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#and be careful when deboning
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All the fish in the httyd franchise is horribly undercooked y’all u cant just eat an entire raw fish what the fuck
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mephilver · 10 months
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cosmo and wanda i wish everybody who ever so much as looked in the kitchen while i was in there died
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meowmeowmeowmeow4x · 1 month
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Dark Blue Moon and the Suffering Sun Chapter 4
Damian's face twisted in disgust at the offending object.
Phantom's quirked in confusion. He nudged the massive striped bass towards the smaller siren. "What's wrong?"
"I am a vegetarian." Damian huffed. "And it's raw."
"Oh. Uh, whoops." Phantom shrugged. "I don't know how to break it to you, dude, but, like... There's not much better to eat out there."
Damian glared at him. "I would rather starve."
Perhaps he was being too stubborn. With a buffoon of a companion such as this, the situation was better treated as a survival scenario than a mere mission. Damian was no fool. Vegetarianism was a luxury afforded to those with the food abundance to choose.
That, and it had been a solid sixteen hours since his last meal. His tail felt sore and aching in a way he hadn't felt in years. His stomach growled and groaned, demanding something to fill it.
The last time he felt a hunger like this was when he was still in the League, when they sent him out on weeks long missions where he starved under moonlight and ate birds and rats to survive.
"Come on, Damian, you need to eat something." Phantom cajoled, as if his puppy-eyed look could ever match that of Richard's. "And the seaweed's not gonna sustain you. Believe me I tried."
"Are sirens obligate carnivores?"
"No, but-"
"Then tell me why I cannot sustain myself off of kelp and seaweed?"
"Dude, those things have literally no calories in them."
A valid point, but just because he was right did not mean Damian had to cede the point so easily. "Is the siren species so primitive as to not have cultivated plants in order to sustain their population?"
"I literally don't know how to answer that dude. Do I look like an ambassador or something to you?"
Damian frowned.
"Look, it's getting late and we'll need all the rest we can get. I promise it doesn't taste that bad. We'll try and work something out tomorrow, how's that?"
Damian sighed. "Very well, but only because I very my life, thank you very much."
"Thank god for that..."
Damian unwrapped himself from his tail, and approached the poor fish. "I am terribly sorry, fish. I will not let your sacrifice be in vain." He muttered.
He looked up to find Phantom with a small knife, cutting up the fish into messy fillets, like this was the first time he'd done so. Peculiar. Surely he had lived off fish his entire life, and had deboned many before this moment.
"Just so you don't get poked in the mouth by a bone or two. Those things suck."
Phantom offered a strip of meat. Shutting his eyes, Damian took the food, and shoved it into his mouth, chewing minimally before swallowing.
The taste was... acceptable.
More than acceptable. perhaps.
It would be a shame to let the fish's death go to waste.
...
Damian sank his teeth into the side of the fish, eyes almost rolling into the back of his head from the taste.
Some time later...
Danny floats back into the cave, a handful of kelp bundled up in his arms. "Hey Damian, look I know this situation sucks for you, like in every way, so I went out and got some greens for you, just so it's not all meat and- Wait, Damian?"
The boy in question slept fastly, his fins gently drifting back in forth in the small currents caused by Danny's entrance. His head was slumped against the bass he'd brought in earlier, little strips of fish still stuck in his teeth.
Now that he wasn't making faces and being angry at Danny, he was honestly pretty cute.
Danny wiped some of the bits of meat off Damian's cheek, careful not to scratch his soft scales with a misplaced claw. Despite being so small, Damian managed to chew through a sizable portion of the fish that was easily half his size or more.
Setting the child's body to the side, and draping a small blanket over him, Danny set to finishing off the rest.
He hoped everyone back home wouldn't worry too much. If the GiW boats didn't clear out by tomorrow, then they were in for a big problem. He and Tucker were working on making waterproof earpieces, but they weren't ready yet, and his waterproof phone had been left in his room when he'd rushed out to get Damian back. That meant no communication with Amity Island whatsoever. No way to get in contact with Bruce Wayne, and no way for his friends to know he and Damian were ok.
He was really in over his head, wasn't he?
The morning came with a very loud wake up call.
"YO BABYPOP!"
Danny jolted awake and bumped his head into the nearest desk overhead. "Who's attacking us?!"
Beside him, Damian jerked himself into a defensive stance (or as close to one as he could manage.)
The curtains of the cave were pushed open, allowing streams of sunlight to stream in and blind the boy with its glare. Peeking into the cave was the head of one Ember McClain, a vicious grin plastering her face.
"You never told me you got a kid!"
Damian chirped indignantly.
Danny sputtered. "Whawhwh Wh Wait a second!"
Ember pulled out of the cave, and squealed. "Yo Kitty! Dipstick's got himself a kid!"
A woosh of water rushed past, and Kitty's neon green and teal scales showed themselves. "Omg! Phantom aren't you like fifteen? What the heck?!"
Danny blushed deeply teal. "He's not mine I swear!"
Ember pushed Kitty out of the way. "Oh my gosh he's so tiny. Who's the lucky woman?? Or man??? Phantom what have you been getting up to without us?!"
Damian hissed at him from behind Danny's shoulder (when did he get there?) "Begone, harpies! And cease your accusations! I would sooner perish than be related in any way to this incompetent fool."
Ember trilled in adoration. "He's so freaking adorable. Where did you get him, Babypop? An orphanage??"
Danny would've done a spittake, if he was above water. "W-what?! Dude, literally where would even find an orphanage around here?"
"Did his parents dump you on him like Johnny was?"
"Uh I'm not even gonna question that."
Ember clasped her hands to her mouth in scandalous shock. "No way, did you finally turn to the dark side and kidnap him?"
Damian piped up again, gripping on Danny's shoulders with his unsheathed claws and rising higher. "Nonsense, I claim no familial relationship with this person, not by blood, law, or emotion. He is as close to me as any stranger would."
"Ouch Damian. I literally saved your life."
Ember and Kitty chortled and shorted. They clutched their bellies and lead against the walls of the cave. "It's just... PFPFTT Phantom you total scoundrel, ahah!"
"Yeah yeah, look I gotta get this kid back to his dad on Amity, and quick. He's probably losing his mind over there."
Kitty gasped. "So you did turn him."
Danny shushed them. "Don't scream it out for the whole ocean to hear!"
He rushed out the entrance of the cave and shooed them in, covering the doorway up as they entered.
"Look I'd really, really rather you guys keep this on the down low. This is kind of a huge deal right now." Danny said.
He turned to Damian, still perched on his shoulder, his little tail brushing against Danny's ghostly white sail. "Is it ok if I tell them?"
"if it will convince them to vacate the premises."
"If you have to know, Damian's the son of some ultra rich guy. Skulker got him for whatever reason, and I was forced to turn him."
"Dude, Skulker went for a literal child?!" Ember clenched her first, likely hiding her extending claws. Right, Skulker was a bit of a touchy subject for her. "Of his own kind, no less?!"
"That's fucking low, girl."
"And now the GiW are going crazy too. Probalby got a huge donation or whatever. We're just waiting untli they go away so I can get Damian back to his dad, without any dissections. That also means none of you guys should be going near the place either."
"Pfft, too late for that."
Danny froze. "Who did they get?"
"Relaaxx, Dipstick. I was just preparing another concert, only for like fifty boats to show up out of fuckin' nowhere. Luckily I heard them before they saw me, but come on! I was miles from Amity at that point!"
"Miles?" Damian whispered.
Danny felt the same way too. They were only increasing their patrols now, shit.
"It's bad enough that the rest of the Pod are freaking migrating. We haven't migrated in years!"
"Yeah, actually, Phantom you wanna join us? I know you have this whole, err, thing, with Amity Island, but we hardly see you. And Johnny's been itching for a rematch."
Danny looked over his shoulder, to where Damian was lost in thought. This might have been the first them he'd seen the kid not glaring.
"Thanks for the offer, but I need to get Damian home. It's my fault he's like this, and he's got a whole family out there waiting for him."
"Don't you too?"
Danny swallowed a thick of water. He did have a family, a family that was probably going crazy. But at least part of that family, and his friends, knew he could take care of himself, knew that he was a siren, knew that the water was his element. Damian's family didn't have that luxury.
"We'll figure it out."
The girls shared a look, and shrugged. "The offer still stands, Babypop. Oh, and i'll be sure to fuckin' dice Skulker next time i see him, lying, cheatin' bastard.
For a moment, the boys watched the two siren teens' trailing tails, before they turned a corner and disappeared.
"Gotham."
"What was that?" Danny asked.
"If Amity Island is inaccessible to us, then we have to go to Gotham."
"Isn't Gotham-"
"On the East Coast? Yes, it is. It's our only option."
"That's thousands of miles, and you can't even walk!"
"Would you rather we stay here, waiting for the GiW to approach us and kill us both?"
Danny clenched his jaw. Damian was right, wasn't he.
"The only way to reunite me with Father is to go to Gotham. They will not be expecting us there."
"How can you be so sure?"
Damian dislodged himself from Danny's shoulder and floated in front of him. "Because they are unaware of the sirens' power of transformation, am I correct?"
"Good point, but wait, how did you know that?"
"I did some cursory research before coming here. The prevailing theories put forth by the supposed 'experts' on the matter asserted that sirens eat their human victims, with no mentions of turning. They have no reason to believe I am not dead., and no reason to suspect any siren activity in Gotham."
"And you're ok with that. Thousands of miles of swimming in the endless ocean full of things wanting to eat you?"
"Are you not?"
"Ok ok, calm down." Danny had to chuckle though. Rich as this kid may be, he was definitely not spoilt enough to sit still and wait for his dad to save him.
"And the fastest way to get to Gotham is via the Panama Canal." Damian puffed his chest out in what was probably pride. Danny stared at him, dumbfounded.
"You're kidding, right?"
"Have I ever jested to you before?"
"No seriously. The Panama Canal. You realise that place is monitored up and down, right? Literally the moment we get spotted, the locks are gonna, you know, lock down, and then we'll be stranded and sitting ducks to be chopped up by the GiW."
"That will not be an issue. You possess the power of camouflage, do you not? And again, they will not be expecting us in Panama, so they will have no reason to bring any sonars there."
Danny wanted to bang his head against the wall. This idea sounded so stupid, but not stupid enough that it was unfeasable.
"In addition, you said it yourself. Your negligence resulted in my permanent loss of humanity, so it is your responsibility to do whatever you can do right your wrong."
Shit. Came with being the son of a businessman, didn't it? This kid was guilttripping the hell out of him and Danny could honestly not say he didn't deserve it.
"Fiiiine. We're going to Panama."
"Excellent." Damian grinned. "Let us leave immediately."
Danny could only pray that none of the 50 things that could go wrong, did go wrong, but when was his luck ever that good?
No, instead, Danny strapped in whatever supplies he had laying around in the cave. To Panama we go...
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zhongrin · 2 years
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hold you close to my heart
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◇ characters ◇ zhongli, childe, xiao, al haitham, thoma, scaramouche
◇ tags ◇ modern!au, gn!reader, fluff, headcanon format
◇ a/n ◇ zhongli is ngl acting like an asian mom in this and i am not sorry. i need him in my life bc i hate fishbone (the number of times i've had a fishbone stuck in my throat- you don't want to know. let's just say pressing down my gag reflex is one of my talents now) and peeling shrimps.
𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡 ⬙ 𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡
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tries to be as quiet as possible as he shuffles around the house while you’re asleep.
peels fruits for you.
will care for your hair for you (brushes / applies oil / braids)
debones any sort of meat-with-bone/shell dishes, including fishes and crustaceans for you (this might be the ultimate expression of zhongli’s love considering how much he hates the smell of seafood).
will not hesitate to spoonfeed you when your hands are occupied or if you’re forgetting to eat.
“zhongli do you know where did i put my shawl-” “second drawer, right side.” “and my dragon-printed socks-” “-is in the sock box on the third drawer, you probably missed it.”
will threaten people who wronged you with a sandal in his hands “i will have order!”
headpat machine - you want headpats? you’re getting headpats. you don’t want headpats? you’re getting a kiss on top of your head…… and a headpat <3
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will fall into the habit of carrying tissues and hair ties and the everyday essential items which you often use.
slips his credit card into your wallet before you go out.
keeps your fridge stocked with groceries and pantry full of your favorite snacks (either by doing the shopping himself or getting them delivered to your doorstep when he can’t be around)
lets you pet the dogs you encounter on your walks first. also alerts you when there’s a cute dog in sight.
owns a special phone with the best camera in the market, just for the sake of taking your selfies.
headpat machine 2.0 - you don't want headpats? too bad you’re getting one! you want headpats? beg for it first, darling <3
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buys you matching accessories. wears them everywhere and every time he’s out.
always walks on the side closer to the road. also holds your hand when crossing the street (and pretends he 'forgot' to release it afterward)
always lingers around you in social settings. not just because of his social anxiety, but also just in case you need something, he wants to be there to help.
lets you pat his head (and enjoys it immensely), but will murder-glare any other person who tries to do so (read: venti, heizou).
is only able to fall asleep in either of these conditions: 1) he is completely alone, or 2) he’s not alone but you’re with him.
piles up pillows and blankets and plushies on your (or his) bed as a silent invitation to cuddle. you tease him by saying “are you inviting me to your nest, little bird?” and he blushes every single time. it’s very adorable. please give this boy his cuddles.
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corrects the typos in your papers for you. crosschecks your citations and adds comments detailing how you should add or remove certain things. he accepts payments in kisses. or super spicy curry. he’s not picky, really.
will dust your bookshelves for you (is it because he loves you or because he loves books? ….. don’t ask).
will wordlessly lift you up to cross a big puddle on the road. you only get to be bridal-carried if you're lucky. otherwise, you're getting the sack of potatoes' treatment because he's a bastard.
tells you that you have x minutes left to do certain tasks. yes, he has your schedules memorized. yes, he will flick your forehead if you keep whining and procrastinating.
will gently pull your head to settle on his shoulder when you fall asleep on the bus.
“did you cut your hair? it’s five centimeters shorter.” “you trimmed your eyebrows?” “your lips look pale today. have you eaten lunch?”
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cooks and cleans for you. his payment? your awed smile. if you tip him with kisses he’ll be over the moon.
sends you daily cute animal videos. mostly dogs. or cats. or him being silly with his adorable doggie taroumaru.
will mess up on purpose just to make you laugh on your bad days.
buys everything in twos because he always, always wants to share it with you.
squishes his cheek onto yours and nuzzles you to show affection. you think you see dog ears and dog tails whenever he does this, but it's just a trick of the light... right??
refrains from drinking at parties just so that when you do, he can take care of you properly and get you back home safely.
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denies your kisses in public but pulls you for a kiss every five minutes behind closed doors.
links his pinky with you when walking together (but on his bad days, he would really appreciate it when you link your arms with him).
looks so scandalized when you flinch from his touch - because somehow he’s a superconductor and most of the time you feel zapped just from touching him. just tough it out and hug him if you don’t want to deal with sulky!mouchie.
will not hesitate to try and claw people’s eyes out when they made you upset.
fills up your water bottle for you.
uses the same laundry detergent / perfume as yours. claims that he does it so you “won’t complain about how your clothes smell weird” when you stay over. he just wants his clothes to smell more like you so he can pretend you’re hugging him when he misses you.
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© zhongrin | 2022 ◆ no repost. reblogs much appreciated. feel free to reach out to submit suggestions, feedback, comments, or if you just want to talk!
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◇ taglist ◇ @thestarsofenkanomiya | @genshinparty | @abyssmal-skies | @hamdehlesmis | @depressivecomforts | @sophiethewitch1 | @why-am-i-here-someone-save-me | @sunnshineflxwer | @heartonthemoon | @yuutasbabe | @percyval-archives | @carbs-need-more-love | @rebeccka | @queen-belial | @stygianoir | @niverine | @silentmoths | @niktwazny303 | @dustofthedailylife | @herdrops | @clovcly | @marina-and-the-memes | @angryhope | @mixed-kester | @shuangxo | @fiannee | @lordbugs
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Note
You asked for prompts! How about Stede noticing Ed’s pearl necklace and maybe telling him how pretty he looks wearing it? Or maybe it breaks and Stede fixes it for him? Either way some excuse for Stede put it around Ed’s neck and kiss his neck or WANT to kiss his neck while he does it? Basically neck kisses or yearning please!
Yes! Yessss! Neck kisses >>>>
Send me a prompt and I'll write a 1k word fic!
--
“Oh, shit. Fuck. Shitdamn.”
Ed’s frustrated voice filtered in through the open kitchen window - that was what Stede was calling the hole in the kitchen wall they hadn’t gotten around to patching up yet - and Stede looked up from where he was trying to figure out how to debone a fish. Turned out the little fuckers had a lot of bones, and just all over the place, really.
“Ed? You alright?”
Beat.
“Uh, yeah, all good!”
Ed’s tone had been overly cheerful, in the exact way it always was when Stede knew all was most certainly not good. He’d definitely sounded upset, but he was usually pretty good at letting Stede know if he’d just accidentally hammered a finger or miscalculated something, so it had to be something more serious, then. Stede quickly washed his hands, deciding to leave the fish for later, and hurried outside to check on his boyfriend.
Ed had said he was going to be working on reinforcing the front steps, after Stede accidentally stuck his foot straight through the boards a few nights ago. What he was actually doing was sitting on the broken step, looking down at something in his hands, his shoulders very tense and his lips pursed like he was trying not to cry.
“Ed?” Stede slid down next to him on the step, and Ed quickly clenched his hand into a fist to hide what he’d been looking at. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah,” Ed sighed, his voice small and creaky. “It’s stupid.”
“It’s not stupid if you’re upset.”
His heart broke a little, as Ed’s lip wobbled, but he didn’t force it. If he was just quiet, and calm, and gave Ed time, then soon enough-
“I was taking my jacket off,” Ed started to explain, “and my necklace got caught on one of the buttons. I didn’t mean to pull it - I think I broke it.”
“Oh,” Stede said, quietly, and he held out his hand. “Can I take a look?”
Ed looked like he was halfway expecting Stede to yell at him, but he slowly let the necklace drop into Stede’s palm.
“These pearls are so lovely,” Stede said, trying to get the smile back on Ed’s face as he inspected the damage. It was a nice necklace, with a knot on either side of each pearl so they wouldn’t slide off the string even if it snapped, but Stede was relieved to see the clasp was just twisted open. Necklaces like this were delicate, so the damage looked worse than it actually was.
“They were lovely,” Ed corrected dully. “Until I ruined them. They were so nice, and now they’re fucked.”
“You didn’t ruin-”
“Probably for the best.” Ed rested his arms on his knees, hunching over to hide his face in his arms. “Needed to throw ‘em away anyway.”
Stede frowned. He reached out a gentle hand, hovering over Ed’s shoulder, and was relieved when Ed leaned sideways into his touch. “Why would you say that?”
Ed shrugged. “They were too nice for me. Was always gonna ruin them eventually.”
“Ed? Can you look at me?”
Stede waited until Ed raised his eyes, scrubbing at his cheeks with the back of his hand, and then he held up the necklace. “This is fixable. It’s a pretty easy fix, too! The clasp is just twisted.”
“Oh.”
“You haven’t ruined a thing,” Stede assured him. “I used to fix necklaces all the time - Mary never had the patience for it.”
Stede led Ed back inside, finding the smaller tools they kept in the kitchen and selecting a little pair of pliers. It would take a careful hand, to correct the bent metal without breaking or warping it further, and Stede wanted to do a perfect job.
“I haven’t had a necklace like that before,” Ed admitted quietly as he watched Stede work. “Too nice for me, like I said.”
Ed said it like he was trying to convince himself, and Stede scoffed.
“Ed, you put everyone else wearing a string of pearls to shame,” he promised. “You wear them well. They’re so pretty, and they look beautiful on you.”
He looked back in time to see Ed’s eyes flick shyly to the floor. “Thank you.”
Stede held the necklace up to the light, making sure the clasp looked perfect. “All done,” he declared, holding it out for Ed to see. “May I?”
“You may,” Ed said, aiming for a light, teasing tone, but too obviously flattered to really pull it off.
Stede stepped behind him, gently moving his hair out of the way, and Ed shivered at Stede’s fingers brushing over his bare neck.
“There we go.” Stede gently secured the necklace, and before straightening Ed’s hair back into place, he kissed the back of Ed’s neck. Ed hummed in delight, pressing back into his touches, and Stede pressed kiss after soft, loving kiss to the side of Ed’s neck, from his jaw down to his collarbone. “So pretty.”
Ed leaned back into Stede’s arms, sighing happily as Stede dropped a hand to his waist, holding him there. “Can you call me that again?”
“You’re so pretty, Ed,” Stede said, kissing the sensitive skin at the base of Ed’s neck, right where the string of pearls lay. “You deserve to wear whatever you want.”
“I thought you liked me best with nothing on at all,” Ed teased, pressing back into him.
Stede hooked his chin over Ed’s shoulder. “Well, the pearls are a close second.”
He hoped, someday, Ed would know that he could have the nice thing he’d always wanted but had been too scared to enjoy, and understand he wasn’t doomed to break them. He hoped Ed knew that Stede would support him, and help him find the fine things he wanted to wear, clothes and accessories that made him feel good and pretty and like himself.
But, for now, Ed had this lovely string of pearls, and it was a fine thing he knew he could keep.
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itshype · 1 year
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Please don’t pet me! I am working! (DC x DP)
The Service Animal Cujo notfic that I, personally requested but just like my extremely cringe Batman x Witcher fic, I have to do everything myself. I wrote this but held off during DC x DP week because I’m not participating in that. If I keep writing these, I’ll have to make a masterpost or probably whack them up on Ao3 for archive purposes at some point but for now: Here is the Space Obsessed Danny story and Here is the Kingmaker Danny story! CW for mention of panic attacks in this one!
So! Let’s get going. Danny died. He can’t stop thinking it. He was dead. He’s walking and talking now but he knows deep in his soul that everything’s different now. He was dead and somehow nothing has changed? He feels like something of his journey to hell itself should be visible in his skin – something more than the small exit scar on his left foot. Another dimension was opened through his body and his hairstyle didn’t even shift?
Sam and Tucker are just as freaked out as he is, but they aren’t nearly as frightened. The ghost powers and Halfa stigma won’t come until later, but right now Danny is having difficulty even considering the possibility of leaving the house. With Danny in such bad condition emotionally, there’s no way to cover up what happened, and Jazz takes them all to the hospital.
Now, I know in a lot of fanfics Danny has weird physiology even in human form (lower body temp, slower pulse etc) but I don’t remember any of that being canon so I’m ignoring it. And if it is canon then I am exercising my right to debone the original show like a small chicken and use it to make a flavourful stock.
So, Danny checks out with the doctors except for a weirdly tiny burn but he is having like 5 concurrent panic attacks about everything from “there’s nothing after we die”, “The electricity cooked me”, “Life has no meaning”, maybe even throw in a fun “I came back wrong”.
Hell, maybe he does have weirdly low vitals, but the rapid pulse is countering his slow heartbeat and decreased blood pressure etc. Up to you!
Danny probably ends up being sedated if he can’t calm down but by then there is a different issue. The doctors Fenton have arrived. Now, I think it’s no stretch of the imagination to say that under the wrong circumstances they would dissect Phantom if they got their hands on him but also I know they somewhat care for their children and canon has shown more than once that under good circumstances that they could accept Danny.
When his ghost sense goes off for the first time it’s pretty obvious. He’s in a hospital and instead of a tiny little whisp of silver breath; it’s like a fogbank creeping along a moor, its sea mist rolling in from the horizon of his mouth and whiting out his private hospital room. No one can see two meters in front of their own face, and it takes over a minute to fade. Sam screams out for Danny and tries to grab his hand where she knows it was but can no longer see. Tucker starts at the sound and drops his device, screeching gratingly at the clattering plastic of his PDA hitting linoleum, hard.
When the mist finally evaporates, the Fentons want to take him home immediately and run tests. They think the ghostly influence is ‘obvious’ but the 68-year-old nurse, Beatrice stands like a 5-foot-nothing wall of solid rock and won’t let them touch him. Jazz also angles herself between her parents and the door so if they did somehow manage to get their hands on Danny, they wouldn’t be able to leave without steamrolling her. Then the heartrate monitor goes wild as Danny panics about being a guinea pig for his parents’ less-than-lukewarm lab safety practices and they back off without further interruptions.
That’s the point when it hits them that everything that has happened to Danny is their fault. His accident was because of them, he’s melting down because of them, both of their children genuinely believe that they will hurt Danny just because he’s having weird ghostly side effects to almost dying in a ghost portal. One they built.
It’s a few hours later when they breach the subject of going home, of at the very least making a decision about school even if that decision is to formally take a leave of absence. Sam and Tucker’s parents had made them go home and he’s a lot calmer now but at this stage, his weird ghost powers are causing problems. It seems to the orderlies and nurses that his anxiety is getting worse because he’s turning intangible through cups and cutlery – making it look like he’s shaking so hard he can’t even hold a single cup, and is flat out refusing to eat.  
Even though it’s been less than a day it looks like Danny’s shock is just getting worse. He phases through his bed right as Beatrice and his parents walk through and they think he’s hiding under there out of fear. He tries to explain, confused, and disoriented and deep in denial. Jazz shuts him up. She doesn’t know completely what’s going on, but she knows enough, and she isn’t letting 12 hours of changed behaviour force her to blindly trust her parents.
Beatrice is most concerned. It hasn’t been very long but there’s no reasonable cause for his steep and steady decline. No reason outside of something-something-ghosts.  
That’s when the first few pamphlets come out about therapy animals. They require some time to be trained and the middle of nowhere Amity Park doesn’t exactly have a pool to choose from, but it’s okay to adopt a younger animal and train it themselves.
Danny looks at the pictures of the fluffy bunnies and alert-eared dogs with big, glistening eyes. Then puts them down. There’s no way an animal would be safe in his house.
That’s when the ghosts attack. Danny isn’t the only spectre with a ghost sense and these ghosts are less human due to a lack of ectoplasm. Obviously, the silver fog reappears, and, in his terror, Danny drops to the next floor of the hospital, glitching through his bed and the floor underneath it. He crashes painfully in the middle of the gift shop.
His parents reach the conclusion that due to his extreme ectoplasm contamination; he’s developed a serious allergy to ectoplasmic weaponry, including things like ectoblasts that ghosts have naturally. They’re not…the wrongest that they could be. Unfortunately, they decide that Evil Ghosts TM can sense this weakness and are trying to kill their poor baby boy. Everyone else is freaking out about ghosts being visibly proven but the Fentons knew ghosts were real with zero doubts so they’re rolling with it.
Now, due to the knowledge that he died, Danny is having difficulty worrying about other things like catching up with schoolwork, his weird new allergies/powers or even Dash.
BTW KUDOS to anyone still reading, I know this part was really long, but I really felt like I couldn’t just flim flam over the details of why Danny would need an emotional support/service animal even if it’s fictional.
First day back at school, the Lunch Lady attacks. Danny barely eeks out a win just like in canon.
His parents decide that this is because of the allergies and the ghosts being able to sense Danny’s weakness as I said above. And they take it upon themselves to root out the problem at its source, to find all the ghosts who could hurt their son and imprison them, partly for Danny’s safety and partly for study. Not even they are sure where the divide is between their two loyalties.
So, they look to their now-functioning portal.
Unfortunately, they were massively underprepared, and they don’t come back.
 Jazz sees the locked lab door and leaves them to it, making dinner and making sure Danny knows she wants him to be at school.
He doesn’t go, she lets him not go.
Two days later the boredom is worse than his fear. He goes to school. Danny, Sam and Tucker enter like a single unit. Dash tries some shit and either:
Jazz emerges and smacks his head hard enough he loses vision for several seconds – long enough for her to knee him hard enough to put the continuance of the Baxter lineage into question.
Danny starts panicking again. The teachers always want to side with Dash but him openly attacking a kid who was just in the hospital who doesn’t even lift a finger in defence of himself is beyond the limits of any sane adult’s “boys will be boys”.
Doesn’t really matter, the point is that he’s not looking to fuck around any time soon now that he’s already found out. But he did in fact attack Danny.
Danny goes home. His first attempt at school following his death has failed.
Tucker, separately, goes to a garage sale to buy old electronics to use in his PDA upgrades. He buys a boxful of weird lab equipment that definitely has a microchip or two. When he opens it at Danny’s house as an effort to distract him, a small pink teddy falls out. No one notices it bounce beneath the sofa. Sam or Jazz brings up the support animal idea again but is reminded of the whole “our house is a toxic waste site” thing and backs off.
Weeks pass, Danny develops his ghost powers and Jazz realises their parents are actually missing. She submits a missing person report mentioning the switched-on portal – the lab door was locked from the inside.
So, when Danny wakes up one day and there’s a glowing green dog already with a collar and a toy he thinks “ah yes, a dog that my sibling has procured for me as we discussed many times to help me cope with my own mortality, the near-constant ghost attacks and my parents who vanished.”
So, he puts a leash on Cujo who is happily chewing on his little pink teddy and takes him off to school while Jazz is using her first free period to go bother the local cops about their parents. (Why haven’t they been taken in by child protective services? Either:
Because I said so
Jazz is 18
Jazz used her improbable psychology powers to bamboozle the social worker into leaving)
Everyone at school loves Cujo. He gets all the love and does a very good job of dragging Danny away from ghost attacks (so he can fight them!!)
Jazz doesn’t find out about Cujo until the afternoon but probably lets the whole thing lie because it’s a great solution.
This could go on for some time. Both Danny and Phantom have Cujo but as Phantom Cujo stays in his big form so there’s no connection made. Canon mostly proceeds as normal except the parents aren’t there and there’s no huge issue with Valerie.
Realistically, a fair few high schoolers are probably also on the hunt for a pet ghost dog because if Danny and Danny both have one there must be heaps going around. Danny is also worried about his parents and periodically looks for them but that isn’t the focus of this story so I won’t go into a lot of detail – just clarifying that he’s not a sociopath who finds out his parents are missing and goes “oh ok”.
This could be its own story but let’s get to the DC part now!!
Eventually the Justice League connects the two calls, one about the ghost dog and one about the parents disappearing through a portal. Maybe Valerie complains, or even fanon favourite Wes contacts the authorities about the ghost dog with no official training or certification. Either way the JLA algorithm picks up these two very strange claims from one town and send someone to investigate.
But I mean, parents vanishing from a locked room and a green dog aren’t exactly world ending stuff, so instead of sending an actual busy superhero they send one of the kid heroes.
Now a lot of people will go ahead and put Damian into this. But I don’t really care for him in a dynamic with Danny. But I have another vigilante in mind, one who is less animal crazy, but more dog focused and also has issues with being seen as an actual person.
That's right, it's Conner Kent. And his faithful alien dog Krypto. I've seen a few fics where Danny adopts him, but you know what other family member should think you're an actual person? Your significant other. This could totally be a friendship thing no problem, but I do feel like some versions of canon Connor Kent would get on great with Danny.
Without the looming, repeated threat of vivisection, I think Danny would be a lot more chill about his secret identity and would probably disclose Cujo’s origins to Superboy. Once Connor knows about Cujo (Phantom’s dog) being able to shrink, he can see Danny with the dog once and connect all the necessary dots. Because I stand by the fact that the main reason Danny’s secret ID isn’t discovered more is because there’s no reason for a dead person to have a secret identity but once the concept is introduced then it’s pretty simple. Connor can hang out with Phantom while Phantom does ghost fights because the Kryptonian can’t really contribute but he’s there for moral support.
Eventually, Danny reveals to Connor that he himself was cloned before and talks excitedly about his clone who he considers a cousin. I definitely think without the parents there that Dani would visit more even if she has an obsession with travel, wanderlust or freedom that prevents her from permanently moving in.
This knowledge makes him very upset about how he was treated by his genetic donors, and Connor decides to move in with the Fenton siblings (without really asking the Fenton siblings) and decides that he’ll commute to the watchtower/titans tower/mount justice (depending on which version of canon he’s in sorry I can’t be bothered to figure it out).
Unfortunately, on top of not asking the Fentons, he doesn’t notify or ask anyone in the caped community. So as far as any of them are concerned, Connor went on a minor mission to investigate some missing people and is now himself missing.
Just as a caveat because I don’t feel like getting into an argument today, I used the terms both “service animal” and “emotional support animal” even though in most countries these are not interchangeable legal definitions. I use it in a non-legal way here because emotionally helping Danny – especially when that emotional stress causes physical damage is a service, and also there is the potential for Cujo to help Danny in other physical ways.
Also, there is definitely room here for Dani being buds with Match. I think that'd be neat.
If I could draw, I would make art of Cujo and Krypto being besties but I cannot so just picture it for two seconds. Done? Great, thanks!
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magicbystarlight · 11 days
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Venomous - Part Thirteen
Masterlist, Part One
Summary: A wife. A mother. A witch with someone else's name. That’s the life you didn’t want. So Tom offered you more.
Word Count: 3K
Warnings: 18+, injuries, blood. Minors DNI.
A/N: Our poor reader finally catches a break? Kind of?
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Dumbledore mouthed a silent apology as you clutched your chest. When you calmed, he pointed to his mouth. You made him sit before lifting the Silencing Charm. Hoarsely he said, “We should move.”
You rejected the idea. “Help will be here soon,” you told him, explaining Drein. It would be a bigger risk to move since this area had already been checked and dismissed. You didn’t tell him, however, that he didn’t look like he could handle moving.
Unlike you he knew how to catch fish. Accio fish . It was embarrassingly obvious. He’d offered to hunt, but you’d grown too attached to the rabbit still hopping back and forth. It was for the best. Retrieving the fish had already winded him. You took over preparing the fish, claiming the need to learn. It wasn’t too different from preparing potion ingredients. Removing the skin and deboning. It was good to have a task to focus on. A small fire was set to cook the fish and quickly extinguished when done. The smoke was too big a risk to keep going for long.
Your face scrunched at the taste.
“Not quite as tasty as the house elves make?” he joked. There hadn’t been much conversation. Another risk.
You swallowed the bite. “It’s a tad fishier than I’m used to.”
It was worrying how time continued to pass. The adrenaline had worn into anxiety. Dumbledore insisted you rest. You laid on the cot and closed your eyes. Sleep did not come. Every sound had you twisting to see. The rabbit. More deer.
You stared at the water. Why had no one come? Had Drein gotten lost? Had they not opened the letter? Did they not believe you? Did they not care?
You wiped the thoughts away. You couldn’t dwell. It wouldn’t help. It wouldn’t get you home. The sun finally peeked through the clouds. It was high. Midday. You would rest a bit longer.
Dumbledore slept soundly after another untasteful meal of fish. A suspicion had begun to seep in that there was something worse than blood loss that ailed him. His color hadn’t returned and his speech had begun to slur. Soon his need for medical attention would outweigh the risks of moving.
If you were lucky you might be able to forage something that could give you more time.
You strengthened the protection charms, adding a Muffling one to cover any small sounds and a weak Confounding one that would hopefully stop anyone from walking through it. The clothes still held their Transfigurations, but you redid them anyways. It would be inconvenient to have them lose their weather-resistance in the middle of trekking through the snow.
A shudder ran through you as you placed a Disillusionment Charm over yourself before leaving the protective shell. It wouldn’t make you invisible, but close enough. Pink slipped through the thinning clouds. It would be night soon. Not that there would be much difference in visibility. You knew nothing about foraging, but you knew potion ingredients well enough.
You set off into the trees, stopping every few meters to put a notch into one and wipe away your tracks. It wouldn’t do any good to get lost or to leave an easy trail to follow. There’s not much to find at first. Too much snow between the trees. But further in you find a couple things you might be able to brew into something. A few mushrooms and some winter berries.
As you dug into the frozen ground around a shrub—the roots were good for alertness—something hissed. You froze. Slithering out of a hole in the tree in front of you was a snake. Triangular head, slitted eyes, black zig-zag markings down its back, the rest a silver grey. An Adder.
It shouldn’t be moving that quickly. They slowed in the cold. But the Adder slithered closer nonetheless, black tongue flicking with a hiss. Cautiously you began to step back. Sudden movements could cause it to strike. A bite wouldn’t be enough to kill you normally. But this wasn't normally. Exhausted, stranded, and hunted, its venom would decimate any hope you’d get out of this.
A whistle blew out your raised wand and the Adder paused. It’s tongue flicked the air. Another hiss. It retreated back to its tree. Abandoning the shrub's roots, you followed the snake's lead and traced back your steps to the pond. You were plenty alert after that.
Dumbledore woke only long enough to sip the vile smelling concoction you’d brewed with the berries and mushrooms you gathered and the bones and eyes left of a fish. It wasn’t much, but color returned to his face.
The sky began to clear over the course of the night, darkening the forest. The sliver of a crescent moon glowed softly through the moving clouds. Had it really only been a day ago when you’d been staring out the tower’s window bored?
Sleep finally took root as you wondered if they’d replaced the mirrors yet.
You woke before dawn. The squirrel scurried up a tree. The deer moved together through the tree. The rabbit hopped across the other bank. Dumbledore still slept. Your body ached and your stomach rumbled. How you missed the comforts of Hogwarts. A bed and warm meal would be heaven.
Soon, you promised yourself. As long as the sky remained clear you’d follow the sunset and head west.
For now you just had to get through the day. Boil some water. Cook some fish.
The rabbit bounded across the snow.
Maybe you’d have to get over your attachment and take what meat you could get. You weren’t sure how much more seasonless fish you could stomach.
Green lit the white.
The rabbit dropped in the snow. Motionless.
Vinda strolled into view from between the trees. Movement had your head turning. Six more if you counted correctly.
Surrounded.
“We know you’re here,” she called out, her head swiveling slowly. “And we know you’re hurt. Let us help.”
Ahh. They knew you were there but they didn’t know where .
“Let’s not play games, Albus.”
And they didn’t know Dumbledore was out of commission. Well. All the better.
A Silencing Charm followed by a message carved into the ground. The slimly, chilly feel of Disillusionment washed over you again. As long as you didn’t die the rest of your charms would hold. You steeled yourself for the next part. You were well versed in using it, but never in this way. If it didn’t go how you needed it to, then all this preparation would be for naught.
“Forgive me,” you whispered to the still sleeping Professor before pointing your wand towards Vinda. A deep breath. Six successive spells shot out followed by the sounds of six successive explosions. You run opposite of them. More explosions. Yelling. Your wrist winds your wand, air beginning to twist. You whip the twisting wind forward. Two of the followers blocking your path into the forest are knocked far to the side. Spells began to fly past you. You make it into the tree line and keep running, not looking back.
The warmth of a spell swept too close. You turned, running diagonal from the way you’d been going. It won’t stop them from being able to track you, your prints decorate the snow with each footfall, but it would delay them a few seconds. And every second you could distance yourself from the pond the better.
The sounds of your pursuers grew closer, the occasional spell hitting trees a meter or so away. You turned again and continued on.
Heat singed your arm. Your steps faltered for only a moment under the pain. Turned again.
A blast knocked you off your feet and slammed you into a tree. There was a ringing in your ears. Blood oozed down from cuts on your legs and arms. Your pants were widening, the hems unstitching themselves. Your spell on them was failing. The tree you’d slammed into creaked and groaned. Another misfired spell must have hit it. Shaking out your shoulders, the slimy feel of Disillusionment dissipated. It cost too much energy to hold. As the ringing cleared you heard someone just behind you. You turned as the man reached for you. That’s how he stays after he’s hit with a Stunner. You took his wand, chucked it, and ran.
It felt like eternity and seconds as you ran. A never ending chase that would end too soon.
A shadow closed in on your side through the blurring trees. You felt your wand briefly tug on your grip, but it remained in your hand. You’re not sure what spells you sent their way, but one hit its target and you pushed on.
Turned again. Your skirt had returned to its original state, your gloves and boots halfway reverted.
There’s no more sounds of a pursuit. Your steps slowed. No. No that wasn’t the plan.
You stopped, watched the forest over your shoulder, and listened. Nothing. No. No .
Blue sparks flew from your wand as you raised it high above your head. Fireworks echoed loudly in the now silent forest. Your eyes pinched shut, waiting. The faint tell-tale crunch of footfalls on snow broke through the dying sounds. If you could spare the breath you’d have sighed in relief.
You stuffed your wand away and turned towards the fast approaching group. The snow burned as you dropped to your knees and raised your hands above your head. The cold seeped through your sleeves. You couldn’t risk them turning their attention back on the pond. If the spells on your clothes were beginning to fail, the protection spells could be as well.
“What trap have you led us to, Miss Selwyn?” Vinda asked.
“There’s no trap.” A branch snapped as they surrounded you. “I won’t fight anymore.” Another tree groaned against the rising wind. “I surrender.”
“Surrender? After all you’ve done to escape?”
“There’s no way out of this forest,” you said, letting your voice shake. “Dumbledore—he said he’d be back. But it’s been more than a day and no one has come for me. I’m cold and hungry and I—” tears had formed in your eyes “—don’t want to die here.”
She lowered her wand and approached. Her demeanor changed. Her voice was softer, kinder. “He left you here all alone?”
“He was Splinched badly. I begged him not to leave me here, but he said he couldn’t take us both. He promised he’d send help.” You flinched when her hand brushed over a cut on your face. “I stayed by the water like he told me to but no one came.”
“I suspect he did not survive his trip.”
You cried openly. They believed you. He had a chance. “Please,” you begged, “I’m so sorry. Please don’t let me die here.” Leave and don’t look back.
“Shhh,” she hushed you, kneeling in the snow. “Your only crime has been being a scared child who's been fed lies all her life. All will be forgiven.”
Bile rose in your throat. Hatred trapped behind a broken, “Thank you.” One day you hope you can tell your mother how useful it could be to cry.
She rose and offered her hand. “Come. Let us…”
Her words trailed off as figures began popping into existence. In seconds those who surrounded you were surrounded themselves by nearly double the bodies. Aurors . There was a moment of silent surprise, neither group seeming to have expected the other, before spells were once again flying through the air.
“Retraite!” Vinda commanded before taking hold of your wrist.
No, no. You tugged but her grip did not relent. No. Not now. Not with help finally there. No. You pulled and pulled to no avail. No. No.No. No .
She’s half way turned when she released you with a cry. Her fingers that held you so tight, twisted and bent at unnatural angles. Her face contorted into an expression you can’t quite register before she’s gone. They’re all gone. These people who’d been chasing you, hunting you down like an animal for days at this point, gone.
It didn’t seem real.
A delusion you must have made to shield you from reality.
Your name was called. It sounded like…You blinked. You could see him as he broke into a run.
Yes, it seemed somewhere in the forest you must have lost your mind.
It was the only feasible explanation.
He crashed into the ground where you still kneeled, wrapping you tightly in an embrace.
He felt real.
“Thank Merlin,” he cried. He said something about a note and a map and Abigail.
He sounded real.
A musky scent clung to him. The wash he had always been fond of.
He smelled real.
His scruffy beard scratched your forehead.
He was real. Warrick was here.
“Dumbledore,” you said, pushing him away. “Dumbledore!”
There’s too many questions. What happened? Where is he? Did they take him? Is he dead? What? What pond? Where is it?
It took too long for someone to produce a map, but only seconds for you to point to where. Apparition does not feel better with Warrick holding onto you. Images you’d repressed flickering. You could feel it building. Panic. You pushed it down again. Not yet.
You’d made your mark on the area. Blasted out ground from your explosions. Trees snapped where your wind had blown. The rabbit still motionless.
The charms fell quickly. At least they had held at all. Dumbledore was still there on the Transfigured cot, unmoved. It’s a scenario that does not relieve you. How did none of that wake him? You nearly scream when you see them all pause and stare at the ground instead of rushing to help him. The message you’d written was meaningless now.
Don’t let them trade anything for me.
They moved too slow as you explained the Splinching, your Healing Charm failure, the concoction you’d made. One of the Aurors pulled a small vile from his coat. From the color you’d guess a Blood-Replenishing Potion. They eased Dumbledore up and let it slide down his throat.
“Hogwarts is closer than St. Mungo’s,” Theseus said in response to the concern of Apperating him too far. You hadn’t realized he was there. One Auror was instructed to head to St. Mungo’s so they send Healers to the school. Another to Hogwarts to warn of their coming.
Warrick tried to insist you go to St. Mungo’s. You refused. Your injuries were minor.
Your stomach lurches dangerously as you land in Hogsmeade. It seemed as if everyone had come out of their shops and restaurants to see. You don’t look at them. You stared at the carriages waiting.
You’d only seen thestrals as a drawing in a textbook before.
Warrick had kept his arm around your shoulder. Theseus had him step away, reminding him there was still an investigation. The head Auror helped you into the last carriage. He’s kind as he asked about what happened. He doesn’t interrupt as you explained everything in too much detail. You wand breaking. The trip to Diagon Alley. Your request to see London. Their plan to trade you for something. The man who’d lost half his head. The carriage jolted. Once to signal the journey’s beginning, twice to signal its end. You don’t leave. You continue to speak. Even something as insignificant as the Adder. Your plan to lure them away. The wand you’d thrown. All of it until…
“...you showed up.”
He nodded. “I’m sorry it was so close. We’d been trying to track you from your letter, nothing worked until it suddenly did.”
Your eyes squeezed shut. How stupid you were. “I had a Disillusionment Charm on me until the end. It must have messed with the tracking.”
“An achievement half my department can’t claim,” he said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “You’d make an impressive Auror.”
You keep your disagreement to yourself.
"I'm going to do my best to minimize how many times you'll have to officially repeat what happened to you, but there's going to be a lot of questions. Both from us and the Ministry and from the public. The Daily Prophet will reach out to you. Rumors will spread. I've seen the sort of response someone can get after surviving an encounter with Grindelwald. It's not easy.”
It didn't sound much different than the life you'd led before.
“We’ll talk more about it later. Let’s get you up to the Hospital Wing and taken care of.”
You had planned to object. You didn’t think you needed any medical assistance. But as you left the carriage, you stumbled with your first step. Everything ached. The wounds that had begun to scab over stung. The Thestral was the only thing that kept you upright. “Sorry,” you mumbled to the creature as it huffed. It’s white eye stared.
Theseus helped you up the stairs into the castle. Like in Hogsmeade, you don’t look at the crowd that observed as you climb the Grand Staircase. It must have been lunch. There conversations are a buzz in your ears. Noise. It's grating after the silence of the forest.
The Hospital Wing was crowded. Aurors, Healers, Ministry officials. You stepped on Theseus foot trying to back away from Abraxas when rushed you at the door. You don’t care much about his anger after Theseus stopped him. Neither does Theseus.
He guided you to a bed far from the front. Your mother, Abraxas, his parents. They tried to crowd you, but Theseus refused to let them. He drew your curtain shut. You heard his threats through the thin fabric. Demands to see you are brushed off. “When she is cleared and when she wants to see you. Not a moment before.”
“She is my daughter!”
“She’s my fiancé!”
Theseus did not bend. His no is definitive when they push for information. You’re of age and they have no legal right to know anything about an ongoing investigation. There’s outrage as his instructions to leave. Headmaster Dippet’s voice attempted to sooth them. He offered his office to let them wait. They’re unhappy, but eventually they relent.
Madam Urquart appeared with him from behind the curtain, hair frazzeld and face red, with potions galore. They’re vaugely recognizable, but you’re too tired to recall their names or functions. You drank each without protest. All you wanted now was sleep.
“No one will bother you until you’re ready,” he promised as your eyes grew heavier.
You hope your speech isn’t as slurred as it sounded to your own ears. “Thank you.”
HP Tag List: @bamboozledflamplant @squishytomatoes @benonlinear @byelannie @itsccc
Venomous Tag List: @pearlsome @fck-this @ambria @sheeple @strangunddurm @weirdowithnobeardo @emberenchanted @abbiesxox
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hi again I hope you can do a yandere mer parents wolverine and storm [ animated series ] x mer baby reader please.
Okay, I'll see what I can do! Thank you for being specific! Let's dive in-
• Storm and Wolverine as mer would be powerful. Dangerous. Cunning. They're smart, they know how to outwit humans, and they have avoided them for a very long time. Even in their secluded home, with their pod, they still want something... Well... SomeONE...
• Having Reader is a big event for them. They hatched/birthed a baby! And it's such a cute, tiny little thing! Both of them are cuddling with their guppy and keeping them tucked between the two of them when they sleep. They can't believe they made them... That they finally got to have their own little one...
• Storm as a parent is very motherly. She's loving, she's caring, and she adores Reader. If Reader wants a hug, she'll gladly give them as many as they want. If they want to play, she already has several toys picked out for Reader to play with. If they're scared of a tsunami or hurricane, she's soothing them, and keeping them close to her, hidden in their nest and kept safe with her...
• Wolverine as a parent is fatherly. He loves Reader, and shows it by what he does. Reader is hungry? He hunts a nice fish for them to eat, deboned and still warm. They're cold? He's either tucking them under his tail or putting Reader in his guppy pouch. They're afraid of something? He tells them he'll scare it away or eat it, so it won't bother them anymore. And he keeps his promises...
• Reader is likely a sweet, quiet mer baby. They don't get into mischief, but they sometimes explore when they're lonely. This has led to Storm or Wolverine following them, or simply tucking Reader in their guppy pouch and telling them they can explore a safer area, after a nice nap. Both of them worry over their guppy, but they know they can't hide them away forever. That doesn't mean they won't do so for the longest time, but their child needs to see the world around them, not just from the safety of the nest...
• If Reader gets hurt by an animal or is captured by humans, these two are on the hunt. They don't leave any stone left unturned, they don't give up, and the moment they find out what harmed their child, they're gutting them or sending lightning into them. They'll comfort Reader, hugging them close and kissing their head and cheeks, but their enemies are left a bloody, charred mess, on a sinking ship, as they slip off into the calming waters, clutching their little one and whispering sweet nothings to them... Everything will be okay, they're safe, Mommy and Daddy are there to help... It'll all be okay, little one... They won't ever abandon their baby...
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casinotrio1965 · 23 days
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Disney Descendants : Tiger Lily x Lampwick story ideas part 25
They actually like taking care of the plants around them. Tiger Lily feels it's important environmentally, and Lampwick really loves working with his hands. Even when they return to Neverland they have several potted plants.
Lampwick likes seeing Tiger Lily hunt, but he was NOT ready for the work to do when she caught something. The skinning, gutting and deboning so they could use all the parts of the animal was impressive but also turned his stomach the first few times.
Tiger Lily and Lampwick often run errands for each other. Tiger Lily doesn't think he should do all of them just because he stays home and he doesn't mind doing stuff that has to get done while she works. They balance out so one doesn't have to do them all.
Thanks again @askauradonprep
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Who let the dogs out? - Tom Hardy
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Summary: During your work-out you noticed that your puppies escaped and ran around the gym. Thankfully there is this handsome actor who's willing to give you a hand.
Pairing: Tom Hardy x OFC
Warnings: none, just some fluff
Word count: approx. 2,5k
A/N: Hi there! This is my first Tom Hardy story which popped up into my head. Probably will be just a fluff one-shot, but I have a lot of other (smutty) content that I need to write down, so stay tuned! (masterlist)
English isn’t my mother tongue so apologies for typos or mistakes. Feedback is very welcome!
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“There you go babies, enjoy your breakfast!” you squeaked as you put the big bowls with deboned turkey and chicken dog food in the middle of the puppy litter. Seven gray and white colored Pitbull pups enthusiastically dived in, wiggling their tails as they started to jump into the bowl, trying to consume as many chunks as they possibly could which made you snicker.
You and your family had owned Pitbulls all your life and once in a while you had a litter of puppies. Together with your older brother Michael you helped with taking care of the tiny, crawling creatures. Even though it was hard work sometimes you really loved watching, raising and taking care of them.
Next to taking care of the puppies, you worked as an assistent at your brother’s gym which was located right next to where your parents lived as they owned two linked lots counting three floors. 
These linked buildings were in your family for years and were renovated and split up a couple years ago. The ground floor on the left lot consisted of a spacious gym, owned by your brother who was a personal trainer and hosted box and kick-box lessons. 
The second and third floor were renovated to a livable apartment and completely yours since your brother moved out and lived with his girlfriend Laura. The three floors on the right side belonged to your parents where they kept the puppies on the ground floor.
When the pups finished their breakfast you took the bowls from the floor and cleaned them in the sink. As you wiped the bowls with dish soap you heard the door open and saw Michael walking in, giving you a smile and wave when he saw you.
“Good morning Abs, what’s up?” he asked cheerfully while bumping your shoulder playfully with his fist.
“Doing good today, the puppers just had their breakfast and after I’m done with cleaning this I will head next doors to throw some punches. What about you?” you answered while glancing over at the puppies who were running around and playing together.
“You know what, why don’t you let me finish this so you can go train right away. I have my next appointment in an hour anyway and lately you’ve been spending a lot more time around these rascals than I am. So please, scooch!” 
Without even a chance to protest he grabbed the soapy sponge out of your hand and bumped you aside with his hip which made you laugh. 
Growing up in warm and stable family, Michael and you had a very close bond and hardly ever had a fight. Ofcourse from time to time you had your arguments but they didn’t last longer than an hour. You’d do anything for your family as they would do for you.
“Okay, that’d be great, thanks!” wipping your hands as you made your way to the door which led straight to the gym. Reaching to pet some of the bobbing heads who threw themselves at your feet.
“Oh and Michael?”
“Yeah Abigail?”
“Please make sure that the door is closed, last time two of them pushed the door open and got into the gym. Dad saw it on time and caught them but they’re growing stronger and faster each day” you explained and stood up.
“Yeah, yeah, I’ve got it. Just go” as he rolled his eyes with a smirk and waved his foam covered hand causing the foam to fly around and land on the floor, getting the attentions of the puppies as they raced towards the floating bubbles. 
Laughing at the sight you quickly made your escape and gave an extra push to make sure the door was closed. Even though they were the cutest puppies ever, running around in the gym wasn’t exactly ideal as the gym guests could trip over them or worse, leave their little turds all over the floor. Believe me, that’s no fun cleaning. 
Sweat ran down your back as you were doing your last set of sit-ups while your legs wrapped tightly around the punching bag.
“Forty-seven.. forty-eight.. forty-nine.. fifty!” 
You put your feet back on the ground, hands placed into your sides as you tried to get your heart rate down which made the blood ring in your ears. Walking around the punching bag while catching your panting breath, you heard the rattling of another punching bag chain meaning someone else was also working out.
Being so caught up in your sets you hadn’t noticed this person yet, you looked around to see who it was when your eye caught him. A strong, ripped man circled around the punching bag while throwing some direct punches, hooks and kicks accompanied with short puffs of breaths and grunts. Since he was so focused with his set you took a good look at him and stared shamelessly. 
Black sleeves hugged his bulging biceps as he swung away. His shirt already started to cling to him as sweat formed on his broad back. Feet moving in a stable and quick pace, steadying his left foot onto the ground so he could kick with his right, your eyes trailed over his strong, powerful thighs. 
Damn, this man was handsome as fuck.
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As he circled around you glanced at his face, frowned eyebrows adorned his sweaty face in concentration. Plump, full lips parted slightly to let out the panting breaths, which he closed again when he kicked the bag twice and clenched his jaw. 
Even though you haven’t spotted him in the gym before he somehow looked familiar to you and you tried to remember if Michael had mentioned a new member. Just when you were about to look away the stranger looked your way and caught you staring at him and then it hit you.
Well fuck me.
This wasn’t a stranger at all. Well sort of since this was the first time he trained here but holy shit, it was Tom fucking Hardy. Your breath hitched in your throat as he gave you a panting side smile, lowered his hands and made his way towards you. Your stomach flipped and your just lowered heart rate started to go up again. 
“Hi darlin’, I didn’t mean to interrupt your sit ups sets, that was quit a beast tempo you got there” he said while he wiped the sweat off of his brow with the back of his hand.  
“Oh ha, well thank you. You’re not having a bad pace yourself!” you answered while you tried to keep your cool, being a bit starstruck. 
You had developed a small crush on him from the moment you saw him appear in Inception, followed by Warrior and The Dark Night Rises. And now this handsome man was standing right in front of you, his towering presence gave you a nervous but also exciting feeling.
“I’m Abigail by the way, are you here for a training with Michael?” you asked him while taking your gloves off.
“Ah hi, pleasure to meet you I’m Tom. You are Michael’s sister right? I contacted him yesterday since we will be filming here for the upcoming three months and I was looking for a nice gym to train in the meantime. Friend of my knows Michael and told me about his gym” he explained while following your action and taking his own gloves off. 
“I’m a bit early tho but he texted me that I could already get in and start my warm-up. Hope I didn’t interrupt your training?” one hand scratched the back of his head while blue-greenish eyes bore into yours. 
“Uh no! No not at all!” you exclaimed. “I’m sure Michael will be here shortly and I’m finished anyway. You care for some water or maybe a shake?”
“Well I wouldn’t say no to that!” Smiling at your proposal you walked toward the small bar where you sorted out the drinks as he sat on the bar stool. God his smile turned your insides into jelly.
The two of you had an easy going conversation which, thank God, put you more at ease. Flowing from between him telling you a bit about his new job where as you told him about your family, the gym and mentioning the puppies next door.
“No way! You’ve got Pitbulls pups?” he asked excitedly and leaned over the bar towards you.
“Yeah we do, seven to be exact” beaming at him. “Would you like to see them?”
“Oh babe, please. I would love that! They’re one of my favorite breeds!” he jumped off the bar stool, clapped his hands excitedly and smiled broadly at you. His enthusiasm was infectious and as you made your way around the bar your smile faded from your face when there in the middle of the gym, was sitting one of the puppies, tilting his head and staring at you.
“Oh no..” you said when you saw that the door, which lead towards the room next door where the pups were, was ajar. I did gave the door an extra push, right?
You quickly grabbed the tiny pup and made your way towards the room next door and peaked inside to see if some of the pups were still inside but to your annoyance there weren’t any and a small curse slipped your lips.
“Abigail, I’ve found two puppers over here!” Tom shouted from the gym and you quickly put the pup you were holding into the room behind the knee high fence to make sure he couldn’t make it’s way back into the gym. 
“Coming!” you responded and as you stepped over the threshold you bumped into Tom who held the two pups. 
“Woah easy there!” He laughed and handed them over to you, his hand brushed yours which made the hairs in your neck stand up while you tried to suppress a shiver from running down your back.
“Nice place, this yours?” Tom asked and looked around while you placed the pups behind the fence.
While you explained to him that your parents owned the place and you lived next door above the gym, you walked back to hunt the four remaining pups together.
You decided to split up to look for the other ones and quickly enough you found two and Tom one, meaning there was only one left. Together you searched the gym, looking in the changing rooms and behind the bar while the conversation kept flowing. Mostly you talked about dogs and when you asked him about his he began to smile broadly and rambled on.
“…and when I finally did find him he was all covered in mud, so the whole ride back I had to drive with the windows down because of the smell. It was really bad” you both laughed as he told you the story about his dog when his eye caught the last puppy.
“Quick, go that way so we can surround him and block it’s way” he said while pushing you softly, feeling his warm hand linger on your arm which made your heart flutter.
The last pup crawled beneath the vending machine and scooted all the way to the back, Tom covered the left side as you quickly made your way to the right and dropped to your knees. Both reaching out to grab the pup but unfortunately you both couldn’t reach him. 
“Maybe we can try to move the machine a bit so we have more space to grab him” you said while leaning back onto your heels and placed your hands onto the side of the machine.
“Good plan, we have to act fast so he doesn’t stand a chance to move further” he answered and made his way over, hovering over you as he placed his feet on each side of you, feeling his muscular thighs touching your back and side, his warmth radiating you as he placed his hands on the machine as well. You swallowed the lump in your dry throat which was forming caused by his touch and counted down.
“3.. 2.. 1..” both of you pushed against the vending machine which moved a few inches. 
“Quick!” he ordered and you leaped forward, both hands grasping the pup which tried to escape and move further away just like Tom predicted. As you tried to come back up again your knee slipped from underneath you, accidentally kicking Tom’s legs further apart which made him lose his balance. He rapidly placed one hand on the floor right next to you while his other hand landed on your lower back, trying to break his fall. You gasped as his broad, sweaty chest covered your back and felt his warm breath hit the back of your neck.
Oh. My. God. Was this really happening?
Feeling the vibrations of his laugh rumbling through his chest, your cheeks flustered as he got up, pushing himself off from the floor and your back. 
“I’m so sorry about that!” he laughed and you couldn’t help yourself as you burst into laughter and reached for his hand he extended to get you back on your feet. 
You looked at him as he kept grinned at you, still holding your hand and glanced at the puppy.
“You are a little troublemaker, now aren’t you?” he said in a high pitched, so called dog voice, and petted his tiny head.
“Oh you have no idea, and this isn’t the first time this has happend, right little guy?” you said as you brought the pup closer and placed a kiss on its head.
“Abs! We’re missing one pup!” you heard Michael shout as he kicked the door open and looked around with a slight panicked expresion which soon faded as he saw you holding the missing pup while standing close to Tom.
“Ah I guess you found him and met our newest gym member”
“Yeah I certainly did” you answered and glanced at Tom who still had this adorable grin plastered across his handsome face.
“Okay cool! I fixed the door by the way, I noticed that it didn’t close properly so I just went to the store to fix it. So now we’ll be sure that these brats won’t escape to the gym anymore” he huffed and pointed at the pup in your hand.
“Ah perfect. Saves us some trouble next time!”
“Yes, well Tom, let’s have look at your schedule I’ve set up for you and then take it from there, shall we?” Michael asked Tom and made his way towards his office to get Tom’s schedule.
“Enjoy your work-out, I guess I will see you around, Tom” you breathed and smiled at him while walking towards the door to put the pup with its brothers and sisters.
“Yeah, definitely. Thanks for the warming up. It was.. fun” he smirked and followed your brother to his office but only glancing back over his shoulder to give you a wink.
Oh boy.. this man!
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Things Will Be Better
So of course I didn't finish my first play through, got to Act 3 and decided instead I wanted to start all over again with a Durge run which of course is going about as well as you'd expect, I'm trying road to redemption and of course I had to resist Gales temptations when he reached out that portal but I'm actively romancing Astarion, so of course here is my Durge Sorcerer Wood Elf Astral romancing Gale <3
tw // childhood trauma
Finally a moment to rest at camp, Astral found herself slouched on one of the bedrolls close to the campfire in the centre of camp, absolutely exhausted with the day the party had faced, having assisted the grove in fighting back against the Shadow Druid’s trying to lock the grove away from the rest of Faerûn, after finding Kagha’s plans to assist them in their plans of course Astral couldn’t sit by idly and watch it all happen. After fighting a couple annoying Mephit’s and some beefy Woad’s the party of course had to confront the woman and help convince her that life in the shadows was not worth the hassle, and then of course fight off the shadow druid’s that had disguised themselves as rats. All in all, a pretty eventful and rather painful day and Astral was ready to kick her feet up, relax and finally get some well-earned sleep.
“Fancy helping me with cooking for this merry band of misfits?” Came the wizard’s smooth voice, disturbing Astral from her peaceful relaxation, opening her eyes to peer at the man towering over her she couldn’t help but smile at his eagerness to provide for their found group. Clutching a mismatching of ingredients, food that they had scavenged, stole and bartered for he wasn’t seeming to take no for an answer.
Standing up, dusting her clothes off she gave the wizard a nod allowing him to lead the way to the dented cooking pot he had been using to whip up the party’s meals, “If we were in my tower back in Waterdeep, my we would have an impressive larder and many spices to make a grand meal, but I suppose a charming cooking pot in a camp in the middle of the wilderness shall have to do.” Reminising of his homeland of Waterdeep, he seemed almost defeated that he couldn’t prepare a proper meal for the people he had come to know and care for, it was sweet.
“What’s on the menu tonight then Gale?” Peering into the pot at the boiling water Astral quipped, “If we’ve ran out of supplies and are having a bowl of warm water each, you can tell everyone because I’m not sure their bellies would be too happy.” Earning a chuckle from the wizard at her silliness she watched as he sat himself down, a makeshift chopping board and a dagger being used to cut up some spring onions they had managed to grab on their roaming’s of the local woods, “Well I was hoping to make a nice stew but I suppose a bowl of warm seasoned water will have to do.” He smiled up at her, enjoying this banter with her.
As she sat down nearby, ready to assist him in his cooking she looked over the ingredients, sea salt of course to give the food a little bit of seasoning at least, a large slab of venison she had cut from a dead sheep herself, some fresh vegetables and of course, his spring onions.
“Where do you need me then?” Rubbing her hands together she was ready to make this cooking go by as quickly as possible as her stomach finally realised she was in the general vicinity of food it growled out in protest at its emptiness, Astral glared down at the interruption as if her stomach could feel the heated stare, “Well, seems your belly is ready to get stuck into some cooking, you could debone that venison and get it cut up as finely as you can, we don’t want anyone having to chew through the fat or picking a couple bones out of their dinner now do we?” Astral couldn’t help but blush at his recognition of her hunger, but she could hardly blame herself she had had a rather draining day, and one needs sustenance to keep fighting.
Dragging herself away to begin helping she set herself up with a slab of stone and slightly smaller slab of venison, cleaver in hand she stared down at the remainer of the sheep in-front of her, swinging down at the meat she of course had never actually cooked for herself like this before living her life on scraps and the rare hot meals she could get in taverns or any safe haven that would provide one, gods she could only remember the last time she had cooked a proper meal was with her mother as a child. So long ago now she wonders as she butchers this meat in-front of her, where if still alive her mother is it had been so very long she wonders if her mother would remember her now if she were to find her wherever her location may be, maybe she still lived in their small cottage just on the outskirts of Baldur’s Gate, maybe she had moved on to somewhere else, somewhere bigger… better. She didn’t realise the mess she had made in-front of her until a gentle hand laid itself on her arm, willing her to stop driving the cleaver she held into the meat over and over and over and over and….
“Astral? Are you quite alright? You were a thousand miles away…” Gale soothed as he shifted to removed the new weapon from Astral’s hand, she clutched it with force but his hand brushing over her clenched fist willed her to release the item from her grasp and in that moment all she wanted to do was curl into a ball and cry out for her mother… her mother, where? Where is she, why isn’t she here? Surely, she wasn’t dead? She had be alive, it was her mother…
“Sorry I seemed to lose myself a bit there, I don’t mean to worry you, Gale.” She couldn’t bring herself to look at the man, she could feel the tears welling in her eyes as she recalled so many memories of times long passed, her childhood it all came flooding back to her so fast, like running into a brick wall at full speed. She could do nothing but stare down at her hands as she fiddled with her fingers, maybe she should just retreat to her tent and pretend that she was fine, pretend that nothing had happened. Yes, that’s what she would do. So, she stood, giving Gale a curt nod and shambling her way over to her tent like a hurt puppy, forcing herself to put one leg in-front of the other.
She wasn’t sure how much time had passed as she sat in her tent, curled into her own body nothing could hurt her like this, no one could bring any harm to her as long as she wrapped her arms tightly around herself, she wasn’t here in her tent, no she was home in the cottage waiting for mother to come up to lull her to sleep with fairytales and kiss her goodnight as she danced the precipice of sleep and wake. She didn’t notice the flap to her tent gently parting, the wizard slowly lowering himself down to crouch in-front of her, warm bowl of stew in hand and a gentle smile on his face as he took in the situation, she found herself in.
“I thought you might like to try your handiwork, I must say your venison helped make this stew possibly one of the best I have made with the given circumstances, many compliments all round camp of course I had to tell everyone you gave a helping hand, my little helper.” His compliments of the food brought her back to the reality she was in, sitting in her tent a broken mess crying over her long gone childhood that she was so easily transported back to with the simple task of cooking. She gently reached out for the bowl, almost as if it would burn her if she dared to touch it but her belly rumbling in agreement to accepting the bowl had her quickly reaching for the spoon and beginning her devouring of the meal.
Gale sat with her as she ate, she couldn’t bring herself to care of how sloppily she ate her meal, she was famished and would actually fight a man if they dared to remove the bowl from her grasp, she couldn’t help but agree with her campmates as she ate… it really was a delicious meal, definitely one of Gale’s best. As she finished, she laid the bowl down beside her, stretching herself out of the curled up state she had resigned herself to for however many minutes, hours had passed as she had sat disassociated from the world around her. Gazing up at Gale she knew she had to give the man an explanation for her earlier outburst, she had walked off with nothing but a nod after viciously brutalising part of their dinner.
“I can only apologise for earlier, I’m not sure what came over me, but it was no way to act and to simply walk away without any explanation wasn’t right, I’m so sorry Gale you must have thought you were next for the chopping block.” She tried to make light of the situation but looking at Gale’s stern expression she realised, comedy wasn’t going to get her very far in this conversation, “You don’t need to apologise, you were very clearly having a moment, I could see it in your eyes that you were a thousand miles away, of course I removed the weapon not for my own safety, but for yours.” He thought she was going to harm herself, if she was going to do that she would have done in it private, she wouldn’t have made him privy to a show like that, he was too pure for that, he didn’t deserve to see something as horrible as that.
“I appreciate your concern Gale but of course I wouldn’t have done anything like that to myself, especially not in-front of someone, that would just be evil.” She tried to convince herself more than convince him, she almost didn’t believe the words coming out her own mouth, her brain and the words she was saying were warring with each other and the look on her face must have let on, as the wizard reached out to grasp at one of her hands, just like he had earlier.
“I don’t expect you to tell me everything that is swirling around in that head of yours, I understand that whatever is going on up there is most likely private and something that you’re not willing to share with a man you met not even a week ago, but when I say that you can trust me, I mean it Astral, I will not pry into your private matters if you do not wish to share them but whatever is going on please know that if you feel comfortable to share, I am here to provide and comfort you may need.” There were very few people in her life that Astral had trusted with the details of her life, many of whom were now dead having taken secrets of her to their graves, she almost didn’t want to burden him with her thoughts and history, but there was something about him, something that made her want to tell him everything as she crawled into his arms and cried into them over all the broken parts of her.
“Thank you.” Came her simple response, and for the first time in her life, rather than shutting herself off from her emotions and building her walls back up, she let herself move to him, into his arms and cry. Allowing him to wrap his arms around her as she let herself cry, let herself feel her emotions, and as his hand soothed along her back she actually believed that everything might actually be alright. Maybe this time things would different, this time they would be different.
Cross Posted on Ao3 - jacethed00d
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pawsfortailsfordogs · 5 months
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The Ultimate Guide to the Best Food for Dogs
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Introduction
As responsible pet owners, ensuring the health and happiness of our furry friends is paramount. One of the key contributors to a dog's overall well-being is their diet. Just like humans, dogs require a balanced and nutritious diet to thrive. In this comprehensive guide, we delve into the world of canine nutrition, exploring the best food for dogs that not only tantalizes their taste buds but also promotes optimal health.
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Understanding Canine Nutrition
Before we dive into the specifics of the best food for dogs, let's understand the basics of canine nutrition. Dogs, being omnivores, require a mix of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals for a well-rounded diet. The key lies in providing a balanced combination to meet their unique nutritional needs.
Protein Power: The Foundation of a Dog's Diet
Protein is the building block of a dog's diet. It aids in muscle development, supports a healthy coat, and plays a crucial role in various bodily functions. When selecting the best food for your dog, prioritize options rich in high-quality proteins such as lean meats, fish, and eggs.
Essential Fats: Nourishing From Within
Healthy fats are essential for a dog's overall well-being. They contribute to skin health, promote a shiny coat, and support cognitive function. opt for dog foods that contain sources of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, like fish oil and flaxseed, to ensure your furry friend's vitality.
Carbohydrates: The Energy Source
While dogs don't require carbohydrates in large quantities, they play a vital role as an energy source. Whole grains, vegetables, and fruits can provide the necessary carbohydrates without compromising nutritional value. Look for dog foods that incorporate these elements to keep your pet active and energetic.
Tailoring the Diet to Your Dog's Needs
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Every dog is unique, and factors such as breed, age, size, and health condition should influence their dietary choices. Consult with your veterinarian to determine the best food for your dog based on their specific requirements. Whether it's a playful puppy, an active adult, or a senior companion, there's a perfect diet for every stage of life.
Top Picks: The Best Food for Dogs
1. Acana Heritage Meats
A high-protein option crafted with a variety of meats for a taste dogs love.
Rich in essential nutrients to support overall health.
Grain-free formula suitable for dogs with food sensitivities.
2. Royal Canin Veterinary Diet Gastrointestinal Low Fat
Specially formulated for dogs with sensitive stomachs.
Low-fat content without compromising on nutritional value.
Supports digestive health and maintains an ideal weight.
3. Merrick Grain-Free Real Buffalo & Sweet Potato Recipe
A grain-free option with deboned buffalo as the main protein source.
Contains glucosamine and chondroitin for joint health.
Ideal for dogs with allergies or sensitivities.
Conclusion:
Investing time and effort in selecting the best food for your dog is a tangible expression of love and care. By understanding their nutritional needs and choosing quality options, you contribute to their overall health, longevity, and happiness. Remember, a healthy dog is a happy dog!
Phone Number: +91 8147449720 / +91 8073848419
Website: https://pawsfortails.com/
Address: 3235, Suttar Khana Mohalla, Nasirabad, Ajmer, Rajasthan, 305601
Social Links:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pawsfortailsind/
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iturbide · 6 months
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Summer Storm
7,066/50,000 words
The two people at the table looked up at him as he closed the door behind him.  Dain sat comfortably on one side, legs crossed at the knee and arms folded over her chest -- though her cool smile softened when she met his eye.  “Welcome back, Miryn,” she called, leaning forward to rest her elbows on the table and her chin over her laced fingers.  “How was the market?”
“I sold out,” he beamed, easing his pack down beside the door with a bright clatter of glassware.  Turning to the man standing opposite his sister, he bobbed his head in easy greeting.  “It’s good to see you, Leander.”
The man returned the nod, hawk-like gold eyes looking between Miryn and Dain.  “I was wondering where you were -- market day, huh?” he asked, giving the short tail of his red hair a brief tug.  “Maybe you can help me convince Nightshade to help me out.”
“You know my price, Lee,” she said calmly, shrugging as he planted one hand on the table and the other on his hip.  They all knew his attempts to put pressure on her with simple posturing wouldn’t work (though that had never stopped him from trying).  “A quarter.”
“Highway robbery,” he shot back while Miryn unbuckled and opened his packs, removing his market purchases and bustling about to put them in their proper places.  “Ten percent.”
“Twenty.”
“Fifteen.  Final offer.”
She stared him down, a triumphant smile twitching at the corner of her mouth.  “Fine,” she agreed.  “Give me the details.”
Leander dropped into the empty chair across from her, pulling a folded map from the pouch on his hip and spreading it across the table.  Miryn only half-listened while he prepared dinner: slicing vegetables, scaling and gutting and deboning fish, crumbling dried herbs and mincing fresh, and adding a splash of the stock simmering in the pot over the low-burning hearth to the heavy dish, before covering it and clearing a place for it to cook in the embers. 
With that done, he left them to their discussion, moving into his room and emptying his satchel of the plants he’d collected along the way to and from the city, laying them out along his workbench and windowsill to dry: some would be key ingredients for his recipes, others would be moved to their kitchen to season their meals.  The berries he piled into a bowl at the corner of his desk -- in easy reach for later when he needed a snack.
He'd cleaned his equipment the night before, after he’d finished packing the last of his market wares.  Now he reached up to the shelves over his workbench, pulling down jars of dried leaves, seeds, flowers, and bits of bark, each neatly labeled in his most careful handwriting (though he hardly bothered to look at them anymore, knowing by habit what each one contained).  Adding a thumb-sized piece of willow bark, a few dried catmint leaves, a sprig of goldenrod flowers, and enough water to cover them to a stone bowl, he placed it into the open cradle over a charred plate, a small pile of dry twigs and leaves already piled and waiting.
It would be a while until and Leander finished their discussion and dinner was ready to serve.  Spreading his arms, he pulled in a deep, steady breath, and pulled the quiet energy of the room around him, focusing it by will alone into a bright spark that set the kindling aflame.  
And with magic humming at his fingertips, Miryn rolled up his sleeves and set to work again.
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zhongrin · 4 months
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hello there rin! have you ever heard of the orange theory? if not, then let me explain
basically, you should go to your s/o and ask them to peal an orange for you; if they accept, this means they are willing to do small tasks for you, if not then they are not so willing
i suddenly remembered this while chatting with a friend and i don't think i saw you writing anything about it, so i thought this might inspire you in some way~
have a nice day and take care c:
a friend told me about that trend few days ago too, and my answer was:
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said headcanon i wrote from way back in 2022 ->
i feel like peeling fruits or deboning stuff in general is a super common sign of love for asian people? my grandma, my mom, and even my dad (especially when it comes to salacas, bc they have sharp skin) does it a lot. whenever i'm back home, i never have to peel fruits or crustaceans, bc they will always do it for me without me asking. a friend of mine likes shrimp but she cannot, for the life of her, debones the thing because 1) she thinks it looks scary (like the legs and the head) and 2) she has NO idea how to do it cause her parents or most shops in the non asian countries she resided before would peel it for her. so whenever we go out and we order like, a tom yum soup, i'd always peel the unpeeled shrimps for her.
tldr; oranges are too easy imo. the real test of love is asking your s/o to peel shrimps or crabs or salacas for you /silly
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charmingbrute · 1 year
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"Sir, if... If you sell fish, you should know how to clean them, right? Uhm... Could I actually buy some fish from you and pay you a little extra if you showed me how to prepare them properly?"
When queried about his proficiency in cleaning fish, the fishmonger was quick to assure that he was indeed well-versed in the art. After all, he mused, it would not do for him to call himself a fish vendor if he was not capable of preparing the fish for market. However, when asked to instruct in the matter, he hesitated, for the knowledge of how to clean was not one to be imparted lightly. Nevertheless, after a moment's reflection, he agreed, offering to demonstrate the proper techniques and the safest yet efficient way to complete the deed.
In his search for an apron suitable for the task, he hoped to find one that was clean, so that his guest might observe him more closely without risk of sullying her clothes. When offered compensation for his troubles, he declined politely, stating that the imparting of knowledge was its own reward, and that his students need only show their gratitude by purchasing more fish from him in the future. With a smile of good-will, he set about his demonstration, eager to share his expertise and to prove himself worthy of the trust placed in him. And though he performed the task with the utmost care, he could not help but feel a sense of pride in his profession.
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"There's an easier way to debone it as well, but you might hurt yourself if we go about it now. How about you come back on the morrow, go home and try what you've learned today, and then tell me if you do fine?"
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vaqro-a · 1 year
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making myself sad by thinking of the first time cassidy realized how easy it was to cut bodies into pieces. the mind-numbing experience of gutting a pig, deboning a chicken, cutting a cow's leg by muscle group. he must have been twelve i think, when he first noticed the ease which he could simply make a huge body something so small, that he knew where to place a knife or where to break [ between the joints is always best. cartilage is soft and the blade slips easily between. but sometimes it's unavoidable that something needed to be broken first and then processed ]. he worked in major food companies, not even those clandestine slaughterhouses and factories; after the war, there were thousands like him — orphans, homeless, and lost. people just turned away from it all. so there he was, twelve years old, finger to elbow covered in blood 10, 12, 14 hours a day in exchange for a roof and some food. at some point, he had to stop caring too.
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