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christinebloodwrittings · 10 months

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Something exactly like this

Pairing: Hobie Brown x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Cursing, police brutality.

Words: 1401

Chapter 2: Have a good one, punk.

Taglist: @lavnderluv @xoxobabe

I got up early, walked to the nearest police station and practically impose that they brought the police officer that hit me without a reason. I managed to get to his superior, explained the situation, placed the evidence and the badge number I memorized. He apologized for the inconvenient, but he refused to make justice on the officer, though I wasn't expecting him to, really, I'm not that naive. I just wanted to be in peace with it.

A good night sleep and two days off work worked like a charm! Due to the bullet wound I couldn't move very swiftly, so I sent my boss photos when it was fresh and bleeding so he would leave me alone for a while, blood makes him sick, talk about an opportunity well taken.

The cut was closed but it still hurt a lot, not enough for me to complain much about it, but if I looked too much at it or stepped too harshly, boy it stung.

"Welcome to Shot's, what can I get you?" I tried to keep myself as calm as I could, but every word that came out of my mouth seemed to catch on fire in the air.

"Y/n dearie, you seem...pissed" my manager approached me attempting a soothing attitude, "Just a bad couple of days, sir, I'll try to swallow it" he shook his head, "With that wound, even I would be in an awful mood, just try to take it as easy as you can, and would you call Jess? She's late again" I sighed, she's an usual at being late, so it was normal for her to send me a message with a lame excuse, all because she fell asleep or her boyfriend is banging her.

"Sorry sorry, so so sorry Y/n" she rushed through the back entrance, collided against the counter, and attempted to hug me but I stepped away, "I heard the manager say you were injured in the raid, I'm sorry honey" That's all she had to say?

"Busy" I whispered and continued pouring coffee for an old lady, when I was finished she corned me at the restocking, "But how are ya'? How did it go with Hobie?" She had the face of a puppy after given it a treat, "You mean after you fucking bailed on me and left me alone? Been better, but what do you mean?" She was stunned, "Wait you guys seriously didn't do shit? That was the whole meaning of the setup!" I was flabbergasted, not precisely anger, but I felt lied to and inclined to punch her in the face.

"The what?" I asked and she immediately regret her words, "Well I thought you could use a boyfriend, and what more cool than someone completely opposite from you?" I wanted to slap the ton of makeup off of her face.

"You mean you wanted me to date an anarchist, crazy enough to go to a raid, who puts his life in danger over the cause every day, fucked up, probably drug user, punk?" In all honesty, he didn't look half as bad, but still not the point.

"Fact number one, everything right but he doesn't do drugs" at least that's a point to his favor, "And two, yes he's a punk, but a kind hearted one, I've known him for a long while now, gotta trust my gut" Now she was going to get the slap for sure.

"Either way, I'm not that desperate, if I wanted to find a guy, I would've already done it" internal slay because it was true, but I was too much of a package to handle.

"You should consider hanging out with Hobie, you two would make a hell of a match" I sighed, she was insisting far too much, "Not intrested, and you're overselling it" thank whatever in existence the manager appeared, "Y/n dear, when you can, I need those boxes to the back, just put them by the trash can" I nodded.

A last glance to Jess's sorry face made me ease my temper, at least she didn't do it with bad intentions, she's just a horrible matchmaker.

I dropped the boxes by accident. When trying to take them all without bending the knee, some ended up further away from my reach, and to top it off my shoe slipped and my bandaged knee hit the concrete. By sheer luck I avoided screaming in pain, my pulse went down to the injured area.

"Need help?" I looked up and it's no other than Spiderpunk, upside down, while holding one of the boxes that went away, "Stalking much?" I smiled, "What is it with you and greetings? Hey there Spider-Punk, how's it hangin'?" He left the box with the others and stretched his hand for me to take.

"Literally hanging, it seems" I sassed him back while standing up, luckly he was so strong. "Now where is it?" He inclined his head towards mine, "What are you talking about?" I scoffed, taking a second to think, and then it hit me. "Well, I saved you from hard work" this man should be a comedian, "Bullshit, but nice try" he snaped his fingers like when a cartoon couldn't do something, "Worth it".

"But you know? It's true, how are you, punk?" I swear I could sense his smile, "Good, how's the leg?" I shrugged, "It would hurt if I tried to kick someone's ass, so you got away, for now" I got closer, just to tease him out, but it backfired, "I would love, to see you try lil' darling".

He was so close I could feel his breath coming out of the mask. I laughed, maybe because he was way more sassy than I anticipated, or embarrassment. The sound of angry customers brought my atention to the door, and I knew it was time to go.

"Have a nice day, punk" I walked a few steps away when he somehow got landed and got enough seconds to grab my hand, "Thought we could chat or somethin', but luck forbid we have a decent encounter right?" He snickered, "Some of us have actual jobs, ya know?" I noticed, he wasn't letting go, but me neither.

"Then" he got closer, his chest inches from me "Some other time?" His fingers got a better grip of my hand, not quite tight, but firm.

"I leave at eight, and curfew starts at ten, you work it around those hours" at ten precisely, the police start the patroll, and they shoot or grab whatever that moves that isn't uniformed.

"Fuck curfew, pigs can suck my arse" I honesty believed him, "Sure, but I won't risk a beating and getting myself violated in the slammer, not all of us have super powers to get away" and all that trouble for his deviant ass? Maybe...

"Yeah, so can I stop at yours?" Why his grip got tighter? And why he's so warm?! Help. I'll be the envy of the groupies that love this guy, like Jess.

But will it be too much of a risk?

"Don't know if I should let an anarchist, the number one enemy of police and the government, inside my house" also wouldn't like to find out what would they do to me if they catch me with such a celebrity.

"I'll bring some crisps then" oh well, what the hell then.

"I'll leave my window open" where did that even come form, that came out way more flirty than intended! Fuck!

I tried to get away but he still had my hand, "You still owe me a kiss" is he serious?

"I don't think I was in certain death just now"

"Does it have to?" He asks. I mean does it have to be certain death? Hope not.

"You act as if you needed it" he got closer, was that even posible? "Jus' like to settle that debt" he placed his hand on a safe area of my waist, putting no pressure into it.

I hunmed and let go of his hand, "Then I'll keep owing you" reaching for the door I heard him ask, "Why's that?" I smiled, already on the other side of the door.

"So you keep it as an excuse" And what an exit, I was actually so proud of myself, but my embarrassment got over me and my face started to heat up.

Damn that masked man!

#hobie brown smut #hobie brown #hobie x y/n #hobie brown x you #hobie x you #hobie x reader #hobie my beloved #spiderman #spider man: across the spider verse

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random-senpai · 6 months

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Master Rule Guesses

Pain - If Tozuka knows anything, it's foreshadowing, and imo there's plenty for Pain to be the first Master Rule. The main thing is that God is an asshole (Sun mainly, Luna is too though tbh), making the first thing consistent through loops be Pain and suffering fits their MO. Second, remember in the first loop back when Juiz talks to Victor the first thing he recalls about his experience is the pain from the vacuum of space, and when Luna talks to Fuuko after Earth is destroyed, she talks about Andy's pain just like Victor's. Third is the commentary from the UMAs themselves. Some of them can't recall anything other than being told to bring Pain and suffering to humanity from a voice they assume to be God and wreak havoc as an offering to God. Others are actively forced to bring it and are taken over when they try to defy him (Spring my beloved). Master Rule 1 being Pain also explains why he looks more regular than the rest. Pain is naturally ingrained into every living being, so there's no need for him to be over the top or flashy. His appearance falls in line with the more modern idea of a sadist. He's well-dressed, attractive, and charming. His attitude towards Fuuko could be seen in that way too. Like a predator playing with its prey, amused to see it fighting back before crushing it beneath its might.

Death - Originally I was thinking that she was Faith or something like Religion. But some people pointed out the similarities between her carrying Luck and Andy and Fuuko alongside what #3 says she smells like. Then I got to thinking about it more. A nun being Death makes perfect sense as she's a servant of god. Death is what drags people into despair and suffering, whether it's their own mortality or losing someone they hold dear. With how much importance Sun places on UMAs bringing humanity pain and suffering, it makes sense that the next thing he makes consistent in the loops. Well, after pain and suffering itself. Making her a Nun is consistent with how death serves as one of God/Sun's greatest servants.

Sex - No real questions about it. DNA in her hair, the fact that she has the appearance of an attractive woman. Sex being both the scientific definition as well as a "sexy" femme fetale is pretty much self explanatory. The only thing I would like to add is that the numbering makes sense that she's the next Master Rule after Death. By bringing in reproduction to the world more lives are born, which means there's more people to die and suffer.

Luck (pretty much confirmed) - No real question about this either. Even if it wasn't for #2 calling them "Lucky" you could tell from the design alone. On their head is the Wheel of Fortune and on their cheek is a bandage. Tozuka loves to make Negators and UMAs share something visually. For Enshin and Burn they have similar hair. For Chikara and Move they both have dice. For Fuuko and Luck they both have the bandage. Also another fun thing to note is that Luck is the 4th master rule. The number 4 is actually infamously unlucky in China to the point where casino tables outright skip it due to high Chinese player bases. Why? because it's pronounced almost identically to "Death". Which further adds into my theory that #2 is Death.

Fair - Originally thought it was Justice due to the knight motif. But someone on Reddit pointed out and hypothesized that it was Fair due to the fact they have spurs on their shoes just like Billy. Given the other negators sharing a design aspect with their UMAs I agree with them. A knight being the personification of fair also makes sense as they're seen as enforcers of their lord's authority. Also it's very reminiscent of the Judges from FFXII.

War/Violence - The uniform reminiscent of Nazi Germany. The half bone face and smoking a cigar. Alot of people think it's War and I agree with them for the most part. But part of me thinks that he might be Violence itself and he's dressed in war attire because that's where he's at his peak.

Change - People think that it may be Time because of the clock and he's an old man. But I think he might be Change because he's like the antithesis of Gina. And old man with fashion inspired by western culture, is the opposite to when she was projecting herself to be a young woman in Gyaru fashion. I think that like Gina in loop 100 this isn't his true form and is a "shell" that he's projecting to appear as an old man the way she was projecting herself to be forever young with her unchanging makeup shell. Plus with how central Gina has been to Fuuko this loop having Change itself as part of the enemy roundtable makes it an interesting battle to look forward to.

Knowledge - Not much to say about this. She has a bookish appearance and hasn't looked up from her reading at all lol. The headpiece being architecture is interesting though and reminiscent of older buildings. Her librarian-esque appearance combined with the buildings on her head could be a nod to the famous Library of Alexandria.

Dominance/Instinct - The more feral design, he gives off the vibes of an "Alpha" in the ACTUAL meaning, not the weird stuff that insecure dudes have been saying they are. Specifically the Alpha Male of a wolf pack, going by the pelt he wears. I think he will represent the more bestial urges in living beings, whether that being their natural survival instincts, or the authority to dominate those weaker, it's yet to be determined.

Sick (confirmed) - Cut in half lol

#undead unluck #Undead Unluck Spoilers #UU Spoilers #I'M LATE #but yeah these be my guesses

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omori-sv-au · 1 year

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another oneshot TEE HEE… this one is a bit sadder and has mentions of blood/shooting/hospitals so keep that in mind

As Aubrey sprinted through the rain, her feet making small splashes each time they met the ground, she could feel water seeping into her shoes- but that was the least of her worries right now.

A barely-conscious Kel was being carried in her arms, bleeding from his stomach. Aubrey had tried to stop it as much as she could with a crude bandage made from a strip of her clothes, but it wasn’t helping much. So she took him and ran.

Superheroes can’t go to hospitals. It’s a fairly well-known fact amongst the public. If they go, they are subject to all sorts of questioning- how they were injured, who they were, where they were, and so on. No matter how “secure” hospital records are, superheroes can’t trust anyone with their identity. So, they’ve had to create their own “hospitals”; safe spaces for them to go after fights to get patched up.

Aubrey was running to Pluto’s, the closest safe place she could go. She ran past the hospital, and she so badly wanted to burst through its doors and hand Kel over to a team of professionals, but she knew better. Kel began to stir, and Aubrey began repeating a series of shaky reassurances to him, but deep down they were more for her than for him. Kel would be okay. He heals incredibly fast, and doesn’t need a ton of medical work done on him even for major injuries like this, but that doesn’t prevent Aubrey from panicking when she sees her best friend collapse after being shot through the stomach.

It still took a little bit to get to Pluto’s. Aubrey was naturally faster than most humans due to her strength, but nowhere near as fast as Kel, and he wasn’t in any condition to run. She was hyperventilating, which didn’t help as it was taking away her strength, but she couldn’t help it. Using whatever was left in her, she banged a desperate fist on Pluto’s door.

Getting help from Pluto was different from going to the hospital; the biggest difference being that no questions were asked. When Pluto opened the door, he quickly took Kel and ran inside, heading to a room closed off to the public where he fixed up superheroes. Aubrey followed him in and waited outside.

She slumped against the wall, but found her legs couldn’t hold her up anymore. So she allowed herself to sit. And after a couple seconds, she allowed herself to cry. It felt stupid- she knew Kel was in good hands. She knew he would be okay. But how many times would she be able to stomach seeing this happen? When would she be next? Aubrey didn’t know, and it ate away at her. She wouldn’t trade being a superhero for the world, but it was times like these where she really questioned whether or not it was all worth it.

Pluto didn’t come out for about an hour, but to Aubrey it felt like an eternity. He reassured her that Kel was okay, and he just needed to rest. He might have to stay the night. Aubrey sighed. She hated it when he had to stay the night, because she would have to go home to not raise more suspicion. But she wanted to stay at his side the whole night, in case something happened.

She entered the room and saw Kel in bed, scrolling through his phone. If you could only see his face, you probably wouldn’t even be able to tell he had been injured at all. He just looked like the same old Kel.

“Man, they got me good, huh?” Kel started, shooting a small smile at Aubrey. “Thanks for saving my butt back there. I owe you one.”

Aubrey was silent for a couple seconds, before she went and sat next to Kel on the bed.

“You scared me real bad, you know.”

“Sorry… guess I need to be less reckless out there, huh?”

Another pause. Aubrey was trying to find the words.

“Kel, do you ever just… feel tired of this?”

“Huh? Of what?” He asked, tilting his head.

“Of this! Of us carrying each other to this… makeshift hospital, of being constantly on the run, of being in danger 24/7 because of our stupid jobs? I-“

She stopped herself. She didn’t want to say something she might regret. That might hurt him.

“Sorry. I’m just a little worked up. I just… don’t know how much longer I can keep this up.”

Kel didn’t respond immediately. He looked like he was trying to process her words and think of what to say, something that wouldn’t make the situation worse.

“I’m sorry, Aubrey. I guess I just never really thought of it that way…”

Aubrey sighed.

“B-But I can see what you mean! It has been really hard… and I guess I’ve never really properly thanked you for always bringing me here,” Kel said, smiling.

“I heal so fast I guess I never really think of any of my injuries as that bad… but now I realize… you’ve seen me get stabbed, shot, all that stuff… I would be upset too.”

Aubrey sent a small smile back towards Kel.

“Yeah. I know you’ll be okay, but… doesn’t take away from the shock. You’re still my best friend.”

“And you’re mine too!” Kel responded, grinning. “No matter what, we’ll always bounce back! No villain is a match for us!”

Aubrey chuckled.

“Still enthusiastic as ever, huh?” She commented, getting up from the bed.

“I’ll let you rest. It’s getting kinda late… I gotta go home and explain your absence.”

“Oh, yeah… sorry! I’ll be up and running tomorrow, I promise!” Kel exclaimed, waving goodbye. Aubrey waved back.

“I know you will, goofball. Night,” she said, turning around and beginning to leave.

“G’night!”

#cw blood #cw shooting #cw hospital #omori sv au #omori au #omori #omori ask blog #omori aubrey #omori kel #my writing

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bookwormscififan · 2 months

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Falling Into the Bite, Chapter 3

Read on AO3!

Previous part

A/N: I'm going to try and get this vampire story at roughly the same progress as Amethyst Files before returning to my MadMare vampires. This chapter is laden with some reveals.

Warnings: Light smut and biting.

“I don’t want Murdock anywhere near our room.” Yancy stood just inside Dark’s office, arms crossed in front of him and very pointedly not looking at Illinois. “I can’t be sure he won’t attack Illinois again.”

“I understand your concern,” Dark began, leaning his elbows on his desk and steepling his fingers. “But I don’t control my family in this place. They can go wherever they please. You need to make it clear to Murdock that you don’t want him near you.”

“Do you have any theories as to why Murdock attacked me?” Illinois asked, stepping forward and brushing off Yancy’s protective hand. “Yancy thought it might be due to his offering Murdock more blood—”

“Yes, Night has mentioned claiming instincts,” Dark interrupted, pinching the bridge of his nose as he felt the beginnings of a headache emerge. “Murdock is trying his best to be a gentleman for Yancy, to court him politely before Yancy allows the claim to happen. The only issue is that the bite on Yancy’s neck is acting like a claim mark already.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means that Murdock wants to feed from you, or turn you,” Dark replied, fixing Yancy with a steely gaze. “If you offered him more blood, it set his instincts off, and he had to feed from you. The problem is he vowed not to drink from you until you agreed to be claimed.”

“That’s why he attacked me?” Illinois asked, sitting in the chair opposite the desk. “He needed blood from somewhere else because of a dumb gentleman’s vow?”

“It’s not ‘dumb’,” Dark’s lip curled around the word, sneering at Illinois before turning dark eyes on Yancy. “Your friend made everything complicated. Claiming and mating for vampires is different to humans, and human-vampire relationships are usually classic tragedies.” He looked away then, something lost and yearning flashing in his eyes before he set his jaw and adjusted his blazer.

“Return to your rooms. I need some time to myself. I’ll send Host when I’m ready to discuss our next steps.”

----

Host turned his head to follow the sounds of Noir moving around his room, listening to the soft sound his hat made as it was set on the dresser, the muffled click of his shoes against the carpet. The shishing sound his arms made as his sleeves rubbed against his coat, and the slight whistle in his breath from the time he broke his nose in a fight.

He tracked every movement Noir made, from the door to the dresser and then to the bathroom door, listening to the swish of his coat falling to the ground and tilting his head when Noir moved back to him on the bed.

“Lift your arms.” The command was soft, but the fact that it was spoken right next to Host’s ears had him lifting his arms almost immediately, breath hitching as Noir ran his fingers along the belt tying his coat in place, stopping at the knot in a simple question.

“Don’t hurt me,” Host whispered shakily, closing his eyes behind his bandages as Noir set to work undoing the knot and slipping his coat off his shoulders, lowering his arms once the garment was off. He felt the bed dip beside him, then Noir’s hand was on his thigh and the mattress behind him, his presence growing closer before—

Soft lips met his own, mapping the shape of his mouth before moving, tongue sliding along his bottom lip and into his mouth when he gasped. His hands flew to Noir’s shoulders, holding tight as Noir pressed his tongue against his fangs, shifting slightly before tilting his head to press harder, hand on his thigh moving up and up until…

Suddenly Noir was gone. Host panted and whined at the sudden loss of contact, a slight shiver running down his spine as he turned his head in search of Noir, lips tingling from the kiss alone. He tensed, back arching when hands moved up his spine, rolling over his shoulders to run down his chest, stopping at his stomach and dancing fingers toward the centre of his shirt, waiting at the buttons for permission.

“Last chance to stop me,” Noir’s voice was a low rumble against Host’s neck, mouth kissing and licking along the exposed skin of his shoulder as he waited for Host to process his statement, and Host could feel the smirk when he shivered and nodded, reaching up to help undo his buttons.

Host let out a shuddering breath when one of Noir’s hands moved down to the waistband of his slacks, pausing a moment before undoing them and pushing them down to lightly palm him through his boxers. He couldn’t stop the jerk of his hips, humming in an effort to calm himself as Noir shifted to press his chest against his back, nosing along the line of his throat before teasing fangs at the skin.

Noir huffed before removing his hands, urging Host to rise up slightly so he could remove his pants before pulling him into his lap. Host gasped when he realised Noir was bare beneath him, arm around his chest to hold him close as his fingers moved back to his cock and his mouth returned to his shoulder.

The feeling of Noir nestling his cock between Host’s cheeks made him shiver, pushing his hips down against Noir then up into his hand as he wrapped his fingers around him, tilting his head back against Noir’s shoulder as he lost himself in feelings.

“You smell so sweet,” Noir rumbled against Host’s shoulder, licking at his skin before just barely pressing his fangs in, humming again Host as he stilled, covering Noir’s hand with warmth, and he only rocked Host a couple more times before he came as well, carefully biting into Host’s shoulder and trying not to gag as blood filled his mouth.

“I should have done this sooner,” Noir panted as he gently lowered Host down on the bed, listening to his heavy breathing as he caught his breath and brushing the hair away from the bandages around Host’s eyes. “I will be eternally grateful that Illinois pushed me to confront these feelings.”

“There is a positive to having the humans stay here,” Host agreed, lips pulling up in a lazy smile before he relaxed completely and fell asleep, the sound of Noir’s laugh rumbling in his dream.

----

Staring into the fire in the mantle, Dark tilted his head against the pressure behind his eyes, wincing slightly as the movement made the pain almost unbearable. He flinched when he heard the door open, holding his breath until Actor’s gently hand settled on his forearm.

“Memories?” Actor asked softly, leaning forward to look into his brother’s eyes. “Do you need me to call him?” He stepped back when Dark shook him off, turning away from the fireplace and covering his eyes with a hand.

“She’s gotten louder since this whole problem with Yancy and Murdock started,” he confessed quietly, the faintest hint of anguish in his voice. “I just can’t make out what she’s trying to say. I don’t know if she’s trying to warn me about something, if she’s chastising me, or if she just wants to give her two cents’ worth.”

“I thought he said you’d never hear her again,” Actor said, guiding Dark to sit in the armchair in front of the fire, setting a soft cushion behind his head. “Do you think something’s gone wrong?”

“She’s always been murmuring in the back of my mind,” Dark replied with a heavy sigh. “I never mentioned it because I still enjoy the sound of her voice. Well,” he slapped his thighs and turned his head, “At least we know his punishment worked. This is the reason I’ve been advising against claiming humans.”

“Dark—” Actor cut himself off when Dark glared at him, waving his hand in dismissal.

As the sound of the door clicked shut, Dark leaned his head back and closed his eyes, shifting to sit more comfortably in the chair and pressing his tongue against the back of his fangs.

“What new terror are you trying to unleash on this world now, Celine?”

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

@iamvegorott @brokentimewatch

#writing #fanfiction #markiplier fanfiction #host/noir mark #vampire au #biting tw

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twofrontteethstillcrooked · 1 year

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Destiel Month, 25-27 Nov.: Movie, wound, bed

"What else has been buggin' you?" Dean asked, shifting nearer.

deancas ust, newly human cas

"The people in this town seem very unsuspecting of the sheriff," Cas pointed out. "He is at far too many vague 'law enforcement conferences' during times of full moons to not be a viable suspect in these supposed 'werewolf attacks.'" He bit back a groan and tried to sit up at the headboard more straightly.

Dean paused The Savage of a Red Morning II: Rabies Attack and refluffed the pillows Cas had been leaning against. "There we go." He also yanked the blanket back into order and arranged it around Cas's waist. "Better?"

His anxious expression made something catch in Cas's chest. Like a crick in the neck, Cas thought – that was something he'd experienced now as a human, one of those inexplicable little ways a body could betray you simply because you'd, quote, slept wrong, end quote. He felt the normal heat coming off of Dean's body due to nothing more than homeostasis and close proximity and wanted to pet it like a pelt, wear it like a pair of mittens.

Cas wanted. And wanted.

He remembered he needed to answer. "Yes. Thank you." He sounded tired even to himself.

Dean watched him. "You wanna keep going with the werewolves, or is it time to hit the hay?"

"I can stay up a while longer." Cas rubbed his hand on his thigh that was somewhere beneath layers of linens and pjs. "May I ask you something?"

Dean nodded.

"How long did it take you to get used to wearing trousers?"

Dean's whole face wrinkled with confusion.

"It was probably so long ago you don't remember," Cas said. "At some point in your life, you were dressed by someone – a baby, wearing baby clothes. Then eventually, you were big enough to wear shirts and pants, possibly even shoes and socks, hats and coats."

"I… Yes?" Dean tipped his head. "Sammy hated shoes for a while, when he was maybe a year, two years old. Kicked them off every chance he got. But I think that's pretty normal for little kids. I remember his feet were like squares. Squishy cubes."

"My leg hair is very distracting," Cas grumbled. "And I cut my toenails after I took a bath one day last week, but they were still very difficult to trim with those little clippers. They did not seem much softer after being in water than they had been dry."

Dean rubbed his hands over his face and like magic a different expression appeared. One, Cas noted, that was appreciably less bewildered; he liked Dean's small, rueful smile and his eyes soft with sympathy.

"What else has been buggin' you?" Dean asked, shifting nearer. He ran his right arm behind Cas's back and pulled him even closer, until they were tucked hip to hip.

"The stitches itch," Cas told him. He held up his bandaged wrist as evidence. "My calves and shoulders ache from the chase with the alp. There's a tiny spot on the roof of my mouth that feels puffy and sore, but also numb."

Dean's smile grew a little. "I don't doubt you burned yourself, the way you lunged at my coffee this morning."

"Food tastes better, sometimes. Louder. Potato chips are so loud and so salty. And they make the roof of my mouth sorer. My new boots have been rubbing a blister on my left heel and another one on the smallest toe on my right foot. Do toes have other names?" Cas asked.

"I just say pinky toe."

"All right. Sweating is terrible; it makes you wet. I don't like being wet, except in the shower, and even then, if the bathroom is cold, it's awful. Urination and defecation, it should go without saying, are deeply annoying."

"Sure," Dean said, nodding.

"I used to be able to keep my body clean, or just be clean, period, instantaneously. And now every hour feels like a battle with microorganisms living on my skin that through no fault of their own – I assume – will cause me to smell strange and off putting if I don't remove some of them on a regular basis with detergents or suppress them with deodorants or antiperspirants. I also used to be able to see the microorganisms; I can't do that anymore, but I know they're still there, waiting to feed on sebum my body produces without my consent."

Cas looked down at his hands in his lap and turned them over, palms up. "The alp's familiar," he started.

His throat closed for a second.

Dean slipped his left hand gently into Cas's.

Cas looked up into Dean's eyes. "It didn't take anything for the familiar to cut me." He swallowed. "When I was an angel, if I cut myself, I didn't really feel it. The hurt was far away, and then I would heal." He closed his fingers around Dean's. "The familiar's knife sank in so quickly – it really was like a hot knife through butter." He shuddered, both remembering and not remembering the pain. "I tried to take deep, calm breaths, to slow my heartbeat like Sam talks about. Which didn't work. And when the familiar'd left and I was able to wrench my left hand free, I wasn’t– I'm right handed, I guess, and my left hand is weaker. Trying to staunch the wound to my right wrist with my left hand didn't work as well because the blood made everything so slippery–"

"Shhhh," Dean said, tipping his forehead against Cas's temple. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." He placed a kiss beside Cas's eye.

"Swinging a heavy weapon was much harder," Cas whispered, closing his eyes and leaning into Dean.

"You'd lost a fuckton of blood, dude." Dean dropped another kiss atop his head. "And you're right handed. You did pretty well with that iron nail regardless."

Cas couldn't tell if he was imagining Dean's voice shaking just a bit. Sounds traveled differently these days. Dean's heartbeat was right there too, a steady lub-dub, lub-dub beneath Cas's ear.

"Anything easier than it used to be?" Dean asked. "More enjoyable?"

"I really do love coffee," Cas said. "This blanket has a comfortable texture. Your old flannel shirts are almost velvety and I like wearing them. Gooey pizza and cold beer make more sense now. Crisp morning air in November, listening to music in the Impala, getting dry after a soapy shower – all of those are nice." His gaze fell to Dean's mouth; he caught himself and looked up again.

The moment stretched and stretched, green as a woodland.

"You're warm," Cas said quietly.

"I don't think that's new," Dean said just as quietly.

"It is to me." Cas felt a thrill shiver through him as Dean's eyes darkened and his hand tightened on Cas's.

"Oh," Dean whispered, and it seemed like he was going to say something else.

Cas kissed him first, a soft glancing. Dean chased him to deepen the kiss.

A sigh of pleasure escaped Cas before he could stop it. "This is better," he was able to whisper back eventually, Dean's hands gentle as he held his head. "This is much better."

#destielmonth22 #destiel #deancas #spn #snippetfic #fic #destielmonth

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rosenallies · 7 months

Note

“ you were always there when i needed you. let me repay the favor. “ for any rosenali au

A lil preacher’s son au<3

——

“Baby, you really don’t need to fuss over me. I’m okay,” Rosé promised, trying not to wince as Denali lifted his ankle.

“The look on your face says otherwise,” Denali stated, matter of factly, tongue poking between his teeth as he concentrated on wrapping an ace bandage around Rosé’s ankle.

If Rosé hadn’t been in so much pain and so stressed about his upcoming finale performance, he would’ve found it adorable, but for now all he could think about was how he was going to let everyone he loved down because he fucked up his ankle days before he was meant to perform in the finale and take home the win.

“Here, stand up for a second, let me see if it needs to be wrapped tighter.”

Rosé did as he was told, gently putting weight on his ankle and hissing in pain, speaking through his teeth. “I-it’s good, baby, I’ve got it. Hand me my shoe?”

Denali stood up and gentle lowered him back to a sitting position. “I’ll wrap it tighter, you’re gonna have to undo it as soon as you’re off stage, okay?”

“Baby,-“ Rosé tried to protest, only to be hushed by his boyfriend.

“You were always there when I needed you. Let me repay the favor.”

He spoke forcefully, more stern than Rosé had ever heard his sweet, soft-spoken boy sound. As much as it killed Rosé to feel weak and like he needed taking care of, he backed off and sat quietly as Denali wrapped his ankle, helping him put on his heels all the while.

“Okay, try this.”

Standing up, Rosé put weight on his ankle, more and more as he realized it didn’t hurt as much. The sharp throbbing felt dull, even with his full weight on it.

“That’s much better, thank you, honey. You’re the best, you know that?”

Denali hummed. “Now, sit until it’s time to go onstage, can’t have you making it worse.”

Just as he sat, one of the PA’s called backstage that he was due onstage in 5. Nerves churned in his belly.

“You’re gonna do amazing, but don’t hurt yourself, okay?” Denali said, squeezing Rosé’s hands, “you’ve worked so hard for this, but it isn’t worth breaking a bone over, okay?”

Rosé took a deep breath, kissing Denali to stave off the nerves, both being cautious of his lipstick.

“No matter what happens, I love you.”

“I love you too, thank you for taking the best care of me.”

#preachers son au #prompt request

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storiesofsvu · 1 year

Text

Censured Ch 13

Warnings: Language, talk of eating disorders.

The hospital had kept you overnight for observation, you’d smashed your head on the bar on the way down and they wanted to make sure everything there was okay, and that you were actually eating and get your nutrition levels back up to where they should have been. Casey was adamant to stay by your side, but you ushered that you were fine and she could leave (which she ended up having to due to arraignment anyways). Rita had been in communication with your girlfriend, happy to hear that everything was okay, and you were more than happy to see the familiar face of Nurse Ally, who’d been the one to drop off the Ritz crackers. She’d worked your original case back when you were admitted at 12, and tried to always keep in touch, especially if your name popped up on the patient list.

Casey was there when you were discharged, you were deemed in perfect health from the doctors, advising you to take a Tylenol if you had headaches from the wound. Benson had given you the rest of the week off, making sure that you would tell her if you needed more time, or desk duty before returning fully to work (you hadn’t told her the details, but she knew you’d been injured). Casey pushed as much caseload as she could off on her fellow A.D.A.’s, the cases she couldn’t pass off simply came home with her and if anyone needed something, she said they could come to the apartment instead, it wasn’t that far from Hogan Place.

You were healing pretty quickly, the bruising and goose egg on your forehead nearly completely gone, merely a butterfly bandage as insurance remained. You were eternally grateful for how wonderful Casey had been during all of this, you’d mentioned it to her constantly, thanking her for not judging you on the secrets of your past. She was quick to rebottle that you weren’t the only one who had them, and to not worry about it. It piqued your interest, but you let it settle for a few hours before she opened up to you about her ex fiancee and the issues she’d dealt at his hand. You hated that she felt slightly responsible, and you reminded her that she wasn’t at fault for anything that happened to you. You sent yourself down that spiral, as long as she kept loving you, that was all that you needed.

Three days after you were discharged you and Casey were buried on the couch marathoning your most recent binge, you’d gotten up to grab another drink when there was a knock at the door. You sighed, figuring it was someone who needed Casey for work, your hand pulled the door open and you were hit with a huge surprise.

“SONNY!!!” You launched yourself into his arms, literally koala bear hugging around him, burying your head into his neck, “I fucking missed you.” Your voice came out muffled against his suit, he laughed softly, hugging you tightly in his arms.

“I missed ya too Doll.” He gave a wave to Casey as she greeted him from the couch, kicking the door shut behind him. He wasn’t surprised when you continued to cling to him as he shucked his shoes, moving into the apartment. When he placed you down on the kitchen island was when you finally pulled away.

“Hi…” You grinned, his face immediately fell, taking in the healing cut.

“What happened?” The guilt nearly shot into his chest, he’d been undercover and unable to properly have your back, he’d hate himself if you got hurt on the job.

“Oh…uhmmm…” You hung your head a bit, noticing that Casey had made her way to your side, squeezing your thigh reassuringly, “I may have fainted at the club…my head hit the bar on the way down.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Sonny, I’m fine.” You gave him a grin, your hand reaching into his gelled hair, playfully messing it, “I promise!” Carisi risked a glance over to Casey, she gave him a small smile and a nod, confirming your story.

“Good.” He gave you a quick kiss on the cheek, and a brief hug to Casey, “Sorry I missed so many dinners, I hope this makes up for it.” You’d been so surprised you hadn’t even noticed the bag over his shoulder. He pulled out a couple of bottles of wine, followed by two casserole pans, moving towards the oven to preheat it. With ease he moved around your kitchen, pulling three wine glasses out and pouring each of you one. Casey settled leaning against the counter between your legs, you promptly wrapped yourself around her.

“You extra hungry after that UC gig or what?” You joked, gesturing to the two lasagnas he’d brought with him, Sonny laughed at that.

“I figured your fridge was pretty empty, thought you could use the extra leftovers.” Conveniently he stepped over to place the white wine in the fridge, surprised at the fact that it was full, and of actual food, not just take out boxes. He looked up at you with a quirked brow.

“Casey made me go grocery shopping…” You smiled, giving her neck a soft kiss. Carisi let out a laugh,

“Well Novak, I hope you’re a good cook so all this doesn’t go to waste.” Casey turned, giving you a knowing look, you’d discussed opening up to Sonny already, considering you were practically as close to him as you were to her.

“About that…” You cringed slightly,

“What ya want me ta cook up a bunch stuff for ya?”

“Sonny…” The softness in your voice made him freeze his movements, turning to face you, “In all honestly, I’m actually a pretty good cook…I’ve even taken some gourmet food classes.” His brows furrowed, leaning against the counter behind him, arms crossed.

“Calhoun said the best thing you could make was barely edible spaghetti…” Of course, fucking Rita. You knew she was just watching out for you, you admired her ferocity to make sure that you stayed healthy. Normally you would’ve laughed at his comment, but today you simply took a generous swig of your wine. Casey gave your leg a supportive squeeze.

“Rita was just looking out for me…” You started, “She was actually my legal guardian, I…I dealt with some pretty rough shit growing up…” You looked up at Sonny, his brows were furrowed, still not understanding, you sighed, happy to feel Casey’s arm wrap around you “Sonny, I had a really, really bad eating disorder from the time I was about 10 until 19. It nearly killed me..twice..” You watched his face soften, those baby blues filling with concern, “It still flare’s up from time to time. I mentioned something to Rita about how good of a cook you were and she knew that was an easy way to make sure I didn’t forget to eat….that’s…why I passed out at the club. No one else but Casey knows, but I figured it was time I tell you…”

You gave Carisi a few moments to process everything, it only took a second for him to drop the dishcloth, two steps taken to wrap his lanky arms around both you and Casey tightly. He buried his head into your hair, squeezing both of you the best he could.

“Sweetheart I’ll cook ya every meal of every day if ya need me to.” His voice was muffled against your skin, Casey gave out a laugh at his comment, he pulled back, looking at her, “You apply to this too ya know.” She gave him a soft smile, squeezing his arm. “I’m so glad you’re okay…” He gave a gentle kiss to the non bruised side of your head, turning to Casey, “Thank you for takin’ care of her.” It was a surprise to her when he kissed her head as well before moving back to the oven.

“I should be thanking you, you’re the one who brought us two lasagnas!”

“Yeah, well who says I’m not gonna eat a whole one?” His usual smirk was back on his lips as he placed the pans in the oven.

The three of you moved into your usual Tuesday night mood, swaying through conversation with ease. Carisi asked how things had been at the precinct, resulting in both of you groaning, rolling your eyes with just how overworked everyone had been. He apologized profusely, which of course you countered with the fact that he was still working, whereas Amaro had brought his personal life into work and been suspended because of it. You mentioned your torturous partnership with Amanda, and Carisi suggested coming clean to her, most of your work friends already knew (or assumed) that you were with Casey anyways. It wasn’t like you were ashamed of anything you’d told Rollins multiple times there was nothing going on with Sonny, but you figured she’d still be jealous of your friendship. The three of you were a few glasses of wine in when Sonny started plating up food, lost in conversation and laughter sitting around the kitchen island. You almost missed the sound of the key in the door, your head shooting up, not surprised when Rita entered your apartment. It was almost strange to see her so casual, a pair dress pants and casual tee, her hair half loose.

“Bold of you to use your key.” You smirked, she rolled her eyes,

“You just never stop, do you?” Closing the door behind her, “I could hear a man’s voice, figured that meant you weren’t having another orgy.” You cackled out a laugh at that. She crossed over to you, pulling you into a deep hug that you returned heavily, before examining your face, “You okay?” You smiled,

“Yes. I’ve got an excellent support system…” You squeezed her hand, “Including you…thank you.” She could see the ghost of tears forming in your eyes, knowing just how much your relationship had grown over the years. You weren’t mad about her revealing information to Casey, or to hinting off Carisi, you loved your Aunt just as much as you loved them. “Take a seat!” You gestured, pouring a glass of wine for her,

“Counsellor, you want a piece?” Carisi asked from the stove, gesturing the the food, Rita laughed at that,

“You can call me Rita…we’re not at work…” Carisi practically blushed, not really knowing what to do with the situation as he plated her the food.

The four of you settled into a relaxed and casual environment over the next few hours, Casey was already used to Rita being around, it took Sonny a little bit more time to relax. But once he remembered just how normal this was, and that Calhoun saved your life more than once, he slipped into a sense of comfortability. You were simply to have your three favourite people in one room, laughing and chatting with each other like it was nothing. Rita was more than quick to share stories from your youth, much to your great embarrassment and the pure glee from the other two people in the apartment. You were pretty quick to fire back with a few memories of her first couple of years as an attorney, which held a couple of embarrassing stories too. A few hours in and Rita made her departure, making sure to give you a tight hug and kiss on the cheek, telling you to call her if you needed anything before she softly thanked the other two for keeping an eye on her favourite person.

Sonny, Casey and you moved over to the couch for your usual Netflix marathon, with Sonny being gone for nearly a month you had more than a few episodes to catch up on. Casey propped herself up against the arm of the couch while you settled in between her legs, curled against her chest while Sonny sprawled across the other end, inevitably entangling with both of your legs. The hand not wrapped around Casey found it’s way to Carisi’s calf, (the couch wasn’t huge and neither of them were exactly short) while Casey’s hands fell to your hair.

A few episodes in and Carisi could see your eyelids start to flutter, quietly chuckling to himself, he nudged you with his foot,

“Ya gettin’ sleepy doll?”

“No..” You murmured, aiming a kick towards him as Casey kissed the top of your head, “Just need to finish this episode…need to know what happens..” Your eyes were already closed, clearly just trying to continue to hear the show to figure out what was going on. It was less than a minute later when Casey felt your breathing regulate, she glanced across the couch at Carisi,

“She’s out isn’t she?” He smirked in response, taking in your sleeping form, little smile curled across you lips as you were curled against Novak.

“Like a light…”He stood, moving from the couch, “You want me to move her to the bed?”

“No..” Casey shook her head, thankful for the help, “I’ve got her.”

“You most certainly do.” Sonny still leaned down to kiss the top of your head, giving Casey a shoulder squeeze, “I should get goin’, night Casey.”

“G’night Sonny. Thanks for the food.” He smiled back from the doorway, nodding to her, the reassurance that he would always be there for the two of you, no matter what.

#casey novak #casey novak x reader #censured #law and order svu #svu #law and order #law and order special victims unit

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cesarwheezer · 7 months

Text

My demon slayer au, cross posted on ao3 and Wattpad.

/———\

"Nezuko," Kie called out, putting the bandages away. "yes?" Nezuko replied, looking away from her little brother. "can you go sell the charcoal in town? Tanjiro isn't fit to go, let alone in this weather." she asked, frowning a bit. "of course. I'll go put my shoes on and take it into town." Nezuko smiled, she went to go put on her shoes. "Nee-san, do you really have to go into town? all by yourself?" Hanako asked worriedly, not wanting her big sister to get hurt. "I'll be fine, don't worry hanako." nezuko smiled softly at her younger sibling, patting her on the head.

"Nezuko!" Tanjiro called out before Nezuko stepped outside. Nezuko turned around, wondering if he had fallen due to his broken leg. "before you go, take this." he told her, handing her one of the hanafuda earrings. "thank you, oni-chan. and before you tell me to, I'll be sure to stay safe." she smiled warmly at Tanjiro, before putting the earring on and stepping outside. "okay, be back soon, nezuko!" Tanjiro said as she left. Tanjiro watched her leave, staying inside. he couldn't shake the feeling something bad was going to happen. He watched as her footsteps were covered by the snow, looking like it was getting heavier by the moment. hopefully she wouldn't get caught in a storm..

"ah, Nezuko! I can't believe you'd come down from the mountain on a day like this. it should be your brother instead of you, youre more likely to catch a cold then him." A lady told nezuko as she walked into town, frowning at seeing the young girl. "I'll be fine, don't worry. do you have enough charcoal?" nezuko asked the lady, smiling a bit. "hey, Kamado girl!" a man said, stepping out his house. "can I have some charcoal?" he asked. nezuko internally frowned a bit at being called 'Kamado girl', but it's okay. they probably just can't remember her name since she doesn't come here as often as her brother does. "I won't take any, but tell your brother thank you for fixing my sliding doors the other day!" another man said, peaking out from the top floor of a building. "I need some charcoal too," Another lady said, outside with her husband.

just as Nezuko was about to say something, she hearrd the sound of the sliding door opening behind her. "Kamado! oh man, perfect timing. you have the same sense of smell as your brother, right?" the man asked, quickly running towards Nezuko with a purple bag in hand. Nezuko hesitantly nodded. "thank heavens! I've been accused of breaking this plate! can you help me out here, give it a sniff!" he said, unwrapping the bag and showing red broken plate fragments. Nezuko leaned forward to smell it. Nezuko paused for a moment, "I smell a cat." she replied, leaning back. the man turned towards the woman trailing behind him. "you see?" he asked, somewhat irritated. "oh my, so it really was a cat?" she asked no one in particular. "I told you it wasn't me!" he whined. "hey there girl, you don't mind giving me a hand with this luggage?" a man asked, approaching with a couple bags. Nezuko nodded.

’oh no, it's late already.’ Nezuko thought, walking through the snow with the darkened sky showing no more light to guide her steps. ’Im glad the charcoal got sold out. I'm a bit surprised though, usually the towns people only buy from Tanjiro. lucky day I guess.’ she thought, not really paying attention to where she was walking. "Nezuko!" old man Saburo called out. Nezuko turned to look at him, wondering if he needed any help as well. "are you going back up the mountain?" Mr. Saburo asked, looking out from his door. "you better not be, it's too dangerous." he warned her. "oh, I've got a good nose so I can smell if danger is coming. I'll be fine." Nezuko said, smiling a bit awkwardly. "you can stay here for the night, come on. get inside." he told her. "but.." Nezuko hesitated. "don't argue!" he said, before his voice dropped a bit. "get inside before the demons show up." he said, his face darkening.

Nezuko sat in front of the table, eating the dinner provided to her by Mr. Saburo. "thanks for the meal." Nezuko said gratefully, setting her chopsticks down on top of her now empty meal. "Mr. Saburo," Nezuko paused, getting his attention. "..what are demons like?" she asked hesitantly. "there have always been man-eating demons prowling about after dark." he paused as he laid down the bedroll for Nezuko. "that's why you should never stroll around at night." he said, pausing. looking a bit uncomfortable. "if you're done eating, go to bed. you can wake up earlier like that and head home quicker." he said, walking to the desk.

Nezuko laid awake in her bedroll, thinking about something. "could these demons... come inside your house?" she asked, worried. "they could." Mr Saburo said, still up and smoking out of a pipe. inhaling the smoke. "but then, wouldn't everyone get eaten by demons?" Nezuko questioned, turning her head a bit to look at him. "that's why Demon Slayers exist. They protect us by slaying as many demons as they can. they always have." he said, before setting the pipe down. "go to sleep." he told her, shutting off the light.

’Mr Saburo has been all alone after losing his family.. he must be lonely. maybe next time I'll bring hanako and the rest by.’ Nezuko thought, pausing for a moment. "you don't have to be scared. there are no demons. you're safe.’ she reassured internally. ’now I think about it... Grandma used to say the same thing before she passed away.’ she thought, before succumbing to sleep.

"you be careful now." Mr Saburo told Nezuko. bidding her farewell outside. "thank you, bye!" Nezuko said, bowing respectfully before leaving. she trudges through the snow, her shoes protecting her from frost bite. the cloudy sky blocking out most sunlight.

|„whenever happiness is destroyed, there's always...”|

Nezuko's eyes widened, her steps stuttering. she took another smell. "blood?" she said, worriedly. why would she smell blood? she ran as fast as she could home. breathing heavily. her heart dropped in her stomach, all she could do for a moment was look and put a hand over her mouth to stop her from screaming. she first saw the blood on the snow outside the door, and then she saw Tanjiro. his body bloody as he lays motionless on the snow, still having one of their younger siblings in his arms protectively. she ran towards him. "tanjiro!" letting out a scream. "what happened?! what's going on?! what happened here?!" she said, trying to see if he was still alive. she ran to the door, looking inside. her eyes shook, tears welling up in them and her heart hammered in her chest. "mom..." she said weakly. her legs not being able to support her after seeing her entire family dead. their corpses scattered about in the house. she couldn't keep her breathing steady, panicking internally. "mom... hanako... takeo, shigeru.. tanjiro.. rokuta.." she said to herself, trying to process she just lost her entire family.

Nezuko ran as fast as she could, carrying Tanjiro on her back. she breathed heavily. ’Tanjiro was the only one still warm, if I can get him to a doctor in town he might survive!’ Nezuko thought, the icy air feeling like it was burning her lungs as she ran with Tanjiro. ’how did this happen? was it a bear who couldn't hibernate?’ she asked herself while tears streamed down her face. jumping over a lot in her way, barely managing to carry Tanjiro. "I can't breathe. the airs so icy, my lungs hurt. keep moving forward! move your legs faster! we still have a long way until we reached down. hurry! I won't let you die Tanjiro, your little sister will save you no matter what!" she thought. she swear the weight on her back got lighter. she heard growling, her head snapping around. suddenly, she was thrown off ballence and into the land covered in snow below. She screamed as she fell in the snow. her heart skipping a beat. "I... I was saved by the snow. but it was also the reason I slipped." Nezuko thought, her relief quickly escaping as she noticed she couldn't see Tanjiro. "Tanjiro?!" she called out, sitting up in the snow quickly and looking around. she spotted Tanjiro standing up next to a tree, the blanket falling off him. "tanjiro! are you alright? you don't have to walk! I'll carry you to town! okay?!" Nezuko said quickly. TANJIRO didn't respond. "tanjiro?" she said, reaching forward. tanjiro growled, looking up. his pupils completely different.

"he's... he a demon!" she thought, trying to hold tanjiro back, pulling out the axe and putting the handle in front of her. Tanjiro bit on the wood, trying to get to nezuko. "no... no .. tanjiro's a man eating demon? no, Tanjiro's a human ever since he was born!" she thought, pushing the axe back further. "he no longer has the Tanjiro scent.. but it wasn't his doing at the house! he was lying as if he was protecting Rokuta! and there's no blood on his mouth or hands! and there was one more sc-" her thoughts were cut short by tanjiro growing in size. "h-he just grew in size!" she thought, struggling even more trying to keep tanjiro from biting her as his teeth dug into the wooden handle of the axe. "he's getting stronger too.." she thought, grunting while trying to keep him away. "while I was carelessly sleeping at Saburo's house, they were murdered brutally like that! I know it must've hurt, you suffered, didn't you?" she thought, looking up at tanjiro's demonic form. her eyes filling with tears. "I'm so sorry I couldn't save you. " Nezuko's arms started to get weak.

Footsteps approached.

"Tanjiro! hang in there, please!" Nezuko begged, her voice cracking. "don't give in!" she shook her head slightly, tears falling down her face. "you gotta hang in there, don't turn into a demon!" she begged, her voice all wobbly and high pitched. "you've got to stay strong!" she said, praying that tanjiro could still hear her.

she felt something wet on her cheek. she saw Tanjiro start to cry and let out a gasp. he was no longer pushing against the wood as tears filled his eyes, dropping onto Nezuko's face.

#demon slayer #tanjiro kamado #nezuko kamado #fanfic #alternate universe

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stink-gremlin · 10 months

Text

Top Surgery Diary: Day 5

Owie owie. Definitely in a lot more pain than previous few days. Had to take some extra painkillers because my chest was horrible. I’m also waking up at like 5.30am and going to bed at like 8pm this surgery has fucked with my sleep schedule man. Don’t get me wrong the insomnia I’ve been used to for the past two years isn’t the healthiest either but getting tired immediately after dinner is a joke man.

Anyways it’s been almost a week since my surgery so here’s some reviews of the shit I bought (no particular order)

Mastectomy pillow: 8/10 it’s a fucking lifesaver to have on your chest so you’re able to play video games/eat/go on your phone and still function like a normal human being

Pregnancy pillow (big tube shaped one): 100/10 it’s the comfiest thing ever and an absolute game changer frfr. I’m not a back sleeper but I have to due to the surgery so the pregnancy pillow helps me stay in place on my back. It’s also stupidly comfortable even when I wasn’t sleeping on my back before the surgery like that week I had the pillow before my surgery was some of the best sleep I got in ages it’s like a huge warm hug.

Wedge pillow: 7/10. An unsung hero fr. This mf is so much more comfortable for sleeping at 45 degrees instead of piling a bunch of pillows behind your back. I don’t think I would’ve been able to sleep nearly as well without it

Camping wipes: 4/10 honestly I’ve only really used them for my face because there’s no way for me to use them on my arms just yet cuz of bandages and sponges and shit so they’re not done much so far.

Portable bidet: 1/10 I haven’t used it at all. Like if you already have a bidet all the power for you but don’t get a camping one because you think you need it you really don’t you can go to the loo just fine without it.

Crocs: 8/10. Don’t think this counts as a top surgery expense but I haven’t been able to wear proper socks or shoes and I’ve been living in these fuckers ever since -2 points is for the squeaking sound they make because I’m walking in them with no socks on

Dried mangos: 10/10 no more constipation what more can I say

One thing I kinda wish existed was a way for me to carry my drains better. Atm I’m just carrying them around in a shopping bag and they’re really cumbersome but I dunno how to combat that really.

#top surgery #trans

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fadingpaperzinepatrol · 2 years

Text

Stay the night

hi, so i don't usually do this but I had this dream last night and I had to write it down

summary : you return home with Eddie from the upside down, he is hurt badly and you take care of his injuries

warnings: blood, cuts, scrapes, mostly fluff so don't worry, friends to lovers

..................................................................................

"My parents aren't home, we can go to my place" you said, not really giving him a choice and practically shoving him into your car.

You had just returned from the upside down and since Eddie was your best friend the group split off to take care of each other without having to go to the hospital, the injuries were bad, but unexplainable. Robin, Steve and Nancy had split as Steve's injuries were more severe than anyone else's, and since you and Eddie have been best friends for your whole lives, you would clean him up.

You pulled up outside of your house and helped Eddie out of the car, his arm over your shoulder, him limping slightly due to the gash on his leg.

You get upstairs to your bedroom and sit him down on the bed, you look at him and examine the situation. His clothes are ripped and you can see cuts and gashes all over him, he is filthy and he needs to be cleaned before you can disinfect and bandage his wounds.

He is breathing heavily and every time he moves he sucks in air through is teeth, his brow is furrowed and he is in a lot of pain.

Without words he layed back against your pillows and covered his face with his arm, focusing on his breathing, you take this opportunity to go into the bathroom and run him a bath.

You come back and he has a slightly confused look on his face

"you're filthy, you need to get cleaned up before I can take care of that" you say, gesturing towards the biggest and deepest of all of his injuries. A deep cut to his lower abdomin.

He nods silently, his ribs are bruised and he's finding it difficult to do much of anything, you help him take of his ripped shirt and wince as he whimpers in pain

"I'm so sorry" you whisper to him, he doesn't say anything so you continue "the next hour or so is going to be pretty painful, but I need you to be brave okay?" he nods his head quickly as he kicks off his shoes and makes his way to the bathroom.

"Y/N?" you hear him call after 5 minutes, you figure he's in the bath by now so you are careful of where your eyes fall as you enter the bathroom.

He's a sight for sore eyes, bruises starting to bloom under the skin, his body basically covered in scrapes and cuts.

The bath is against the wall and the toilet is across from it, diagonally, you sit on the toilet and can see the back of his head and the side of his face, wanting to remain respectful.

he sits there in the hot water for a minute before he uncontrollably begins to shake, you go over to him, grabbing his shoulders lightly and pushing him back slightly so he is laying against the back of the tub. The heat of your touch pulls him back and he looks you in the eyes for the first time since you'd gotten out.

"I know it was scary, but you're safe now, I promise" you nod at him and he closes his eyes, feeling the hot water.

You sit on the edge of the tub and grab a small wash cloth, you dip it into the bath, you look up at him before he reassuringly nods.

You sit him back up, place a hand at his neck before using the cloth to, very gently, clean his face. He closes his eyes and let's you do what you need to do, only occasionally wincing when you get near the cut on his forehead.

You dip back into the water before lifting the hair from his forehead and trying as softly as possible to clean his wound, he suddenly grips the edge of the bathtub and you utter a string of apologies.

"All handsome again" you say, smiling as you finish cleaning his face. You do the same with his shoulders, the top of his back, and chest before deciding that he may be uncomfortable with you continuing anywhere else. He was your best friend, and based on the silence, it was clear that he was still in shock. Eddie never shuts up, and it's scary to see him so quiet.

You ask if he is okay to clean the rest and he nods silently, but you see a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. While he is busy you pre occupy yourself with grabbing cotton pads, disinfectant and some bandages, this is going to be the hard part. You grab a few plasters too after remembering that you also have some minor scrapes to attend to.

You come back upstairs, enter the bathroom after knocking and see Eddie sitting on the counter, only in his underwear as you assess his injuries, he has a deep cut across the left side of his chest, the left side of his lower abdomin, finishing just above the waist band of his underwear and on his right thigh, the rest of his body is bruised and scattered with scrapes but nothing enough to bandage.

"I'm going to start with this pretty face okay?" you say, walking over to him with a little smile.You brush the hair out of his face with your right hand and grab a cotton pad from the counter with your left.

"This is going to sting, but hold onto me, squeeze as hard as you need okay? you won't hurt me" You tilt his head back with just your finger tips of your left hand under his chin before using the cotton pad, drenched in antiseptic to clean the cuts on his face, his hand was holding on to your shoulder but as he sucked in air through his teeth it quickly flew to the counter top, grabbing hard so as not to hurt you. You smile at the thought, it's something you would notice the sweetness of later.

You place a plaster on the cut on his forehead and let go of his chin. He looks at you with his huge, deep eyes, usually wide but now wide out of fear, you knew he was scared but there was nothing you could do.

You start on the cut along his chest and bandage it as quickly as possible. He was so quiet as you worked but based on his breathing and the occasional furrowing of the brow or closing of the eyes, he was in a lot of pain. A string of profanities fell from his lips as you cleaned him.

The sudden urge to place a kiss on his forehead was something that wasn't foreign to you, but you had never seen him like this and sensed that he needed the comfort. You looked into his eyes after bandaging the left side of his chest and shoulder, placing a hand on the back of his head and pressing your lips gently to his forehead. He was your best friend, but he needed to feel loved and comforted right now. And although it was a secret, you did love him, very much. He closed his eyes and leaned into your touch, and for the first time you felt him relax.

You pulled away and gave his hair a few light strokes, asking permission to continue with your eyes, he grants it, silently nodding, his expression less tense.

You make work of the cut on his lower stomach and he whimpers, lifting his hips involuntarily from the counter, hissing as he does so.

"You're doing so well, almost done" you reassure as he nods his head quickly, as if it would hurry the whole process up. After cleaning the wound, you wrapped it in bandages, reaching behind him and tying it in the back.

Lastly you grabbed a chair in order to be the right hight and lifted his leg onto it so you could clean the wound on his thigh. You looked up at him and he was biting his finger, hard in order to stifle his whimpers. You quickly took his hand from his mouth and frowned disapprovingly as you saw the teeth marks embedded into his skin from how hard he had been biting down. You placed his hand back on the counter and after a lot of hissing and laboured breathing, you were finally done after bandaging his last serious wound.

"All done" you say, stroking his knee as an indicator that he can put it back down. He was entirely silent the whole time you had cleaned him up, only grabbing onto the counter so hard his knuckles turned white.

"You need to rest, darling" You say reassuringly. You weren't usually so affectionate with each other, but if ever there was a time, it was right now.

He had relaxed slightly and was cracking a few jokes occasionally but you knew it was only so that you would stop worrying, which clearly, didn't work.

You helped him off of the counter top and sat him on your bed.

"Stay here tonight" you say quietly to him. He had stayed the night before but usually in a sleeping bag on the floor, which, for obvious reasons he wasn't doing tonight.

He smiled at you softly in agreement and you pulled back the covers to let him get in.

"Is it any better lying down?" you ask gently

"much, and thank you" he said, completely genuinely "for all of this, I couldn't have done it myself". You smiled at him as you sat next to him on the edge of the bed

"I know" you reply , then suddenly remembering you have your own minor injuries to attend to. You lean past him to the nightstand to grab the plasters and the disinfectant, before standing up and attempting to walk to your vanity to quickly clean yourself up. But as you turn, he grabs your wrist, harsher than intended but still gentle.

"let me?" he asks, looking up at you

"You need rest, Eddie, I can do this myself, don't worry"

He respects your decision and let's go of your wrist, allowing you to go over to the mirror on your vanity and begin. You only had a few scrapes but there was a deeper cut on the right side of your face, on your cheek bone. You wince slightly as you dab at it, whimpering "fuck" under your breath.

"please Y/N" you hear quietly from behind you, barely above a whisper, you look at him from the mirror and his eyes are begging you to let him help. How you adore those eyes.

You give in and walk back over to the bed, handing him the cotton pad you were using and a plaster to cover the whole thing once it was cleaned. You sat on the bed across from him and he held your face in his hand as he cleaned the cut on the right side.

You closed your eyes and gave into his touch, through all of this you had not stopped to think about the pain you were in or how exhausted you were. In worrying about him you nearly forgot how traumatising the whole thing was.

As you feel him finish and put the plaster over the cut, you also feel warmth against your forehead as he kissed it lightly, pressing his lips against you, you had never felt safer.

You pulled away and opened your eyes, thanking him for taking care of you before standing up and getting rid of all of the dirty and bloody cloths and cotton pads.

Once cleaned up you went around to the other side of the bed and climbed in, facing him. He was in and out, tired but clearly trying to stay awake, like this he looked peaceful.

You lay there, tracing over his features with your eyes and admiring just how pretty he was, feeling his hot breath against your face.

He opened his eyes, suddenly more awake and smiled at you, a lazy sleepy smile, almost as if he had forgotten where he was or what just happened, he was just happy to see you.

Your faces were just inches apart and seeing him so sleepy and dazed you leaned in and gently pressed your lips to his. Both too exhausted to do much else, you lay there, just kissing him, feeling that even though you were both frightened, you were still warm.

"I don't know what I'd do if I lost you" You whispered as you pulled away, looking at him, his eyes still closed.

"Shh baby, I'm right here, you won't lose me" he reassured. Wanting to bury your head in his chest, but knowing he was still in too much pain, you grabbed his pinky finger and wrapped your hand around it, laying in silence you saw a smile creep across his face as you held his hand, it made you blush.

You both fell asleep shortly after, faces so close your foreheads were touching, still holding his hand, you both knew the only way that you would be able to sleep was together.

#Eddie munson #eddie my beloved #eddie stranger things #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson smut #friends to lovers

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revolutionary-girl-emily · 1 year

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RWBY x Justice League Designs

For my very first RWDE post, I’d like to discuss the outfits for the Justice League in the upcoming movie. I love sewing, it’s a huge part of my life. I spend a lot of time researching fashion history and different textiles. I’ve had issues with how the clothing is modeled since the jump to Maya, but most of that has been discussed all over the place, so for now I’m gonna stick to the new designs.

*HUGE NOTE* All of my criticisms with the models are due in the most part to the people making them not having the time or resources to really finish them. I do not blame any of the designers/modelers at all for any of these issues. They all deserve the utmost respect for making them as good as they are. Fuck RT and their exploitive business practices.

This is going to be a long post.

One more quick note before jumping in, I know almost nothing about DC. I watched the 2003 Teen Titans and the first 2 seasons of Young Justice. Outside of that, I don’t know these people. If there are any specific references their costumes make, they’ll definitely be going over my head.

Firstly, I have got to talk about the Flash. This goddamn zipper. This is the main reason I created this blog in the first place. The designs in RWBY have really trended towards throwing zippers all over everyone in later volumes, but this is the first time (that I recall) where they broke the laws of physics to do that. Zippers function by passing uniformly sized teeth through a zipper pull, which interlocks the teeth together. For this to work, the teeth have to all be the right size and shape. This means that even sewing zippers around gently curving slopes can be difficult. It is impossible for a zipper to turn on an acute angle and still function. And this guy’s got 4 of them.

Other than that I honestly don’t mind much about the costume. I like the lighting bolt scarf that trails behind him even when he’s not going super speed. He has goggles that he actually uses, which would be genuinely beneficial in combat. I don’t quite understand the bandages by his ankles; maybe they’re to imply that all his running led to increased strain that needs some extra support? Though then why not give him more supportive, calf-length boots? He also has bandages on his wrists and I really don’t know what they’re for. Maybe he hurt them trying to twirl his new staff with no prior training? My last note is that there are too many lines crossing all over his body. Zigzag lightning bolts, horizontal lines on either side of his waist, vertical lines on his pants, and the bandages again. It makes your eyes dart all over the place.

Cyborg seems a bit jumbled. I know he’s usually portrayed with red lights all over, though I remember blue in Teen Titans ‘03. Well they covered both bases by giving him red lights around the upper chest and head and blue accents for his right arm, hands and legs. But wait, there are also purple lights on the bottom of his drone, and his belt and shoes are both green (though not the same green). He also has a blue and black chain on the same side as his mechanical arm. There’s lots of stuff going on all over with him, but then his entire midsection is just an empty void that reads as unfinished. And for someone who is a cyborg, from the pecs down he just looks like an entirely normal human. I think it would have been a much more interesting (and I think faithful) design if they had his mechanical attributes continue down his body.

(I just looked it up and it seems that in his most common depictions, only the right side of his head remains flesh. This iteration could very well be mechanical below the pecs but it would be nice to see that instead of completely covering it with cheap looking fabric. It’s not like that would be out of place in Remnant.)

Also, I wish the metal looked like metal and not plastic. But that’s an issue that plagues every single design on this show so let’s move on.

Superman absolutely got that jacket out of the children’s section. You could maybe read it as a cropped jacket with 3 quarter sleeves, if it also wasn’t clearly incapable of meeting in the front to zip up. Other than that I just wish his turtleneck didn’t have that random zipper on it.

Wonder Woman, the Amazon, also the only one wearing heels, is shorter than all of the men. I don’t care if that’s canon to the comics I still hate it. I honestly love her costume though, by far my favorite one.

Vixen and Green Lantern both look pretty good. I wish Batman had another color on him, just a small accent would be good. Maybe make his scarf that classic dark blue his cowl used to be decades ago, or make the utility belt yellow.

One final note, it seems so on the nose that they made the two heroes with animal themes into faunus. How come being isekai’d changed only two of them into a different species? And now Batman can fly when his whole deal is being such a good detective and so physically fit that he can keep up with super-powered guys even without any powers. Not to mention turning a billionaire white guy into an in-universe minority.

If you’ve read this far, thank you! I hope this post was decently coherent. It started from me ranting to my one irl friend that actually watches rwby about that goddamn zipper and I realized I needed to get these thoughts out into the world. I look forward to posting with you all through volume 9!

#rwde

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faetedwill · 2 years

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Nightmares Will Have Nightmares || Sloane & Cass & leah

TIMING: Current, right after Sloane’s activation LOCATION: The library PARTIES: @faetedwill @stolensiren @phoenixleah SUMMARY: Leah helps Cass and Sloane get to the library. While there, Sloane and Cass skirt around what just happened. With grief in the air, Leah makes it known that she’s there to help in any way needed. CONTENT WARNINGS: Parental death

Sloane felt as though she’d been hollowed out. Leaving was for the best and she knew that, but she hadn’t even been able to tell her dad what had happened yet, nor would she get to until she could find a way home. Would he think that she fell to fate alongside her mom? Would somebody show up and explain what happened? Sloane wanted to show her appreciation for Leah and the way that she had come to their aid without much of a thought, even if it’d been for somebody else initially. That confusion had saved both Sloane and Cass’s lives in more ways than one, and maybe when Sloane didn’t feel like a carved out version of herself, she could show it.

The library’s basement was far more spacious than the banshee could have imagined, filled to the ceiling with books both ancient and beyond that, and Sloane couldn’t even find it in herself to be interested in them. Sloane’s gaze was trained on the floor, fingers twitching around the blanket that Leah had provided. She couldn’t feel how cold she was now, but she remembered the way her mother’s touch felt and how she’d become used to it. Would Cass? Would anyone? The question of how Cass hadn’t been affected by her or her mom’s screams stayed tucked beneath her tongue. Did she really deserve to know anything more about Cass after putting her in that position? After nearly getting her killed just because she was worried that her mom would die due to the consequences?

The banshee cleared her throat, sparing a glance to Cass who sat next to her on the couch. “I’m…” She didn’t know what to say. Sorry? That was cheap, all things considered. Sloane wanted to do more than that. She wanted to get on her knees and beg for Cass’s forgiveness, wanted to rip all of the ugly things out of herself that had gotten them here and put them on display, explaining each and every one. She wanted to tell Cass that she didn’t blame her for her mom, because really, she didn’t. Fate had played its part, and it was never meant to be Cass. For that, she was thankful, but Sloane wasn’t sure she was okay with the alternative either. “I was trying to protect you, and I thought I was, but– I ended up getting you hurt anyways.” Sloane looked from Cass’s now bandaged throat to her eyes. “I should have told you. I should have told you everything from the start and maybe–” Sloane motioned towards Cass’s throat, thumb tucked into the blanket, “maybe you wouldn’t have…” She shook her head, clenching her jaw tightly as she looked down at her shoes again. “I never meant any of the bullshit I said, and I– if those had been my last words to you, I don’t…”

Everything felt so quiet now. It was a stark contrast to the way things had been in that moment Cass couldn’t stop reliving, where Shannon screamed the world to pieces and Sloane followed suit. It was a stifling kind of a quiet, a heavy one. It seemed to hang over them in the library basement, like a chandelier waiting for the perfect opportunity to fall and recreate that nightmare all over again. Sloane was wrapped in a blanket, looking small and sad and guilty, and Cass sat beside her feeling much the same. She wasn’t sure what to say to make any of this better. She wasn’t sure there was anything to be said.

So… she just sat. Sat beside Sloane, afraid both to reach out and not to, stuck in some strange form of limbo where she was both traumatized and desperate to comfort a friend who had suffered something far, far worse. Afraid of rejection and knowing she probably deserved it. She glanced to the door where Leah had disappeared to, wondering if Sloane would want her to leave when the librarian returned. Wondering if she’d be able to bring herself to comply.

She glanced back to the banshee when she spoke, the words just as unexpected as they’d been in the damaged shop. She’d chalked it up to stress then, sure that Sloane was just lost because of what had happened, but… Sloane was still worried about her. As if Cass was the one who needed concern right now. The siren shook her head quickly. “No, you — You don’t have to apologize.” She’d be lying if she said she fully understood what had happened in that shop, even now, but she was sure it wasn’t Sloane’s fault. Not even a little. “I should have listened to you. And I’m sorry I didn’t, Sloane, I’m so sorry. I didn’t… I never wanted anything to turn out like this.”

Everything that Sloane had learned from her mom as well as through books and stories passed down from other family members— most of them being banshees, had told her that at the end of the day, it was fate that made the necessary pathways. There was no rule about not mourning the life one could have led, but what was most important was the recognition that fate held its own against tragedy. Because what happened was tragic, and Sloane felt guilt stretch through her body like a new set of bones, but it wasn’t the end of her. It couldn’t be.

It was confusing, to say the least, but that confusion would be a lesson, and as long as Sloane looked at it that way, she could navigate this. With Cass, or without. She still wasn’t sure which direction the other girl would take in their friendship given everything that happened. “I didn’t either, and I could have just told you and maybe it wouldn’t have.” Sloane knew she had to keep herself in check. If she didn’t, it was possible she might bring this whole library down on top of them just like she had the last building. “You don’t have anything to be sorry about. I wasn’t honest with you and you just… acted the way you did without the information I should have given you.” Her words came out robotic and slightly disconnected, so she tried again. “I was worried about my mom getting hurt by me telling you what was happening, and that happened anyways, and if anything, it’s my fault, not yours, so…” She shrugged, expression void of any real grief. It was so wound in her chest that she wasn’t sure how to start digging it out.

Sloane sounded so empty. Like something had been drained from her, like something was missing. Cass ached with the absence of something she didn’t understand, feeling her own kind of emptiness in response. All she wanted was to fix this, and she couldn’t. She couldn’t put that shop back together, couldn’t push the blood back into Shannon’s body, couldn’t force a heart to beat when it was finished. She wondered what good any of her ‘superpowers’ were when there wasn’t a single one of them that could be used to make the girl she liked feel okay.

“Hey, no,” she said quickly, finally closing that canyon between them to take Sloane’s hands into hers. They were small and cold and she couldn’t tell if they were trembling or if hers still were or both. She wasn’t sure how much of a difference knowing would have made. “It’s not your fault, Sloane. None of this is your fault. You were scared. You were worried about how I’d react if I knew. I get it. I didn’t… I mean, I wasn’t totally honest with you about some things, either.” If Sloane had known she was a siren, would that have changed things? Shannon had seemed pretty disgusted with the idea of Sloane having a crush on a human. Maybe if Cass had told her what she was… But it didn’t do her any more good focusing on ‘what ifs’ than it did Sloane. What had happened had happened. There was no going back now. Cass knew that.

Sloane half-expected Cass to recoil after making a grab for her hands, but she didn’t. They were two entirely different people than she had first considered and maybe that would drive the wedge between them, not what happened at her mom’s store. But Cass spoke with the same sincerity she always did, only this time with shaking hands. Part of her wanted Leah to come back so that she could slip out from beneath this conversation, but another part of her wanted to be alone with Cass for as long as it took to get back to normal, if they could even achieve that.

As Cass spoke, Sloane listened intently, expression unchanging, even at her declaration that she had something she hadn’t been honest about. Communication was not their strong suit, so it seemed. “You weren’t hurt by the scream…” Sloane wracked her brain for the meaning, knowing well enough that her immunity to the banshees’ scream was not because she was a warden. Even they did not get off so lucky. “Is that what it’s about?” Sloane turned Cass’s hand over in her own, looking down at the way her fingers trembled. Clasping the other girl’s hand in her own, she looked back up to meet Cass’s gaze, waiting for her to explain.

You weren’t hurt by the scream. It wasn’t something Cass had put much thought into. It was clear that the banshee screams she’d encountered tonight had been powerful — Shannon’s had knocked that lighting fixture loose, and Sloane’s had torn the building apart — but she hadn’t considered that it might have been strange that she wasn’t affected. She remembered Regan messaging her after that encounter in the woods, seemingly surprised that Cass wasn’t hurt when she’d screamed. Cass had assumed it just meant Regan had more control than she thought and hadn’t thought much beyond it, but… Maybe there was a little something more to it.

“Yeah,” she said with a nod, “yeah I guess that could be part of it. I don’t really… I’m still kind of new. To all of it. I, um… I’m a siren. I didn’t know it until recently, but that’s what I am. I guess maybe that makes me… not get hurt when a banshee screams. I don’t know. I haven’t really had another siren around to explain it to me. And I — I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I’m still kind of… coming to terms with it, I guess.”

Sloane didn’t want to push Cass into explaining. She wanted it to happen organically. Truthfully, she wasn’t entirely sure she actually deserved any kind of explanation given everything that had happened, but Cass supplied her with one anyways. “A siren…” Sloane tasted the word and it felt like metal against the roof of her mouth. All of this time, they thought of each other as only human. Fate was truly fucked out of its head. “That…. okay.”

She wasn’t upset with Cass for not telling her, not at all. How could she be, especially when she hadn’t even been honest about who she was. “You didn’t need to, I mean, I didn’t exactly jump at telling you who I was, you know?” Though it hurt, Sloane attempted a smile. She squeezed Cass’s hand tightly, smoothing her thumb over the back of it. “You don’t have anything to apologize for.” That seemed to be the theme of the night. At the back of her mind, she still worked against the image of her mom falling to her demise, and of her father cluelessly going about his day. Would he have found out by now? “We can ask Leah, see if… you being a siren has anything to do with it?”

Sloane repeated the words and, foolishly, there was some part of Cass that expected a rejection to follow. As if Sloane had ever been the kind of person whose opinion of her would change based on what she was, as if she’d ever given Cass a reason to think that she was someone who would decide to hate her because she wasn’t human. But instead, Sloane said okay. She rubbed her thumb along the back of Cass’s hand. She assured her that there was nothing to forgive. And Cass believed her. Cass would have believed anything Sloane asked her to, in that moment. She was just full of so much relief that the other girl was okay. Physically, at least. She knew emotionally was going to be something of a different story.

“Yeah,” she nodded, offering Sloane a small smile that was genuine even if it didn’t quite meet her eyes. “Yeah, Leah will definitely know. She’s been answering a lot of my questions. Not just about this.” She thought of those bugs in the library — the bookwyrms. She thought of the chalice they’d come together to find to stop the tree, thought of the pile of books she’d carried to the library counter just because they had siren in the title. Leah had been a huge help. Cass had no doubt that the pattern would continue. “So, um… A banshee, right?” She knew it was true, but she thought it might do both of them some good, somehow, to have Sloane confirm it.

Even if Sloane felt like she was falling apart, she couldn’t physically represent it. To do that in front of Cass, especially when Sloane knew the risks— to put Leah in that position in her library, it wouldn’t be fair. Even though an enormous part of Sloane wanted to lash out at fate and beg for an answer, now wasn’t the time. She wanted to cry, wanted the grief to tear through her and shred her to bits. She wanted to fall apart, but if she did that, a lot more would be at stake. It was why she had undergone so much training. She was supposed to be prepared for this, even if it hurt, and even if her guiding force was no longer standing.

“Leah knows a lot… is really smart.” Sloane chewed on the inside of her cheek as her gaze strayed from Cass’s face to the stacks of books behind her. “Didn’t know she had this much knowledge, but it makes a lot of sense considering…” Leah seemed to know everything under the sun. “I’ve been coming to this library for years and I never even knew this was here.” She let out a soft laugh, straining against the pain as it buried itself into the set of her shoulders. “I hope she can help you figure it out.” I want to help you figure it out, Sloane almost said. At Cass’s declaration— because that’s what it was, Sloane simply nodded, gaze still ahead, traveling over the nooks and crannies of the basement. “A banshee, yeah.” Finally, she looked back at Cass with a sad smile. “I’ll answer everything, I will, about— my…” Sloane cleared her throat, brows furrowed, “about it, all of it, I just… I know you deserve answers, and I want to give them to you, but right now—“

The sound of footsteps sounded and Sloane looked up to see Leah as she descended the stairs with two glasses of water. “You’ve been hiding this place under here all this time?” Sloane asked with a careful laugh as the older woman approached the couch.

“She really does.” There had never been a question Cass brought to the library that went unanswered, and she was appreciative for that. Leah didn’t have to do any of it, of course. No one was making her, no one insisting. She did it out of the kindness of her heart, because she felt it needed doing. Because she thought the people in this town deserved to know what they were, deserved to understand the world they lived in. Cass liked to call herself a superhero, but she thought Leah might be a little closer to the true definition than she was.

She squeezed Sloane’s hand for a moment, torn between her desire to understand what had happened and her hesitance to ask Sloane to talk about any of it. “You don’t have to,” she said, the latter winning out. There had never been any question that it would — when Cass cared about someone, she put them first. Every time, no matter what. And she definitely cared about Sloane. “I mean, if it’s too hard, if it hurts… You don’t have to tell me about it. You’re okay. That’s all I really care about, anyway. I just wish…”

Trailing off, she shrugged her shoulders. It didn’t matter, she guessed, what she wished. Especially not when she herself wasn’t sure how that sentence was meant to end. She glanced up as footsteps approached, offering Leah a small smile. “Thank you for all your help,” she said. “And for letting us stay here. This place is pretty cool, you know?”

Leah was hyper-focused on the waters, being extra careful that they didn’t spill over onto her hands, when Sloane and Cass shot her gentle comments. She smiled, but didn’t look up at the two of them until she handed the glasses to them. She felt a little guilty knowing all of their secrets but still keeping one of her own from them, but their spirits were definitely a bit brighter than they had been in the car, so her smile only grew. “It’s sort of a family secret”, she said to Sloane and Cass, gesturing around. “I guess we like to hide in plain sight”, she teased. Not many people knew about the basement, and even less had actually been down there to witness it themselves, but Leah knew that desperate times called for desperate measures.

She pulled the chair from her desk over in front of the couch they were sitting on, sitting in front of them with her hands folded. Her eyes traveled over the two girls, checking for any other injuries any of them might have missed. “Do you two uh… have any questions about what happened today?”, she asked, looking between their eyes. “I’m assuming that was… was it your first time?”, she asked Sloane. The thought hadn’t crossed her mind yet, but it would definitely better explain the shock both of them were clearly going through. Who had Sloane lost to force her to become herself?

Sloane took the water from Leah, a grateful smile pulling at the corners of her lips. The thanks hung in the air, at least, until Cass said it. Sloane shot her a look before busying herself with taking a sip of the water. Her throat still felt like it was on fire, even though she hadn’t tried to suppress the scream. “It’s a cool family secret.” She supposed hers would be out in the open, at least unless somebody were able to cover what had happened up. She figured enough tragedies struck White Crest that it’d be easy enough to blame the building falling apart on something else entirely, but the screams and those who had witnessed it, they’d be harder to convince.

At Leah’s question, Sloane nearly snorted, but held the laughter till it came out as a cough. With a shake of her head, she looked Leah in the eye, silently grateful for her help. Maybe she thought that Sloane was like Cass in that she didn’t know what she was, or who she was. “It was, but I— was raised with it, trained, all of that stuff. You don’t… have to dig into your books and stuff, it’s okay.” Sloane gave Leah an apologetic smile before she took another sip of her water, her other hand still holding onto Cass’s tightly. “Has anything been reported yet?” Have they found her?

The water felt like a godsend, if only because it gave Cass something to focus on. It was hard for your hands to tremble when they were gripping something with more strength than she could bring herself to use to hold Sloane’s hands, after all, and her throat felt so dry that having something to wet it was a good idea, too. She smiled, silently agreeing with Sloane’s statement that it was a cool secret even if she couldn’t bring herself to speak.

She glanced over to the banshee when Leah asked if they knew what had happened, because while Cass didn’t, she got the idea that Sloane definitely did. It was only confirmed when Sloane acknowledged that, unlike Cass, she’d been raised in this. She knew what she was from the start and, in a terrible way, Cass was jealous. It was shitty, being jealous of someone who’d just watched their own life fall apart. She knew it was. But the feeling was there all the same, clinging and holding on. Cass felt a little sick, and she drank the water to compensate. Her heart thudded against her chest as Sloane asked the big question — had what happened in that shop made it to the authorities? If so, what version of the story had they gotten? How did the police handle a thing like this? Would they call it an earthquake, a freak accident, something else? Cass took Sloane’s hand back into hers absently, stroking her thumb along the back of it as she waited for Leah to answer.

Leah looked at her phone, criss-crossing her legs underneath her. “Screaming Moose reported in the area… building collapse under investigation… natural causes…”, she read the post on social media before looking back up at them. White Crest had a way of dismissing anything that felt serious and deadly. “Nothing concerning yet.” Yet being the operative word. With Sloane’s confirmation that this had been her activation scream, Leah knew there must have been a body under all that rubble. It was the elephant in the room, but either the press was trying to cover the story so as to not cause alarm, or they were keeping it under wraps until they were desperate to know who to blame. “White Crest seems to be doing what White Crest does best, throwing caution to the wind and sweeping the problem under the rug. The fact that we seemed to get the two of you away without anyone by really noticing is a big help, I think. Because without anyone to blame, any… collateral someone might find in the rubble is going to look like a freak accident.”

It was a comfort to know that Sloane had at least been expecting this, at least in some capacity. Leah tried to make it a point to respect other Supernatural cultures, but some things were just hard to wrap her mind around. Banshee training and activation seemed harsh and terrifying, and for years she’d wanted to create some sort of… banshee support group, as ridiculous as the idea sounded. Her eyes caught the interaction between the two, and she wondered if her initial judgment of their relationship was too mild. She looked back up, trying to shoot comfort and calm to Cass. “It’s very likely that nothing will come of this. A few months ago we had plants attacking people here and no one even talks about it anymore. But you two should lay low for a while. Stay away from the area and act surprised if you receive any news about anyone that would be surprising had you not been involved. Does that make sense?”

Sloane nodded slowly at Leah’s confirmation. While she knew there were other banshees in the area, her dad did not. Would he put two and two together? Had he already been contacted? Her phone was left back at the shop. Would they find that, too? Think she was under the rubble? Leah was right, though, and Sloane knew it. It was a good thing that the town hadn’t yet pointed fingers. It meant they had nothing to go off of. Any cameras in the area might have also been destroyed due to the scream, their lenses shattering— at least she had that going for her.

At Leah’s suggestion they lay low, Sloane’s gaze flickered up to meet the librarian’s. “It was my mom.” The words tasted like copper and she took another sip of her water, finishing the rest of it off. She set it on the table in front of them and cleared her throat. “She was impaled.” They came out matter-of-fact, but not half as robotic as earlier. “They might still think that it was the building falling apart, nothing else.” Sloane looked over to Cass, but couldn’t really see her— couldn’t really focus. “My dad didn’t know anything about any of this, so you don’t need to worry about him.” She looked back over to Leah, brows furrowed. “But yeah, um— yeah. Yeah, it.. makes sense.” She would need to focus and strengthen the use of her glamour so that she didn’t let it drop in front of the wrong person, she realized. Even if she knew everything about her activation and what led up to that moment in the years before, it was a gutting realization that her mom wouldn’t be there to stand alongside her to teach her the true ins and outs.

Screaming moose. White Crest certainly had strange explanations for the goings on around town; somehow, blaming the damage on a moose was the only thing Cass could imagine that sounded weirder than the truth. She closed her eyes for a moment as Leah spoke, trying not to fall apart at words like natural causes and collateral damage. She opened her eyes to sneak a glance at Sloane, desperate to see how her friend was holding up. She seemed to be doing all right, all things considered. Better than Cass would have been, had their roles been reversed. Cass would probably still be denying it, at this point, if something like this happened to her.

She swallowed as Sloane finally answered the question Leah had clearly been avoiding. She couldn’t look at her friend as she said it. She wasn’t sure if it was shame crawling up her throat or anxiety, but either way it encouraged her to look at the wall, at the shelf, at the couch, at anything but her friend putting words to the terrible thing that had just happened. She glanced back over when Sloane addressed her, shaking her head slightly at the mention of her dad. Didn’t know anything about what? She wanted to ask, because she still wasn’t sure what had happened, still couldn’t comprehend why it had happened. But the question stuck in her throat, and she looked away again. “It makes sense,” she acknowledged, throat dry. People were going to ask her about it. She knew that. Just like she knew, with some guilt, that she’d be able to feign surprise far easier than she ought to be. The pros of being a con artist, she figured. Glancing back to Sloane, she squeezed the banshee’s hand tightly. “Are you… Will you go home tonight?”

Leah nodded at the information she had already assumed, trying to maintain composure despite the pang of sadness and sorrow the confirmation sent to her heart. It was usually the fathers, ceremonially, and she wondered what went wrong here to change that. Regardless, the loss of a parent was the loss of a parent, and the ache of such a loss was going to feel insurmountable to Sloane. She wanted to reach out and hold her, to shield her from everything she must be feeling, but nothing could replace a mother’s warmth. “It’s the most logical conclusion to a normie”, she said, nodding. Despite herself, she reached out and touched Sloane’s cool hand, a deep contrast to her heat. “What happened to her is not your fault. And loving and accepting what came out of what happened to her isn’t shameful or wrong. I know this must feel complicated and scary and new, even if you’ve been trained. But you should know that who you are is so incredible, regardless of how it came to be.”

She looked over toward Cass, deep confusion painting the other girl’s features. Her face proved that although Sloane had known what was going on, Cass had no idea. It wasn’t Leah’s place to explain, but she’d support Sloane when she was ready to.

How she’d have the conversation with her family back in Ireland was another question. They would want to know why she had decidedly recoiled from the ritual, and even though Sloane knew she could pin it on her mom’s selfishness, it felt wrong to do now that she was no longer here to defend herself. Sloane looked at Cass, the heavy weighted question hanging between all three of them. “I have to, don’t I?” To leave her dad out to dry, especially when it would become common knowledge soon enough that it had been his wife who had died in the building collapse? It would be selfish and cruel to hide away.

As Leah took her hand, Sloane noticed the intensity of the temperature differences, but made no move to address it. It would have been easy to pass it off as something new to get used to, but Cass didn’t feel nearly as warm as Leah. “It was fate, any way you look at it.” Those were her mother’s words, frail and subjective to the world she lived in— the one she’d been submerged beneath for all of her life. “Regardless of what… I would have differently, this would have happened anyways.” Because it was the truth. Because no matter the precautions Sloane took for either her mom’s or Cass’s benefit, this would have happened the same way. To think of ways to cheat fate just to live comfortably was perverse and Sloane knew that, and it seemed like Leah understood it to a degree, too.

The look on Cass’s face told her that her friend was still confused and Sloane knew she would need to clear it up soon, or she might lose her to the realizations of what had happened. With a deep breath, Sloane looked down at both Leah’s and Cass’s hands over her own. “I think I need to go home.”

#chatzy: nightmares will have nightmares #chatzy: cass #chatzy: leah #wickedswriting #parental death tw #[slings front bottoms into every post]

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