#tw hit and run | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

pennylind · 2 years

Photo

Penny Lind

BASIC INFORMATION

full name: penny joy lind

nickname(s): her brothers call her penny pie

age: 28

resides: a cottage located on her family’s property in bigorn hills x

gender: female

pronouns: she/her

orientation: heterosexual

occupation: head of sales and promotion at lind dairy farm

triggers: death, injuries, drinking, panic attacks, hit-and-run, jail mention, pregnancy complications, adoption

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

face claim: jessica sula

hair color/type: medium length dark brown hair that she wears either straight or curly

eye color: brown

height: 5′5

tattoos: none

piercings: her ears

PERSONALITY

positive traits: humble, loyal, thoughtful, gentle, warm

negative traits: self-conscious, sensitive, awkward, jealous, insecure

fears: heights & disappointing her family

hobbies: reading, crafting, baking

quote to live by: "families are like branches on a tree, we grow in different directions yet our roots remain as one."

FAMILY

father: roger lind (serving time in prison)

mother: paulina lind (deceased)

sibling(s): 2 older brothers - lincoln and r.j.

children: none

pet(s): 1 cat (pumpernickel) x

BIO:

The most important thing in Penny’s life has always been her family. The Lind family was known for their small dairy farm that was popular among the residents of Providence Peak. Roger and Paulina Lind were a hardworking couple that provided their children with a loving home. Lincoln and Roger Jr, R.J. for short, were the Linds biological children. When Paulina learned she couldn’t have anymore children after complications from her last pregnancy, the Lind couple adopted an infant girl, Penny, who they welcomed with loving arms. The siblings were a close knit crew that always looked out for one another. Even when things started to take a turn for the worse, the Lind children always had each other’s backs. Penny was 13 when her mother took an unfortunate spill while out hiking with friends. Paulina had slipped on a slick rock and tumbled over the edge of the steep mountainside. The accident had left Penny’s mother with severe injuries to her head and spine. Paulina fell into a coma and it was determined that she would likely never wake up. The Lind family knew she wouldn’t want to live the rest of her life in a hospital bed. Roger made the hard decision to take his wife off life support.

Penny had been extremely close to her mother and was utterly devastated after the woman’s passing. Overwhelmed from the stress, she started experiencing panic attacks. Her father, consumed with his own grief, felt lost when it came to helping his daughter. He didn’t know how to help her when he was struggling to help himself. Roger started drinking to cope with his pain. Lincoln and R.J. stepped up to the plate when they saw their father falling apart. They took on more responsibilities around the dairy farm, doing whatever they could to keep their family’s legacy afloat. Roger’s drinking and erratic behavior only added to Penny’s stress levels. The panic attacks continued. Seeing the toxic environment his sister was in, R.J. had Penny move in with him. Their father felt betrayed by his children and started pushing the family away. He continued to spiral down a path of destruction, ruining the family business and everything else around him.

When Penny was 22, her father was involved in a fatal hit and run while he had been driving under the influence. He was sentenced to thirty years behind bars with no chance of early release. The future of the Lind Dairy Farm was hanging in the balance after his sentencing. Penny and her brothers had the option to either sell the property, or take it on as their own and try to salvage what their father had destroyed. Knowing how much the farm meant to their mother, and the wonderful memories they once had when their family was whole, the Lind siblings decided to save the farm. They quit their jobs and pooled together all the resources they had to begin the process of fixing what had been broken.

Five years later, the Lind Dairy Farm is now the thriving success that it used to be. R.J. and Lincoln handle running the farm, while Penny was put in charge of sales and promotion. She hasn’t experienced a panic attack in years and her relationship with her brothers is stronger than ever. Penny does have other dreams and goals she wants to pursue one day. She loves the farm, but she doesn’t want it to be her entire life. Penny has never been outside of Colorado and she can’t help but feel that she’s missing out on the world. Until she finds the nerve to tell her brothers she doesn’t want to work on the farm the rest of her life, Penny continues to remain loyal to the family business.

#providence.intro #penny : bio #tw death #tw hit and run #tw drinking #tw injuries #tw panic attack #tw jail mention #tw pregnancy #tw adoption

5 notes · View notes

sims4royalsandimperials · 2 years

Text

Mejor Compra Mini-Mall - 2:11pm, the next day

TW: Auto Accident (Hit-and-Run)

Benjamin: So, we’ve got the itinerary down, Maria? Maria: ¡Sí, mi amor! New cat toys for Ajisai, A new toy shelf for the baby, help Susanna... *clears throat* Michelle find a stroller. Benjamin: All right. We’ll meet up at the food court after I help Ekant find a comfortable crib mattress and baby monitor. Susanna: What kind of crib mattress did you have in mind for our daughter? Ekant: Something not too plush. I don’t want our baby suffocating in the cushion.

Susanna: Sounds sensible... and safe. And for the baby monitor? Ekant: I hope to find something wall-mounted, and with clear display. We can watch her through our phones and see if she’s okay. Susanna: Compatible with Wi-fi, I like that.

Benjamin: Okay, we’ll meet up at the food court after we find what we need. Sound like a plan, you two? Susanna: Sounds good to me! Ekant: Yup.

Ekant: Hey, uh, Ben. Why don’t I meet you at the furniture section? These boots are starting to kill my feet and I’d like to take the short cut to the other entrance. Benjamin: Cool, I’ll see you there.

*Susanna, Ben, and Maria start to head inside* Susanna: Just call if you need anything, love! Ekant: Will do!

*Ekant hums as he walks to the other entrance, admiring the fountain on the way*

*Ekant searches for his wallet, but find that he forgot to put it in his pocket before he got out of the car* Ekant: Shit! I forgot to get my wallet! *Turns around the head back to the car to get his wallet... before a white car speeds up and hits him, the woman driving away after*

*As other shoppers witness what happened, they run to help Ekant*

Shopper 1: Oh my watcher! Shopper 2: Sir, are you all right? Shopper 3: Someone hit him and drove off! Benjamin: Ekant! Maria: ¡Mi observadora! Ekant!

Susanna: Ekant?! *Emergency calls can be heard as Susanna looks at her bloodied and unconscious husband*

*Susanna begins to cry* Susanna: No... no, no, no, no!

Susanna: Ekant, no.... EKANT!!!

2 notes · View notes

im-totally-not-an-alien-2 · 1 year

Text

Danny covered his nose with his hand. Where ever he landed smelled absolutely foul, like rotten fruit and burning tires mixed with chem lab.

"Remind me to bring a face mask the next time I explore the Infinite Realms." He muttered, before kicking a soda can down the alley he was in and being repulsed by the squelch sound it made when it came into contact with a very questionable looking puddle, "Better yet, a gas mask." He glanced at the puddle again, "Or I could go full Hazmat." Clockwork had told him this world was full of superheros and villians and to steer clear of it, but once he learned there were aliens in this world he couldn't help himself. Danny had always been weak to his curiosity, but he liked to believe he was cautious, and chose to stay in his Phantom for for added protection.

Turning on his heel he exited onto a deserted street lined on one side by a chain-link fence. The sky above him was filled with clouds so ominous and dark that Danny honestly couldn't tell you if it was night or day, all he knew was that it was going to rain soon and hopefully these awful smells would be drowned out by the downpour.

Danny got his wish only minutes later. Thankfully Phantom was unbothered by the cold and could just bask in the rain as it fell apon him. A lesser known fact about ghosts is that thier clothes are made from thier ectoplasm and are part of thier bodies, much like a second layer of skin, so one would be able to feel things on thier clothes as easily as they would with thier bare skin. The level of sensitivity varies with the type of clothing however. All this to say Danny loved the feeling of the rivulets of rainwater traveling down his ghostly hazmat suit.

He was so preoccupied with enjoying the sensation that he didn't notice anything was wrong until he was jolted forward from the weight of someone landing on his back. The person was quick and precise, taking no time at all to have his wrists pinned behind his back and- weirdly enough- thier teeth digging into the material around his neck.

His parents designed the Hazmat suit Danny was wearing not only to deal with dangerous chemicals, but to fight supernatural foes. The area around the neck was reinforced with the intention of protecting against fatal gunshots and decapitations so naturally someone's jaw wasn't going to be enough to break through to his neck.

Danny let out a laugh as the person kept chewing on his neck like a confused puppy. Oh, Danny thought, they've gone feral. It was odd for someone to go feral but it could occur when a person has gone through something traumatic recently or through extreme stress. It made sense since the person ridding piggy back on him was dressed like a superhero. Danny wondered if that was why the person didn't have a scent. Danny learns facepalmed when he remembered that scentblockers existed and not everyone's scent dramatically changed whenever they went out as a hero. The scent change was probably one of the few things that have kept him alive up to this point to be honest.

"So, I guess you're not going to tell me why you're chewing on my neck like the worlds most pathetic vampire, are you?" No one deserves that title more than the fruitloop to be honest. He made a mental note to use that one against Vlad the next time he saw him.

Chewy whined at this, seeming to slump a bit from the apparent failure to bite him. What was that about? Was this actually a vampire? How would a vampire even react to Dannys ecto-blood combo meal anyway? Would it be like food poisoning? Or would it taste amazing from one undead to another. "I'm not exactly human, are you sure you wanna bite me? I might not taste so good." Danny warned, but the moment he mentioned letting the person bite him they were eager again.

Danny chuckled and unzipped the material only a bit before it was loose enough to move out of the way. The vampires bite came with a sharp pain like he expected but there was no suction. No drinking of blood. Just some weirdo biting Danny on the neck. Huh.

Danny hoped he didn't get rabies from this.

He must have accidentally said that out loud as there was a small laugh from the rooftops above them. There stood another person in a superhero outfit with some really tall dude dressed as a giant bat, and that was when Danny decided to bail. It was one thing to let a maybe vampire bite you in a random street in the middle of the night but more of them? And ones a big scary furry? Hard pass.

Phantom did as Phantoms do and went invisible and intangible, escaping from Biteys jaws and startling the heros. He ignored the distressed whine Munchy let out after loosing their spookyest chew toy and quickly rubbed the scent gland near dannys jaw on the top of thier head as an act of comfort before bolting.

----

Danny poked at the bite mark on his neck. Screw rabies, he better not get turned into a werewolf. He didn't need that on top of his ghostly crap. Sam seemed fascinated by the mark, after all, it wasn't every day that Danny got a scar, especially one so obvious. Most injuries heal quickly and leave no trace of him ever being injured in the first place which helped a lot in keeping his secret identity.

Luckily Danny hadn't needed to lie to mom and dad. He truthfully told them about some wierdo jumping off of a nearby rooftop and plunging thier teeth into his neck and that two other people had tried to corner him during this. He assured his mom that he had gotten away quickly but was a little shaken by it and his dad praised him for being brave and managing to escape.

That was nice. But he still had to figure out what was up with this bite...and why he felt so compelled to go back to that city.

Back to that hero.

-----

Aka an A/B/O au where in Danny's universe all the Alphas are extinct and the betas followed soon after and the DC universe all the Omegas went extinct and betas followed after . Not like a "they finally went extinct in the 1700s after centuries of thier numbers dwindling" thing and became a myth/fairytale (tho I like that too) but a "this might be the missing link between cave men and modern humans" kinda thing.

Its up to you which bat bit Danny and exactly what that means. I love abo aus without smut cause there's so much potential for chaos and I am very much ace.

#dp x dc #fanfiction prompts #prompts #abo #everyone is confused and no one has answers #i would however like some slowburn romance #whichever bat you choose is going to get teased forever for running up to some random meta and biting the crap outta them #i tricked yall into reading an abo prompt didnt i?#i slept little over an hour last night so i woke up choosing violence #its been a very bad day #the store didnt have a lot of the stuff i needed to buy and on the walk home i saw an older kitten that looked kinda like my cat get hit #the car didnt even stop. poor thing got hit by the next car too and i just stared and it started raining like a freaking movie moment #tw: animal death #tw for the tags #so i got new trauma today #gonna make that everyone elses problem #a/b/o dynamics #kinda #just wanted to add the tag incase yall have it filtered

2K notes · View notes

carnivalcarriondiscarded · 6 months

Note

I'm so sorry I'm pretty sure your bard au is supposed to be serious but oh my god I couldn't help but get strong Men In Tights and Monty Python and the Holy Grail vibes

Especially bc of Barnaby I would not put it past him to make a "your mom's a hamster" reference

no no it Is very silly. how can it not be when you've got the neighbors as the characters? silly central. ALSO YOU'RE SO RIGHT VERY STRONG MP&HG VIBES I FUCKING LOVE THAT MOVIE HERE'S SOME REFERENCES

but it is also real. when it's silly its silly and when it's serious!

it's serious.

#one of my favorite gags in that movie has always been the coconut halves used to make horse hoof sound effects #since they didnt have horses <3 #and barnaby doesnt have hooves so. they make do!#i also like to imagine that in this au at least barnaby and frank kinda beef sometimes #like barnaby will purposefully rile frank up but then frank will say something that hits a little too close to home #so barnabys like 'ok bet' and puts a little more bite in his bark #and before you know it they have to be separated to cool off!#and also sally still doing plays. gettin artsy with em and sometimes doing puppet shows instead of a live play #a la The Professor's history show but uh. with more budget and production value #paper puppet eddie running across the stage...#scribble salad #rambles from the bog #wh fantasy au #tw blood #just in case! there's a bit there <3 #ahhh warlock wally my beloved....#normally he is so nice and so kind and favors a pacifist route #but sometimes he gets pushed A Little Too Much and then! well! people die!#that scribble is actually from a whole Scene and Plot i have in my mind #where - essentially - he and home get separated by cultists who want to harness home or something #and after a few months of separation they reunite!#and the cult gets their shit absolutely Wrecked! literally none of them escape alive!#wally/home: we're baaaaack! time to die while we feast on your souls!

253 notes · View notes

marcygoo · 4 months

Text

umm shes fine dont even worry about it

#soup draws stuff #murder drones #tw blood #eyestrain #chromatically aberrated her BY HAND in mspaint btw. this shit took so long so you guys BETTER fucking appreciate it.#ok hit post now. runs away cutely

174 notes · View notes

catkin-morgs-kookaburralover · 4 months

Text

reading a medical document about indications for hospitalisation for anorexia and realising i hit multiple of the suggested criteria aaaaaaa

#certainly the blood pressure and heart rate stuff last week falls into that category but bc it dropped just enough my doctor was okay w it #but ig if its like that this week Well #Hm #anyway.#tw ed #my parents i think are somewhat scared because this is the worst theyve seen me #like im refusing SO much bc i cant handle it and i feel so awful #personal #prayer request #ig??? if you would #prayers that the medical team choose the best things for to happen for me ig #like i would describe it as uncontrollable at this point it no longer feels like a choice #like sooner and sooner lately i run into a wall that is just a big NOPE #not even 'i will eat this and feel horribly guilty' but 'i Cannot Eat This'#ive been getting more actively distressed about eating as well #i dont even understand why im hitting the medical indications either like ive been havingpretty close to recomended intake i think #idk whats happening and i am losing control #( <- chronic not acute sense)#(do not worry for me in the immediate short-term)

17 notes · View notes

trash-bin-ary · 4 months

Text

Isat does a great job of lulling you into a false sense of security for Bonnie like oh no this creator wouldn’t hurt a child then you finish act 3 and you’re like 😨 b-but I thought

#this is a post i made #isat spoilers #like yeah Bonnie never getting to fight and always running away if you lose really makes it hit harder #tw child death

13 notes · View notes

yutaan · 1 year

Text

I sometimes like to listen to video game playthroughs while I work and let me tell you, whatever expectations I had for the sequel to rpg-maker horror game Purgatory, it was NOT what I actually received (i.e. Epic In Which A Teen Demonic Harem And Their Boyfriend Decide To Start A Revolution)

#purgatory 2 #doodles #tw blood #tbh what mostly floored me was the sheer difference in SCALE between 1 and 2 #like yeah they're still goofy Extremely Anime hack-n-slashers #but in the first game you just run around hitting monsters with very little context #and it is a fun but fairly simple time #but then in the sequel there's suddenly?? lore???#a LOT of lore even????#assorted factions of noble houses?#backstory for the weird demon-making factory??#an explanation for why the facility is full of random pools of blood???#THREE different romanceable characters????#and they're PRETTY GOOD romances even!#character arcs????????#class commentary??????????#to be clear a lot of these things are pretty ham-fisted BUT the fact is I didn't expect ANY of those things and was DELIGHTED #the ambition! the chutzpah! the commitment!#thank you game-makers I had a blast!!

48 notes · View notes

feluka · 9 months

Text

right. so. the lovely women who rescued shams & noor and nursed them to health and saved their lives and fostered them before i adopted them. they're two lovely middle aged ladies who live together alone. idk how well known this is but women living alone is a HUGE taboo here, especially two living together, especially unmarried ones without their fathers, so i always thought they were awesome and iconic. anyway, i've been forthcoming with my mother about the entire adoption process, since we live together and i can't bring in cats to a home that doesn't accept them, and my mother had been strangely annoyed with my correspondence with these women. to be clear, she was fine with *the cats*, but every time i said "i set up a meeting with [foster lady]" or "i just got off the phone with [foster lady]" she would seem upset and demand that my father accompany me to meet them (which he did :/). i just chalked it up to her being overprotective and worrying about me getting scammed or some sort of stranger danger thing. i'm used to her thinking that way so i never questioned it.

anyway, today (~3 years later) my mother and i were remarking about how healthy and happy shams and noor look, compared to how they were found. she then started praising the foster ladies and saying they did such a wonderful and selfless job rescuing them and providing such thorough medical aid. i reminded her that she used to distrust them. and she just goes "oh, that. i was just worried that they were [insert arabic slur for lesbians] and that the whole cat adoption thing was just a front to lure you in and corrupt you and recruit you. but looks like i was wrong!"

??!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!??!?!?!???????????

#i'm reeling because 1- wow this woman fucking hates my guts doesn't she!! like wow i knew that but wow!!!! it just hit me!!!#and 2- are you kiDDING MEEEEEE I WISH two older women were trying to recruit me to be their third in this cat-loving throuple PLEASE #I WOULD QUIT SCHOOL I WOULD FAKE MY DEATH I WOULD RUN AWAY TO BE WITH THEM THAT SOUNDS FUCKING AWESOME ARE YOU KIDDING ME #I FUCKING WISH!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOD.#also uhhhhh ig some tws are in order #misogyny tw #homophobia tw #lesbophobia tw

16 notes · View notes

greywoodrpg · 2 months

Text

𝕒𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕪 𝕘𝕣𝕒𝕧𝕖𝕤-𝕞𝕠𝕠𝕣𝕖

he was born thirty-four years ago, is a werewolf, lives in white oaks as a music producer and private guitar lessons teacher, and is in no pack. he looks an awful lot like rory culkin.

"I'm living like a landmine Waiting to explode I'm ticking like a time bomb Ready to go I'm a danger to myself and everybody else."

tw: abandonment, anger issues, bullying, violence, alcohol, car accident, hit and run, attack, injury, hospital

Avery was left in his biological father and his husband's care when he was only a baby, being the result of a one night stand, Avery's mom never felt like she was fit for the role and so she tracked Avery's dad down and left the baby with him. Avery lived a very happy childhood making no distinction between his biological father and his partner, to Avery they were both dad, both his own flesh and blood. Despite this, there was always something troubling the boy, he was loved, cared for, yes, but in a way, he felt unwanted, because he could never understand his mother's actions, and the fact she never tried looking for him, check on how he was doing, even after many years, refusing any contact left Avery with this opened wound he hasn't been able to fully close. It was when he reached his teenage years the problems began, while Avery was always a sweet, kind person, he also struggled with impulse control and anger issues, due to the never knowing his mother and her side of the family, but also this being something that runs in the family as his father struggled with the same problems. Avery would get in fights at school he couldn't stand being bullied and would never back down when someone was not nice to him, also defending those who were bullied, though mostly this was an excuse to let some of the rage out. Avery's parents did their best to help him trough this issues, while one would sit down and talk to him, teaching how do deal with all those feelings, the other would help him find a way to gain more control of those impulses trough music... and that's how Avery fell even harder for it, latter becoming a music producer and playing guitar in a friend's band. So, his life was pretty good, Avery felt he had enough with his many friends and family, he was happy, and then...one night...everything changed... It was after a band's performance, Avery had a little more to drink than usual, which lead him to notice someone, and while he never really cared much for a relationship, love, sex, had honestly never been something that present in his life, there was something about this girl, he couldn't tell what, but Avery found himself agreeing to spend the night with her... on the way to her home an accident happened... they hit something with the car, Avery couldn't just allow her to keep driving and let whatever it was to die on the side of the road so he got out of the car to check. And that's what doomed him... He didn't had time to check what was the animal they hit, something come running out of the woods, something big...next thing he knows, the beast is on top of him, Avery feels claws, and teeth and...the car rushing away, she left him, she left him to die... He doesn't know what happened, who found him, all that Avery remembers is waking up in the hospital, his parents worried sick by his bedside... And Avery's body began to change... he couldn't explain what was happening, his senses were sharper, noises were hurting his ears and the rage...oh the rage...it was just too much to keep in... After a fight with his dad turned violent, Avery knew he needed to go, seek help, he had just hurt one the men he loved the most in the whole world, he was changing, becoming something he didn't like, he hurt his family! The rage was taking over and it felt not even working on his music was helping, not like before. So Avery left, to work on himself and figure out what he was becoming...living in Greywood for the past month helped him figure out what was happening, and now Avery hopes to find others like him, others that can help him gain the control over his powers he needs. Because there's no way he's coming back to his family and risk hurting them again... Or even wrose...

“what power did he attain when settling in greywood?”

None.

penned by... sandy

#town rp #mature rp #oc rp #supernatural rp #horror rp #literate rp #taken #werewolf #rory culkin fc #abandonment tw #anger issues tw #bullying tw #violence tw #alcohol tw #car accident tw #hit and run tw #attack tw #injury tw #hospital tw

5 notes · View notes

umbrellacam · 11 days

Text

sure would be nice. if people could debunk a dumb exaggerated/incorrect fanon without people immediately turning it 180° and happily hauling ass right into another dumb exaggerated/incorrect fanon. while gleefully crowing about how canon and correct this opposite take is.

sure would be nice 🙃

#tw salt #tw negativity #venting #I'm crying the reactionary takes are just as bad 😭😭😭#to be clear people can do whatever they want in fandom #we are here ultimately to play with Barbie dolls in whatever way makes our brain go brrrrrrrr #and that is not going to look the same for everyone and we just gotta deal with that #what drives me BONKERS is when people confidently assert their sometimes Extremely Fanon takes as Canon #when every word they type is blaring through a megaphone “I don't know what I'm talking about! :D”#“No I haven't read the relevant comics! :D”#“Everything I think I know I learned from sad woobie fanfic and batfam tiktok and out of context panels from different continuities! :D"#“I am 200% confident in this info and will spread it around as a Subject Matter Expert! :D”#I'll happily run across some funny post with more canon-based characterizations and relationships #and browse through the reblogs only to be slugged in the face by “funny! but AK-SHULLY canon would be that [COMPLETELY INCORRECT FANON] 🤓”#let me have PEACE #going back and deleting a bunch of tag snark about specific examples before hitting post #actually I'll leave just one because it's what set me off #“Dick was a hostile resentful asshole to Jason as Robin and they had a terrible relationship before Jason died!”#versus #“Dick and Robin!Jay were sooooo brothers! just the brothers of all time & the model all later batsibling relationships were based on! <333”#*me taking 4d10 psychic damage from both attacks*#Cam posts

5 notes · View notes

razzle-zazzle · 6 months

Text

Whumptober Day 18: i tend to deflect when i'm feeling threatened

Tortured for Information + "Hit them harder."

3554 Words; Pearl & Seaglass

TW for kidnapping, torture, blood, injury

AO3 ver

Lizzie came to slowly.

Lizzie came to to the sound of wood creaking, a vague sense of nausea filling her throat before she registered anything else. Her head ached, some unseen force squeezing it like a vice. She tasted bile in the back of her mouth.

The last thing she remembered was the dance in the plaza, Gisu and Dion staring at each other with so much sap that Lizzie feared they might get stuck on it. Which, yeah, Lizzie was happy that her friend had someone who’d look at her like she hung the moon and stars, but it didn’t explain how Lizzie got here.

Here being… well, Lizzie couldn’t be certain, but it felt like a ship. The subtle rock of the room, the smell of the sea seeping in from somewhere behind her, the soft sound of waves against the hull if she strained her ears past the sound of footsteps above her—

Yeah, Lizzie was on a ship. Hopefully it wasn’t out over open water, but Lizzie doubted she’d be that lucky. She still didn’t know how she’d gone from lingering at the edge of a crowd on dry land to being tied to a chair on a seafaring vessel—which was probably what worried her most, that lack of knowledge. Not knowing the who or why put her at a severe disadvantage. Couple that with the vulnerability of being tied to a chair and missing most of her charms—she could no longer feel the protective enchantments she’d worked so hard to gather—and Lizzie was more worried than she’d like to admit.

The ship itself was well-built, she could tell that much. The room she was in had a heavy wooden door—this ship likely had multiple rooms, which meant it was big. And the big boats belonged to the powerful people.

It likely wasn’t an Explorer Corps ship, either—the Zanottos’ company didn’t randomly kidnap people. And the room was void of any of their usual iconography.

That only left a few possibilities. Either Lizzie had been drafted for the Navy in the weirdest way possible, or it was one of the few people rich enough to own a large ship like this.

Lizzie was still testing her bonds—her hands were bound behind her, but she could move her fingers, so if she could just get enough leverage—when footsteps outside the door caught her attention. She heard the lock slowly turn and click, and then the door swung open slowly.

Three different people walked in—

All of Lizzie’s thoughts came to a halt as she recognized the sharply dressed man in the middle of the group. Oh, she had never met him personally, but his face was everywhere—as was his caviar and roe business, which had been trying to buy the Explorer Corps’ ships for the past several months. Lizzie couldn’t not recognize the weasel of a man before her, in his gaudy tailcoat and captain’s hat, shrewd eyes staring her down.

It was still a surprise, though. Why was she tied up on a ship belonging to Gristol Malik, of all people?

The other two people were unknown to Lizzie—she recognized the person on the right as a mage, though, the embroidery on their robe a web of protective sigils. Lizzie thought to her own missing charms and a twinge of jealousy flashed through her.

But the person on the left…

Lizzie had never seen an Inquisitor in person, but the pin on their coat was unmistakable. This wasn’t good. This really wasn’t good.

Okay, Lizzie, you got this, she told herself. Play it cool. Whatever they ask, you don’t know anything. She could do this. She could do this.

Gristol regarded her primly, hands folded behind his back. “Young lady,” He started, and oh, Lizzie did not like that form of address, “Do you know why you’re here?”

Lizzie shrugged. Play it cool. She could do that. “No.” She could guess, but she didn’t feel like playing any games.

Gristol huffed. “You have information that I want.” He groused, “And I’m going to get my answers one way or another.”

Lizzie stared him down. Gristol’s rivalry with Truman was well-known—Gristol’s attempts to buy out the Explorer Corps had been going on long enough to become part of the local gossip. Whatever Gristol wanted to know about the Explorer Corps, whatever information he thought he could get from her—he wasn’t getting it. Lizzie would rather die than betray the Explorer Corps like that. Especially with an Inquisitor involved—though this one was likely on private contract.

At Lizzie’s continued silence, Gristol frowned. He turned to the mage and muttered something about translation spells.

Lizzie continued to stare at him. She wasn’t stupid—and she wasn’t going to squeal, either.

The mage muttered back, shifting nervously. After a few moments of whispered conversation, they stepped forwards, pulling out a scroll.

A spell scroll! An actual spell scroll! Oh, what Lizzie wouldn’t give to get her hands on an honest-to-gods spell scroll. Actually learning spells was far superior, sure, but it wasn’t about the spells—spell scrolls were only available to accomplished mages, not witches in training who still got treated like little girls by the guild. Not that Lizzie was bitter, or anything.

The mage read the text, and the scroll burst into flame. Light glowed around Lizzie for a moment, luminous silver that left a cool feeling in her throat. She was almost offended at the waste of a good spell scroll.

“Now then,” Gristol began, “Let’s begin properly.” He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a small object. Lizzie regarded the item in Gristol’s hands suspiciously. He held it out in front of her—

Lizzie’s eyes widened. That was—

Gristol smirked. “Ah, good, you recognize this. Can you tell me what it is?”

It was a shell, Lizzie knew that much. A shimmery spiral shell about as big as her palm, with blue bands all along the spiral. There was something carved at the opening, a set of symbols that Lizzie didn’t recognize. It had shown up on her desk the morning prior, with no explanation.

That was all Lizzie knew, though. And she wasn’t going to say anything, anyway.

“This,” Gristol continued, seemingly unbothered by Lizzie’s continued silence, “Is a boon. Boons come in a variety of forms, as I’m sure you’re aware.” He turned the shell over in his hands. “But this is no regular boon.” Gristol tilted the shell so that the symbols carved into the opening caught the light of the oil lamp. “This boon was made by mermaids.” He spoke like it was some dramatic revelation—and on some level, Lizzie supposed it was. But she kept her expression as neutral as she could, even as her mind began to race.

“You got this from someone.” Gristol said. “And I want to know who.”

Lizzie glared at him. “No.”

Gristol sniffed, turning his nose up haughtily. He gestured to the Inquisitor. “Make her talk.” He ordered, stepping back.

The Inquisitor pulled a small dagger out of her jacket. Lizzie had only a moment to register a flame-shaped pommel and red-dyed leather around the hilt before the tip of the blade touched the exposed skin of her collarbone—

Pain!

Fire lanced through her veins until the blade was withdrawn. Lizzie’s chest heaved, the ropes digging into her from her thrashing. She’d avoided screaming, barely, but ow.

Lizzie hissed. Ugh, enchanted blades always seemed so cool until she was at the sharp end.

“Now that you see what being obstinate gets you, are you ready to cooperate?” Gristol’s voice was as slimy as the caviar his company sold. Lizzie wished she could punch him.

Lizzie wheezed, waiting until her chest stopped heaving to speak. “Nope.” Her voice came out strained, but spite was powering her now—she’d drag this out until the cows came home if she had to.

Gristol’s face turned to the color of puce. He turned to the mage. “Do something.” He urged, in what was technically a whisper but was audible to Lizzie all the same.

The mage floundered. “What do you want me to do?” They whispered back, still perfectly audible to Lizzie.

“What about a truth spell?” Gristol whispered. “Why didn’t we start with that?”

“I don’t have the ingredients for that, sir.” the mage responded, “And while it might compel her to speak, and would certainly force her to be honest, she could still remain silent with enough force of will.”

“Then what do I pay you for?” Gristol whisper-shouted. “Can’t you be useful?”

Lizzie struggled not to laugh. What a joke. The Inquisitor was doing a good job of ignoring the whisper-argument happening next to her, her expression betraying nothing. So she was the real deal. That’d be pretty cool if it wasn’t Lizzie who was being interrogated. And if Inquisitors weren’t primarily agents of the powerful bourgeoisie or the government.

The enchanted blade was sick as hell, though. Even though it was a torture instrument.

Eventually, Gristol huffed. “Go stand in the corner and be useless, then.” He hissed, before turning back to Lizzie.

“You have two options.” He said, folding his hands behind his back once again. “Either you tell me where you got that boon, and I reward you for your compliance, or—” His eyes narrowed, his voice dropping into an ominous tone, “if you continue to defy me, then I will simply rip the answers out of you.” He grinned, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “I get what I want either way, girl, so I would suggest you become more agreeable.”

Lizzie snorted. Yeah, right. If that shell had come from a mer, then that was all the more reason to not tell Gristol anything—not that Lizzie would sell out anyone to this man. Not even her worst enemy.

Gristol scowled at her continued silence. He nodded to the Inquisitor—

Lizzie’s breath cut off as the knife dug into her skin, fire cutting through her like a million burning knives. She struggled to breathe past the pain, past the burning burning burning crawling under her skin.

The knife withdrew. A warm trickle of blood dripped down Lizzie’s chest.

Spots danced behind her eyes, her head pounding. She glared Gristol down, her mouth clenched shut. He could have her stabbed as many times as he wanted, she was not talking. Not to him.

“Again.” Gristol ordered, as a fresh wave of burning shot through Lizzie. “As many times as it takes.” He added.

Lizzie thrashed against her restraints, trying her best to keep her cool. The Inquisitor attacked her shoulder, now, pressing the flat of the blade against the skin until the smell of burnt flesh filled Lizzie’s nose. Still, Lizzie refused to scream.

“Keep at it.” Gristol decided. He turned to the mage. “Figure out what you need for a truth spell, and don’t come back until you have one.” They wasted no time in leaving the room, and Gristol made his way to the now-open door. He turned to Lizzie one last time. “I pray you’re in a better mood when I return.”

The door slammed shut behind him, leaving Lizzie alone with the Inquisitor. She regarded Lizzie carefully, squeezing the hilt of her dagger.

Lizzie glared back.

“If simple pain won’t do the trick,” the Inquisitor mused, “Then I will simply have to wear you down.” The Inquisitor grabbed Lizzie’s face in a gloved hand, squeezing hard enough to bruise. Her grip was iron. “Hold still.”

Lizzie squirmed. The Inquisitor tsked, shifted her grip ever-so-slightly, and gently drew the tip of the blade down Lizzie’s cheek, just beside her thumb.

Lizzie gasped at the pain, her eyes widening. But she didn’t scream.

“This would be easier if you weren’t tied to a chair,” The Inquisitor groused. “But I dislike easy.” She tipped Lizzie’s face back, forcing Lizzie to look at the ceiling. The heat of the blade disappeared from her face, then, and Lizzie struggled to free herself from the Inquisitor’s grip to follow it—

The blade stabbed into her thigh. Pain burning hot scorching pain pain pain exploded in Lizzie’s leg, and her breath hitched. She breathed out a strained hiss, but she didn’t scream. She wouldn’t.

The blade swiped over her thigh, cutting through both her pants and her skin. Lizzie gasped, but she didn’t scream.

Another cut. Another swallowed scream.

The Inquisitor growled, letting go of Lizzie’s face. Lizzie struggled to breathe around the pain, her face smarting and her leg aching. There was dried blood on her collarbone. When she looked down at her leg, she could see three shallow cuts, and one deep wound. Blood was starting to trickle down her leg.

Another cut, made while the Inquisitor rifled through her pockets with her other hand. Lizzie panted, exhaustion starting to creep into her edges. But she didn’t scream.

The Inquisitor pulled out a vial, the glass shimmering in the lamplight. She popped the cork out with her thumb, and tilted to vial over Lizzie’s cuts—

Lizzie screamed.

+=+=+=+=+

Gristol returned with the mage in tow.

The truth spell didn’t take long to cast, and Lizzie didn’t have the components for a counterspell. She didn’t even have the energy—the acid in her cuts had sapped most of her strength.

Still, she grit her teeth. She couldn’t tell Gristol anything if she didn’t speak at all.

The room was starting to spin when Gristol next held up the shell. “Where did you get this? Who did you get it from?”

Lizzie glared. Words gathered in her throat. She swallowed them down—though not without effort.

The blade pressed against her thigh, and Lizzie yelped.

“I don’t know!” She blurted out, much to her own horror. No no no—don’t talk, don’t talk, stop talking.

Gristol became puce once again. “What do you mean, you don’t know?” He demanded, his voice coming out in a screech.

Lizzie stared him down, even as the answer bubbled to the surface in her mind. She didn’t know—she wasn’t even sure that mer were real. Oh, sure, she’d heard legends, and the shell certainly seemed real, but she’d never met one—not to her knowledge.

Gristol took a breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. “The things I do for good caviar…” He muttered. Lizzie felt her hatred for him rise another notch.

“Think, girl.” Gristol urged. “Surely you at least suspect where this boon came from.” He leaned in closer, and Lizzie fought to keep her head through the dizziness. “Someone had to have given it to you, and that someone must think very highly of you.” He leaned back, tapping his chin contemplatively. “Perhaps some friend of yours? One who does not live here, but who still passes through?” He turned and paced a little bit. “Someone accomplished in magic—they’d have to be, to be a mer in disguise.” He looked at Lizzie, his face seeming to melt into the slow spin of the room around her. “Who gave you this boon?”

Lizzie didn’t know. The only people she was close enough to were Morris, who had lived in this town longer than Lizzie had; Norma, her literal sister; Sam, who was certainly an anomaly but whose family lived further inland than Lizzie’s; and—

Realization hit Lizzie like a horse had kicked her. There was only one person she could have gotten the mysterious shell from—no, there were two.

It made so much sense. Too much sense. No wonder Gisu always had rare ingredients from the ocean—she lived there. Lizzie had always thought that Gisu was a good diver, that the reason she came and went by ship—though that was probably a lie, now that Lizzie thought about it—was so that she could get her hands on the sea’s bounties. But no, Gisu had those things, those rare spells that Lizzie had never heard of before, that knowledge of the ocean because she was a mer.

And if Gisu was a mer…

Gisu was careful about what she told Lizzie. Never gave away too much. So it didn’t seem likely for her to just leave a dead giveaway like the boon—not without an explanation, at least. Which meant that it could have only come from one person.

The sting of magic pricked at Lizzie’s brain. Oh, fuck.

“I’ve got a face.” The mage said, the magic fading from their hands.

Gristol beamed. “Excellent!” He turned to the Inquisitor, pulling out a small bag. “Your payment.” He tossed the bag to her. It was a clear dismissal; the Inquisitor left without another word.

With that, Gristol turned back to the door, pocketing the shell once again. “Prepare a counterspell for transformations,” he ordered, as the mage hurried to follow behind him. Before the door closed, Lizzie heard Gristol’s ecstatic “I’m getting a mer!” as he skipped down the hall and out of view.

The door slammed shut. Lizzie trembled, her head spinning.

Gisu was a mer. Gisu lived in the ocean and probably had the entire time that Lizzie had known her. Gisu had been lying to her—

No. No, that was stupid. Of course Gisu never told her, the girl had trust issues a mile wide. And it didn’t matter where Gisu was from or what she was—she was Lizzie’s friend. Gills and fins wouldn’t change that.

And if Gisu was a mer, then that meant that Dion probably was, too. That would explain the general… everything about him, honestly. From the anxiety to the unfamiliarity with everyday conventions. Lizzie had attributed it to him being a foreign prince—and in a way, Lizzie supposed he probably was—he was just from a more aquatic kingdom than she was thinking.

Lizzie needed to get out of here. She needed to get out of here so she could get to Gisu and Dion because she needed to warn them—

Getting out of here was easier said than done, though. Lizzie had been left to her own devices, sure, but she was still tied to this chair.

The ropes were loose in some places, though, and Lizzie could faintly smell the scent of burned rope. If her whole body didn’t feel like overcooked meat, then maybe she could wriggle free. But exhaustion weighed her down, the sting of her cuts making her arms heavy.

Right. Only one thing to do, then.

Quietly, trying not to alert anyone who might be outside the door, Lizzie spoke. It was a spell that Gisu had taught her, back when they had first met—and more importantly, all it required was a fuel source. The blood trickling from Lizzie’s cuts would be enough.

“Vanish.” Lizzie urged. She felt the burn of magic on her arms—

The world complied. The ropes around her disappeared—so did the chair, bursting into dust.

Lizzie fell to the floor with a thunk. Ooookay, maybe she overdid it. But nothing else appeared to be missing, so now all she had to do was get out of here unseen. She rose to her feet on less-than-steady legs—fuck, she’d need to do something about those wounds if she wanted to get anywhere.

She had none of her protective charms. All of the healing spells she knew required ingredients she didn’t have.

“Oh, damn it all.” Lizzie yanked off her jacket and pulled off her shirt. She threw the jacket back on, grabbed her shirt, and tore. She didn’t have the resources for any healing spells, but, as she whispered reinforcement into the strips of fabric—she could still brace herself against the pain.

Her legs were still unsteady when she was done, but at least she’d be able to walk without limping (much).

Gristol had left the door unlocked. Lizzie pushed it open slowly, keeping an ear out for passing footsteps.

The hall was empty.

Carefully, one hand braced against the wall, Lizzie made her way towards the stairs. She could hear people moving about on the deck above her—someone came down the stairs, and Lizzie just barely managed to duck into a side room in time.

“Captain says we gotta get the nets ready.” They said. Lizzie didn’t hear the response, both sets of steps disappearing down the hall.

Fuck.

How the hell was she going to get off this ship at this rate? She couldn’t just walk across the deck in broad daylight.

Or… morninglight, actually, looking at the porthole across the room. The sun had cleared the horizon, but not by a whole lot.

Wait.

Lizzie crept past the bunks in the room and examined the porthole. It was just big enough to fit through, and the latch wasn’t hard to figure out. She pushed it open.

Carefully, Lizzie poked her head outside, glancing around.

The water below was dark, reflecting the light of the rising sun. The ship she was on was still moored in the harbor—Lizzie could see the docks towards the bow—so Lizzie wouldn’t have far to swim. Hopefully.

The water was going to be cold. Lizzie didn’t have her charms to protect her—but she knew how to swim, and she was good at it, too.

(Would she still be good with injured legs? With exhaustion clinging to her bones?)

There was no other choice. Lizzie needed to get out of here, and get to Gisu. She needed to warn her friend.

Lizzie inhaled, steeled herself, and took the plunge.

#whumptober2023 #no.18 #tortured for information #''hit them harder.''#psychonauts #zaz writes #kidnapping tw #torture tw #blood tw #injury tw #pearl & seaglass au #lizzie natividad #gristol malik #uh oh! gristol has the shell!!#this one takes place before day 11 ofc #sorry lizzie #but hey! she's no squealer!!#yeah gristol doesn't play fair but at least lizzie holds out pretty long #if it was just him and the mage she would have been running circles around him

6 notes · View notes