#with a broken family- now is in a group where he genuinely cares about these kids as if they're his family

[sylhea-raemi]

yknow what's funny when it's samatoki with the teen trio (ichinemukuu) he gives off older brother vibe but when it's sasara he feels like a dad or an uncle LMAO😭

#i may have modified sasara too much in my mind 😭😭😭😭😭 #like it's just funny samatoki is canonically an older brother and ichikuu sees him as not only an equal comrade but also nemu's brother #so in their mind he js an older brother #sasara however does not have any siblings and truthfully acts sillier than samatoki #but with how sasara keeps everyone under control is like a parent yelling at their child #when they're the one calling out sasara it's always about his jokes and how ass they arw. it's always about how weird he is as he act silly #but when it's sasara dealing with them it's always when they're in trouble or in a bizzare situation LMAO #he's mostly dealing with samatoki but there's also kuko's chaoticness. we don't see much of sasara and ichiro but with how reckless ichiro #used to be back then sasara's also bound to have a headache LMAO #nemu is his favorite child just because thwy get along really well whenever they meet #that's bevause they rarely meet and when they do it's a short time #of they're with each other for like #longer than a week? or everytime? they'd definitely argue about something lmao😭 #saneyoku au sasara can't say he have someone he get a long best with someone because he gets along with everyone on a fair amount #but all of them are equally a headache to him LOL but still in this au i want him to care so much more..... someone who was a lonely child #with a broken family- now is in a group where he genuinely cares about these kids as if they're his family #i am quite basically modifying stuff foe the sake of self-indulgent #smcd is so fun and i still love them so dearly #but the snyk in my head will not leave no matter what i do 💀💀💀💀💀 #aus that have sasara caring so so so much are great no matter what it is

[yourfatherlucifer]

Our Aurora : Chapter 2

Poly!Ot8!Ateez x Afab/Female!Reader

Summary: Attending university with your eight boyfriends wasn’t easy, neither was sharing a mansion with them.

Warnings: MDNI, this mini series includes tons of smut, slight violence, protective ateez, poly relationship, established relationship, mentions of mxm, choking, other smut themes.

bullying and violence for this chapter.

WC: 1.5k

AU: University

Genre: Smut/fluff

Nets: @newworldnet

Tags: @deltamoon666 @watermelon2319 @justconniez @a-teez-4-exo @mingtinysworld @certifiedmoa @kittkat44 @sanhwalvr @spenceatiny18 @vtyb23 @sousydive @haebaragisworld @yourallaround-simp @therealcuppicake @ja3hwa (please make sure I can tag you in your settings)

SERIES MASTERLIST

The morning sun beamed in your eyes, you tried to move away from the direct sunlight but strong arms held you back from moving. When you opened your eyes you saw that it was Mingi holding you.

Right, he fell asleep with you after your bath last night. You turned your head to look at his sleeping face. He was at peace.

He was happier these days, happier than ever. More than he was when he had met you. Mingi was at his lowest then, his heart was aching. His brain was telling him horrible things. He was the epitome of depression and anxiety.

High school was hard, but to him, it was pure hell. Even as a big guy, he was still bullied, he was in pain. He had no one. He had no friends. You’d see him in the halls, he was cute to you. Very cute. Mingi had always worn headphones to block out the other kids.

You never liked your friend group, they were the other rich kids that sort of pulled you with them everywhere just because you were richer. However, they participated in harassing the poor boy. You wanted to stop them but didn’t know what to do.

Until one day, you were trapped in a thunderstorm outside because your ride got caught in the weather. Mingi had been rushing through the storm, clearly crying. He wasn’t watching where he was going and had slipped near you, taking you to the ground with him.

He gasped and scrambled to get off of you, his clothes were sticking to yours because of the rain. You could see the pain in his face, the panic as well. But what you noticed was the black eye. The huge swelling. It angered you. Your so-called friends went too far.

“I’m sorry!” He yelled out over the storm.

You shook your head, “Mingi, please, don’t apologize.”

He froze in his movements, “H..how do you know my name?” He felt the happiness bubbling within him. Someone knew him.

Your ride had finally pulled up, “It doesn’t matter, for now, I’m giving you a ride home,” you crawled from beneath him and pulled him up, which was hard, “Get in, please.”

He stammered over his words but followed you into the backseat, “Thank you..”

-

When you had pulled up to his home, he had realized his family wasn’t home. Typical. They always left him alone, by himself.

“Oh, um..”

You shook your head, “Doesn’t matter, I’ll just take you to my home, my parents are on vacation so I’ll take care of you, okay?”

Mingi’s heart fluttered, however he was terrified. He didn’t know if you were being genuine or if you were gonna trick him.

He sat in silence, fiddling with his ruined headphones, they looked like they were purposely ripped and broken.

“Mingi, did..did they do this to you?” Your eyebrows furrowed in concern. You just knew you’d teach those kids a lesson. They weren’t your friends. How dare they harm someone as sweet as Song Mingi? He never hurt anyone.

His head snapped to face you, “What? No. I-“

“Don’t lie to me.”

“Yeah..they did this. They always do. This is my third pair of headphones this month.” You could see the pure sorrow in his eyes.

Your fingers clenched in anger, “I see.”

When the car pulled into the mansion's front lawn, your driver stepped out of his seat and opened your door for you, “Miss, welcome home. I’ve already let the household staff know about your companion, they have fresh clothes for him.”

“Thank you, Hyunwoo.” You smiled, taking Mingi’s hand to bring him inside. He was so glad his eyes were still puffy from crying, else you would’ve seen his red face.

Never has he had someone care about him so much. He couldn’t help but fall in love. It didn’t help that he already had a crush on you.

Your staff greeted you inside, rushing to help you out of your wet clothes, “Guys, I’ve got it.” You laughed, “Just bring the fresh clothes to my room, I’m gonna get him comfortable.”

You trudged up the stairs, taking the large man with you, “Don’t worry about my staff, my parents like to spoil me too much, they have staff to take care of me when I’m alone. I’m almost 18, you’d think they know I can take care of myself.”

Mingi gave you a small smile, “It’s okay..I may not be used to this, but it’s alright.”

As you pulled him into your room with a smile, “The bathroom is over there, go ahead and get undressed, I’ll bring you fresh clothes. My staff will wash and dry those for you.”

He shyly pulled away from your hand and entered the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. He stood there in confusion. Just how did he get here? With the prettiest girl in his school. He didn’t know she’d be this nice and caring, how could she hang out with such horrible people? He wondered.

You went through your closet and changed into warm pajamas, you’d had to wait to blow dry your hair since Mingi was in the bathroom.

One of your maids knocked on the door and came in, “Here you go, Miss. your companions clothes. Henry was the only one who seemed to have clothes that would possibly fit that boy.” She passed off the clothes to you.

“Thank you. You can go now.” You smiled as she left.

You knocked on the door and Mingi slowly opened the door, peeking his head out, “Thank you.” He took the clothes from you.

You could see a bit of his chest and it looked bad, there were new bruises and healing bruises.

You sighed, they must’ve pushed him over and kicked him. They were gonna pay for this. You didn’t care if Mingi would hate you for taking this into your hands. You just couldn’t stand by while they hurt someone. What if they took it too far and killed him? No, you couldn’t allow it.

He closed the door and put on his new clothes. Just a plain shirt and sweatpants.

“Would you like to stay the night, Mingi? I have several guest rooms if you’d like. I’m sure you don’t want to be alone.” You suggested with a smile from the other side of the door.

Mingi opened the door with a puppy-like smile, he was beginning to feel safe around you.

“Thank you, for everything, Y/N. You’ve been nothing but nice to me and I don’t know how to thank you.” Mingi stared down at his feet.

You stepped up to him, reaching out for his large hand, “It’s okay, there’s no need to thank me. You don’t deserve any of this.

You brought him to your bed and sat down, “Why don’t you get some rest, I’ll go make you something to eat, okay?”

He nodded with a small smile, “Okay.”

-

As days passed, the two of you got closer. He was becoming your one and only friend and you didn’t mind. He managed to avoid his bullies with you around, but one day you weren’t.

You had hurt shouts in the school's courtyard and found a crowd.

Oh no.

You could hear Mingi’s cries for help as no one did anything, they only recorded and laughed.

You were pissed. You threw your bag down and rushed into the crowd. Finding his group of bullies. All you could see was red. Your fist collided with someone’s jaw. This person was kicking Mingi.

“Fuck off of him!” You shouted.

The crowd went silent as your fist repeatedly bashed into the kids face, his nose was bleeding bad but you didn’t care. He hurt Mingi.

“Y/N, please.” Mingi cried out for you, the bullies already leaving his side to take care of you. But you weren’t having it.

You fought them off with everything you had.

Your fists were hurting, they were covered in blood but you didn’t care whose it was.

From that day forward, no one fucked with you or Mingi. The school didn’t even bother doing anything because your parents were their biggest sponsor.

On the day of your graduation, you had asked Mingi out and he was ecstatic. He was becoming a man. He vowed from the day you saved him that he wouldn’t stop at nothing to protect you.

You had kissed him on the stage and flicked everyone off, a final fuck off to the horrible school you two were leaving.

As the memory faded from your brain, you turned to look at the sleeping Mingi.

You were so glad for the day you met him. He called you his princess yet he was yours. He was the true princess.

“Y/N?” He stirred awake.

“Yes, Mingi?”

“I’m hungry, princess.” His stomach grumbled just right after his words and you both laughed.

“Then let’s go get something to eat, I’m sure the others are home and would like to eat as well.” You just knew Wooyoung would want to cook for you, especially since you were sure they all knew what happened with Hongjoong fucking you so hard.

Together, you left to go downstairs, happily and in love.

#our aurora #ateez x reader #ateez smut #hongjoong smut #san x reader #x reader #choi san x reader #seonghwa smut #yeosang smut #mingi x reader #yeosang x reader #seonghwa x reader #yunho x reader #yunho smut #jongho x reader #jongho smut #hongjoong x reader

[bluebeary-jay]

scattered thoughts / sharp focus

Joel Miller x f!Reader

Summary: Joel is taken away from you and upon finding him almost-dead... something in you snaps ((kinda part 2 to clouded judgment / clear mind, but you don't necessarily need to read that one))

Tags: ANGST, angst with happy ending, near death experiences, Joel has surprisingly little screen time but you'll see he was there in spirit

Warnings: REALLY graphic descriptions of violence, small panic attacks, KINDA torture(?) 😳, choking, lemme know if i missed something

Word count: 7.5K

A/N: i can't believe i've finally finished it! i aimed for a worthy successor to cj/cm aaand i hope i managed but jeez was it hard. also i told myself i won't be writing sth like that again but i kinda have an idea for the final part (would be hurt/comfort 🤭) so let me know if it's sth you'd like to read. anyway as always happy reading!! 💕🥰 comments and reblogs are greatly appreciated, i absolutely love seeing what you think of my fics!

𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟

You swallowed your tears and rested the chin on your hands, trying to push back the wave of panic threatening to drown you.

“Tell me again.”

Tommy sighed, his own eyes empty and worried.

“I don’t know who those guys were, but they obviously knew Joel. There was a dark man leadin’ them, and I think he had somethin’ wrong with his lip, but it was too far for me to take a good look. The group consisted of five, maybe six people? And I shot one of them, but he appeared to still be alive when they were leavin’.”

You were silent for a couple of seconds, trying to make sense of it all.

“And where did they take him?”

“I reckon to the old ski resort on the top of the mountain. We ventured pretty far from here to investigate these tracks.”

You nodded and steeled yourself, taking a deep, trembling breath and quickly drying your tears.

“Okay. I’m going.”

“You’re not.” Maria leaned over the table, her expression unyielding. “The decision is final.”

“I am going,” you repeated fiercely, slamming the flat of your hand against the tabletop, but Tommy gave you a stern look, which made you bite your tongue. “Look, I get that you don’t want to lose even more people in a rescue mission–”

“This is not what it’s about,” Maria retorted, almost looking hurt by your words. “Believe me, if I wasn’t carrying another human being inside me, I’d already be going after them. But you have to take other things into consideration.”

“She’s right,” Tommy spoke up quietly, though equally irritably, and you turned sharply to look at him in disbelief. “The route to the resort is very advantageous to fall into an ambush. They could shoot us off like ducks and we’d have nowhere to hide.”

“I don’t care,” you ground out, looking from one to the other. “We can’t leave Joel. He’s your family, for goddamn–”

“You think I don’t know that?!” shouted Tommy abruptly, bringing his hand down onto the table, too. “He’s my fucking brother and was family way before you were even born!”

“Tommy.” Maria kicked him under the table, keeping one hand on her belly. Her husband flared his nostrils, clearly agitated by your words, but you were too angry yourself to care right now. You two glared at each other for some time before Tommy clenched his fists and turned around.

“M’goin’ to get some air,” he said gloomily over his shoulder, already at the door leading outside. Maria sighed and looked at you again.

“Please. Don’t do anything stupid, and I swear I’ll send a group out as soon as this blizzard ends.”

“He can be long dead by then,” you answered gravely, really set off by Tommy’s reaction and his words. You tried to will your tear ducts to hold any signs of stress and worry, not wanting to show your friend how broken and helpless you felt inside. “If it was me, he’d already be halfway there to save me, Maria.”

“I know. But just think about it. If something happens to you…” She shook her head. “How do you think I’d be able to look Joel in the eyes and explain why… how…”

She genuinely seemed at a loss of words, and you sighed, rubbing your eyes tiredly.

“I understand where you’re coming from, I really do. But I need to get him home, Maria. I have to.”

With that, you stood up, feeling like you were going to suffocate if you stayed in the room any longer. You didn’t look back even when you heard Maria calling your name softly.

There wasn’t any sense in discussing the matter with any of them – you made up your mind to go and save Joel and there was no way anyone would make you stay. He wouldn’t hesitate to go and get you if anyone dared to lay a hand on you.

You remembered that one time when he killed a group of men who wanted to use you as a bargaining chip to gain entry to Jackson. And how afterward you told him you’d do the same for him, unable to bear the painful and guilty expression on his face.

Now you planned on doing just that.

You were scared – of course you were, you weren’t stupid – and the nerves were practically eating you alive, gnawing at your bones and hurting your muscles from the inside out.

But the worst was the fear of never seeing Joel again. Of something happening to him. And you couldn’t live with yourself if you didn’t at least try…

“I’m coming with you.”

Your head snapped to the side. There stood Ellie – dressed in a warm jacket and a hat that didn’t cover her ears. Her eyes were full of fire, and you recognized the anger and determination in her expression as the same which were almost suffocating you.

Of course she was eavesdropping on the conversation. It was Joel that it was about, after all, her dad in all but one sense.

And suddenly you understood what Maria meant by not being able to look Joel in the eyes if something happened to you.

“No,” you said curtly, walking past her and out onto the street in the direction of your house.

“I’m not asking for permission.” Ellie was right behind you, and the force of her steps showed just how angry and frustrated she was – just like you felt. “I know you’re gonna go after those guys, and I’m coming with you.”

“You’re not,” you repeated more sternly, not turning around to face her. You reached your house and fumbled to open the door. “You’re staying and that’s fina–”

You stopped yourself and sighed, pressing your forehead against the wooden surface.

It was unfair. You were unfair. If those exact words spoken by Maria have set you off so much, you wouldn’t be surprised if Ellie…

“You’re not my fucking mom, remember?” the girl barked angrily, and you let out a shuddering breath, stressed to your limits with everything that happened in the last few hours. “You can’t tell me what I can and can’t do just because you’re older!”

It’s okay. It’s gonna be fine. Everything is gonna be okay.

“I know,” you whispered after a couple of seconds of silence, still not turning around. “I’m sorry.”

Ellie didn’t answer. You repeated your quiet mantra and glanced over your shoulder at her. “But Ellie, I… I can’t let you go. Joel would never forgive me if something happened to you.”

Jesus. Exactly like Maria.

Ellie still looked pissed at your earlier words, and she crossed her arms over her chest.

“Well, you’re not the only one who cares about him, you know?”

“Yeah, I know. But you’re the one he cares about the most.”

Ellie opened her mouth. Closed it and furrowed her eyebrows, but the irritation in her eyes dimmed. You gave her a small, apologetic smile, trying not to burst into tears.

“He’s gonna be fine, you know,” you lied smoothly, opening the door. “And Maria said she’ll send a group to retrieve him as soon as the storm eases up a bit.”

You didn’t even need to look to know that she didn’t believe you. To be honest, you wouldn’t believe yourself either in this situation.

You waited several seconds to see if the girl wanted to say something else, but after a few moments she spun on her heel and went back, not saying anything. You stared after her, but when the thick snow made her figure just a fuzzy shape, you gently closed the door and pressed the heels of your hands to your eyes.

It’s going to be fine. You’ll get Joel back and all will be okay.

You took a couple of deep – albeit shaky – breaths to pull yourself together, and when you were pretty sure you weren’t about to start crying, you made your way into the kitchen. And stopped short.

At your table sat Tommy, fiddling with his thumbs.

“Fuck, Tommy,” you mumbled, trying to calm down your pounding heart. “You scared the crap out of me.”

The younger Miller looked up, but stayed silent. You looked at each other for a few tense moments, but ultimately you sighed and left him in the kitchen, going to your room to get a backpack and another, more fitting, set of clothes.

He was still there when you returned to the kitchen with your stuff, but you didn’t even pretend you weren’t preparing to head out. The man watched silently as you put the backpack down by the door, went to retrieve and reload your gun, and gathered some essentials on the table, not once glancing in his direction.

You were persistent in ignoring Tommy’s presence, but then he finally spoke up.

“We can go before dawn. I’ll get the horses ready and we will take the fourth gate.”

You froze and stopped what you were doing, then turned around and placed your hand on your hip.

“We can’t take horses up there. Not in this weather.”

“We’ll leave them at the fifteenth checkmark. That place in the East where there are so many swallows durin’ spring.”

You nodded, and your gaze softened when you looked him over. Tommy was just as worried about Joel as you were, you knew it. He was just better at hiding it.

“I’m sorry for what I said,” you murmured, feeling terrible that in such a short amount of time, it was a second person you were apologizing to. “But you know I have to go after him. You know that.”

“Fuck,” he swore quietly, sighing. “Yeah, I know. There’s no way I ain’t goin’ either. Just… I just hate doing somethin’ behind Maria’s back.”

You didn’t answer – because what could you say? That he didn’t have to go with you? As much as you wanted to save Joel, pretending not to care about the dangers or anyone’s opinion, you knew you’d probably die if you went alone. But it didn’t mean you were going to ignore all that Tommy was risking by coming along with you.

“You don’t have to, Tommy,” you whispered. “You have your wife to think about, after all. And your–”

“I know,” he interrupted glumly. “Don’t worry. All of us will come back.”

You nodded. You really hoped he was right.

*****

At first, everything was going according to plan.

At least, until Ellie decided to show up.

She surprised both you and Tommy a couple of miles outside of Jackson, probably thinking that it was far enough that you won’t try to send her away.

You tried anyway. You were understandably furious, not only because she didn’t listen to you, but also that she trailed after you both for so long in this weather. Her reveal caused a short screaming match and a couple of nervous tears shed by you, but eventually you and Tommy decided it’d be more dangerous to make Ellie go back to Jackson alone. So she continued with you to the house where you left your horses, then past it and in the direction of the ski resort.

You didn’t know how many people were at the resort, and there were only the two of you – well, three, counting Ellie, but no matter her stubbornness, you weren’t going to let her go in – and an attack was too risky in this situation.

So you decided to sneak in. To distract and draw the kidnappers’ attention long enough for you to get Joel out.  It was still stupidly risky, but it wasn’t like there were much more options that wouldn’t end in those guys killing all of you. The plan was that Tommy would find a vantage point and be on guard to take down any threats with his sniper rifle if you were noticed, while you go get Joel.

Ellie… Ellie didn’t take no for an answer. And as much as you hated that she tagged along on this dangerous rescue mission, you had to admit that she came prepared. Apparently some time ago Joel taught her how to make trap mines and she pitched the idea of planting some up the mountain to create an avalanche.

Well, you and Tommy were both very much against setting off a full-blown avalanche, but it wasn’t a bad idea per se. So it was agreed that Tommy will help her set the bombs in some strategic places while you wait for a signal to go in.

The sneaking in part was surprisingly easy. The people staying there didn’t leave any guards outside, probably because they didn’t expect that someone would actually look for them in this weather, and it seemed that there weren’t that many of them inside like you feared. You had a vague idea where Joel might be, based on the positioning of the people present, so you reckoned it’ll be the wisest to wait nearby.

It took about an hour of hiding in one of the empty rooms (you had to change your hiding spot once, because someone decided to randomly sweep the perimeter) before you heard distant explosions and panicked, angry yells, and then a rumble of the mountain. You suspected a fair amount of snow was falling down the slope, and you prayed that Ellie and Tommy were in a safe place when that happened.

You heard the sound of footsteps getting further away. Then more of it. It was eerily silent, and you counted to ten in your head, before slowly exiting your hiding spot.

Just as you suspected, Joel was held in the lobby, tied to one of the decorative columns, and even though his back was to you, you’d recognize him anywhere, even by hands or the back of his head alone. A quick glance around the room confirmed that there was no one around, but still you preferred to stay on guard. You silently tip-toed to where he was sitting on the floor, mindful of all the debris scattered on the floor and keeping your head low, and breathed a sigh of relief when you finally reached him.

“Don’t move,” you whispered, barely moving your lips. Your fingers touched his wrist and he budged slightly. You angled your face closer to the left side of his head, hoping he’ll hear you better this way. “It’s me, Joel. I’m gonna get these off you, okay?”

Not waiting for the reply, you took out your knife and started to cut the thick, coarse rope binding Joel’s wrists. You winced at the burns underneath, but you managed not to cut him, which was a feat with how tight the ropes were. He was very still, probably not wanting to handicap you.

“Okay,” you whispered when the last of the thick strands were cut through, and you carefully slid the remnants of the rope from his wrists. “Now follow me, Tommy is…”

Your voice died down when Joel’s arms loosely slumped down, along with his head, and a second later his torso started tilting to the side before heavily hitting the ground.

Your heart stopped in your chest.

“No.” The whispered word escaped you when you hurried around him, now not caring about staying hidden. “No, no, no, please…”

You rolled Joel onto his back and only now saw the damage done to him – his nose broken, face covered in blood, a gash under his left ear, and a still bleeding gunshot wound in his arm. He didn’t look dead, didn’t have that lifeless emptiness around him, but his eyes were closed and his chest was still. You put your ear to his mouth, desperate to feel his breath on your skin, but…

No, it can’t be, it can’t…

You couldn’t feel anything.

“Joel,” you said quietly, taking his face between your hands, but tears were blurring your vision. “Come on, please open your eyes.” A choked sob broke out of your throat and you shook your head when he still didn’t even as much as stir. “Love, please…”

That’s when your eyes landed on a small, glass vial lying discarded some feet away. You looked from it to Joel, tears clouding your vision, and scrambled forward to check it out.

As you suspected, the syringe – because that’s what it turned out to be – had the traces of a thick, translucent liquid in it left. There wasn’t any writing on it, but the glass was clean, unlike various other bottles and wrappings scattered throughout the facility. You stared at it for a couple of seconds, then fixed your gaze on Joel again.

Just as the sound of footsteps started to echo down the hall.

You froze and strained your ears to make sure you didn’t imagine it, then took a look around the room. The doors were slightly ajar, but whoever was coming here, they couldn’t see you just yet. Panic seized your insides and you turned to Joel again.

“Sweetheart, please wake up,” you whispered pleadingly, shaking his shoulders and slapping his cheek lightly. “Come on, look at me, open your eyes…"

The steps were getting louder by the second. You tore the glove off your hand with your teeth and tried to very quickly check Joel’s pulse, but either in your panic you couldn’t find it, or the heartbeat was too slow for you to pick up.

You didn’t consider any other option.

There wasn’t much time left, so finally you left him and quietly went to hide behind the door, waiting for the incomer to walk in. Your hand reached for the gun on your belt.

And paused.

There couldn’t be any other option… right? Joel was alive, you just failed to find his pulse. He…

He was lying, still in the place you left him, and you couldn’t see his chest moving. The blood was flowing from the wound in his arm, staining his jacket and the floor… Your hand, the one holding the pistol, was covered in it, too…

Then you did something you never expected of yourself.

The gun stayed in its holster, and you went to grab from the ground one of the heavier pieces of debris you noticed before, a long metal pipe. Your hands tightened on the metal, and your eyes stayed on Joel’s lifeless form. You took a stifled, nervous breath. Then a deep, steadying one.

The person in the hall was really close now. Joel still didn’t appear to be moving or breathing, and it made your own chest feel tight and painful.

He couldn’t be dead. He couldn’t.

But if they did this, if… if he won’t ever open his beautiful brown eyes again, say your name in that entricing raspy drawl…

The doors to your right opened and your face twisted in rage and resentment. Your muscles tensed and focus sharpened.

The man who walked through the door made a noise of surprise at the sight of Joel lying on the floor – and that inhaling sound, that maddening noise seemed to taunt you, because how dared he breathe when Joel’s own breath was stolen from him, when you weren’t sure if it was still there – right before you stepped forward and swung the pipe with all your might.

The man – dark skin, with short hair – fell down with a loud cry when the harsh metal hit him right in the temple. Your eyes scanned his figure for a weapon, and you hit him again, this time somewhere near his stomach, when he made a move to reach for his knife.

“What did you give him?!” you asked with malice and venom that were so alien to you, you almost didn’t recognize your voice. The man’s eyes focused on you for the first time when you kicked his blade away, and his confusion turned to anger.

“Crazy bitch!” he spat, heaving for air, and lunged at you, but the open wound in his skull must’ve slowed him down, because without any problem you managed to raise your makeshift weapon before he could grab you.

Since you met him so many years ago, you always had Joel to watch your back. Now you were alone, but somehow that thought didn’t scare you. It exhilarated you.

An unpleasant, hair-rising crack echoed in the room, followed by the stranger’s scream, when the heavy metal smashed the bones in the forearm.

“I asked… a simple, fucking, question!” you snarled at the man, bringing the pipe down again, aiming for his hand this time. He moved it away at the last second, which enraged you even more, so with a mad, frustrated scream, you smashed his knee, using the pipe’s momentum when it bounced off the floor. “What the fuck did you do to him?!!”

He screamed, loudly and terribly, cursing at you with every shaky breath he took, and–

You felt so unlike you, so… out of your skin, somehow… but you wanted to make him suffer. You wanted to know this inhuman cry of pain that was reverberating through the walls of the resort was your doing and your power over this bastard. Because of what they did to Joel.

Then a loud bang rang out in the air, and you instinctively ducked your head when a part of the door to your side was shot off. You dropped the pipe – no use for it now – and drew your gun, noticing with surprise that your heart was steady and your breath even, as if you didn’t almost get shot just now.

Another bullet was sent in your direction, and a woman’s voice yelled something inaudible, while you stood still and counted the seconds.

Three, two…

In a rapid movement, you came out of cover and aimed at the person standing in the hall, firing twice. The first bullet hit the woman in the arm while the second seemed to burrow itself in her stomach. She fell backwards with a curt cry, and the man lying at your feet roared with rage.

“No! You fucking bitch, leave her alone!!”

Your motions were almost automatic as you put your gun away and picked up the metal pipe again, its end splattered with blood. The man in front of you had to see something in your eyes – despair? emptiness? hatred? – because his face fell and he started quietly begging for you to stop and let him go. At least that’s what you assumed he was saying, because you didn’t listen to him one bit.

“Do not…” you started, unexpectedly calmly, bringing the end of the blunt weapon down. The impact caused his shinbone to break, and you lingered for just a moment to hear the bitter cracks of the shattered bones, “fucking… go anywhere. Don’t you dare move, hear me?”

The man didn’t answer, just cursed and wept in pain. The sound was horrible, but you almost didn’t notice it – or more accurately, didn’t care. Which would be even more concerning if you weren’t aware of the woman lying injured in the hall behind the door, and Joel, still unmoving and cold to the touch on the other side of the room.

Slowly, not hearing the black man’s cries or distant gunshots from where Tommy probably was taking down the enemies, and not caring about the blood of a stranger covering your jacket and pants, you dropped the pipe and took out your gun again. Then you made your way down the corridor, your eyes locked on the woman who shot at you.

She was groaning in pain, clutching at her stomach. When she noticed you, her hand reached for the pistol which lay discarded next to her, but you quickly lifted your own and aimed at her before she touched it.

“Don’t move,” you murmured, which would sound almost soft if it weren’t for the empty look in your eyes. The woman scanned you up and down, and slowly lifted her hands.

“Who are you?”

“What did you give him?” you asked like you didn’t hear her, coming closer to kick away her gun to the far end of the hall. The woman’s eyes followed the weapon, then shifted to you.

“Do you even know what that man did? What is he guilty of?”

“I know. Now answer the damn question. What did you give–”

The door on your left slammed open and you only had time to turn your head before a heavy body collided with you, pushing you to the wall. Your head hit the bricks with an echoing crack, knocking the breath out of you. A man who surprised you grabbed the material of your jacket and slammed you into the wall again, but you managed to grab his hair and yank it hard, which allowed you to step to the side and away from the point of disadvantage that being trapped against the wall was.

The man – taller than you, with a black eye and without one of the front teeth – was quick to recover, however, and catched the wrist of your hand that held the gun, pushing it to the side when you pulled the trigger. From the corner of your eye you could see the woman you shot curling up and covering her head, then trying to scamper away, but the wound in her stomach was a significant impediment.

You fired again, trying to wrestle the gun from the man, but his grip was strong and after a few seconds of struggle he managed to knock the weapon out of your grasp, sending it flying to where you kicked off the woman’s one earlier.

Not sooner than your hands were empty, his elbow collided with your face, hard, and you cried when a gush of blood started pouring from the broken nose and a cut on your lip. Fear washed over you, and sheer luck caused you to duck to the side in time, avoiding a fist to the temple.

You stumbled backwards a few unstable steps, breathing heavily. The guy was smirking, acting like he already won – but you weren’t about to die in this sleazy, stinky place, leaving Ellie all alone and never knowing why they abducted Joel in the first place.

Joel…

“You’ve made a huge mistake,” said the man quietly, taking one, then two steps forward and swinging again. You backed away a second time, feeling your heart pounding in panic and knowing you didn’t stand a chance against a man of his stature.

Finally your luck ran out, and the man managed to hit you in the jaw, making you taste blood on your tongue. Before you could recover, one of his hands shot forward and grabbed you by the throat, and then, still keeping his big hand on your neck, he brought your entire torso down, slamming you to the ground. You hit your head hard and the glass shards on the floor embedded themselves in your skin, but in the next moment the sound of your painful scream was cut short. The grip the man had on your throat tightened, and you started to have difficulty breathing.

Your eyes budged in fear as realization of what was happening dawned on you, and you started to kick and struggle wildly, reaching for your attacker’s face, but he moved out of reach, still putting his whole weight down on you.

Your fists were hitting his forearms, your nails scratching his cheeks, whatever to make him let go. But he didn’t, his hands still squeezing your throat so strongly and crushing your esophagus.

“After I kill you, I’ll go kill your friend,” your attacker snickered, smiling viciously as he watched ice-cold panic enveloping you. “He’s not worthy of keeping him alive that long, anyway.”

Something ignited inside you at his words.

Joel.

You suddenly remembered the many self-defense lessons Joel had given you, so that whenever he wasn’t there to protect you, you could do it yourself. He was always so afraid for your life…

Slowly and with great effort, your fingers crept down, searching for the handle of your hunting knife, while dark spots started to appear before your vision, partially covering the sneering face of the man crushing your windpipe. He said something else – something you didn’t even hear because of the ringing in your ears…

And then with the last bit of your strength, you yanked the knife out of its sheath and buried the blade in the side of his neck.

Several things happened simultaneously: the man cried in surprise and let you go, the woman shouted a warning – too late – and you swung your leg over him, straddling and stabbing the man over and over again. His neck, his chest, his face, you didn’t even see what you were hitting. Screaming your lungs out and burying the blade in him again, and again, and again.

And again.

With an outraged, desperate cry, the woman lunged at you, but the adrenaline coursing through your system made you not even register something cutting deeply the skin of your arm, your veins and muscles giving way. You spun around, tumbling with her to the ground, but quickly managed to pin her down, blocking her arms in place with your knees, and pressing the tip of your knife to her chest.

She immediately stopped moving.

“Last fucking chance,” you croaked with difficulty, your neck bruised and swollen. “What… did you give him?”

You didn’t know if it was the sight of you, bloodied and wounded, the fact that you just violently killed her friend, or something else entirely – but now the woman looked scared.

“Okay,” she whispered, trying not to breathe too deeply, and glanced nervously at the blade pressed against her skin. “Okay, I’ll tell you, just don’t… It was a tranquilizer. Nothing dangerous, we just put him to sleep for a couple of hours. He was putting up quite a fight and the guys were getting antsy that he’ll pull something off before–”

“He’s not breathing,” you rasped viciously, sputtering blood onto her face. The woman flinched and took a shaky breath.

“His heart rate is slowed down, but it doesn’t– it shouldn’t kill him.”

You clenched your teeth, then exhaled. Inhaled.

You have to take a grip of yourself. He is alive. He has to be…

Should be.

The weight with which you had pinned her to the ground became lighter, and the woman sighed with relief when you removed the sharp end from her chest.

“It shouldn’t… kill him?” you repeated emptily, trying to dismiss the pain in your throat when you were speaking.

“No.”

Your head was still buzzing, but you tried to push it to the side, to focus on what was important right now.

“Why… did you take him?”

And just with that one, quiet question, the woman’s expression changed. You were considering letting her go, since you already hurt her pretty badly, but the sudden shift in her behavior set off alarm bells in your head once more.

“He’s a murderer,” the woman said, as if it was the most obvious answer. “A monster that would do everyone a favor if he got put down.”

White, blinding fury flooded your veins and it felt almost as if electricity was cracking above your skin. Your hand held the knife tighter.

‘Put down’, like… like an animal. She was talking about the man you loved–

You weren’t able to stop the hatred and rage flowing out of every pore of your skin. In one swift motion you plunged the knife into the woman’s chest, making her choke and gasp in surprise.

“You cannot call him that,” you spluttered, barely able to speak from the pain. “You…”

And then your hand forced its way lower down, still holding the handle of your weapon. Cutting through the woman’s – now struggling and screaming in agony – abdomen and guts.

They went so far as to abduct Joel, they took him from you, hurt and shot him, wanted to torture him, to make him suffer before they ultimately kill him…

But they didn’t, he can’t be dead, he can’t–

The woman was conscious the entire time as you were ripping her insides apart, and her screams died down only after you reached the navel.

Your vision was blurry and faltering when you stood up, but your heart was still beating steadily. There was an echo of a scream in your ears, though you couldn’t tell if it was your or the dead woman’s voice.

There wasn’t anyone else in the hallway. In the back of your mind you hoped that Tommy took care of any remaining enemies, because if they’d come running here, you didn’t think you’d be able to hear them in time.

Clutching your injured arm, you slowly made your way to the room where you left Joel and the man who attacked you first. Your gun was lying near the entrance and you picked it up before pushing the door open and staggering inside.

The man wasn’t where you left him. Instead there was a big pool of blood, forming into a wide, smeared path leading further into the lobby. At the end of it you saw him, groaning and crawling to the exit.

You reloaded the gun and walked closer. At the sound, the man turned his head and his eyes widened when he saw you.

“You fucking psycho!” he spat, bracing himself on the elbow of his left arm – the only one still working. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?! When she sees it, they’ll come for you, and they’ll make sure that the two of you will fucking pay for it!”

His words were flowing through you as you struggled to keep your vision focused. You felt weird – almost like waking up way too early and finding your body not listening to you entirely.

Then you realized. The hungry, burning anger was gone, the embers of hatred slowly dying out. There was only smoke and emptiness left inside you.

“I don’t care,” you mumbled, not loud enough for the man to hear you, but that didn’t matter – two seconds later he was dead, his brain splattered all over the floor behind him.

Your hand was shaking. Cold crept up your limbs, embracing and almost choking you as you breathed in, out, faster and faster as you finally comprehended what you did.

Your eyes moved down to the man’s indented knee, completely smashed into a bloody mess. The other limb was all wrong, his foot sticking in the opposite direction and no wonder he had to crawl to get away from you, you destroyed his legs, you…

You staggered backwards, your pupils darting to the hallway just for a second before returning to the battered corpse in front of you. The back of his skull was gone now, but how did he stay conscious for so long after you smashed his head with a metal pipe? There was so much blood on it… How much pain he must have felt after you left him?

And that woman… He begged you to leave her alone, and you… you ripped her open…

You moved back, back and further away, before tripping and falling to the floor. Your breaths were fast and shallow, and you reached for your neck, sore and swollen from almost being strangled, trying to will your lungs to work.

They were bad people. They took and hurt Joel, and planned to kill him. You had to kill them, they’d kill you in a heartbeat, they…

It wasn’t like you’ve never taken a life before, but it was the first time that you inflicted pain on somebody on purpose – not in self-defense, but because you wanted to retaliate. It was done in revenge.

You didn’t know for how long you had sat there when you heard someone saying your name. It sounded like… No, it couldn’t have been his voice, he was unconscious, he wasn’t breathing…

Suddenly, Tommy’s face appeared in your blurry field of vision – of course it was him, their voices were so similar, after all – and there was a deep crease between his brows. He looked worried and fearful, and–

“Snap out of it,” he said firmly, shaking your shoulders harder than he should have. Your name fell from his lips when you didn’t answer, and his eyes followed yours to a battered body on the floor. “Look at me. Look at me.” Tommy forcefully turned your chin in his direction, and his eyes were full of sorrow and pain. “You did what you had to do.”

You shook your head, swallowing the tears that streamed down your face. He didn’t know what you did. He didn’t understand what happened here, what happened with you… You yourself didn’t know what happened to you.

Tommy brought you closer to his chest, enveloping you in his strong embrace and the smell of leather and gunpowder. You choked on air, unable to stop the sobs racking your body, and deaf to his words, for the only thing you could hear were cracks of bones, screams of pain, and your own vengeful cries.

It was so loud in your mind that you almost missed a quiet grunt coming from behind you.

*****

Joel slowly opened his eye, then groaned and closed it again. He felt like shit and it was so hard to breathe, but he pushed through the pain and discomfort from the wound in his side, and tried again.

The first thing he saw was the greenish curtain, hiding the rest of the room from him, but judging by the fact that he was lying in bed, alive, with apparently all his wounds dressed, he figured it wasn’t the same place that group of angry youngsters took him to.

Lifting his head and turning it to the other side was a tremendous task, but it was so worth it – because there was you. Sitting in a chair next to him, asleep and with your head lying on folded arms on his bed. Joel smiled softly, but then furrowed his brows as a pang of anxiety shot right through him.

Your face was a mess, with cuts and bruises healing, your brow was split, and one of your forearms had a bandage wrapped around it, now a little dirty around the edges. Joel couldn’t see clearly, but your neck seemed… dark, as if the skin was bruised there, too.

What the hell happened?

He lifted his arm – the tingles and needles pierced his stiff limb – and brushed your cheek lightly, trying to wake you.

“Darlin’...” he murmured, and you stirred. He tried to say it again, louder this time, but his throat was scratchy and he winced at the feeling. There was no need for it, however, because in the next moment your eyes fluttered open and then widened when you took in the sight of him, realizing he’s awake.

“Joel!” Your hands – God, he missed the feeling of them – cupped his face gently, and your eyes filled with tears in the matter of seconds. “Oh my god, baby…”

“Hey, hey, I’m fine,” he breathed out quickly, not wanting to see you cry. “It’s okay, darlin’... I’m here.”

You sobbed with a dazzling smile, your beautiful eyes dancing across his features before you darted forward and pressed your lips to his firmly. Joel could almost taste the desperation and worry in your shaky breaths and tears that fell from your eyes and onto his tongue. He wanted to tangle his fingers in your hair and bring you in closer, but a sudden, sharp pain pierced his arm when he tried to move it, and he hissed into your mouth.

“Sorry,” you whispered and moved away quickly, letting out a broken laugh and brushing the unruly strands of hair away from his forehead. “I’m just so happy you’re okay.”

Joel wanted to ask what exactly had happened while he was out, but before he got a chance, you leaned in again and started softly peppering his face in kisses – first his cheek, then his forehead, then the tip of his nose and his chin. And Joel didn’t have the heart to stop you.

And that’s how Ellie found you both. She gagged when she saw the display of affection, but there was a grin on her face when he looked over at her.

“Gross,” she scrunched her nose. “But I’m glad to see you awake.”

“Yeah, well, I still feel pretty shitty,” he grunted, scanning the kid for any injuries, but she didn’t look any worse for the wear. His eyes strayed to your neck again, and the concern came back double-barreled. “What happened to you, sweetheart? Where–”

“I’ll… go get the doctor.” You stood up abruptly before he could finish, and looked over at Ellie. “Will you stay with him?”

“Yeah. Sure.” The teen shrugged, but now was avoiding Joel’s eyes, and he felt more uneasy and agitated by the second.

“Okay. Be right back, love. Gonna grab you some water, too.” You squeezed his hand and smiled. Joel’s eyes escorted you, and when he made sure you were out of the earshot, he turned to Ellie.

“What happened?”

“Well.” The teen blew out her cheeks and went to take a seat you previously occupied. “You were attacked during the patrol…”

“Yeah, no, that I remember,” Joel interrupted quietly. “They shot me, took me to that ski resort. But how am I here? Did she…”

He trailed off. Ellie looked at the curtain you disappeared behind, then back at Joel. “Listen, I wasn’t there, so m’not sure,” she mumbled quietly. “But after she and Tommy got you out, she was sorta… different.”

“Different how?” he asked sharply. Ellie bit the inside of her cheek, looking away. “Ellie.”

“I don’t know, okay?” she answered in a sudden burst. “She looked like hell. You saw her neck, I think someone tried to choke her, and she had an ugly cut on her leg, a fuckton of cuts and bruises… And the doctor spent hours getting all the glass shards out of her.”

Joel got up as much as he could, feeling a pit of anxiety rising in his chest. Ellie was silent for a while before she spoke again, this time surprisingly softly.

“Remember when you beat the shit out of that soldier when we were escaping QZ in Boston?” Joel nodded slightly – she did, too. “Yeah. She had a similar… kind of look on her face, and it looked… not exactly scary, but alien.” The teen looked up. “My guess is she did some fucked up shit to get to you. Tommy said she’s been having real bad nightmares since then, but he doesn’t want to tell me–”

Ellie snapped her mouth shut at the sound of footsteps, and a few seconds later you emerged from behind the curtain. You had a tall glass of water in your hand and a small, hopeful smile that grew when your eyes fell on Joel’s face.

“I know you’d probably prefer something stronger, but water will do you good,” you said, seemingly oblivious to the fact that they were just talking about you. Joel watched as you carefully sat down at the edge of his bed and put down the glass onto the table to his side. “One of the nurses will come here in a couple of minutes. You were unconscious for a couple of days so they want to make sure everything is okay.”

“I told you I’m fine, darlin’...”

“Please.” You gently took his hand in both of yours, staring at him with concern. “For me?”

Joel looked you over, his eyes lingering on your bruised neck and the bandage around your thigh which he didn’t notice before. Then he glanced at Ellie with worry, not knowing how to approach this problem or ask what exactly happened to you.

Your eyes were a little red and puffy, and he briefly thought about what the kid said: that you have had terrible nightmares, that apparently you went through some sort of hell to save him. It seemed that whatever you had done, it took its heavy toll on you. And he couldn’t bear it.

Joel hated the thought of you risking your life for him, of the experience branding you so deeply that you lost sleep because of it.

Because of him.

The only thing he could do right now was to be there for you. And maybe – just maybe, if he tried hard enough – to do something about those of your scars that he couldn’t see.

He lifted your hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to it, keeping his eyes on yours the entire time.

“Okay,” came his soft answer, to which you smiled with relief. “Whatever you wish, darlin’.”

No snarky remark, no groaning or muttering could be heard from Ellie, and that worried Joel much more than he’d ever admit. He exchanged a worried look with her while you were distracted, drawing patterns on the back of his hand with tender fingers.

“It’s gonna be okay,” he heard you say quietly, though it was unclear whether you were talking to him or yourself.

Either way, Joel squeezed your hand tighter, now feeling oddly afraid of letting go.

“Yes, darlin’,” he confirmed in a soothing manner. “Everything’s gonna be okay.”

#joel miller x reader #pedro pascal x reader #joel miller x y/n #joel miller #pedro pascal #joel miller x you #the last of us fanfiction #the last of us #joel miller angst #joel tlou #tlou hbo #btw i tried to do some research on tranquilizers and anesthesia drugs but i didn't find anything clear so. everything you read is made up #i could have wrote it better but.. eh #it was challenging enough and i can't believe i've spent almost a month on it

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2012 Caseynardo’s Love Story Headcanon

How the Leo x Casey ship would come to be if I wrote TMNT 2012

Their love story starts during the farmhouse arc in season 3 when Casey notices Raph is under a lot of stress and pressure from being the temporary leader of the group while Leo is injured and recovering. He’s got a lot on his plate: taking care of Leo because of his injury, looking after Mikey and Donnie, and even being the one who is making sure Mikey, Donnie and April are all keeping up with their ninja training. Because of this Casey offers to look after and take care of Leo so Raph can focus more on training everybody, and Raph accepts.

This decision results in Leo and Casey spending a lot more time together while living on the farmhouse. Casey would keep Leo company at the house while the others were off training, and together they would hang out, play video games, joke together, watch movies (sometimes Spaceheroes), and also chat and get to know each other more. Overtime the two actually became really close, and they realize they had a lot more common than they originally believed. They are both the oldest siblings of their families and they are willing to do everything in their power to protect them and keep their younger sibling(s) safe and happy (Reminder: Casey canonly has a little sister). They both relate to the feeling that they feel more like a parent to their siblings then an actual sibling because their fathers are never around to take care of them because they are always busy so they unwillingly take on the responsibility.

After this moment of realization and bonding, Leo began to develop feelings for Casey first. Spending so much time together Leo began seeing another side of Casey realizing there’s more to him than just being the reckless troublemaker that his brother hangs out with all the time. Leo admires that no matter the difficult and hard situation Casey is in, he always looks at the positive side of it all. Casey comes from a broken family and lives a difficult life (Note: I believe the writers have confirmed that Casey’s parents are divorced, that’s why I say “broken family”) but yet he still holds his head up high and keeps going. He’s actually more mature than Leo thought.

Casey also began to develop feelings for Leo around this time because Leo was the only person who genuinely listened to him and understood his struggles. April never truly did that. She listened, but didn’t understand, and for Raph he understood but hardly listened because he (like many others) don’t take Casey seriously. Also around this time Casey feelings for April began to fade. He still cares about her, and loves her as a friend, but not in a romantic light. He also grew tired of the love triangle, because he knew that April was growing feelings for Donnie at this point, so he found it pointless being in a competition where he already knows what the results will be, but that doesn’t stop him from still messing with Donnie when it comes to April related stuff.

So Leo (being the closest bisexual I HC him to be) becomes very overwhelmed with his new feelings for Casey, while Casey (who I also HC as bi) is chill with it and doesn’t overthink his feelings but thinks Leo doesn’t feel the same for him, when in truth he does like him too, Casey’s just very oblivious. Whenever he would get close to Leo (hugging him, touching his shoulder, etc) Leo gets really flustered and blush and then panic like an idiot, Casey just thinks that he’s making Leo uncomfortable. Leo also doesn’t realize that Casey likes him to because he thinks Casey still likes April because he still sees him rivaling with Donnie for April, which reminder Casey’s only doing this now to mess with Donnie not because he likes a April anymore.

During and after they leave the farmhouse, there’s pining feelings between them, sometimes even friendly flirty. Later on the Kraang are defeated, New York was saved by the Turtles and Mutanimals, and the city is trying to go back to normal. One night while on patrol, Casey ask Raph if Leo ever talks about him when he’s not around. Raph immediately picks up what’s going on (their little moments of flirting we’re obvious to him, but everyone else was blind) and quickly tells Casey to just go for it and ask out his brother, because out of everybody Raph knows Leo had a terrible first experience with romance (Note: Leo’s romantic feelings for Karai disappeared the second he found out she was his sister, something the writers should’ve done, and because of this Leo had a hard time excepting romance again. *Cue “I Think I’m In Love Again” by Kat Dahlia*)

A little nervous, Casey takes Raph’s advice and asked Leo if he wants to go on a date with him. Leo is shocked by this and believe Casey just means to hang out as friends, but Casey tell him that he’s liked him for a while and wants to go on an actual date with him and Leo happily accepts.

Keeping their newfound relationship a secret from everybody else, except for Raph because he obviously now knows, the two have their first day at the hockey rink. The two have a really fun time and by the end of the date they come close to sharing their first kiss, but Leo stops himself. Leo tells Casey that he really does like him and wants to be in a relationship with him but Leo knows he can’t right now. At the moment he has too much stress and pressure of being leader, Karai is still out there lost in her mutant snake form (though Leo is not interested in Karai romantically anymore he still cares about her because she is his family and he wants to bring her home), Shredder is still out there, and who knows what others threats will soon come their way. Casey is sad but completely understands, telling Leo that he will wait for him. The two agree to be friends after that date and the story continues on as per usual with the occasional flirty banter between them both. By season 4 everyone picks up what is going on between them, and some wonder when are they finally going to get together. It’s a “right person wrong time” situation.

By the end, they would officially get together and their relationship would be confirmed during the season 5 episode, When Worlds Collide. Remember that scene of Leo in the dojo training with Karai? Have that scene play out and just replace Karai with Casey ;)

#tmnt 2012 rewrite #rewriting tmnt 2012 #tmnt headcanons #fabtrash headcanons #rewrite #tmnt 2012 #tmnt #teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt leonardo #tmnt leo #leonardo hamato #casey jones #tmnt casey #caseynardo #leocasey #leo x casey #tmnt raphael #tmnt donatello #tmnt michelangelo #Karai #april o'neil #long post

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Lizard Reads Ward

Arc 2: Flare

Lizard Cry Counter: 2

TL;DR: Cool shit happening this arc with more fun worldbuilding around the state of Capes, Victoria’s coping mechanisms and hero complex, and some especially funky stuff exploring other Earths and how the shards/triggers are getting extra-special fucky after Gold Morning. We finally get to meet the rest of the PHO group and they are all wonderful, and Wildbow is flexing with the extended metaphor of powers as trauma. 8.75/10

Alrighty, let’s get wormin’! 

Once again, splitting this into mini-arcs so I can keep track of it: 1. Job-Hunting, 2. Broken Trigger Shenanigans, and 3. Group Therapy(?).

Part 1: Job-Hunting

Oh, if this did not capture the soul-crushing nature of the job search so well lol. I really enjoy Victoria’s engagement with each of the big groups that have cropped up since GM, their ideologies, and the optics that each group focuses on. Because if Victoria Dallon understands anything, it’s Aesthetic (in both physical and ideological appearance, thank you Carol (derogatory)). I think the bit where the recruiter asks if Panacea can also be part of the package deal crushed my soul so hard cause mmmmmm. We all have that family member that is perceived very differently from how they actually act towards the people they ostensibly care about. Adding this to the list of times I wanted to hold Victoria gently in my hands. 

Crystal continues to be a treat, I appreciate that she doesn’t own scissors. I find it so interesting that she wanted to be part of the Parahuman Paramilitary, but I guess stability has its allure in times of absolute chaos. Also gonna slide in here the bit about the people Victoria talked to about joining the totally-not-a-cult that comes back later in the arc, I appreciate the “if I can save even one person it will have been worth it” mentality. 

The hospital scene was really nice, both with Tempera/Fume Hood and then taking the kids flying. I think a lot of people can be very cynical about how doing stuff for others can be very self-serving (esp someone as famously cynical as WB /affectionate), but I think that this came across very genuinely, and it’s actually something that can be very good for trauma recovery by just doing things to get yourself out of your own head. Especially when it came to the kid with the friend who had triggered, Victoria really didn’t have to go out her way to make sure that the kid was taken care of. I think that this once again shows her character. Taylor could never (shoutout to the kids that triggered in her territory). 

Part 2: Broken Trigger Shenanigans

Oh man oh man oh man. I really did come into this part with a sigh because really, up until now Wildbow had not wowed me with the new stuff he was exploring with powers/shards, but this section grabbed me by the throat and threw me across the room into a brick wall. I appreciate that this is carving out Ward’s new identity as its own story with more to say outside of just Victoria, but also work as reflections of her and her unique experiences with her power/shard. It’s neat!

But aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa man this was downright tragic to read. Once again, WB hits with the suspense of “something is happening on a timeline, and all you can do it be there for when shit hits the fan.” The Parahuman Paramilitary was funky and off-putting as any type of military institution tends to be. Because ACAB, that’s why. 

Corona Pollentia warfare was enacted here, and the fact that people were literally stopped in space was horrifying and distressing as all hell, Worm never really got to touch on when triggers went wrong because shit was already bad enough being, well, triggers. But the bit at the end with the last guy standing not wanting to be subsumed into a collective (shard/entity?) consciousness was haunting as hell and so, so cool. I can’t wait to see how the entities continue to fuck around and Victoria and the Gang continue to find out. 

Part 3: Group Therapy(?)

Subsisting off of a comfort diet of brownie ice cream and shit TV, Victoria hangs out and Dr. Yamada pulls back the curtain on doctor-patient relationships. Therapists are people too! But it was nice that she thought of giving Victoria something therapy-related to do, even if it was ultimately a ploy to get Victoria to join her little group therapy team and (unsuccessfully) talk them out of doing the whole hero team thing. 

But mmm, I do love me these guys now that we get to really meet them, so down the line we go again!

Kenzie: Still the love of my life, I would kill and die for her. She is so damn earnest and I can respect the hell out of that. Include her in things!!! Give her friends!!! Be nice to her!!! Let her make all the boxes!!!!!! Also I will be deeply upset when we figure out her whole backstory. Preparing to be devastated. 

Sveta: I love that she and Weld are dating and that she is so happy but knowing Wildbow he’s gonna fuck it up somehow and it pisses me off so bad. But for now I will revel in her joy!!! Let her be happy goddammit!!! Also shoutout to her absolutely owning the disability label, I really was like “ah man this is gonna be implied subtext huh” but nope! And I’m really happy about that! But on god the fact that she has a body now??? And she gets to make it pretty and expressive how she wants it???? Kissing her on her forehead she is too good, great even. Unironically the best character. 

Tristan/Byron: Knowing that I have to go back through the PHO chapter and check the timestamps to see which one was in control is simultaneously infuriating and exciting lol. I can’t remember if case 70s appeared in Worm cause if they did I do not remember them. But yet again adding to the weird shit shards do is a thing I will applaud because the specific scenario of “twins who were touching when they triggered” is just horrifying in concept and seems that way in practice as well. I’m placing my bets for the human trafficking being so that they can try to separate themselves. Or something like that IDK. I also wanna slap Tristan on his dumb jock head because sometimes he needs to shut up (tho I feel him. I, too, talk incessantly, see this post series lol). But he gets a pass because he’s nice and makes arms <3

Chris: Breaking out my trusty spray bottle to spritz him every time he’s an antisocial prick. Not necessarily an actual character flaw, I am interested to see what’s gonna happen with this exceptionally small lad, but mmm. He’s an interesting fellow who I think would benefit from touching some grass every now and again. But progress looks different for everyone I guess!

Ashley: She also gets the spray bottle but for being an edgelord. Shadow the Hedgehog called and said tone it down. Once again, very much the Bitch-type of “I have a singular trajectory and will do what I want fuck you all” but in like, a friendship way? Idk, I know everyone loves her (and ships her with Victoria- *cough*) and I also love her, but I would also like to punch her sometimes and I think that is ok! She’s getting better! Maybe! I hope!

Rain: I can smell the little-meow-meow coming off of this guy. This man is a protagonist of another story but got shoved into Ward instead. He is scientifically crafted to be pocket-sized, and if he’s not dead or beat to shit by the end of this story I will eat a shoe. I can tell a sopping wet whipping boy when I see one lol. But in all seriousness, I know that everyone has a lot of shit going on, but Rain’s “it’s complicated” catchphrase is like “Yes, Wildbow, I know he’s your special little guy. It’s ok, you don’t have to be coy about it.” Kinda the way that Amy was in Worm tbh, Wildbow just has favorites he likes to torture sometimes and I have to respect the honesty lol. But yeah, he is genuinely interesting and has some nifty stuff going on w/ his cluster. Very intrigued that Snag is his clustermate, and how their power-exchange works. Again- cool shit!  But oh my god someone’s gonna step on him. Too small lol. 

But all that being said, I appreciated the actual group therapy going on here, and that Victoria is getting some buddies to talk stuff through with, even though this really does seem like a setup for failure. The talk about logistics triggered the “gotta schedule D&D” part of my brain and whoo boy that was some anxiety lol. But I am intrigued to see where this lil team goes and what they do in the story moving forward! Also, a very strong end to the Arc with “This is the way things are now” “...Fuck that.” Stuck that landing, let’s get some change rolling!

(Also the interlude was funky, love seeing Weld and Crystalclear again. The theocracy seems like it mayyyy be an issue tho moving forward. Maybe lol)

Final Thoughts

I think that this arc had a lot to offer, and really started to solidify the direction that Ward is gonna try to go in. I can already feel the length of the story though, that 2 arcs have felt like 6, but ya know. It’s the format! But there’s a part of my brain that really wants to go in and cull a lot of stuff that I know people love but is just like...this is so long. But other than that- I think that finally getting around to the new group is good, and I think the biggest takeaway from this arc is the diversity of Shard Shenanigans. Looking forward to that making shit go sideways lol. 

But yeah! That’s all I got, not as insightful perhaps as the last couple entries but I hope y’all like the more first-impressions type rambling. As always, would love to hear what y’all think of this arc!

Until next time- Ward out ✨

#lizard’s ward thoughts #on god doing 2 of these in a day has me dead on the floor #it feels like i procrastinated my homework lol #ward web serial #ward #ward spoilers #wildbow #victoria dallon #kenzie martin #ashley stillons #rain o'fire frazier #sveta #tristan vera #byron vera #chris elman

[jynxeddraca]

About Tav Moonridge

Early life stuff:

Tav and her family aren't originally from Baldur's Gate - Felicity, her mom, was an animal handler and Iados, her dad, was a leather worker. Both were from towns near Waterdeep and they moved to expand the leather working business.

They settled in the Blackgate district in the Outer City.

Her dad died when she was 5, sending her mom into a deep, alcohol-fueled depression forcing Tav to have to start taking care of herself.

Tav actually started pick pocketing at 6 to make sure there was money for things like food and rent - even though she was still young enough to not really understand money and she was not great at picking pockets.

In fact, she got her wrist broken by people catching her hand in their purse often.

Despite her bleeding-heart nature as an adult, as a child she had hardened off her heart and was actually deeply unpleasant to be around if she didn't like you.

She especially disliked the men her mom brought home, even Euphony - who ended up being Temerity's dad.

Euphony often described Tav as being "The grumpiest 8-year-old he had ever met" and talked her into learning the lute so she would actually have a hobby and maybe not be so grumpy.

It worked, and though she genuinely hates being compared to Euphony in any manner - he did plant the seed of loving music in her.

He also honed her pick pocketing skills because he thought that was a necessary life skill. There were other reasons, but we won't go into that here.

When Euphony vanished and their mom died (unrelated to the disappearance) - Tav hyperfocused on taking care of Temerity, her small circle of friends, and herself - pretty much in that order.

Cat and Serena - her two best friends - did make sure Tav took care of herself (as much as they could), acted her age, and had fun now and then.

They also got her in trouble now and then too though.

Tav has never been particularly great in a fight so talked her way out of trouble when she could - but if blows came to blows she didn't fight fair. Biting, clawing, and cutting words were all on the table.

She fully bit a chunk out of someone's ear as a kid.

Sometime as a teenager, around 16 or 17, she has an epiphany about urchins, poor life choices, and falling into the same pattern of behaviors that adults did to her that kept her life more difficult than it needed to be.

Because of this epiphany, she starts trying to help current urchins from starving or falling prey to the elements - even managing to recruit other people (mostly former urchins themselves) into helping provide spots where kids can go for temporary shelter or a meal if they really need one.

It takes time and she has to learn how to allow herself to care about other people again, but within the year she has 3 other people helping her keep an eye on the city's less fortunate urchins.

Her friends jokingly refer to this as her "Network" and by the time the events of BG3 role around it's a decent sized group of adults/older teenagers who all are willing to give up their couch for a night and spare a hot meal. Tav especially is well known as a safe person to go to for help.

Tav knows a large portion of the urchins in Baldur's Gate by name or at the very least by sight.

Post game time! Obviously this is going to contain spoilers end game as well as contain many headcanons and deviations from game canon. Much of the focus is going to involve her relationship with Astarion as well.

First of all, I feel like Jaheira adopts Yenna, or she leaves with Halsin because the city is just ~*~trauma~*~ at this point.

Astarion does move in to the small townhouse that Tav shares with Temerity. It is crowded, especially with all the stuff Tav hoarded during their adventure.

They also do not really have doors to the bedrooms as it's technically a one-bedroom with the actual bedroom being in the loft (Temerity's room) and a makeshift one being under the loft (Tav's room). Both rooms are sectioned off with curtains.

Astarion immediately sews the silencing rune into the curtains upon moving in.

Tav and Astarion break into Cazador's palace shortly after end game, sack it, and look for anything that can be useful to help Astarion live in the sun again.

Sometime after, Cazador's palace burns to the ground. Astarion refuses to confirm or deny if he did it - but Tav is fairly certain he did based on how he grins whenever he talks about it.

Ransacking Cazador's former palace does not help the cramped space by the way, even with their bags of holding Gale crafted - thanks to the phase spiders and their silk they found in the blighted village - space is at a premium.

Also, Temerity does NOT like Astarion and they both act a bit like cats being forced to share the same space.

Temerity does warm up to Astarion during that first winter because Tav gets horrifically ill and Astarion does commit to taking care of her.

They both still snipe at each other, but it ends up more like sibling banter than the previous "Take a walk at noon" "Go kiss a beholder" banter it had been.

Astarion can never decide how he feels about the kids that show up to sleep on the couch or for a random meal - but it does solidify in his head that Tav has always been Like That™ and he thanks every deity again that he didn't meet Tav before the Nautiloid.

Thanks to his association with Tav, Astarion gets a reputation among the orphans as a "safe" person (Astarion disapproves) who will sometimes give really good advice on slight of hand, and if you're really lucky advice on how to wield a knife (Tav disapproves).

Since there's often urchins in the house, Astarion does worry that Tav will want kids one day. Tav assures him that she absolutely does not want children as she already raised a kid - Temerity - and does not want to raise another.

Tav writes down the ballad version of events as she had been composing in her head for most of the adventure and realizes that Volo beat her to publishing the events of the Netherbrain.

It is not the most accurate account, embellishments have been made, as have insinuations of her love life - which Tav had expressly forbidden Volo from writing about.

Tav publishes her ballad in a book along with her account of the adventure, names it: 'The Ballad of Brains, Brine Pools and Balderdash', and out of spite the first page states "Ballad and true account of the adventure leading to the defeat of the Absolute as written by Tav Moonridge - the leader of the heroes of Baldur's Gate who destroyed the Netherbrain."

While Tav is having a publishing war with Volo, Astarion does his first check in with the spawn he released into the Underdark.

Mentioned this in another headcanon list but Tara discovers that the Ring of the Sunwalker is in Gale's tower in Waterdeep, and Gale gives that ring to Astarion during the epilogue party.

Between the rewards for saving the city and selling some of the things they got during adventures (and stole from Cazador), Tav and Astarion end up purchasing a larger house.

Temerity does move into the house as well because I feel like family homes tend to be multi-generational in Faerun.

Works out beautifully because Tav and Astarion end up being professional adventurers, so Temerity gets the house to herself quite a bit.

At some point, Astarion deems it "safe enough" to check in on the spawn in the Underdark with Tav, and Tav decides to donate some of the books they gathered during their adventures.

Gale, somehow discovering Astarion and Tav are going to check in on the spawn, sends copies of books and plenty of writing materials to donate to the spawn as well.

Full headcanon here - Sebastian is in charge of the library in the ruins and is delighted about the book donations since most of the reading material left in the ruins are delicate and can't really be used for casual reading.

He also is spending time transcribing and preserving old scrolls and books from the library.

Tav and Sebastian get along quite well and Astarion does not know how to feel about that.

They both visit the spawn semi-annually to check in on them and make sure things are going good.

Otherwise, most of their adventures are about locating a wish spell or the like to cure Astarion's Vampirism.

Araj periodically sticks her nose in their lives trying to get more blood from Tav and/or Astarion to bite her.

At one point she does attempt to hire people to kidnap Tav while they're out adventuring - it does not go as Araj planned and Tav tells her that if she tries to pull that again Tav won't talk Astarion out of hunting her down.

This got long so I'm going to stop it here for now. Have a cookie if you made it this far.

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #headcanons #post-game #spoilers #Tav Moonridge #Astarion #cw alcohol #cw depression

[mitsdriveswhere]

Please stop touching thousand year old artifacts

I.

Look.

I am an avid tourist. I like touristing. I think you should be an avid tourist. You should go see things that you think are cool. And to be clear, you should touch things you think are cool when you have permission.

If you go to Dinosaur National Monument in Colorado, they will let you touch the fossils. There is a whole wall of them, and they let you and encourage you to touch them. Obviously I did. That's a whole ass dinosaur fossil! Of course I'm going to touch it! And it was not at all what I was expecting it to feel like. It was cool, and educational.

You should be a tourist. I stand by that. What you should STOP being, is a Tourist™. Tourism? Cool. Tourism™? Not cool.

I've had this post in my drafts for more than a year, I wasn't really sure how to bring it up. I was prompted to write initially when I went to Homolovi State Park in AZ in 2022. It's a beautiful ruin, but it's easily accessible, and therefore has a greater chance of being defaced. Even while I was there, I saw with my own two eyes a family that allowed their crotch goblin child to walk off the paved route and into one of the ruins to pick up and bring them a pottery sherd (specifically, a shard of broken pottery). They looked at it, passing it around between them, and then placed it back on the ground with a pile of other sherds that other tourists had obviously gone off route to pick up.

And I just. I just lost my damn mind. I just lost my damn mind on that trail. And there were dozens of piles of sherds, all over the place. Homolovi is not the only ruin with this problem, pretty much any ruin you come across, you will see piles or "displays" of sherds all over the fucking place, where tourists felt it best to pick up these artifacts and then place them back wherever they saw fit.

And I started this post as a kind of... rant, for lack of a better word, because oh my god. Do not pick up thousand year old artifacts at ruins, especially at a ruin that still holds religious and cultural weight with a LIVING group of people.

This post sat in my drafts until now, because I couldn't think of a good reason to post it. It was not until I saw Milo, a youtube archeologist that I genuinely love, make a video about him doing this exact thing (and later apologized for it, which I appreciate). It finally dawned on me that people really don't know how to interact with ruins, and I think Milo did a great job explaining why you should not pick up sherds at archaeological sites. You should go watch it if you haven't already.

He was correct, you shouldn't pick up sherds because you are removing them from their cultural context, and you are creating the opportunity for people who don't care as much as they should to have an array of artifacts spread out in front of them with literally zero effort to take.

That goes for any time of historical site, not just ruins. Don't pick up stuff that doesn't belong to you, whether in a ruin, a geological formation, your grandma's house, it doesn't matter. Don't do that. Don't be a Tourist™. Be a tourist (respectful). Pay the park due, pay attention to signage, follow custodial instruction. And don't pick up pottery sherds.

#the dumbest shit in the weirdest places #travel #traveling #ruins #archaeology

[sirowsky]

Chapter 9 - A Different Perspective

Description: In his introduction to the outcasts of Pagwu, Din discovers that just about everything he thought that he knew about demons is wrong.

OBSERVE! Creator chooses NOT to include warnings on this series. Read at your own risk! Be aware that this story will include violence and is not suitable for minors! 18+ONLY.

Word Count: 3600 Masterlist (This Story) Author’s Masterlist

Link to Chapter 10

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   They bring him food and water without his asking, as naturally as if he was one of them, without complaints or so much as a hard glare. They’re a warm and caring society where children run from one hut to the next feeling equally welcome everywhere.    The Mandalorian is not just a stranger to them, but someone that by definition stands in utter conflict with their beliefs, and yet, they treat him only with kindness.

   It’s a good strategy, as genuine and unconditional kindness will inevitably spread and grow, and Din finds himself wanting to treat them the same.    But it’s not entirely unconditional. They do want answers in return, something he’s only all too willing to give them, in the hopes that these outcasts might be the only ones that can make sense of what he’s experienced.

   He tells them everything as well as he can remember it, from the moment he met you, to the moment you supposedly died, and the little group that’s gathered to hear him, all sit in stunned silence throughout his story.    There’s five people in the room with him, all middle-aged or older, and they’ve all been introduced to him.

   He still finds it highly uncomfortable to be around people without the anonymity of the helmet, but he hasn’t had a chance to try and fix the visor yet, so there’s really no alternative. He’s already broken the creed for the kid, so this won’t make much difference.    Once he finishes, they all look at each other, all with questions burning on their lips, but looking to the apparent leader, Neaba’s mother Nibei, for direction.

   “A thirty-year-old demon… Incredible,” Nibei says, deciding to take the reins herself for now. “We always wanted to believe that with a less violent approach, our two species might learn to tolerate each other, but we were never able to find an opportunity to test that theory.”

   “I confess I still don’t understand just who you people are. How have you survived here?” Din asks them, and this time, it’s Neaba that answers.

   “A long time ago, nearly two thousand years now, a man stepped up to his King and said that demons must be studied without being hunted, without the objective to hurt or kill, before we as a species will ever be able to free ourselves of this conflict.    For that, the man was thrown outside the city walls, and never seen again.    Fifty years later when a new king took the throne, the same argument was raised, this time by a large group in the hopes that the leaders would realize that this wasn’t an idea that would ever go away.    But they all met the same fate, and it carried on like this for centuries.”

   “The Royal family line was never broken,” Din adds, remembering the history lessons. “Each generation was taught to hate the demons from childhood, indoctrinated into the belief that they are evil and must be destroyed at all costs.”

   “Precisely,” Neaba continues, “so for each new attempt to beg the leadership to try something else, all that was accomplished was feeding their aggression, until people just gave up.”

   “But those that had been banished didn’t, I assume, since you’re all here.”

   “The first man to ask the question never stood a chance out here, but the group that followed fifty years later managed to reach shelter in these old ruins, and discovered the remnants of the very first well,” she carries on. “Not having to dig through hundreds of yards of stone was their saving grace. All they had to do was figure out how to get down there and mine the water.”

   “Our lives all trace back to them,” Nibei picks up the thread, “generation after generation of the unwanted and shunned. But we never cared. Because out here we were free to find our own answers, and what you’ve told us will help us a great deal in that pursuit.    But I am curious… Instead of acting in accordance with your beliefs, training and the knowledge available to you, you chose to break a three-thousand-year-old contract, all for someone you barely knew.    Why?”

   He has to take a moment with that. The walk gave him a lot of time to reflect and consider his own choices, second-guessing himself and wondering if he should’ve done something differently. If he’d been right to let you live. To let you become.    A few times along the way, he’d managed to convince himself that Ig’wu is gone because of him, because he just didn’t want to kill a pretty woman.

   But there had been other moments too. When he’d remembered your smile and decided that you’d deserved to live just for the world to see it. Or whenever he’d recalled how brave and incredibly strong you were.    In truth, Din doesn’t know how he could ever have convinced himself to end your life, no matter what had been at stake.

   “She was so scared of me that she couldn’t stop herself from shaking almost all the time we spent together,” he explains, keeping his gaze on the floor in front of his own feet. “She dreaded going up to the palace so much that I had to drag her along lest her body just stopped moving.    But even so… she endured all of it for a bunch of kids that she had no responsibility for. She saved my life and asked for nothing in return, even told me to leave her behind.”

   He sighs deeply, shaking his head before lifting it to meet the older woman’s compassionate eyes.

   “I couldn’t kill her. Even if all of Mandalore had tried to force my hand. No one deserves to die simply for being born.”

   They all look relieved to hear him say that, to hear that even a lifelong enemy of the demons could have a complete change of heart. They must’ve hoped to find someone like him for a very long time.

   “History is full of mistakes and wrongdoings, not just here, but everywhere,” Nibei says, “What’s important is that we dare to accept that and chose to look ahead, to look for change and improvement rather than bury our heads in the sand.”

   “Forgive me, but… what did you mean when you said that you’d been warned about this? You said that there was something you’d always feared?” he asks Neaba, and she gestures back to her mother.

   “I think you can explain it better, mama.”

   “I’ll try,” Nibei answers her daughter, and then moves closer to the wall to Din’s right, where there’s a detailed drawing of demon anatomy. “Our people started out merely observing the beasts from a distance, trying to learn their habits and family dynamics, understand how they feed. Anything that could help us gain a better grasp of their characters.    Back then, there were thousands of them. You couldn’t walk a mile out here without at least seeing one. But even so, their behaviour baffled our ancestors because they displayed no social dynamics at all.”

   Din raises his eyebrows at that, confused since he’s been taught that demons live in packs and fiercely defend their own. But he doesn’t attempt to contradict her. He understands that there’s too much he doesn’t know, to be able to challenge anything she says.

   “In the wild, unbothered by any dangers, they live alone,” she continues. “In a thousand years of observations, not one has ever sought out another of its kin, other than to fight humans. They have never been seen hunting, or even eating anything. They don’t procreate in any manner that we’ve been able to discern, and yet, their babies appeared wherever they roamed.”

   “How is that possible?” he questions, and she points to the drawing, right at the creature’s heart.

   “Their anatomy is a natural phenomenon all on its own. They have no organs beyond their hearts, everything else becomes a mass of superheated material that continuously swirls through their chests, and there’s a very important reason for that. Namely that the flame inside their hearts can’t sustain itself. It needs to be fed heat constantly or it fades and dies.    But if that’s the only organ they have, how can they possibly procreate? Well, the answer is: they don’t.”

   If he was confused before, Din is now totally lost. He stares dumbly at her, too perplexed to even formulate a question.

   “They copy,” she explains, which doesn’t help him at all.

   “Copy? What… us?”

   “Yes. You see, we don’t believe that demons have always been born as humans. We believe that they had a more regular anatomy at first, and that it was humans who drove their flames into such extreme temperatures as to melt their own insides. Thus, coercing their entire anatomy to adapt to radical changes at an exceptional rate.”

   She moves to a different drawing on the wall, which seems to depict a creature similar to the beasts, but more like a distant cousin. Its smaller and more natural-looking. Its bones are on the inside, covered by skin and only the chest has a faint glow.

   “This is one of the first drawings that were ever made of the creatures. This is how they started out, and this,” she once again points to the more recent sketch, “is what thousands of years of wars turned them into.    No longer able to function as nature intended, they were forced to adapt. And somewhere along the way, one of them must have absorbed human genetic material, and created a hybrid.”

   “But wait,” he interrupts, still trying to grasp what’s being said, “if they weren’t always such a threat, why would we have provoked a war to begin with?”

   “It takes much less than one would think, to sow the seeds of a massive conflict. Perhaps a child of a high standing individual was harmed or killed by one of them. All it takes is one grain of sand rolling down a slope, to set off a mudslide.    We still don’t know exactly how their bodies produce and birth the hybrid babies, only that once born, their parent can’t feed or care for them.”

   “Okay… hold on, I still don’t understand…” Din fumbles to piece it all together. “Yes, it makes sense that they wouldn’t be able to care for a human child, but since we know that they only managed to hide a rare few of them among humans over the years… how could they keep growing in numbers for so long? How did we find and kill so many of their babies?”

   She walks away from the drawings and comes to stand before him, now with a sadness in her frame that seems to be aimed at him.

   “Because you are relying on false information. The story of The Five Wars has only ever been told from the human side, and almost exclusively by the Royals. They have always controlled all information concerning this conflict, even to your kin, Mandalorian. And in turn, you have been fed the same lies that they were made to believe.    The demons never had any choice but to either abandon their young in the desert to starve or leave them in the hands of humans. Yes, whenever a child of theirs was found, it was unceremoniously executed, but we never had to go looking for them.”

   Searching his own memories, Din tries to remember if he ever heard anyone say that it was his people that had killed the children. But all he can recall is his teacher saying that it was humans. Not Pagwians or Mandalorians, just humans.    And if his kin weren’t directly involved in this supposed hunt and subsequent slaughter, then how could they know if it ever even happened.

   “Their numbers grew simply because more of them joined the fight,” Nibei keeps going after a brief pause. “Because they existed naturally all over this planet, whereas the conflict started on the northern half. They’re naturally solitary but came together when their very existence was threatened. And they would’ve won if not for the discovery of their only physical weakness.    I’m sure you were taught what it is.”

   “The ears,” he says without hesitation, the memory of his specified training sitting at the forefront of his mind, as well as in his hands. “Because of their transformation, the ears have to be completely reformed, and that creates a weakness at a specific spot just behind them, where the skull doesn’t fully fuse with the new bone.”

   She nods, still with that sadness in her eyes.

   “That was the only thing that humans ever bothered to learn about them. The children were a happy coincidence. A fluke that we took maximum advantage of.”    But what if, instead of killing them when we happened to find them, we’d cared for them? What if we’d shown the demons that their offspring were safe with us? Can you imagine the bond that we could’ve forged? The alliance we could’ve had with such a powerful species.”

   “So, all that talk about the Royals being trained how to detect signs of the Burn in kids, tests they could do to be certain, that was all lies too?” he presses, and she nods again.

   “Their people were terrified. Imagine living with the constant threat of being burned alive, and then learning that the monsters who threaten you can infiltrate any human setting in a completely undetectable way.    They had to come up with something to set people’s minds at ease. If they’d simply said ‘don’t worry, the beasts won’t voluntarily leave their babies with us’ no one would’ve felt reassured. It was too scary. A monster that doesn’t just look, but actually is human.”

   She sighs, almost in tears now, and he can practically feel her empathetic regrets radiating out of her, even though she isn’t to blame for the actions of her ancestors.

   “I don’t condone or agree with their actions, but as a leader myself, I do understand how desperation could’ve brought them to that point. Pagwians have had frail nerves for a long time. Stretched too thin by too many defeats.”

   After a few breaths with her gaze to the floor, she recentres and carries on.

   “There is, however, a sliver of hope embedded in this story. Because those of us who have survived out here, have never stopped trying to bridge the gap between the two sides. We have continued looking for ways to communicate with the demons, to let them know that there are humans who wish them no harm.    And three hundred years ago, we finally succeeded.”

   “The latest sighting,” Din recalls.

   “Yes. We have always made regular trips towards Ig’wu, in the hopes that any other banished individuals could be found before they succumbed to the desert. Thankfully, there doesn’t seem to have been any expulsions in recent times, but one of those trips yielded some unexpected results.    A roaming demon attacked one of our people when he was returning here, but he didn’t fight back. Instead, as the creature ran towards him, he quickly backed away and bowed his head, and the demon stopped.”

   “Why would it do that?” he asks, again befuddled.

   “Because he was mimicking their own behaviour,” she explains. “That was the payoff of all those that came before us, all those that gave their lives in the pursuit of more knowledge, more understanding.    He knew that when demons meet in the wild, they stop at a certain distance from one another, bow and then they both walk away, never moving closer to the other.”

   “They respect each other’s space,” he ponders. “And this worked for the man as well?”

   “It did. The beast was confused at first, and tried to charge again, but the man repeated the correct behaviour, moving even further away, and it couldn’t disregard his respect.    And that was the spark that changed everything here. Our beliefs had finally been validated. We were right to think that they weren’t mindless beasts, but complex beings with a social structure and rules which they live by.    So, a week later, half the village went out in search of that demon, all moving along their own path, hoping to expand on this favourable encounter.”

   “And what happened?” Din asks, finding it harder to sit still the more he learns.

   “They found it. And this time, it was a woman that encountered it. She was well familiar with everything they thus far knew about the beasts’ behaviour, so she set to work the moment she spotted it.    Using their species own psychology, she was able to get within five feet of it, well within range of its tail or a swipe of its front leg, but she walked away unharmed.    This strategy was then repeatedly implemented over the course of several years, slowly earning the demon’s trust, until it felt so at ease around these humans that it even walked these very streets, surrounded by people, without either side feeling threatened at all.”

   He’s completely stunned to hear this, having to step back and lean against a table before his legs give out. Because this is a fairytale. In any other setting, among any other people, he would’ve called them crazy and left, but not here.    Here, in this moment, he believes every word.

   “Incredible,” is all he can muster.

   “Indeed. But then, after less than eight years of peace with this one creature, it suddenly vanished and didn’t reappear for almost a decade. When it did, something happened that we haven’t quite been able to grasp based on the written accounts that we rely on.    They describe it as some form of attack, because one person was harmed, but not just physically.”

   “How do you mean?”

   “A young boy was touched by the demon, and while he was burned, from what we can tell, it was his mind that suffered the most damage. The notes are filled with devastated ramblings and unfinished paragraphs, there must’ve been a lot of turmoil.    But the one thing that’s written clearly, are two sentences that the boy kept saying:    One will survive. One will end it all.”

   He feels weak suddenly. He’s not even sure why, but something about those words makes him feel heavy and sad.

   “That’s what Neaba meant about a warning.”

   “It’s always felt ominous to me,” the daughter confesses. “Every time I hear those words I shiver.”

   “I wonder if that could’ve been Pan’s mother,” Din speculates. “I mean, this was long before Pan was born, but still, I feel like it must have been that demon. And if so, it was still alive thirty years ago.”

   “It’s highly likely, especially when we consider Pan’s unusual tolerance and attitude, despite knowing what she was,” Neaba chips in. “But I do wonder just how she could’ve known that.”

   “I never got a chance to ask her anything more about it, but she must have had help. Someone must have seen the demon hide her in the city and like you all, decided to nurture good rather than destruction.”

   He wishes that he’d had the time to explore more about you while your mind was still intact, but there’s no point in dwelling on that now. It’s much too late.    What he can focus on, however, is understanding your beast as expertly as these people seem to.

   “What about the Burn? Have you been able to learn why or how it happens yet?”

   “Not really,” Neaba explains. “Until today, we’ve assumed that it’s genetically encoded in them to undergo the metamorphosis if their hearts reach a certain temperature, at which point the flame has to be kept alive, or they die.    But Pan contradicts all that. Her flame was repeatedly brought well past that limit, and she still managed to cool it back down without dying.    Now, it might be that she is a new stage in their already very rapid evolution, and that none of the others could’ve survived doing that, if they could even have managed it. But since we can’t test the theory either way, it’s a somewhat pointless discussion.”

   “And what about me?” Din jumps onto the next question, eager to understand as much as possible. “How did I not die in that well? How did she heal me?”

   No one answers that at first, but Neaba and her mother exchange a look that he can’t decipher, before Nibei turns back to him.

   “The best explanation I have to offer is either that she felt indebted to you to such an extent that she felt compelled to spare your life. Or that… she cared too much about you.    It might sound ludicrous given how brief your encounter was, but from what you’ve described, I don’t think that she would’ve stuck around you unless some part of her was drawn to you.    As for the healing, I don’t have a clue. To my knowledge, this is the first we’ve ever heard of something like that.”

   It doesn’t sound that ludicrous at all. He’d felt just as protective over you, even though he’d only known you for about a day.

   “Teach me, please,” he asks everyone present. “Teach me how to understand their behaviour, how to communicate with them.”

   “Are you hoping to go out and find her again, Mandalorian?” Nibei asks, sounding as though she’s about to suggest that it would be a bad idea.

   “No. But she found me in the desert two nights ago, and something tells me that for whatever reason, she isn’t done with me.”

–=¤=–=¤=–=¤=–=¤=–=¤=–=¤=–

Link to Chapter 10

Thank you for reading and if you enjoyed this, please consider reblogging, I’d greatly appreciate it <3

@idreamofboobear @tanzthompson @winter-fox-queen @tiffanyleen @shsoba05 @toomanystoriessolittletime @nolanell @myfavpedrothings @harriedandharassed @bruxasolta @tintinn16 @pedrostories @littlemisspascal @sj-draws00 @gallowsjoker @spishsstuff @little-mrs-morales @bilibiche @gallowsjoker @insomniamamma @thelion-sroar @brunette-overalls

#din djarin fanfiction #din djarin x female reader #din djarin x monster!reader #din x reader #the mandalorian fanfic #mando x f!reader #pedro pascal fanfiction #pedro pascal characters #sirowsky stories

[ash-and-books]

Rating: 2/5

Book Blurb: Legend goes that long ago a Flores woman offended the old gods, and their family was cursed as a result. Now, every woman born to the family has a touch of magic. Sage Flores has been running from her family—and their “gifts”—ever since her younger sister Sky died. Eight years later, Sage reluctantly returns to her hometown. Like slipping into an old, comforting sweater, Sage takes back her job at Cranberry Rose Company and uses her ability to communicate with plants to discover unusual heritage specimens in the surrounding lands.

What should be a simple task is complicated by her partner in botany sleuthing: Tennessee Reyes. He broke her heart in high school, and she never fully recovered. Working together is reminding her of all their past tender, genuine moments—and new feelings for this mature sexy man are starting to take root in her heart.

With rare plants to find, a dead sister who keeps bringing her coffee, and another sister whose anger fills the sky with lightning, Sage doesn’t have time for romance. But being with Tenn is like standing in the middle of a field on the cusp of a summer thunderstorm—supercharged and inevitable.

Review:

The women of the Flores family are gifted with magical abilities, and after the death of her sister, Sage Flores is forced to return home to face the broken relationship with her other sister and come face to face with the boy who broke her heart 14 years ago. After losing her job, Sage is forced to return home to the family she ran from after her younger sister Sky died. Now she's seeing Sky's ghost who tells her that the only way to help her is if Sage heals the broken relationship with her other younger sister Teal, who blames her for Sky's death. Sage takes up a job at the Cranberry Rose Company, where she uses her gifts over plants to help discover unusual heritage specimens.... except she is being forced to partner up with Tennessee Reyes, the very same boy who broke her heart 14 years ago after they built up a strong relationship through AIM messages (think along the lines of Hilary Duff's Cinderella). Tenn never realized it was Sage and she ghosted him after he broke her heart, now years later they are forced to work together and the chemistry is still there... and Tenn is asking for her help in finding his mystery AIM girl... will she finally tell him the truth? All the while she is also dealing with family drama, from her younger sister Teal's anger at her ( think along the lines of 27 Dresses sister's relationship) and her own family secrets that could unravel everything. This book was a lot and it definitely read more Young Adult rather than reading about people in their late 20's early 30s. Sage felt like she was an 18 year old girl rather than a 29 year old woman. Also the misunderstanding trope in this one was ugh, seriously, and the fact that Sage purposely lied and continued to lie to Tenn throughout their relationship was infuriating. Teal got on my nerves and her only real personality trait was irrational anger. When you find out the real misunderstanding and reveal of what happened between Tenn and Sage in highschool that leads to Sage's lying, it's just so frustrating. Overall, this one just wasn't for me at all. I really tried to like it but it just fell flat for me. I didn't care much for the romance, which barely felt there, and the characters were also barely likable. If you are a fan of family drama and misunderstanding tropes, then give this one a go, maybe you'll have a better time with it than I did!

*Thanks Netgalley and Berkley Publishing Group, Berkley for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review*

#book review #bookish #witch of wild things

[ironmanfridgemagnet]

Sitting On The Shelf -Marcus White x Reader

Part 12 - Strike

SOTS Masterlist

“So what now?”

Before you had the opportunity to put a suggestion forward, Dina came barrelling out of the store exit, a megaphone in hand and a wide grin covering her face. Marching through the centre of the crowd, Marcus pulled you gently into his side, bringing you out of Dina's way as she headed straight towards the back of a truck, climbing into the back and staring out at the crowd before her.

"Attention, please. Listen up. I have something I'd like to say." Dina commanded through the megaphone, the multitude of small conversations that had formed amongst you quickly quieting down. "I know you're scared. This is a big moment. But rest assured Cloud 9 will be fine without you."

"Come on." Amy groaned from in front of you, though unsurprised by Dina's actions - knowing she wouldn't have even expected them from herself less than an hour ago - she had still hoped she might have wanted to take a stand for Glenn.

"Anyway, I've demagnetized your key cards, and you will receive your final pay checks in the mail with the costs of your vests deducted from them. Nothing personal. I wish you all luck, but I've got a store to manage. Thank you. This really cheered me up." Dina jumped down from the truck, pushing her way through the crowd once again, the biggest, most genuine smile you had ever seen resting on her lips.

"Oh," Dina continued, bringing the megaphone back up to her lips once again as she suddenly stopped in front of you. "And have a heavenly day."

Tense silence settled across the crowd, surprised at the snark in which Dina's words had been delivered - surely she couldn't be that happy about Glenn going? About you being 'fired' for walking out in support of him? right?

Suddenly, the tense moment of surprise was broken by a loud, wet raspberry being blown from Glenn's mouth. "That's what I think of her."

"Yeah," Garret spoke up, nodding his head slowly in unsure agreement. "She's a fart noise."

At Garrets agreement, a chorus of raspberries began to be blown from the group of you who stood together outside of the store, defiant still despite Dina's threat that they were going to lose their jobs.

"Listen, who cares about Dina?" Amy asked, shouting so that everyone could hear her; your heart warmed at the sight, happy to see Amy taking on something that you never thought she would have. "We did it!"

Cheers came from all around you, yourself included, relishing in the moment of victory you felt right now, knowing that it probably wouldn't last as long as you hoped. Grabbing Amy by the shoulders, you span her around, pulling her into your chest as you wrapped her in a tight embrace. Pulling back, you held her at arms length, sharing a bright and genuine smile, before pulling her in close again and holding her tightly in your grasp.

Marcus and Jonah watched from beside you, both watching with gentle smiles at the moment shared between you and Amy - the familial feel to it no different from what they were used to seeing between the two of you, yet new and different all the same. As the cheers began to quieten down, you pulled away from Amy yet again, though this time her arm rested across your lower back, keeping you close to her side.

"So do we just go home now?" Mateo asked, his face scrunching in confusion as to where to go from here. Though no one was exactly sure, you knew that this was only the beginning and that you weren't going to be entering the store any time son.

At the lack of a response, people began to break off into groups, dissolving into conversations about anything and everything - leaving you stuck with Marcus. While you had only recently let go of his hand (the one you had held to pull him out of the store with you), you didn't feel comfortable to go out and grab it again now - things still felt tense between the two of you and you'd lost the momentum and courage you'd had from the walkout.

"So..." You began, Marcus echoing your words as he bounced back and forth on the heels of his feet, his hands stuffed into his jean pockets. "Nice weather we're having."

You let out a nervous laugh, clasping your hands together behind your back as you avoided Marcus eyes, unsure of what to say. Did you ask him why he had been acting weird? Why he didn't want you to sit with him? Or did you let it slide?

"Yeah. Good day for a walkout I guess." Marcus avoided your eyes too, his hand coming up to cover his eyes as he looked up at the sky, the sun shining brightly down on the two of you.

"So, this morning..." You began, deciding it would be better to try and figure out what you had done wrong - so you could fix it - then to let sleeping dogs lie. "I was just wondering why-"

"This is not a strike." Amy shouted, interrupting your attempt at figuring out the Marcus situation. You didn't think you'd done anything to upset him, but you wouldn't be surprised if you had - you didn't necessarily trust your own perception of events enough to know. "Right y/n?"

"Looks like a strike." You shrugged, looking at the crowd that was still gathered in the cloud 9 parking lot.

"Yeah, it is." Jonah insisted, his shoulders scrunching up to his jaw as he tensed up at Amy's accusation. This was surely a strike, right? "What would you call it?"

"A demonstration? An expression of discontentedness? I don't know, we're just here to get Glenn's job back." Amy desperately tried to explain - you doubted Amy actually thought this wasn't a strike, and determined this was more about her refusal to accept that she had been a part of it. You knew this was a big, new thing for her; and it didn't surprise you much that she seemed to be struggling to come to terms with her actions.

"Mmm, "Noun. A refusal to work, organized by a body of employees as a form of protest."" Jonah read from his phone, having clearly searched up the definition of  strike just to prove Amy wrong.

"Okay, it doesn't matter what we call it." Amy sighed, sounding defeated and fed up of Jonah having to be right about this.

"Cool, then we'll just call it a strike." Jonah shrugged, shoving his phone hastily back into his pocket and folding his arms across his chest defiantly.

"Feels like a strike." You added, folding your arms across your stomach as you curled slightly into yourself, knowing you agreed with Jonah's idea but not wanting to be associated with his insistence.

"It's not a strike." Amy cried, clearly frustrated with the situation at hand - as far as she was concerned, it was a walkout, not a strike, and it would be over sooner rather than later.

"Guys," Glenn chirped up, his eyebrows scrunched into the centre of his forehead, creasing his forehead and making him look confused. "Should we be concerned that a Cloud 9 corporate car just pulled in?"

Oh fuck.

"We are screwed." Mateo whined, throwing his arms up in exasperation. "They just sent an enforcer to drop the hammer on us."

"Oh we are totally," You began, meeting Amy's eyes which seemed clouded with fear and worry. Had you dragged her in too deep? No. She was the one who asked for the walkout - you were in this together, "totally screwed."

————————————————————————

Dina walked back outside just moments after you'd seen the slim, well dressed cloud 9 representative enter the store, her stride filled with confidence and the shadow of a smile still resting on her face.

"Excuse me." Dina proclaimed, not having to talk too loudly as the shunned quite of seeing the corporate car pull up still had everyone shocked to silence. A chorus of boo's came from the group surrounding you, surprised by the audacity from Dina to come back out and face the group of you. "Your boos fuel me. I'm here to talk to the heat."

"I assume Y/n, Amy and I are the heat?" Jonah asked, crossing his arms across his chest as he quirked his eyebrow at Dina.

"District Manager Jeff Sutton wants a meeting." Dina announced, a wide smile covering her face - trust her to be the one to be pleased by 'Jeff's' sudden presence, both because it meant you would be reprimanded and because of the strange fascination her and Glenn both had with Cloud 9 officials.

"Okay, yeah. We'll talk." Amy responded, brushing off Dina's demanding tone as accepting the request she had brought with it.

"Yes! I knew I could get you." Dina cheered, closing her first tightly and pumping it in the air in victory - as though you would 've said otherwise. "All right, ten minutes. If you're not there by then well... we'll wait."

"Okay, what are our demands?" Jonah asked as he turned back away, making sure Dina had walked back into the store and was far enough out of earshot to not hear the discussion.

"Oh, I have plenty of demands J." Marcus winced at your words, looking away from the three of you and towards the floor; he hated how he couldn't escape the knowledge you were taken, that you were not his. It felt as though since he'd found out that it was all he heard about - Jonah this and J that - he was sick of it. "For starters-"

"No," Amy interrupted, "We don't have demands. We just want Glenn's job back."

"And if they say no, we go back to work anyway!" Mateo cheered, trying to rally you all to his cause - while you did understand his want to go back and try and fix things before they got out of hand, you weren't going to give in so easily.

"Why not try to get more than Glenn's job back, right? I mean, we're already on strike." Jonah suggested, hoping that he would have the opportunity to push a complete agenda while the opportunity presented itself. It would be a waste not to.

"We're not on strike." Amy insisted yet again, a deep huff coming from her as Jonah tried yet again to use the word 'strike.'

"We're already on an expression of discontentedness." Jonah sassed, rolling his eyes at Amy's refusal to accept that this was indeed a strike.

"That sounds like we're on strike." You admitted, teasing Amy as she now rolled her eyes at the two of you - who were teaming up against her, not unlike usual, just to get a rise out of her. Though this time it wasn't - you genuinely did agree with Jonah, this was a strike because a strike was what you needed.

"Why not ask for things like like, uh, better health insurance?" Jonah put forward, hoping that his suggestion would get the ball rolling on other ideas of what they could ask corporate to do.

"And we don't get paid for overtime, even when we work overtime." Sandra offered, her voice barely above a whisper as to not offend anyone with her words - you wished she would speak up more. Sandra was often filled with insightful ideas and fun bits of knowledge; she was nice to talk to and you wished she would share that side with others more.

"There you go, Sandra!" Jonah cheered, thankful that someone had added to his list and not left him hanging. Flashing Sandra a bright smile, you gave her two thumbs up, proud that she had spoke her mind as opposed to keeping her usual quiet demeanour.

"How about how they don't care about the difference between the wages they pay and the cost of living in St Louis?" You added, thinking back on how expensive the bus had been and how little your wages were in comparison - it having taken a good chunk out of your monthly budget.

"See, y/n gets it. Come on guys, keep them coming!" Jonah encouraged, clapping his hands together as he spoke, trying to get more suggestions put forward, however he was only met with weird ones that couldn't be done and you wouldn't even suggest.

"Guys, if we go in there asking for everything, we're gonna get nothing, okay? We need to get Glenn's job back." Amy lectured, enunciating her words with frantic hand gesture, hoping to convey the severity of what they were trying to do. This could be it for Glenn if you didn't take it seriously enough.

Leaving the group behind, you marched confidently into the store, the three of you ready to take on Dina and District Manager 'Jeff Sutton' and whatever they tried to throw at you.

Having walked past the 'Dress for Success' display on your way to the breakroom, the three of you changed into suits. Jonah in the navy blue display suit, his tie pressed firmly against the collar of his shirt as you had done it for him and made it look as neat and proper as possible - you in the matching pantsuit, the lighter shade-of-blue ascot becoming increasingly itchy against your throat.

"I'm not making fun of you. It's just so pink." Jonah admitted, his eyes not leaving Amy's pink, suit-clad frame. The blazer and frilly skirt were a vibrant pink, completely attracting both you and Jonah's attention.

"It's all they had in my size. And will you please take off that stupid fedora?" Amy spat, rolling her eyes at the new attitude that came with the fedora Jonah had put on - like it had suddenly given him the courage to act cockier then usual.

"It completes the look." Jonah let out a small gasp, offended by Amy's comment as he had thought he looked dapper in the navy hat.

"You look like Carmen Sandiego." Amy rolled her eyes, smacking the fedora off of Jonah's head and onto the floor behind you - you resting your hand on Jonah's lower back to guide him towards the breakroom and stop him from retreating to save his beloved hat.

"Really?" You asked, initially surprised by the comparison though the longer you looked at Jonah, the more you agreed. "I was thinking like, an early 2000's Timberlake tribute act."

————————————————————————

Walking into the breakroom, you silently sat down opposite Dina and Jeff - an uncomfortable tension settling over the breakroom that was readily broken by Dina slamming her fists down hard against the table-top. "We do not negotiate with terrorists."

"Who's the terrorist in this scenario, Dina?" Amy rebuked, staring Dina down from across the table, you finding her hand under the table and giving it a tight squeeze to let her know you were there - you were in this as a team, and a team you would be.

"That suit you're wearing." Dina spat, leaning over the table as to try and intimidate and insult Amy with her harsh words.

"Oh lay off Dina." You responded, your piercing glare attempting to put holes through her. "The same could be said for that ugly ass purple polo."

A gasp from Dina elicited Jeff to intervene. "Eh, no one's a terrorist. Again, you don't have to be here."

"Oh, I'm not gonna leave you alone with these two monsters." Dina snapped, her glare flickering between you and Amy as the two of you stared her down in response.

"Okay, so why don't you guys just tell me what you want?" Jeff asked, his voice calm and composed compared to that of the argument that had just occurred between you, Amy and Dina.

"Well, Jeff, it's really quite..." Amy began, a wide smile forming on her face as she put on her sweetest, most polite tone of voice - the kind you've seen her use with customers before - though she was quickly interrupted by Jonah.

"I'm sorry, Jeff. We're gonna need a minute." Jonah beckoned the two of you to turn around with him, leaning in close together so that you could hear his hushed words.

"I'm not saying anything. I'm just doing this to intimidate him." Jonah revealed, his plan seeming smart in your head, a smile forming on your face at Jonah genius - oh how you loved it when his ideas were actually useful. "Nod your head. That was way too big. Smaller nods. Okay, now giggle like I said something charming."

"Oh, J, you're too funny." You whispered, though loud enough that Jeff and Dina would hear your compliment. Letting out a hushed giggle - like Jonah had said 'something charming' - you rested your hand against his chest, patting it softly before turning back to face the opposition, trying to really sell the role: though Amy rolled her eyes hard beside you.

"Okay, Jeff, what we want is for Glenn to be rehired as Store Manager." Amy near-shouted, fed up of Jonah's attempts of 'intimidating' the pair across from you and wanting to just get to the point.

"I would sooner slit my throat and Jeff's throat before I'd let that happen." Dina emphasised each word, threatening the three of you despite Jeff seeming to agree that what you wanted was reasonable and doable.

"Dina," Jeff snapped, fed up of Dina's interruptions and threats which were elongating this whole process,  "if you're gonna be here, I just need you to observe."

"Ah, Assistant Manager style. I got it." Dina complied, shuffling back into her seat and folding her arms across her chest, winking at Jeff to let him know she was 'on his side.'

"So, I am authorized to rehire Glenn." Jeff revealed, his hands coming together in front of him and a thin-lipped smile settling on his face.

"Really?" Amy gasped, her eyes opening wide in surprise at how easy it had been to get what they wanted from corporate. "Well, that's that's great."

"Fantastic news, Jeff. Thanks." Jonah added, slouching down into his chair, his arm resting against the table with all the stature of a wannabe mob boss.

"Where did you get that?" You whispered, extremely concerned as to where he had pulled a new fedora from after leaving the one he was wearing previously in the hall outside of the breakroom. "Take that off."

"Corporate is just asking that you and the rest of the employees sign here. Then everybody can get back to work, and I can go home, which is a relief 'cause they've got me in a motel out by the airport. It says, "continental breakfast," but it's, like, cereal and toast. I'm like, "I can make that at home."" Jeff discussed his morning routine, brushing over the form that corporate wanted you to sign and focusing more on his continental breakfast - or, lack thereof.

"Not even a muffin?" You and Dina asked at the same time, smiling and pointing at each other across the table at your shared train of thought.

"I didn't look. I was running late." Jeff admitted, shrugging his shoulders with little effort and seeming to make a mental note to check for muffins when he next had the chance.

"I'm sorry, excuse me. This is an apology letter. Are you asking us to apologize for walking out?" Amy asked in shock upon reading the slip of paper Jeff had handed to her - you grasping for it as she let it fall to the table to confirm what you had just heard.

"I know it's annoying," Jeff apologised, his gaze sympathetic to your case - despite that, he was still one of them. "But you're gonna have to give Corporate a little something."

"Oh. We're supposed to give Corporate a little something?" You scoffed, slouching back into your chair and folding your arms across your chest. How could they? Well, you knew how they could - it didn't surprise you in the slightest that corporate wanted an apology for the issues they had caused, but yet, it still hurt.

"That's hilarious because you fired our boss for giving Cheyenne maternity leave." Amy snarled her words out, pointing an accusatory finger at Jeff. "You don't give us overtime. And you pay us bad in the first place. You don't give us health insurance, and we're not allowed to vape in the store. Myrtle's got a..."

"Okay, can I offer some advice?" Jeff asked, though it wasn't the kind of question you actually answered; you were getting his unsolicited opinion no matter what you said. "You guys walked out with no planning. You have no experience. I can see the tag on your sleeve. My point is you're just in way over your heads. So sign the letter. Say thank you. And then don't do anything you're gonna regret."

Storming out of the breakroom with renewed vigour, you marched back out into the parking lot where everyone still stood, talking amongst themselves. Breaking through the crowd, you walked up to a picnic bench that was part of the Garden centre display, Jonah and Amy climbing up and turning back to offer you a hand to help you up to stand with them.

"We are still on strike!" You shouted, pulling harshly at the stupid ascot that had been irritating your neck and yanking until it came undone.

"We are on strike!" Amy reaffirmed, shouting out her version of events to the crowd before turning to face you and bringing her hand up to rub over the irritated red line across the length of your throat. You winced at the contact, not realising how much the stupid piece of cloth had really been braising against your skin.

"We are still on strike!" Jonah countered, looking across the crowd as confusion filled their faces at the back and forth that was occurring between the three of you.

"Why do you have to be like that?" Amy whisper-yelled at the two of of you, though quickly turning back to the crowd with a wide smile in her face. "We are on strike for the first time!"

"So they wouldn't give Glenn's job back?" Mateo asked from below you, confused as to why corporate were putting up such a fight when you'd threatened to go on strike - a big fear of theirs that he had assumed they would try and prevent as quickly as possible.

"No, they offered it to us, but we said, "That's not good enough."" Jonah explained, hoping that people would understand.

"All right! Turning down my job! What an awesome idea!" Glenn replied through a pained smile, not seeing the bigger picture of what you were working towards here.

As Amy and Jonah rallied the crowd to your cause, you skimmed the group, hoping to catch the gaze of a certain someone who you hadn't had the opportunity to finish your conversation with yet. Finally spotting Marcus within the crowd, you gave him your brightest smile, hoping that the tension that had been palpable between the two of you had started to dissolve after your brief interaction earlier today. Marcus returned the smile, though it didn't quite meet his eyes - however you were quickly broken from the moment as Jonah's hand came to rest on your back, pulling you to lean into his side.

"We'll see you tomorrow." Jonah concluded, stepping down from the bench, and extending his hand out to you to make sure you got down from the height safely. A blush began to rise in your cheeks at the sweetness if the action; Jonah always looked out for you, and you couldn't be more grateful to have such an amazing friend.

"For our first day of strike!" Amy added, using the fact she was still on the bench to have the final say in the strike vs walkout debate. Extending your hand out to her, as Jonah had to you, and smiling widely at her. Tomorrow was going to be the start of something big - you knew it.

————————————————————————

Having arrived bright and early the following morning, you had helped Amy and Jonah set up the boycott - giving out bright red t-shirts with "boycott cloud 9" in bold, black lettering and giving out any spare signs you had, branded with "boycott cloud 9" and "cloud 9 on strike." It had already been a long morning, but you were ready to face the day ahead - for once.

"Well, this came together really well. I mean, one day." Jonah said in awe of the crowd that had already began to form in front of the store in support of the boycott.

"Sure did, it feels good to be doing something for once. I mean, not like I work much when I'm actually in the store anyway..." You added. To be actually doing something at work for once felt odd - though you did stuff at work, you more often then not found yourself lost in conversation with Garret or Jonah; letting the hours pass by quicker then you'd ever admit. But today, you felt energized and ready to face the day, despite the fact you'd not even drank any coffee yet - which was a feat enough for you.

"Yeah. And it's kinda nice to be out here doing something important." Amy stated, you and Jonah humming in agreement: it felt good to know you were taking a stand against corporate, especially when it was for Glenn.

As a truck pulled into the parking lot, you and Jonah left Amy to her devices, knowing it was the inflatable rat that you would need to set up before the news got here to report on what you were boycotting. Though, strangely enough, you'd never set up an inflatable rat before, and decided it would be best to start now in case it was difficult.

————————————————————————

You stood slightly behind the camera as Amy began her interview with KRJX News, giving her a thumbs up of encouragement as she got ready to speak. Jonah wrapped his arm around your shoulders, resting against you as you watched Amy from the side-lines, ready to come in as back up if she needed you to.

"I'm Mo Frank, reporting live from the Cloud 9 on Ozark Highlands Road where things are anything but heavenly. We're here with Amy "Dub-anowski" who is one of..."

"Doob-anowski." Amy corrected the pronunciation, smiling widely into the camera the whole time - almost too widely.

"Amy "Doob-anowski," who is the organizer of this protest. Amy, uh, what's this about?" Mo asked, glancing between the camera and Amy, an unwavering news reporter smile on his face. It was creepy how they all could do that - smile like a crazy person without actually looking crazy.

"Thank you, Mo. Well, we are Cloud 9 employees, and we are asking people to boycott the store. Really, what it comes down to, what this is all about is..." Amy began, pacing her words well so they came out clear and concise, just like you had rehearsed in the car ride here this morning.

"Making sure that transgender people should not be allowed in a women's bathroom!" A stranger rudely interrupted, signs suddenly appearing from nowhere with anti-trans slogans littering them - what the fuck? Where had people gotten the idea that this was what you were protesting?

"What? No, that's not at all..." Amy tried to explain though she was yet again rudely cut off, this time by the KRJX reporter.

"So, Amy Dubanowski, why is restricting trans rights so important to you?" He asked, an amused smirk forming on his face - he knew that wasn't what you were protesting, you had already explained that to him when you'd tried to convince them to cover your story the night before - but any content (the truth or otherwise) could make for a good, scandalous story.

"No, it's, it's not." Amy's refusal seemed to fall on deaf ears as Jonah burst onto the camera, snatching the microphone from Mo's hands and interrupting the interview.

"I'm sorry, there's been a misunderstanding. I tweeted out to my 1,506 followers, and I should have been more clear that we're just protesting our thing." His words were rushed as he tried to explain the truth to the audience watching before Amy - and the rest of you for that matter - could be branded as transphobes.

"Yeah we're not against trans rights. That's an entirely separate thing from our thing." You added, suddenly appearing in front of the camera next to Jonah, hoping that the focus could return to what you were actually protesting today.

"Down with the government! Statehood for Puerto Rico!" A man suddenly appeared behind you and Jonah, bursting his head between the two of you with a flag wrapped tightly around his shoulders. The sudden movement startled you, causing you to jump into Jonah, him wrapping his arm around your waist to stabilize you.

"No! No!" Amy shouted, snatching the microphone from Jonah so she could finally have chance to speak. "This is about workers' rights. Workers' rights. We're asking customers to boycott the store because this company is a rat, okay? It is a dirty, filthy rat!"

Amy gestured towards the inflatable as it began to expand, though to your horror, there wasn't an eerily malicious-looking rat before you, but a cute, cuddly-looking teddy bear. Could this day get any worse? You had tried so hard to make sure this protest went as smoothly as possible, and it seemed like the universe was just trying to throw it back in your face.

"I believe that's actually a teddy bear." Mo stated, a smug smile on his face as he gently took the microphone from Amy's hand, it coming freely from her grasp as her grip had loosened in defeat.

"Yeah, Mo, I can see that it's a teddy bear."

————————————————————————

After trying, and failing, with your last-ditch attempts at boycotting the store, you had retreated outside, hopeful that by some miracle you would find a way to break corporate despite how quickly the day seemed to be coming to a close.

However, that dream was swiftly crushed as Jeff came out, Dina in tow, to offer everyone - including Glenn - their jobs back.

Slowly but surely, people began to filter back into the store, going off to find Jeff and sign the apology to get their job back. Even Glenn. Leaving just you, Amy and Jonah outside, signs hanging in your hold defeatedly.

"You don't have to stay out here, you know?" Amy offered, the three of you walking around in a small circle, echoing the once much large march that had been there only hours before.

"Oh, I'm staying out here." You confirmed, lifting your sign up with a renewed enthusiasm as the sound of Amy's defeat. "We're a team."

"Oh, no, I'm staying out as long as you guys do." Jonah agreed, though he quickly became sheepish as he began to speak again. "Which is when, do you think?"

"I don't know." Amy let out a loud groan, feet dragging more and more as she continued to walk in the circle, sign getting closer and closer to the ground with each minute that went by.

"Maybe forever." You mused, throwing your head back in exhaustion and letting out a whine. "I can do this all day." "It's just that as soon as we put these signs down it's all over. All of it." Amy admitted, revealing the truth as to why she - and in turn you and Jonah - were still out here, hobbling round in protest still, despite the fact it was long over. "Like it never happened. Just back to square one. Everything's gonna be back to the way it used to be."

"Except for that garden shed. That's never gonna be the same." Amy grimaced at the reminder of what said shed had been through today, a shiver running down her spine at the involuntary thought of what it smelled like in there alone.

"That's not true Ames, this is only the beginning." You encouraged, not wanting the fire to leave Amy just yet - you had gotten so far, farther then you'd ever seen before during your time at cloud 9, and you wouldn't let it end here.

"Yeah! You know, just because we go inside doesn't mean it's over. The fight will go on. This was just the first punch." Jonah reassured, the three of you stopping your rotation and moving to stare at each other.

"So to be continued?" Amy asked, her sign seeming to become heavier in her hold as she resigned to ending things here - for now at least.

"To be continued." You and Jonah affirmed, allowing your signs to fully fall from your hold, wafting through the air until the landed on the gravelled surface of the parking lot without a sound. Today had been long, but it had been worth it - you'd done something instead of nothing and honestly? That was enough.

"I'm exhausted. It's hard work not working. My feet hurt." Amy complained as you walked towards the entrance of the store, her hand coming to rest on the small of her back as she stretched.

"Well, we have been on strike for two full days." Jonah teased, a cheeky smirk forming on his face - the first real smile you'd seen on him since the reveal of the teddy bear inflatable.

"One day." Amy countered, a laugh beginning to bubble in her chest as she couldn't believe that you and Jonah were still going at it.

"Two days." You rebuttald, a smile forming on your face as Amy turned to jokingly glare at you - whom she'd hoped would eventually turn to her side.

"Mmm, agree to disagree." Jonah offered, attempting to cease fire over the strike vs walkout debate, and let it die with the protest you were leaving behind in the parking lot.

"I don't agree. You're both wrong." Amy insisted, kicking a stray sign over as you walked into the store, letting out her frustrations at the way todays events had unfolded.

"I think we just see eye-to-eye." You stifled a laugh, though it bubbled from your chest as Amy turned to glare at you again; muttering something about how you were supposed to take her side before she headed off in the direction of the breakroom, Jonah in her wake as he teased her about you 'loving him more then her.'

"You looked good out there." The voice you had come to know to belong to Marcus startled you, a hand coming to rest on your chest at the sudden sound. "The three of you. You did something: even if I'm not entirely sure what that something was."

"Well, thank you for supporting whatever it was." You replied, a hushed laughter being shared between the two of you as Marcus pulled the lapels of his vest open, showing off his red, 'boycott cloud 9' t-shirt as if he was modelling it. "We needed all the support we could get put there."

"Well I think you did great." Marcus gave you a thin lipped smile, a hand moving up to the nape of his neck as he seemed to grasp onto the hairs there and fiddle with them anxiously. "You and your boyfriend make a good team."

Though Marcus seemed to continue to speak, you could no longer hear him. Boyfriend? Boyfriend? What was he on about? All this time you thought he was being awkward with you because of his date with Dina - that they were a couple now and she didn't like your friendship and he didn't know how to break it to you  - or something along those lines. Worst case you'd hurt his feelings or done something wrong and he never wanted to speak to you again but was too nice to outright tell you. But you hadn't considered that...

"-and you seem to have a lot in common too which is good. Maybe that's a bad thing though; like too much of the same can-"

"Marcus?" You asked, cutting of his rant that you had unfortunately missed most of as you were overrun by your train of thought. "What boyfriend?"

————————————————————————

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Hey guys!! 

AHHH first part of the 2nd season and I’m so excited for what it will bring!!

Sorry its out a little late tonight, I just wanted the first part of the new season to be a good one and hopefully it is :D

Please feel free to give me any feed back so I can improve myself for me and for you!

I hope you enjoy and as always, have a lovely week!!<33

#sitting on the shelf marcus white x reader #superstore #superstore imagine #superstore x reader #superstore marcus x reader #marcus superstore #marcus white #marcus white imagine #marcus white x reader

[gay-fauncologist]

A bunch of DPS and House MD headcannons about horse riding because they're all abnormal about fuzzy things

House M.D.

House doesn't like horse riding unless he's out on a trail, and can't go faster that a walk because it hurts his leg. He has a favorite horse and goes to visit her at least twice a week to give her ear scratches.

Cuddy got bit by House's horse and has been genuinely afraid of them ever since.

Wilson can ride surprisingly well, loves going fast and has even done barrel racing before, but if House is with him he'll stay right next to him.

Foreman likes horse riding, but stays really stiff for a good portion of the time. He still doesn't trust his horse.

Cameron only got into horse riding because of Chase, and it scares her too much to go fast.

Chase is a natural born cowboy. He has the balance and posture of a master and adores his little baby. He calls her Cherry, and their relationship makes Cameron jealous on occasion.

Kutner thought horses weren't cool when he was a kid, but when he got his own he grew attached to him and now runs a farm with his family.

Thirteen rides side saddle and rides WELL. She's mastered it completely and is always marveled at during renfest.

Taub is super jumpy around horses. He can't turn his back on them or they'll chew at his coat, so he does this weird little side shuffle around them.

Masters rides a pony. It's pretty lazy, but she likes it that way.

Park has taught her (very tall) horse to sneeze in people's faces when they insult her. So far House, Taub, Chase, Foreman, and both her parents have been sneezed at.

Dead Poets Society

Neil's father taught him to ride English and got him a Shire for his 10th birthday. Neil hates English riding because of his dad's strict rules and tends to just go haywire on his rides. He takes Todd on rides through the forest around the academy and they have their own little cave where they sit and talk for hours.

Todd doesn't know how to ride very well, and mostly just holds on for dear life sitting behind Neil in the saddle. He still thinks it's fun though, and hopes Neil will teach him to ride so he doesn't make him claustrophobic on his own horse.

Mr. Keating takes care of the boys horses on his prep period. He doesn't have his own and the boys don't have much time during the day to help around in the stalls, so he goes down to feed and clean them. He knows all of the horses by name and knows exactly who each one belongs to.

Meeks's horse is a wild spirit and has thrown the poor boy off at least 30 times. Everyone is surprised at how sturdy Meeks's bones are, as he hasn't broken any yet.

Charlie and his horse are the sassy duo of the group. They mess around constantly and appear to share the same singular braincell when it comes to pranks.

Knox brings his poetry to the barn to recite in front of all the horses and they really love it. He also sleeps with his horse quite often, curling up next to her and letting her rest her head on him while she sleeps.

Cameron's horse is a nightmare. Their relationship is troubled and a bit bloody on Cameron's side. As soon as Cameron tells her she's doing something right, she does the exact opposite. The other boys find this hilarious.

Pitts is amazing at riding. He secretly baby talks his horse when no one's looking and likes to read him bedtime stories.

#house md #dead poets society #dps #hate crimes md #in da house #honse

[joy-in-opera]

Hh... can't sleep. Anxiety is being dumb. But also existential shit, and I kinda need to put it somewhere.

Many worst-case scenarios have run through my head. Losing family members being among the worse ones, etc... but of all things, I wonder if I could face speaking with old friends I use to talk to back in HS... my choir directors included.

They were both kind and helped push me toward music, a life-long passion of mine, and one that still burns bright. They gave me opportunities to develop my musical talents and I'm forever grateful for everything they did... but they don't know a lot of what has happened since I left HS. They don't know about my Ehler's Danlos Syndrome, and the various issues that it entails. They don't know that I'm in constant pain, and will be for the rest of my life... they don't know the extent of my anxiety, and how it has prevented me from seeking better jobs out there, or trying to push toward performance. ... and now that I'm trying to push toward being a music teacher myself, even with the help of a vocational rehabilitation program, I still find it very difficult to take the small steps toward sending in applications...

Would they understand that I fell short of my aspirations? Would they be disappointed? Would they feel like the effort they put in was wasted on me? I genuinely don't know, but I also understand that I'm thinking the worst of the what-ifs. I genuinely feel like a failure, like I'm floundering in whatever life wants to throw at me and my family next.

I'm the 2nd child, the eldest daughter, in a family of 7 kids and 2 parents. All of us have health problems in some way or another: my mother's EDS is worse than mine is, among a myriad of health issues, and she already owns a wheelchair she uses. My older brother has an autoimmune disease where he needs to be on medication for the rest of his life, and suffers from rheumatoid arthritis. My 1st younger brother was hit on his motorcycle back in 2020, royally fucking up his knee to the point he needed cadaver tendons; he is still dealing with the aftermath and all that entails physically, emotionally, mentally, and financially. My sisters have varying degrees of physical health problems and mental illnesses: depression, anxiety, one hit puberty too early, another needed surgery to fix her bowed legs, and all us sisters and my mother have Gastroparesis. My 2nd younger brother suffered with anxiety for so long that he went catatonic at one point and needs to be on medication for it, ontop of dealing with scoliosis developing that we need to keep an eye on. My father is among the luckier ones in this merry group of ours, but he's still been beat up in his own way. He's broken so many bones in his body and spine, that a medical professional was surprised he is still walking and working... not to mention having a heart issue as the cherry on top.

I want nothing more than to take care of my family... I want to take care of the people around me that I care about most. I don't want myself or them to have to want for anything, or cry in the middle of the night wondering how to pay for medication or procedures that will help improve their quality of life or just keep them alive. ... but I feel helpless. I can barely scrape by with the little I can do myself, and late at night like this, I want to give up. ... But I can't do that. I shouldn't do that. I have to keep pushing and going because there has to be better days ahead. There has to be days where the pain is more bearable, where the anxiety doesn't have a chokehold on my ability to move forward, where I can help my family and friends through their hardest times like they've helped me through mine.

... and yet, with all this being said, the thing that I'm most scared of in this moment in time, is confessing everything to people I know IRL? It's funny... you're crawling through the fire and the flames only to be scared by a little jumping spider in the grand scheme of things. It doesn't make sense, but y'know... anxiety doesn't make sense sometimes; or, most of the time. I've cracked jokes during traumatic experiences and kept a calm and level head, but then turn around to have a mental crisis over how the people I know/knew IRL would respond in light of... all of the everything. Maybe it's an easier thing to fret over, instead of everything else? I don't know.

I know the steps I want to take from here to keep moving forward. ... I'm scared, I have doubts and insecurities, at times I feel stuck or frozen... And goddammit I gotta figure out how to put away how much I care about what folks think.

But for now I'm still here, and I'm content with that. I don't plan on going anywhere, and I count that as a win.

#personal #venting #just needed to empty my head so i can sleep

[agentcable]

Chicago Fire Season 1 Ep. 2 "Mon Amour"

Severide is hiding a serious shoulder injury from the fire that killed Andy Darden. He grapples with guilt as he fights to rescue a construction worker trapped in a building collapse. Darden's wife Heather blames Severide for her husband's death at the annual firefighter's barbecue. At Hancock Tower, a call is made to an accident site where two teenagers are pinned in a vehicle beneath the falling debris of a broken window washer's cart. Casey and his fiancée Hallie work together to figure out their future.

If you want to watch the series for yourself, stop reading! This post contains spoilers to the storyline.

Severide runs into Heather and the kids at the local cafe while grabbing a cup of coffee. He is genuinely excited to see them, but Heather is not. Kelly tells her that he has been meaning to come by, but Heather stops him, fire in her eyes. She claims that Andy would have never become a firefighter if he had not known Severide.

The squad is called to extinguish a small kitchen fire, which they do within seconds. Severide becomes infuriated when he sees Mills with one hand on the ladder, shouting, "Men die when they relax!" He then goes to Leslie, who hands him another mysterious medicine vial, the last one.

The Firefighters at the firehouse are eagerly anticipating the annual barbecue. Severide attempts to avoid the event upon learning that the Dardens will be in attendance by taking an extra shift, but the Chief denies his request. Herrmann, who has returned from the hospital, enters the firehouse with a limp and informs the group that he may never walk straight again. After exchanging concerned looks, Herrmann surprises everyone by hopping up and doing a little jig, revealing that he was only joking.

The Chief introduces Nicki Rutkowski, who will be assisting with the payroll. As she steps in, eyes widen; she is stunning with long limbs and mysterious smiles. Nicki is the daughter of an old friend, and the Chief expects everyone to treat her like family. However, there is already some tension between her and Severide.

The squad is called to a site where three men are trapped under a collapsed building foundation. Two of the men are badly injured but saved by the squad. However, an older man named Peter is trapped beneath the boulder. Despite the unstable structure, an over-eager Severide climbs down to where Peter is. Peter is in terrible pain, but he talks to Severide and asks him to be completely honest about his condition. Severide informs him that he is likely bleeding internally and the situation is dire. Dawson examines him and determines that in order to have any chance of survival, Peter's leg must be amputated.

Severide and Peter converse amicably while waiting for the trauma surgeon to arrive, attempting to lighten the mood. Peter advises Severide to marry soon and shares stories about his wife Georgie, the love of his life. As the time passes, Peter requests that Severide take care of his leg so he can go home. Casey warns Severide that they need to evacuate as the structure may collapse, but Severide insists on obtaining a saw and keeping Peter engaged in conversation.

The trauma surgeon arrived, but Severide crawled out of the hole and informed them that it was now a recovery mission. As he walked away from the scene, he glanced down at his black gloves, which were covered in blood.

At the firehouse, Herrmann and his family surprised Shay and Dawson with a homemade sign to thank them for saving their father's life. Meanwhile, Severide watched on, distressed that he couldn't save Peter.

Later, the crew attended a meeting to discuss the mistakes made during Darden's death, hoping to prevent future tragedies. Severide couldn't bear to be there and escaped to the bathroom stall to inject the mysterious medicine into his arm.

Heather drives to Casey's house later that day to discuss the upcoming barbecue.

They decide to go together. Shay and Dawson deal with an inebriated man causing trouble in an Irish bar. They loaded him up, and he rudely grabs Dawson's behind with his bare hands, causing her to react. As they treat him in the ambulance, Shay mentions rumours about Casey and Hallie's reported split. Dawson becomes excited at the news.

At the barbecue, everyone is dressed casually except for Mills, who shows up in full uniform. He is still being teased by the others. Casey, Dawson, and Shay sit at a table with their partners, getting to know each other. Dawson informs the group that she has been taking medical school classes. Hallie kindly offers Dawson the opportunity to shadow her at the hospital for additional experience whenever she desires. Dawson appreciates the gesture but is also secretly frustrated that the fiancée of a man she has feelings for is a genuinely nice person.

Heather Darden arrives with the boys. Casey immediately scoops them up, ensuring they feel comfortable playing with the other kids. Hallie watches, touched by how well Casey interacts with them. Nicki introduces herself to Severide by the beer cooler, making it clear that she's interested.

Meanwhile, Casey strikes up a conversation with Dawson, asking her about her date. Hallie watches from across the field, concern wavering across her face. She senses a connection between them, even if it's unspoken.

After the barbecue, Nicki arrives at Severide's apartment with his jacket. She returns it and tries to kiss him, being forward. Severide is amused but declines, saying that he wants to watch the Cubs game. Nicki walks away down the hall, disappointed but not defeated.

At Severide and Shay's apartment, Shay mentions Heather Darden, but Severide refuses to discuss her. Lately, he has been making enigmatic phone calls, leaving voice messages for an unknown person to call back. The squad is called in for another emergency: rescuing two young women trapped under a window washer's cart that blew off 40 floors up and crashed onto a parked car due to high winds. Julie is trapped in her seat after the accident. The firefighters are racing against time to rescue her, as debris from the cart continues to fall onto the sidwalk. Severide is using a saw to open the car door while the cart above swings in the wind, suspended by a single rope. The crew rescue Julie in time. Severide returns a call and promises to meet the caller at the agreed-upon time.

Later that day, Casey visits Hallie at work and asks to start fresh. He wants to put their issues about children, work, and life aside. All he wants is to be with her. He slips the engagement ring back on her finger, and they embraces with full hearts. That night, they join the crew at a bar where everyone relax and share rounds of shots. Dawson briefly looks at Casey's arm around Hallie. Hallie inquires if Dawson considers doing rounds with her at the hospital, stating that Dawson has more experience than many of the Ivy League students attempting to become doctors.

Severide walks up the steps to a suburban house on a dimly lit street, holding his phone. Suddenly, a video of Peter, the deceased man from the building accident, plays on the phone. The video is addressed to Georgie and is a goodbye message. Georgie watches the video on Severide's phone while he sits beside her on the couch. In the video, Peter tells Georgie that Severide is the kind of son they always wanted to have, but never did. Georgie looks over at him with tears streaming down her face, and Severide returns her glance, his dark eyes red-rimmed. The video ends with Georgie embracing him, thankful for having heard her love's final words. The camera lingers on Severide's face, his eyes bearing the weight of the world, all the things he cannot say out loud.

#USA #TV Serie #Action #Emergency #Drama #2012 #One Chicago #Chicago Fire

[theorist-influencer-untitled]

10.29.23 Sunday

1:13 am

I feel bitter, I have this windblow....I wanna punch but it will be on air... I feel bitter angels!

I can't find my soul-mate... I can't find my own group... I mean new friends are different on your group...Group means more than new friends that you meet along the way....Group means it is like your some good old friends,who are willing to take you as you, no matter how crazy you are or how crazy you can be...

I'm still thinking of SEX with someone mutual with me willing to show genuine care and love...

I hope to meet him soon....I feel bitter!

3:43 am

Oh! My God... I don't know what to feel... Done, showering at 3:45 am... The leopard is hurting coz of what Miles or dread-locks guy did to me awhile ago... Miles or dread-locks guy or Miles' wife texted me this...

Miles' cute2x wifey... You are now part of my showbiz world but all my emotions are real... I miss my some old good friends... I need friends to share this in reality but all of them are gone, in a way they are in USA or other parts of the world or super busy on their own family...

I don't know... Where are my true fucking friends??!

It is shocking coz messages are supposed to be private... Or was it my WRONG SENT?? probably or possibly... Or typographical error??? hmm... it can be...

Miles is hurting me for this...

4:05 pm

I need to calm down though it hurts,angels...

4:18 am

I'm hurting angels... I believe I have sanity and maturity... That's life... SOME ALLEGATIONS ON ME OR ON YOU...

But still you love the person... He is a child... So sad...

4:41 am

Can't sleep...I have windblow... Whew! I feel sad....It is weird... I have to work and think of money and meet new souls... Religious,hygienic and someone will care and love me truly... A new set of friends hoping and praying....

Waiting for rewave and work is work...

11:10 am

Good Day! Angels... Mastering this "Kill Bill" hmm... Just like my first rap song that I learned the "Kiss Me More"... I practiced that around 100 times just to get the timing coz it was my first rap song.

Did I mention here that I used to be one of the singers in bar club here near the SM Bacoor, the "Water Village"....My voice was kinda different before actually we were 3 singers there...

We were 3 college graduate singers of Mr Pio or Daddy Pio, thanks to him for allowing me to heal and giving us our allowances those days and for taking care of us....We were 3 singers there, 2 from La Salle me and the other singer and the one from PCU? if I'm remembering everything correctly and one was my churchmate or religion mate in Iglesia Ni Cristo or Church Of Christ ( my old religion???)

I'm already a college graduate those years then whenever I got broken-hearted it is my way to heal my inner soul...

I stopped going to medicine school on my first year and I got a lot of side comments and bashers about me, not being able to pass my med school. But it wasn't work that way... It was my own personal thing to grow as a human adult. I finished B.S. Biology in "De La Salle" here in Cavite... But my entire first year was in " Far Eastern University or FEU" where I got good fair good grades until my 2nd year college that I transferred here in De La Salle Cavite.

Unzipping things that it is not actually my character... But these days came that I have to put my heart's content...

Whew! It is so childish and immature if I had explained my grades in FEU... But these days came that I have to put a shield on me...To be fair on some bashers, some old friends and some old teachers or some neighbour or even some old religion-mates who keep on saying that they care for me or just a reverse???

11:43 am

My grades in FEU angels are reverse here in De La Salle the grading system.... So,there you go the real explanation... But I was just an average student and I never kill anyone's ego or pride at the back stage without them knowing... There were "lazy days" and days of questioning a lot of things in my head. Days that I wasn't that "FOCUS" yet...

Well, anyways... It was my own personal life and my own life....It was about my shallow virginity and my innocent days...

My "shallow virginity"?? Does anybody cares for it these days??? It was a weird topic,you broke it and someone's got it and they caged you for 16 years and nobody wants to have it....So, it is just a shallow thing to talk about... But, it is something for someone but it didn't measure your entire whole being, even being brainy or not...

1:15 pm

You can't have a group with children and people who don't like you at all... I'm not gonna dwell on those people who couldn't just understand the rule in the world... Why, would I push my view and why should I care to let them comprehend the real flow in the world...

Still, waiting for rewave in Iqor... I have to dwell on my work status and I need money... I still wanna meet soul who can love and care for me and a group of people who can accept me...

Though, I never say I don't like HIM... I like HIM...

2:18 pm

2:29 pm

I always wanted an "orange" lip tint then I accidentally bought that "red orange" coz that was the only available color on that store that day... Then, I'm able to use it today to express my inner pain... Did someone make my lips bleed???

Anyways, it is Sunday here... Happy Blessed Sunday!!!

I feel bitterish and sad and depressing... Worrying so much of my future angels....I always lost spot in the crowd these days....Nobody actually like me these days... I feel sad and depressing... Still, thinking of money and my job... I still wanna see sand-dunes and some plastics at the right timing coz there is no LIFE here for me....But I need a job waiting for that fucking rewave in Iqor...

I still feel fat,old,wrinkled and ugly... I have so many complexities these days... I feel super old... I hate this "deep smile lines"... I wanna meet new soul who can care and love and new group just for me with intellectual mind.

5:09 pm

I still have windblow....Not my ideal life here with Uncle Jun... All my dreams fell apart since 2007... I feel bitter...

Thinking of money and my own future... I really wanna travel and to remove my deep smile lines... I have so many frustrations.

5:55 pm

Uncle DD is suddenly here... Shocking... Simply checking their house at the side...

Uncle DD told me that why I didn't tell him that they are already have an electric there... I told him, I thought Uncle Jun was the one who told him...

I'm not sure if Uncle DD is having ( present continuos tense ) sanity...

6:16 pm

This Uncle Jun seems strange as well... He commented on Ivan that when did he do his circumcision? Hmm.... Strange...

I need a job angels... I wanna have my own life,thinking of money...

7:24 pm

Done, eating dinner and tomorrow is an another voting day for baranggay or small councils in this fucking hometown...

Not really happy... Not happy being here but I have to be here for awhile....I need a job and money... I feeel bitter for not able to fix myself on the 2nd spin of my 2nd childhood...

This is so funny right? The term 2nd childhood can be used as negative or positive... If it is something positive meaning you have your job or success in life then you can fix your teeth again and perfect your nose probably, be skinny though you are old but supposed to be golden or perhaps having children and husband and doing my perfection on beauty like removing my deep smile lines and me with my baby John able to join dog show... These are positive 2nd childhood!

Everything fell-apart on me... My stars are not on the good alignment... I'm always defeated for 16 years... I lost my spot... I never feel beautiful... Sometimes, I wanna cry... Never got the chance to meet positive people on the other side of the world coz of the windblow or trap in this fucking hometown...

I just need to move on and get a job and work and hoping I can buy starbucks everyday....I know walking is sometimes healthy and it is sad you are accepting the fact that you will have your "death march" but then someone just broke your heart...

8:19 pm

I'm thinking of money and my rewave.... I'm still thinking of money and rewave...

I feel frustrated on SEX! I feel that someone just took my right to feel and to feel beautiful or my right to be loved by someone...

This is really serious angels... I feel depress for not being able to meet a good soul who is willing to show love and care and respect my needs...

"The Needs"....The "needs" on someone... I want someone mutual... I feel depress...

#Youtube

[galaxydrcaming]

Look who just woke up- is that NATASHA LIU-BORDIZZO? No, I must have been mistaken, that’s SABINE WREN from STAR WARS: REBELS. I heard they are 28 and stuck here just like everyone else. Even in the 20’s, they still give off a LEAVING SPRAY PAINTED ITEMS AROUND THE SHIP FOR THE CREW, ACTING TOUGH SO NOBODY CAN SEE HOW BROKEN SHE TRULY IS, ALWAYS KEEPING EXPLOSIVES AROUND TO THROW AT THE BAD GUYS, STRUGGLING FOR A LONG TIME TO ADMIT THAT HER FAMILY FAILED HER, PICKS UP ON LANGUAGES QUICKLY IN ORDER TO INTERACT WITH THE PEOPLE SHE HELPS impression. In Sydney, they are working as a ARTIST. They’re known to be quite CARING & SELFLESS, but have a tendency to be CLOSED-OFF & SASSY on their bad days.

Gender/Pronouns : Cis-Female and she/her

How long have they been in Sydney : Sabine has been in Sydney for about 4 years now in real time, but all her life in fake life.

Which suburb do they live in?: She lives in Kings Cross!

Personality description (in your own words): When you first meet Sabine, she can be rough around the edges, it would take her a good while before she actually trusted someone after what her parents did, but once that had been resolved, through her healing process, she has become a tiny bit more open to people around her, that however, didn’t stop her from being rough with someone, jokingly teasing them or something, but that usually meant that she cares. What most people don’t expect at first glance is how genuinely kind and good she is, she’s selfless alongside the rest of the rebel crew and is happy to offer a helping hand especially when they were going up against the Empire, she even admitted that she had left her family in order to protect them after everything. Once she cares about someone, it’s for life.

Memories of their real life: Born and Raised in both Mandalore and Krownest, Sabine belonged to Clan Wren, her mother, Ursa and father, Alrich were a part of House Vizla as well so growing up, she watched her mother and father fight for their home and clan, so naturally with how inspired she was, she went on to join the Imperial Academy in order to help out, whilst completely unaware of how truly bad the Empire was at that time. Her main job there was creating and building weapons, one of them being ‘The Duchess’ which turned anyone that wore Mandalorian Armor into dust, at that time however, she didn’t know that the Empire would test it out and use it as a threat for her people, so once she did find out about those said plans, she sabotaged them and destroyed the original machine so that they couldn’t use it to hurt anyone she knew or loved. (This comes back to bite her later, but it works out). After leaving the Academy, she had hoped that her family would be on her side, but they chose the Empire and emotionally destroyed her world so, she left and ended up working as a bounty hunter for some time with someone she would later on consider as a sister. History can repeat itself though because one disastrous situation separated the two and her ‘sister’ was fine with leaving Sabine for dead, so throughout that brief time of survival, she met Hera, Kanan, and Zeb, and joined them on the Ghost, with Ezra coming to join them shortly after. Throughout their adventures, Sabine went undercover, fought the Empire alongside her found family, obtained and learned how to sword fight with a powerful Mandalorian weapon called the Darksaber, and even managed to reconcile with her family. After all of that chaos, during a fight with the Empire in order to get them out of Ezra’s home planet Lothal, she helped cause a distraction for Ezra to escape from their group and meet alone with Thrawn, unfortunately, that same meeting ended with Ezra essentially sacrificing himself alongside Thrawn where they are now in the unknown regions of space, so with a statement that Ezra had told her prior to his sacrifice and said again in a hologram he had pre-recorded, Sabine took it to heart and at first, watched over his home planet, but later, went on to try and locate him alongside Ahsoka, in the hopes of bringing him home.

What was their fake life like : TBD

Optional, please pick at least three and interpret them however you wish ::

Label: The Broken Bird

Theme Song: Healing by Fletcher

Personality Type: ISFP

#thebridge: intro

[rebrandedstoryline]

Rebranded - 14.4 - The Sad Box

We learn some big things about Ayala's history. Some... Sad things.

Word Count: 1,906

“... It’s my Sad Box.” Ayala reluctantly stated, refusing to make any sort of eye contact with Sun as she did so. Her tone, particularly towards the end of her statement, established that she had a very negative association with the subject. Then again, anything referred to as a “Sad Box” must have been something bad.

Still, the statement alone was not much in terms of an explanation.

Moon took the time to sneak off to the kitchen to retrieve some proper cleaning supplies to deal with the blood on the floor, as he was not about to lick it up.

“O-oh. Well... Forgive me if I’m overstepping here, but, what exactly is a sad box?” Sun inquired, rather hesitantly, as he was genuinely worried that he might be overstepping with his question.

But he couldn’t help but be concerned. Something called a sad box had to be bad news.

Another period of uncomfortably silence followed, before the woman offered a sigh.

“It’s... A box. Where I put all the things that make me sad. So I don’t have to look at them.” Ayala explained, again sounding rather reluctant as she did so.

In response to this, the daytime attendant began to tilt his head about in thought. He was trying to understand what she was doing. Namely because it seemed that she was pulling things out of the sad box, instead of putting something away in it. Which seemed opposite the point of it based upon her brief explanation.

Sun began to fidget a bit, clearly wanting to ask additional questions but unsure if it was alright for him to do so. This coaxed something of a tired sigh from the woman as she began to lay the items from her sad box on the floor beside her.

“My shrink has been pressuring me to try and unpack my Sad Box for a while.” Ayala stated, still refusing to look at the animatronic.

“Now that I have you two, they’re pressuring me further. Because they think I followed some of their prior advice… So I’m just gonna rip the bandage off and hope for the best.” She explained, providing the context that Sun had been so desperately searching for.

Moon, who had been listening, returned with the cleaning supplies so that he could wipe up the blood. He had also made sure to retrieve a small trash bag. Something in that box was clearly broken and would need to be disposed of.

“Looks like a bunch of trinkets to me.” Moon commented, rather gruffly at that. Sun twisted his head around to give his twin a stern look. The comment had been rather rude and tasteless. The nighttime attendant opted to not speak of the matter further, going about the business of cleaning the blood off of the floor. By now it had started to dry, which made it more annoying to wipe up.

“Well... You’re not entirely wrong.” Ayala replied, not even appearing to have been bothered by Moon’s crass statement. As she did so, she carefully lifted the little Moon doll out of the box.

“Just a bunch of silly little trinkets. Nothing worth getting all upset over.” She added, seemingly speaking more to herself than she was to the animatronics.

She continued to remove the items from the chest. The objects were all carefully arranged in groups, seemingly according to what needed to go where. Bed accessories and the doll were laid in one neat little pile. Stacks of photographs were arranged seemingly randomly, though she was obviously putting some level of care into deciding which went into what pile. Once or twice she would appear to get lost, at which point she would rearrange some of these pictures.

The two animatronics remained on standby, not entirely sure if they were meant to help or if this was something that she wanted to deal with on her own.

Beyond that, the more that she unpacked, the harder it was to associate any of these items with sadness. They all seemed to be happy family portraits. Photographs of what appeared to be Ayala as a child, accompanied by her parents. There were a few other small, handmade stuffed animals. The bulk of what had been in the chest was actually just the photographs.

One of which had somehow gotten damaged. One towards the bottom. A chunk of the cracked glass had come somewhat free of the frame. When Ayala had blindly reached into the chest to try and pull out a stack of pictures, she had sliced herself open on it.

The glass itself had a red streak on it, but was otherwise clean.

Thankfully the picture inside appeared to be unharmed.

Once the chest had been emptied, the woman abruptly began to place items back into it. Which seemed counterintuitive, until it became obvious that she was simply going to use the chest as a means of transporting piles of items to their intended location. The chest had wheels and could be pushed around.

The following few hours were spent putting everything in its desired place.

Sun helped, though he was not asked to do so. He primarily handed Ayala specific items when she requested them.

Moon did not help, and remained more or less content to just observe these unusual events.

The photographs were able to be hung up in where the blemishes upon the walls were there to be found. Each place that sported an unusual mark or a stray screw acted as the home of a picture frame.

Everything had its place. One by one, everything was returned to its place.

Until all that remained were the pile of childhood trinkets.

Pillow cases. Bed sheets. Little hand made dolls that resembled Sun, Moon, and a bat. The items were all carefully tucked away in the chest.

Ayala attempted to pull said chest up the stairs, but thanks to its large size that proved more difficult than it was worth.

Sun easily picked up and carried the “Sad Box” upstairs for her. She followed after him. Moon followed after them shortly thereafter.

She took over from there, bringing the chest to the off limits room. The room that seemed to have been undergoing preparations to house a child.

Ayala flipped on the light upon entering the room. The animatronics watched curiously as the woman went about the business of rearranging the room.

All of the items on the bed were pulled off and set aside. The new blankets, sheets, and pillow cases all shared a theme. They were all a deep navy blue color, and were decorated with splashes of soft purple and even a hint of green. There was a stark contrast between the bed and the rest of the room, outside of the peculiar paint job on the ceiling.

The little dolls were all neatly arranged on the bed. The mini Sun and Moon plushies were sat on one corner nearest the wall, arranged for it to look as though they were hugging. The bat was placed on the opposite corner, with one of its wings partly hanging over the edge of the bed.

Ayala handled this entire process with a great deal of care, her every movement implying that she feared she might somehow damage something as she handled it.

Once everything was back where she desired it to be, there followed a moment of absolute stillness. She even seemed to hold her breath as she simply stood beside the bed, staring at it.

Alerts were triggered as the animatronics observed this. Alerts which indicated that symptoms of extreme emotional distress were being picked up. Which was unusual, given how calm and quiet Ayala seemed to be externally.

The moment of stillness passed as she proceeded to slowly drag her hand along the surface of the bed, not so much smoothing it out as she was simply feeling the texture of it. She didn’t say a word. She simply resumed her tasks.

The removed bedding was tucked away inside the “Sad Box” once everything was done. Sun and Moon moved out of the way as the box was pushed through the doorway.

She hesitated on the way out, pausing to bring her hand up to the light switch. There followed another uncomfortable stillness, this one shorter than before.

In turning out the light, the hidden beauty of the room became revealed.

Though the animatronics had been in the room multiple times before, the blinds had always been shut tight. The lights had never been turned on, because they had never needed to turn them on. A beautiful art piece had remained unseen by them simply because light had been denied entry into the room.

The room, which had seemingly been left in an incomplete state of remodeling, was not meant to be viewed during the day. Or at least it wasn’t meant to be viewed while the lights were on.

Once the light went out, the room did not fall entirely dark. The hidden reality of the art was simply revealed.

The ceiling was not simply painted with dark colors which matched the bed, but decorated with glow in the dark paint. After having been able to feed off of the light, the artificial stars could now glow brightly. An artistic recreation of the nighttime sky had been painted on the ceiling. One which could not be seen unless the light of day was allowed to greet it.

Equal beauty could be found along the walls. The distorted green patches that vaguely looked like grass, actually better resembled grass once the lights were turned back off. Little glowing spots had been spread out along the walls. Surprisingly, the animatronics could understand what they were meant to be, because they had seen something similar in storybooks.

Fireflies.

The ceiling contained a sample of the sky. The walls contained a field full of fireflies.

This was not an incomplete room. This was a room that had been completely finished with the tastes of a very specific child in mind. The scenery and the two hand made dolls of Sun and Moon did well enough at establishing this fact.

Thoughts of one of the earliest conversations between the woman and the animatronics were pulled to the front of their minds.

Thoughts about the child who favored Moon above all other animatronics at Fazbear. The child that Ayala once dropped off at the daycare on the way to work. The one that she eventually stopped having to drop off. The fact that everything in the “Sad Box” seemed to relate to her family.

The implications became crystal clear. The horrible, horrible implications of something traumatic which had happened.

The animatronics did not need to ask any questions pertaining to the situation. A horrified, respectful silence fell over them as they came to understand an aspect of Ayala’s story that she had not wanted to discuss. Even the reasons behind her agreeing to take Sun and Moon in had become clear.

Yes, they had questions. But the questions would have to wait

The door was shut as Ayala finally stepped out of the room completely. Sun helped her take the chest back down the stairs, silent and unsure.

Moon was left standing in a sort of stunned silence beside that bedroom door.

This realization was something that he would need to process. Something that everyone likely needed to process.

#rebranded au #rebranded storyline #rebranded #moondrop #sundrop #moon #sun #fnaf sb #fnaf #fnaf au #daycare attendant #fnaf:sb