that Wandi is endgame but this ep and the next could very well set the stage for endgame Jandi.

Walker Brodsky now has a last name so he joins TJ Kippen in the coveted important recurring characters/love interest category.

Walker was very good in this ep. He was polite with Andi but also showed the right amount of pettiness that a 13/14 year old would after being rejected and basically told to never contact her again.

There’s clearly unfinished business on Andi’s part and her scenes with Walker made it clear that she still has some feelings for him. I also noticed that she didn’t seem as happy as she said she was when she was with Jonah at the spoon. I also think Walker saying his portrait of Andi wasn’t for sale is also very telling that he hasn’t let go of his feelings either.

It would be a very bizarre choice imo to have Walker meet Bex and Cece and make a good first impression in front of a prize winning portrait of their daughter and granddaughter if he was meant to be Buffy’s crush.

I was 95% sure that Juffy would be endgame before this ep and now I’m 70% sure. It really all comes down to whether Terri wants or is forced to make Jandi endgame.

As @tj-smitten pointed out to me, Buffy’s hair twirl actually starts before she talks to Walker as she is looking at Jonah walking off with Andi (about 15:48 if you want to see for yourself).

Of course she keeps twirling her hair when she talks to Walker so whether Cyrus is right or not is kept somewhat ambiguous. Certainly her brief conversation with Walker seemed flirty which is a point in Wuffy’s favour. However, the fact that she rolls her eyes when Cyrus suggests she has a crush on Walker but gets angry and shuts down the conversation after Cyrus brings up Jonah is a point in Juffy’s favour as is the fact that she was really pushing how cute Jonah and Andi were together at the spoon.

I’ve talked a lot about why I think it’s Juffy not Wuffy but another way to look at it is that the show is lying about one option and I think it is far easier for the show to lie about Wuffy considering that there was literally no build up.

I’m glad they disposed of the Bowie and Miranda relationship as the show long stopped pretending that Bexie wouldn’t be endgame. It’s actually pretty realistic that the break up would be caused by disagreements about parenting, one of the main reasons why 2nd marriages have a much higher divorce rate is that spouses will have their own separate batches of kids and the stress of trying to parent or co-parent other people’s kids in addition to your own causes a lot of tension.

Amber was actually great in this ep, this is first substantive plot she’s had since Snorpion. They seem to be kinda drawing some parallels between Cyrus and Amber’s friendship and Cyrus and TJ’s relationship, perhaps to make Buffy more accepting of it? It’s hard to tell what role they want for Amber going forward as she wasn’t in S2 much, probably won’t be in S3 much (Emily got cast in a movie), and isn’t romantically connected to anyone like TJ and Walker are.

Celia’s ‘’she’s dead’’ line was hilarious as was the Amber/Cyrus staring montage as Buffy was about to eat her burger.

Celia seems to be taking the collapse of her marriage well.

Negatives:

Terri probably thought that the ‘mystery’ of Buffy’s crush would be a great hook to get people coming back for S3 but I think she’s sadly mistaken. She’s gone about this Buffy crush plot in almost the worst possible way. Buffy is now either the other woman in Jandi’s relationship or Wandi’s relationship. Last week pissed off the many Jandi shippers in the audience by presenting Buffy as a threat and now this week will piss off Wandi shippers by posing Buffy as a threat.

The other reason the show is delaying revealing Buffy’s crush is because that would reveal whether Jandi is endgame but all the casual audience will see is a last minute plot line that is being artificially prolonged. There’s just no way that Buffy wouldn’t deny having a crush on Jonah if she didn’t have one or deny having a crush on Walker if she didn’t have one.

We know Walker isn’t in any more eps this season so I’m curious to see if Buffy will be allowed to have scenes with Jonah.

As nice as it was to see more Amber development, what is the point? Her plot feels like it would have fit better several eps ago but of course it couldn’t fit there because the show decided to slow the plot down for 6eps to deal with Buffy’s move. It really feels tacked on, like the writers realized that they had dropped Amber’s plot and had to cram in it at the end. And its’s great that she’s being redeemed but it seems like they’re focusing on her and Cyrus and Buffy rather than Jonah who is the person she actually wronged and needs to apologize to.

Also does Amber have health insurance if her dad is still unemployed? Hopefully her mom has health insurance through her job

It was a bad writing choice to keep referring to Dr. Sharon Frank (Cyrus’ step mom) as his mom especially when Cyrus has always referred to her as his step mom before.

It was also very odd to see Sharon and Norman working from their homes. It seems like a potential safety risk and also opens up the door for the kind of privacy violations that we saw tonight.

As glad as I was to see Miranda and Morgan leave the cynical writing that turned both of them into villains so we would forgive and forget Bowie and Bex constantly flirting left a bad taste in my mouth. It also makes Bowie seem like a total idiot for liking and trusting Miranda but that’s a price the writers are willing to pay to smooth things over for their Bexie endgame.

Looking Ahead:

The Jandi trampoline date looks very fun and I’m hoping that the reason why Jonah is going to be busy the next two weekends is because he’s getting real therapy for his panic attacks.

Not really sure why they’re introducing a Buffy/Amber feud when they were cordial with each other tonight. Possibly something to do with Amber’s treatment of Jonah? We might also get some more digging into why Cyrus and TJ are friends.

I expect most of Jonah’s remaining scenes to be next ep so I’m very curious to see what happens when he’s alone in the dark in the red jacket.

#Andi Mack #Wandi #Wuffy #Juffy #Buffy Driscoll #Jonah Beck #Cyrus Goodman #Amber #Walker Brodsky #Bowie Quinn #Miranda Patrick #Andi Mack Reviews #Andi Mack Meta

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silvana-fangirls · 6 years

Text

Target [Dabi x ua!Reader] Chapter 5

Hey guys! Sorry this took a lot longer than I hoped... I was sick and I didn't take care of myself properly and I ended up in the hospital for being reckless but I'm okay now and I've learned my lesson too :) I guess that with work and college everything just gets in the way.

I hope the wait was worth it.

Anyways, there're notes at the end so please take a look at them :)

Enjoy!

Links to chapters:

[1] [2] [3] [4]

Read it in [AO3]

or below the cut

You remember a time when your parents were the best there ever was. You supposed most kids feel the exact same way about their parents, some even holding to that feeling till they grow old.

You were little, naïve and ignorant to the outside world; but even as a kid, you were pretty much independent.

Your days were a well-known routine. You’ll wake up, have breakfast, get home-schooled by mom till noon, have lunch with them before they left for the day, play till they came back late at night, get surprised with expensive presents as soon as they got back.

They were good parents back then, because you didn’t know. You didn’t know what they were doing when they got out, or from where did the presents came, or that pretty jewelry your mom definitely didn’t have when she left before, or those stains in their clothes… You never really asked any questions, but how could you? You were an innocent child.

Things started to get odd in ‘middle school’, after you got your quirk (which was definitely a surprise, because your dad was quirkless and your mom only managed to move some objects a bit, so you thought you wouldn’t be getting one).

You asked to go to school like normal kids instead of being home schooled. The answer came quick: ‘absolutely not’.

It didn’t matter how much you cried, kicked and screamed at the time, their cold eyes as they gave you the same answer never changed.

It made no sense, and you simply couldn’t understand it. What was so wrong about school? Getting to know kids your age? Make friends?

It was only then that you started to notice some odd behaviors. Before that you didn’t seem to notice that you were barely allowed to go outside to begin with, or that you weren’t allowed to talk to your own neighbors unless it was strictly necessary, or that you were strictly prohibited to let anyone inside the house, or that you could only order food from certain places.

While your parents were masterly dodging your incessant questions the presents and expensive stuff kept coming, as the messy state your parents returned home in.

It was only when you were all seating in the living room, watching the news on T.V. that something clicked.

‘The pair of self-proclaimed ‘wizards’ did it again. Yesterday night they managed to steal several art pieces valued in ¥ 10.596.026, while killing 4 guards in the process. Pro Hero n°5 Edgeshot got to the scene, but all attempts to stop the couple of villains were useless due to Genkaku Warlock’s quirk: Mind Manipulation. Till the day it seems impossible to stop this two villains’

“I hope they catch them” You said, eyes glued at both masked photos of the villains. You’ve heard of them, how could you not? They were everywhere and they seemed to be pretty unstoppable. No hero has ever landed a strike on them yet, not even a finger.

You knew it was all thank to the guy’s quirk. Mind Manipulation. From what you’ve heard, he could make you see things that weren’t there, hear nonexistent noises, feel ghost touches.

You imagined it was definitely hard for heroes, and so easy for them.

Your parents didn’t say a word regarding your comment.

“Maybe All Might could defeat them” You said again.

“He can’t” Your father’s voice was ice cold and downright terrifying. You’ve never heard that tone of voice before coming from his mouth.

You shut your mouth, and didn’t dare to turn to him.

After that, it started as an experiment. Just so you could shake those chills out of your body, just so you could erase that suspicion.

You started to ‘fangirl’ over heroes (thing you never did before, probably because you lived practically trapped in the apartment). You started talking about them with your parents, commenting about their good deeds, admiring their achievements.

It was not until you told them that you wanted to be a hero that they exploded.

You could still hear their screams from that they in your head. All those offences towards the heroes, the utter hate in their eyes, the rage in their voices. How they explained to you that heroes were the worst type of scum in the universe.

That day they made you promise that you’ll never be a hero.

And that day they also gave you the answer you wanted, but the one you were desperately wishing it wasn’t true.

It took some digging, but you managed to match all the dots and figure it out.

The final and crucial clue was realizing that besides having your mother’s quirk, you did have your father’s as well. With the difference that you needed to touch someone to make it work unlike him.

So, you confronted them, and they accepted it without even flinching.

After that you realized that, while you knew your parents loved you, they were much more interested in keeping you under their control than anything else.

Your life was shit after that, and the routine changed. You’ll wake up, have breakfast alone, study on your own, have lunch alone, watch your parents leave, watch them in the news as they mercilessly destroyed everything in their path… killing innocents, stealing stuff, destroying homes… all that while the heroes’ desperate attempts went by practically unnoticed since they were completely useless.

Still, one thing didn’t make sense yet.

A night when they returned, you asked them.

“You can easily do all the things you do without hurting or killing anyone. So, why do you?”

That answer was the one that made you decide.

“Because it’s way more fun this way” Was what you father said, as he smiled wickedly along with your mom.

You turned on your heels and went straight to your room without even reacting to what they said, with your mind set on your goal.

Bakugou grunted again and muttered a low curse. You couldn’t help but admire his insistence. He spent the whole night trying to get out of those cuffs. He didn’t even blink an eye.

You wouldn’t have either, if it wasn’t for the stupid headache that was threatening to make you go insane. It was so strong that it did make you faint several times through the curse of the night.

“Dammit!” Bakugou cursed again, shaking his boxed hands as hard as he could.

You blinked a bit, adjusting your sight. There were bright yellow lights coming through the holes of the windows, meaning it was morning already.

The sounds of sudden steps coming from the hall made Bakugou stop. You both turned to the door and saw as it opened.

“Rise and shine, sleeping beauties!” Magne said getting inside the room as most of them followed.

“Anyone had a sudden change of heart while sleeping?” Spinner asked, taking a booth.

“Fuck you” Bakugou spat, glaring daggers at both of them.

“Someone’s grumpy in the mornings” Dabi lazily said as he got in the room, followed by Shigaraki. Bakugou growled at him.

“So” Shigaraki said. “Any of you thought of what I proposed yesterday?”

“Yeah” Bakugou said and you were actually surprised that some of the villains looked hopeful. “I thought that you need to shove your proposition up your ass” Some of the villains groaned at this.

“I’m tired of this freaking kid! I wanna be like him!” Twice exclaimed.

Shigaraki sighed.

“Whatever, you’re gonna have more time to think about it anyway. Today’s moving day”

“Moving day?” Magne asked. “Didn’t you say we can go outside carelessly because we could be seen? How are we supposed to move and go by unnoticed? Plus I bet this two wouldn’t exactly be quiet about it”

“There’s Kurogiri for that, you idiot” Shigaraki said. “We already have the location, so that won’t be a problem. Go pack your stuff. Once we’re done we’ll be moving this two first” He said pointing the two. “Twice go see if you can give them a drink or something, we’re still recruiting them even if they’re just brats”

“Why is it always me!? Sure thing!” And Twice left the room.

“Do I have to repeat everything I say? Move it! If you don’t have anything to pack then help move other stuff”

You eyes were glued to the floor as you listened everyone leave, careful not to make eye contact with any of them.

As soon as the door was closed, Bakugou spoke.

“We need to get the hell out of here before they move us” He said, once again trying to shake off his restrains.

“Will that make a difference?” You couldn’t help but ask. What was the difference between escaping this place or the next one?

“Yes, there is” Bakugou said, and you could almost feel how he bit back a ‘you idiot’ since apparently your question was stupid enough. “If they feel the need to move means that this location isn’t safe enough for them, or that it can be compromised. They probably look for a safest location last night. They already know that we’re not willing to accept their offer, so there’s also a chance that this new place can contain us better. That’s why we need to escape from here”

You blinked in surprise at his reasoning. He was completely right and it shocked you how quick he analyzed the situation. But then again, he technically was the best first year student from UA.

“I can’t use my quirk with this on my head” You said, even if he probably was already aware of that.

“We need to figure something out” He said, since he couldn’t use his quirk either. “Fuck!” He cursed out loud.

The door opened and you both snapped your heads towards it.

Twice walked in, holding two water bottles as he was being followed by Dabi.

Dabi gave a quick glance at you both before grabbing one of the bottles.

“Take care of him” Dabi ordered, pointing at Bakugou with his head.

“Okay! Me again? No way! You do it!” Twice whined.

“Yeah, no thanks. I don’t feel like getting spit all over me”

Twice whined again a but resigned and turned to Bakugou that was currently screaming ‘fucking coward’ at Dabi.

Your eyes were glued to the ground again. Of all the villains here, he was the one you’d rather not see. It pissed you off just to acknowledge his presence before.

How he used your drawback to defeat you, how he was practically playing with you while you battled, how he abducted you even though you already said you weren’t interested in whatever they got to offer.

He really was a coward.

‘I could spit on you if I wanted to, too’ You couldn’t help but think, not that you’ll do it though.

Even if you weren’t looking up, you saw his feet stopping right in front of you.

You felt him crouch down to your level and once he got comfortable enough you were able to see how he started to open the water bottle to then bring it close to your mouth.

You were quick to dodge him.

He let out a short, dry chuckle at your actions.

“I thought you were done playing difficult” he said, but you were pointedly ignoring him while looking away, your lips as far as they could from the bottle.

You focused your gaze on Bakugou for a moment (that was also giving that other villain one hell of a bad time by avoiding to drink) until you felt his fingers grab your chin and make you look at him.

“Hey! Get your hands off her you crusty bastard!” Bakugou shouted.

Dabi shot him a brief irritated look before turning to you, still holding your chin in place.

When his aquamarine orbs met yours, you fought back a shiver out of fear.

He could easily burn your face up just like he did with Bakugou’s nape anyways. Still, you refused to show him that.

Instead, you frowned and glared at him.

“You better drink this” He said, and made a motion attempting to make you drink again.

“I’m not thirsty” You snarled, trying to get free of his hold.

You felt him tighten up his grip and for a moment you could almost see yourself with a giant burnt scar in your face.

“This is all you’ll be getting till we get at our new location, so you better take it” He said again.

Your only response was to press your lips tightly against the other.

A smirk grew from the corner of his lips, as he slowly released his hold on your chin.

“It’s gonna be fun to have you till you agree to join us” Dabi said to you as he got up. “C’mon Twice, let’s go” He said.

“But he hasn't drink anything yet! About damn time!” A now soaked wet Twice said, holding a nearly empty bottle.

“Doesn’t matter” Dabi said, walking towards the door before stopping one last time to look at you “They aren’t thirsty anyways” He said and then left, followed by Twice.

“I wish I could kill those bastards” Bakugou growled.

“That makes two of us” You honestly said.

“We need to get outta here” He said as he tried once again to get free form his restrains. “You need to try to use your quirk”

You gazed at him nervously because you knew it’ll take a miracle to make your quirk useful under the conditions, but you nodded anyways. He was right, you needed to get the heck away from here before you were moved.

You focused your eyes on your hands, and fought against the agonizing headache as you tried to make your quirk work.

It’s been hours.

The lack of light coming from the wholes of the windows proved that it was nighttime already, and also the fact that a small part of you was regretting deeply not taking even a sip of water before.

You were thirsty, hungry, tired but overall physically fatigued and in pain. You were dizzy due to the headache, and even if after long hours you managed to create tiny and useless purple blasts from your hands you knew for sure that if you managed to get free now you wouldn’t even be able to walk.

“We don’t have much time less” Bakugou said, obviously impatient and irritated. “Damn it!” He said looking at the now dented box that was holding his hands. Even if he managed to dent it pretty bad, he still couldn't open it. “How you doing?” He asked rushedly.

“I-I still can’t…!” You stuttered, trying to focus your dizzy sight at another of the many blasts that just like the others was too tiny and too thin that it broke into a million pieces instantly to then vaporize into nothing.

Bakugou began muttering a curse that was cut short by the door suddenly opening.

You could see as Bakugou smashed the box one more time against his chair while the villains weren't focusing on you two just yet, and then you heard it.

It was so faint that you almost thought you were hallucinating it due to the headache.

“Got it”

It was the faint but reassuring look of victory in his eyes that gave it away.

“We already moved all our stuff to the new place, now’s your turn” Shigaraki said.

“You heard them kids, time to go!” Magne said with a smirk.

“Nah” Bakugou said, making everyone stop in their tracks.

“I’m sorry?” Shigaraki asked, clearly confused at the bold answer.

“I said no. I don’t fucking think so” Bakugou said again and only a quick glance to you was the warning to what came next.

You covered yourself as you could.

A brutal explosion made all of his restrains fly away in pieces. A large cloud of smoke covered the room, and when it finally dissipated, Bakugou was in front of you while looking at the villains with a wicked smile.

“I’m gonna explain this once” Bakugou said, gazing at each of them. “You either let us go or I’ll blast all of your faces off!” He threatened.

“Compress” Shigaraki said, but as soon as Mr. Compress made a move Bakugou blasted him off making him crash against the wall.

Everyone stood quiet for a moment.

“We don’t have time for this” Shigaraki said. “The Heroes could be anywhere now, we can’t be too careful” He added. “Master… lend me your power”

“A ‘master’?” Bakugou asked in a mocking voice. “I thought you were the boss around here” He added. “But you’re just a pathetic sidekick”

“Kurogiri” Shigaraki said. “Time to go. Someone take care of the girl”

“I can’t believe they’re such bad audience members, it’s almost impressive” Compress sighed as he got up from the previous attack.

You saw as Kurogiri began walking towards Bakugou that was in defense position waiting to strike if needed.

All eyes were trained on them as they waited for Bakugou’s rampage to unfold.

But the nerve-wrecking moment was cut short by a nock on the door.

“Hello. I’ve got a pizza delivery here” Someone said from outside.

Everyone stood completely still and in silence… until the wall where Spinner was laying on collapsed.

“SMASH!” All Might’s distinct voice said as he landed in the room.

You suddenly felt like crying tears of joy.

“What the-?” Spinner said in utter shock, still knocked down on the floor.

“Kurogiri! Gate!” Shigaraki urged.

“Pre-emptive biding Lacquered Chain Prison!” Kamui Woods exclaimed as he got into the scene. Trapping all villains with his famous attack.

“Ha… That’s it?” You heard Dabi said and a chill ruined down your spine. If he was to burn his way out then y’all were good as dead.

But your worries disappeared once a tiny, old here jumped into the scene. Quick as light, he knocked down Dabi by bouncing on his head.

“Don’t do anything foolish! It’d be in your best interest to cooperate with us” He said once he knocked him out.

“Just what I’d expect from a competent new hero” All Might said, referring to Kamui Woods. “And a veteran pro that moves faster than the eye can see, Gran Torino” He added. “You can’t run anymore, League of Villains, understand?” He exclaimed. “Because we are here now!”

You let out a relieved gasp.

“Just a day after the press conference?” Mr. Compress exclaimed in desbelief.

“Tree man you’re hugging me too tight! Tighter!” Twice said.

“One tends to neglect defense when they’re in the offense” Edgeshot said entering the room with his quirk. “But we didn't come alone. Take a look” He added and opened the door, letting in a dozen of police man. “You’re surrounded by the police. Not to mention powerful heroes like Endeavor” He added.

All Might took a look at the two of you.

“Oh, you must’ve been scared” He said. “But you stayed strong. I’m sorry, kids. You’re safe now” He said.

“WHAT!? I wasn't scared! Not even close!” Bakugou shouted at him.

You can kinda vouch for that.

All Might just gave him a thumbs up before turning to you.

“Don’t worry, young lady. We’ll get you out of those right now” All Might said to you, but before he could even give one step towards you, Shigaraki roared in full rage.

“Kurogiri! Bring over as many as you can!” He commanded.

“The nomus, right?” All Might asked.

“What are you waiting for, damn it!” Shigaraki turned to Kurogiri.

“I’m sorry, Shigaraki Tomura. The Nomus were supposed to be on a fixed location but… they’re gone…” Kurogiri explained in shame.

“Huh?” He exclaimed in disbelief.

“It seems you’ve got a lot to learn, Shigaraki” All Might said laying his arm on Bakugou’s shoulders. “You’re still green” he added. “Your little League, underestimated all of us: The souls of these two young people, the police’s diligent investigations and our righteous fury” He explained. “Enough is enough. Your days must come to an end, Shigaraki Tomura”

“All Might, please!” Spinner begged. “You’re the only hero to be respected. You’re worthy!”

“You think it’s over?” Shigaraki asked with clenched teeth. “Don’t be stupid. I’ve only just began to play… Justice, peace… You’ve created a garbage society by lifting up such ridiculous ideals. That’s why I targeted you, All Might” He explained as he started to get up. “It’s why I started gathering people to my cause! You think this is the end…? Then you’ve lost” He added. “Kurogiri-!” He began to exclaim but Kurogiri was instantly attacked by Edgeshot and resulted unconscious.

“What just happened!?” Mayne exclaimed horrified. “Did they kill him? I couldn’t see anything!”

“I’ve played around with his insides and left him unconscious” Edgeshot explained. “Nimpo: Thousand Sheet Pierce.” he gave the name of his attack. “This man was always a nuisance. I’ll have him sleep”

“Weren’t you listening earlier?” Gran Torino said.“Y’all be better of if you take us seriously” he added. “Hikiishi Kenji” He said looking at Magne. “Sako Atsuhiro” He turned to Mr. Compress. “Iguchi Shuichi” He turned to Spinner. “Toga Himiko” He turned to Toga. “Bubaigawara Jin” He turned to Twice. “Though they had little time and information, the Police worked through the night to discover your true identities. Do you understand? There’s nowhere else for any of you to run”

You couldn't help but notice that Dabi’s true name was not being mentioned.

“So, Shigaraki. One question: Where is your boss hiding?” Gran Torino asked.

Shigaraki stood still in shock for a moment.

“…No.” He whispered. “This is not over… Just you wait. The game is still mine!”

“You tell us where he is right now!” All Might demanded.

“Go away” He hissed. “Disappear!”

“Shigaraki!” All Might warned, angry.

“This is your fault!” He shouted and you started to feel terrified just by looking at his face. “I HATE YOU!”

As soon as he screamed, black dense liquid appeared at both of his sides, making you gasp in fear.

Nomus were coming out from them.

“Nomu!” Kamui Woods exclaimed. “How did they get here!? What is this!?”

More black liquid portals started to appear all over the room.

“Dammit, Edgeshot! Stop Kurogiri!” Gran Torino shout.

“He’s still out. This isn't his doing!” Edgeshot said after checking on Kurogiri.

“Don’t release them under any circumstances, got it!?” All Might ordered Kamui Woods.

After that all you could feel was the sudden feeling of having something coming out of your mouth.

You tried to stop yourself but before you knew it the same black liquid was coming out of your mouth, surrounding you.

You screamed.

“C-Crap!” Bakugou exclaimed, and you could only guess he was in the same situation.

The last you saw was Edgeshot trying to get you with desperation all over his face, before everything turned black.

As soon as you felt your feet hit something solid you collapsed in the ground, coughing continuously as you felt how that disgusting liquid left your body. The only thing you did other than gagging was taking off the belt off of your head.

You could hear more coughing around you.

“D-Dammit!” You heard Bakugou said between coughs, and judging by how close you heard them, you only supposed he was right next to you.

You only stopped trying to get as much of that liquid out of your body when you saw dressing shoes stop right in from of you.

“My apologies Bakugou, (Y/N).” A voice said, and your head snapped up to meet his owner.

Your breath hitched once you saw a man, with no face, ‘looking’ down at you.

You felt Bakugou instantly yanking you up by one of your arms to get some distance between you and the man.

You heard noise from behind, and both of you turned to watch as the League of Villains arrived to the place by the same liquid portals.

“That was so gross!” Toga said covering her mouth in order not to puke.

“This black stuff reeks! I love it!” Twice exclaimed.

Shigaraki was the last one to appear, kneeling on the ground.

“Master” He said and gave a small bow down.

“So, you failed once more, Tomura” He said at first, and walked to him. “But you must not be discouraged” He said. “You’ll try again. That’s why I brought your associates back with you. Even this children. Because you judged that they were important pieces on your game board” He offered him a hand. “Start over as many times as it takes. I am here to provide you with help. All of this… is for you”

Bakugou made you a motion to stay focus.

“Ah…” The strange man suddenly said. “…There you are”

In less than an instant, All Might crashed against him, the contact between the two created a wave of wind that made you both stumble backwards.

“I’ll have you return my students, All For One” All Might said.

“Have you come to kill me a second time, All Might?” All For One asked.

Once they finally separated, an ever stronger wind of power made the ground collapse, sending you flying away a few meters. Bakugou was quick to grab you while at it, so when you crashed to the ground you weren't far from him.

You could hear a faint exchange between All Might and All For One, but the wind was still loud enough to block most of the sounds around you.

You saw All Might charging at him again, but when he was about to hit him, All For One’s arm got bigger, and with wild, strong winds coming from his extended hand, he sent All Might crashing back.

“A-ALL MIGHT!” Bakugou exclaimed.

“Don’t you worry” All For One said. “It’ll take more than that to kill him” He explained. “Get off the battle field, Tomura, and take these children with you” Black things came from his fingers, and pierced through Kurogiri’s still unconscious body. “Kurogiri, walk them away”

“Be careful!” Magne exclaimed. “One of the heroes messed with him and he’s unconscious” He said obviously worried. “I’m not sure what’s going on but if you can teleport why don't you get us out of here?” He asked.

“My war power’s still new Magne, there is much I need to learn about it” He explained. “It’s distance is limited, and while he can teleport to specific coordinates I only transport people to and from my own location. It’s easier to have Kurogiri do it” And once he finished saying this, a big black portal showed up. “Forcible Quirk Activation!” He exclaimed. “Leave this place” He then said to Shigaraki.

“What about you?” He asked, but before All For One could answer, All Might rose up to the sky.

All Might started charging to him, so All For One separated himself from Shigaraki.

“You’re not thinking, Tomura. There remains much more space for you to grow” He said.

“Let’s go, Shigaraki” You heard Compress said. “While our masked lead is keeping All Might. Claim your price” He said, and you instantly knew he was talking about you two.

“You good to go?” Bakugou muttered only for you to listen.

“Yes” you said, even if it wasn't true. There wasn't much left to do now. Maybe your quirk will be useful at least to defend yourself.

“Keh” Bakugou let out, positioning himself. “This is gonna be fun” He said to the villains.

“You, kids, don’t!” You heard All Might exclaim at you, but you didn't turn to him.

You acknowledged the fact that both of your presences here were holding back All Might. He was distracted because of you, so you needed to get the hell away from here so he could finish this guy up.

The first move was made by Twice, shooting one of his measuring tapes at Bakugou.

Knifes came at you then, and you almost wanted to snort in irony since deep down you knew Toga was going to hit you first now that Dabi was still out.

You dodged several knifes while blocking two with small barriers that were strong enough to stop them from hurting you.

Bakugou blasted her off of you by making the ground explode.

“Behind you!” You exclaimed as you saw Compress get near Bakugou from behind. He blasted the ground again, using the explosion as propulsion to flip over him. With a energy ball strong enough, you pushed Compress out of the way.

“Don’t let him lay a finger on you!” Bakugou exclaimed at you, while he used explosions to dodge the villains jumping over their heads.

The knifes returned, and you were once again using barriers to keep Toga away from you.

‘This crazy bitch! From where are all this knifes coming from anyways!?’

You felt your quirk starting to fail already, which wasn't really a surprise considering the huge amount of rubble and dust the place had due to the fight.

You started to just dodge them then, deciding to use your limited quirk if only necessary.

You watched something from the corner of your eye.

The wall from behind exploded, and you could see as two gigantic ice ramps started to grow from the ground.

Three guys from class 1-A were running up one, with their eyes set on their goal.

Bakugou.

“(Y/N)!” A familiar voice shouted from behind you.

Kendou was there, using her quirk, while Todoroki and that girl from class 1-A with the creation quirk were holding her up. They both have jetpacks behind them.

It took you only one second to figure out their plan.

When Dabi woke up he didn't understand a thing.

He saw All Might fighting against some guy, the rest of the League trying to catch both of the UA kids while they were dodging them and Kurogiri out cold while a portal was open up right in front of him.

It took a few seconds to figure out what was going on, but as soon as he got up, the wall from behind collapsed and two ice ramps started to grow from the ground.

And he didn't need to see to know who was causing this.

“(Y/N)!” Someone exclaimed, making (Y/N) turn to the voice instantly. Dabi saw the girl take a quick glance at the other group of ‘rescuers’ an it seemed that once she was sure that Bakugou was getting rescued as well, she charged towards the right position for her friends to take her.

There was no way in hell he was letting her escape.

Not only he was knocked unconscious and remained useless like a weak loser while everyone else was fighting, but there was absolutely no way he was letting her be saved by him of all fucking people.

He run towards her while shooting fire to the ramp as well.

“Come on!” He heard one of the kids reaching Bakugou said, to then hear Bakugou blast himself off the ground to get to them.

Dabi knew he wouldn't get in time, but he was still running towards her while melting down the ice.

Dabi heard Magne ordering Spinner and Compress to go grab Bakugou, so Dabi knew that at least they’ll get him.

He saw the girl with big hands grabbing her. Still he didn't stop.

He heard Compress go off as a canon towards Bakugou, and by seeing him from the corner of his eye he knew that he’ll meet the mark.

But apparently, he wasn't the only one who realized that.

Even if she was up in the air as the ones with the jetpacks were taking her away, he saw her horrified eyes once she saw the destiny that was awaiting Bakugou.

It took her no more than a mere instant to decide what to do.

She was up in the air but somehow he felt as if he still heard her.

“I’m sorry” She said to her friend with the big hands.

“What!?” The other girl exclaimed terrified.

She broke free from her grasp, and while falling down he set her target. With both of her hands she created a large purple ball, that was then blasted to Compress, getting him out of the way and saving Bakugou in the process.

“(Y/N)!” The redhead exclaimed with tear in her eyes, as the others seemed to realize that no matter how much they wanted to, they couldn't get back to get her because now the villains would definitely stop them.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Bakugou turn for a moment, maybe due to the commotion happening behind him.

The girl was nearing the ground, and Dabi was there to catch her.

The impact made both crash into the ground, but he was quick to get up and trap her.

“NO!” He heard from behind, the distinct voice of the angry kid. “Turn back you idiots! Or I will! We need to go get her!”

He picked up the girl and placed her on his right shoulder like a sack of potatoes while he listened the UA kids trying to convince Bakugou that if they went back, none of them will be able to get out of the situation again.

“One false move and I’ll burn you alive” Dabi told her, feeling her crying as he walked towards the portal.

“I won’t be leaving without her!” Bakugou’s faint voice could be heard, as they got away in the air.

“We can’t go back! We’ll only make things worse now!” Someone else said.

“You don’t fucking get it!” Bakugou roared.

“We do get it! I came here for her, Bakugou, and even I know that we can’t go back now!” The red head said.

“All Might’s gonna get her” Thats the last thing he heard before crossing up the portal and stepping in their new ‘hideout’.

“You ended up being a bigger pain in the ass than I took you for” He said, taking the crying girl with him to some safest room where he could keep her while he found something to keep up her headache.

Notes

So, we got part 1 of the reader's backstory, next chapter it's part 2 (and final part of backstory I suppose). The villain name of the reader's dad means hallucination and yes it was just google translate. I'm terrible with names by the way... I don't even have one for her mom just yet.

Anyways, this chapter is SO FUCKING LONG! But I just wanted to include all this things here BECAUSE all these 5 chapters were kind of an 'introduction'?? It's very tied up with the canon plot, but next chapter we're getting into the REAL story hehe..

Anyways, thoughts?

tag list: @buckybear97 @this-lost-child @aebeessun @ye-rinn@ihatemyselftoinfinityandbeyond @cindxalex @luvley-shadow@taeniix @roadtripsonspaceships @iana-therese@darkagedoctor @liliafangirls

Should I keep this up?

#silvana writes : target #dabi fanfiction #dabi x reader #dabi #dabi x oc #dabi todoroki #bnha #mha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #bakugou katsuki #todoroki shouto #all might #the league of villains #vanguard action squad #fanfiction

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carnistcervine · 5 years

Text

The Lightning Assassin

This idea randomly came to me when I was thinking about how lightningbending could in theory be a perfect assassination method. At least in a world without bending. Targets get struck by lightning and people would assume it was either a freak accident or an act of some kind of god.

Then I wrote this because I wanted to play with the idea. :3 It was fun, I might do more for it in the future.

Or maybe I can explore the idea of assassination with other bending arts???

~x~

She carefully opened the door and surveyed the empty room. Assured that no one else was around, she gently closed the door behind her. Taking a few deep breaths, she stepped towards the window and slid it open. There was a clear line towards her target. Perfect. She took a few steps back from the window and placed a small altar on the ground. She placed candles in each of the altar's slots and pinched the wicks, igniting them with her firebending. She focused on the flames, taking steady and deep breaths to meditate. She would need to clear her mind for the task ahead.

To channel one's energy into lightning required a clear mind, the chi in her body would need to be able to flow uninhibited. Lest the results be... less than favorable. While it was true that fire wasn't the most forgiving element, the punishment it doled out to those whom did not offer their utmost respect to it was a slap on the wrist compared to those who mishandled lightning. Fire may burn you, or damage your things, but lightning will kill without hesitation. One misstep, and it's all over for you.

And of course, the other reason the young firebender needed to clear her mind was because she was about to take the life of another.

Ever since she had first found herself blessed(or cursed perhaps?) with the inner fire, she had found her life turned upside-down. It sparked suddenly and with seemingly no provocation, then grew to full strength alarmingly quickly. Of course being an avid Avatar fan, she picked up right away on what was happening to her. She could only be thankful for her already existing knowledge of the show and it's lore, as it did offer her some ways to practice control of the fire. Knowing that fire comes from the breath was practically a life-saver. She ended up spending many hours online, researching and practicing many varieties of meditative breath techniques. Making sure to take special note of the ones that resulted in her breathing fire. Especially since the first time it happened, she burned her throat. That one was tough to explain to the doctor... She also found that curiously, some caused her body to warm a few degrees. But of course, despite starting her self-imposed training regimen immediately, there were accidents. She ended up singeing more things that she would care to admit to, and even burned herself far to many times to not be considered suspicious. Thankfully, they were no worse than nasty sunburns and could have been passed off as such if it weren't for the fact that they caused her to gain the faint aroma of burned flesh.

She pulled her mask from her bag and stared into it's hollow eye holes. The disguise associated with the Lightning Assassin, had originally just been her disguise for when she went out to practice her firebending. She slipped it on and resumed meditating. Firebending was not normal. Hell, bending in general was not normal. Avatar was a fantasy cartoon for children, by all means, she shouldn't have been able to firebend at all. But she could. She didn't know why or how, but something had kindled a fire within her, and she couldn't just ignore it. There was fire inside of her, burning somewhere in her soul. She could feel it, even if she couldn't touch it.

The firebending moves she saw in the show were a nice start for trying to figure out how to use the fire, but she also found that it helped that it was based on actual martial arts. As in an actual form of fighting with lessons she could take for real, so long as she could hold the fire inside. She ended up doing most of her practice alone, in an abandoned old building in a bad part of town. As much as she wanted the lessons, they were too much money, and she was concerned that she would start firebending for everyone to see. She could already see where that was going to go, being thrown into a too small room lit only by blinding artificial lights, and forced to burn through various substances until her chi energy inevitably ran dry.

No thanks.

She wished she could have someone to guide her though. But there were no firebending masters, as she was the only one. Not the last one, but the first it seemed. What she wouldn't have gave to have Iroh, Zuko, or even Jeong Jeong to watch over her and help her better her techniques, correct her mistakes. But there was no one. And eventually with no one to offer input on her bending, she grew bored of using fire on the same scorched concrete slabs and walls. Eventually, she decided to try lightning.

While she couldn't deny that the choice to go to lightning before she could fully trust that she had mastered fire was a rather rash one. However, she was extra careful in her preparations before even charging up a single bolt. She had started a ritual, set up a small altar with lavender scented candles and meditated to clear her mind. Out of all the breathing techniques she tested when learning to control the fire, she found that regular deep breathing worked the best. And it made her much calmer to boot. Her first taste of lightning was exhilarating, but also terrifying. At first she was excited, seeing the smoldering remains of the straw dummy she had set up, but it quickly dawned on her that the dummy could have very easily been her. She didn't bend at all for the rest of that week.

The first time she had used bending on a human, she had been walking back home after bending practice. She had meant to come home before the sun set, but she had been practicing her lightning bending again and she desperately wanted to master it. After all, the better she was at it, the less likely the instance that she would be the smoldering crater. She wanted to think that she had simply lost track of time, but her inner fire was constantly tracking the sun in the sky, so while she couldn't tell the exact time, she knew full and well that it was getting dark. Either way, she missed the last bus and would have to walk all the way back home, in the dark, in a bad neighborhood. She had hoped that the dark red robes and red Japanese dragon mask would be enough to deter criminals. It wasn't. Someone lurched out from the darkness and grabbed her from behind, he had a knife, she could feel it poking her side. He was whispering terrible things into her ear, things that bare not repeating. She was nearly frozen, afraid of the thought of becoming another statistic or Jane Doe for online investigation hobbyists to dig their digital fingers into. She felt her inner fire rise to be at the ready, unwilling to let it's host be snuffed out. Her body lurched forward, ripping itself from the man's grasp and flipping around in a single, graceful motion. The man cursed and charged, knife ready. Her mind went from full of every firebending move she knew to completely clear in a fraction of a second. Before she could even begin to contemplate the consequences, her body was in motion. Tracing a path from her fingertips, down her arm, to the shoulder, away from the heart and lungs, into the fire chakra, back up to the shoulder, through the other arm, and out the fingertips. In a blinding flash and thunderous roar, the encounter was over. It was only when the stench of burnt flesh hit her nostrils that she finally came out of autopilot. Smoke trailed from her fingertips, but she was completely unharmed. The man however, was stone cold dead. His knife melted to his hand and a his eyes staring out into nothingness. Her heart raced, it took everything in her not to vomit. She raced home with no other incidents.

She considered quitting bending after that. She would hold her flame in her hands one last time though. While she had wanted to quit, the gentle heartbeat of the fire in her hands gave her a much needed reminder. Fire is energy and life. So she got an idea, she already had a disguise, so why not use her fire to help better the world. She would use lightningbending to assassinate people. Not criminals though, most people in prison or jail end up there due to unfortunate circumstances. No, she would go after the bigwigs and corporate fatcats. The fuckers who think they're invincible and that they can ruin as many lives as they wish with no consequences. It was the perfect crime, the coroner's reports all said the same thing, killed by lightning strikes. Lightning that mysteriously burrowed it's way through the vital organs and life points, but lightning nonetheless.

The people considered it an act of God.

She didn't consider herself nearly that high though. She was simply a humble firebender sowing the seeds she thought needed to be sewn. But also because, she did accept money for requested targets. People left offerings of envelopes with thousands in cash, and a photograph with a name. She'd take the ones that she agreed to kill, and decided to use the money to start martial arts lessons, and as generous anonymous donations to the local animal shelter.

Mind clear, she took a deep breath and exhaled. The candles extinguished themselves. She rose from her seated position and went to the window, she had a clear shot of her target. She paired her index and middle fingers together and traced down from her fingertips to her elbow, then shoulder, a thunderous surge of power followed her finger tips through the fire chakra in her stomach, and electricity crackled around her, the tremendous power skyrocketing and coalescing as it was guided back to her shoulder, to her elbow, down her arm, and finally to her fingertips. Charged and ready, she pointed at her target, a bolt of pure lightning charging forward striking the target dead in a blinding flash of light. Soon to be followed by the deafening clap of thunder as she packed up her meditation altar and made a clean get away.

#ATLA #avatar: the last airbender #lightningbending #firebending #lightning assassin #AU?#someone stop me I'm having fun #ATLA fanfic #CarnistCervineWrites

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rejectedbyeharmony · 5 years

Text

The Last Time I Dated A Friend’s Brother

Growing up, I had this best friend named Haley, and I spent a lot of time at her house. Haley, Sarah, and I were like the three amigos. We did everything together. I smoked weed for the first time in a tent in her backyard. She had an older sister who was away at college, and a little brother who always seemed to be around. It was like this kid had no friends, he was always bothering us. He was super annoying, and I vividly remember actually punching him one time because he wouldn’t leave us alone. I heard a few years after high school he had been dating a mutual friend, Amelia, and that they had a baby together. I was happy for them, and that was probably the only time I ever thought about him as an adult.

After my breakup with John, I decided to get on Tinder. I was having a hard time getting over him, and the idea of getting into a new relationship was not even on my radar. Instead, I was pursuing a casual dating situation. This was my first foray with this dating app and I met a few fun guys, and had some good dates, but nothing serious. I was traveling for work one week, and it occurred to me that Tinder matched based on location. So, while I was in North Carolina, I deleted the app to avoid matching with someone great that would be too far away. On the way back, sitting in the back of my coworker’s car while everyone was sleeping, I was bored so I downloaded the app, to check my messages, and started to swipe again as we got closer to home.

I saw a very familiar face, so I swiped right to dig a little deeper. Immediately, I got a match notification. I cracked up when I realized he was Haley‘s little brother, Matt. When we were kids he seemed so much younger than us, but in truth it was only four years age difference. But he had grown up a lot and got pretty cute over the years. He messaged me first, “If you promise not to hit me again, I would love to see you!” I responded with about four lines of HAHAHA, followed by “holy shit, how are you?” We chatted for a couple days and found that we had a lot more in common than we ever knew before. We were quickly bonded, and our conversations turned a little flirty. Eventually, we decided to hang out, and he came to my apartment with his son.

Now, I know that seems weird, and even now writing it if feels weird because… can you imagine meeting somebody’s kid on the first date? But I’ve known this guy like my whole life I just felt like he was a longtime friend introducing me to his kid! We hung out and played cars on my living room floor, while Matt and I caught up. His son was funny, adorable, and bad! Like, Dennis the Menace bad. Matt told me a little bit about his relationship with his ex, Amelia. It sounded a little difficult, but I had no idea how toxic it really was. In the beginning, I didn’t even weigh this into my decision to date Matt.

My bigger concern was Haley. We hadn’t spoken for years. The summer after Senior Year, I got the opportunity to travel abroad with some fellow students. This was a very eye-opening experience, and I was exposed to a lot of things in Europe that I hadn’t encountered in the US. When I got home, I told Haley that I kissed a girl. I hadn’t really worked through my feelings about it, but it wasn’t any kind of declaration of sexual identity… it was just confiding in a friend that I had a new experience. Haley told our friend Sarah that I was a lesbian. Sarah worked with my sister, and told her… and then my sister told my mom. So, here I thought I was just sharing a secret with a friend, and I ended up having to explain to my mom that I wasn’t lesbian. The truth is, I don’t know what I am, even now at almost 36 years old I don’t know. I have never had nor pursued a romantic relationship with a woman, but I’ve definitely been attracted to them. I don’t know if that needs defining either, because I don’t believe that sexuality is binary. Anyway... what I didn’t know, was that she didn’t think that was a big deal. She hadn’t spoken to me because I didn’t invite her to my very small wedding. I barely invited any friends, it was mostly family there. We had approximately 50 guests, there was one friend from high school (who knew my husband well) and a handful of friends from work (who were also friends with Joe). I hadn’t spent any amount of time with Haley since she told my secret.

But, Matt assured me that Haley still loved me and his family would accept me with open arms, and he was totally right. Being with his family again was like being in high school. But I dont want to mislead you, Haley and I didn’t pick up where we left off. She had new best friends, and so did I. But it was still cool, and we were cool. Once I had his family’s blessing, it didn’t take long for us to start dating, and for me to start coparenting his child. His ex-girlfriend, Amelia was a former friend of mine, but now treated me like I was a stranger. I don’t know with what went on in her life in the 10 years since we last hung out, but she was not the most mentally stable person. It affected the kid and deeply affected Matt.

He was very much a pacifist and never stood up for himself in their relationship. His vain attempts at trying to coparent were constantly thwarted by her miserable attitude and unreasonable, aggressive communication style. She had a horrible time keeping a job, and it seemed like our custody schedule would change as frequently as week to week. I encouraged Matt to get an official custody agreement with the courts, but he was honestly afraid of her taking the kid away from him completely, so he would lay down to her demands all the time. It was infinitely frustrating to stand by and watch her make him feel like less of a man. And honestly, sometimes it made me see him as less of a man, too.

I tried to create some stability at home by moving us in together. I bought a house out of necessity, because a 2-or-3 bedroom apartment would cost much more than buying a home in Northern Virginia. Our first couple months in the house were met with tons of problems. We moved in at the end of December. By the time we got everything unpacked and settled, we discovered bed bugs. It was hard to discern whether they had been transferred from the moving van, or the house Matt lived in before, or if they had always been in the house I purchased. Ultimately the source didn’t matter as much as the remediation, so we asked Amelia to help us out and take her son when it wasn’t “her week”. She completely blew the situation out of proportion and called CPS on us for endangering their son, when we were really trying to protect him. We had pets we had to move to his sister’s house, and we slept in her basement while our house was being treated. If you’ve never had bedbugs, let me explain what a complete mindfuck they are. I was not getting bitten, Matt was. Every morning he would wake up with welts all over his body that he couldn’t explain. But we worked different schedules, so we weren’t waking up together to see if we both had welts. He didn’t tell me about them until the third morning, asking if I also was experiencing this. That’s when we discovered the little splatters of blood on our mattress and walls from the bugs after they bit Matt. Even after the bedbug dog sniffed our entire home and the bug company assured us we were safe, we felt like victims in our own home. Every tiny tickle on our skin would send us reeling. It was psychological warfare.

Once we safely moved his son back into the house, I decorated his room first. We painted the walls, we made him a little toy/art workstation, and hung a huge light-up Bumble Bee, his favorite transformer, on the wall above his bed. Matt invited Amelia to come see our house when we were all settled. It wasn’t breaktakingly beautiful, like some of the homes I’ve designed in my career. It’s kind of like the housekeeper who doesn’t clean her own house, our house was cozy and humble. But we were proud of what we built together. This was the one and only time we had a amicable meeting with Amelia, but it still left a bad taste in my mouth. She brought her son to us for our custody week, and walked him inside. We showed her around the main floor, and the kid noticed some candy on the kitchen counter. He asked me for some, and I said no, and he threw himself into a rage fit. He was jumping up and down, stomping his feet, screaming about wanting that candy. I stood back and waited for either Matt or Amelia to react. And they both just stood there staring at him in horror, like most people stare at other people’s kids when they are having a tantrum in public. I got down on one knee, at his eye level, and said “it’s not time for candy bud. It’s time for bed. We can have candy tomorrow. Ok? Now why don’t you go show your mom your new bedroom?”

His tears dried, and his face lit up. He turned, grabbed his mom’s hand and ran toward the stairs. I heard Amelia say, on her way up the stairs “you are so lucky you have three parents.” And I looked at Matt and said “he has one parent. It’s me.”

Now any parents reading this might be pissed at that statement, but trust me when I say, I believed it was true. I was the only one parenting him. When he was with his mom, there were no rules and no boundaries. And Matt had the typical single dad attitude of never wanting to be the bad guy, so he also had very few rules. But when he was with me, there were rules. We sat at the dinner table to eat. We used our forks and spoons. We didn’t act like a fucking lunatic in public, and we said please and thank you. It was like trying to train a puppy, because he was constantly unlearning these behaviors with his parents. I was the only one who cared about him being a decent human being some day. Fuck me, right?

This is the part where I’m too mad to finish the story today. To be continued.

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