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phantomdoofer · 7 months

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Chapter Four - Amicos

Peppino stretched as the sun rose. He stared at the ceiling from his couch, thinking. It was the second day since Giuseppe had shown up and turned Peppino's world upside-down. Yesterday he had received a message from an unlisted number:

Well, she didn't kill me. I may have a couple of cracked ribs, though. And thank goodness for the beard, else she might've broken my cheekbone. She wants you to come see her, of course. We're visiting Gustavo tonight. I'll be in touch when I can. G

He chuckled. Glad Ma still has that much spice in her. He knew her health was failing. Giuseppe was right, he should go visit. Who knew how much time he had left with her. The thought was... sobering. He'd only had a few years with Papa before he was taken. All his friends except Gustavo were gone. He was happy that his... brother was going to be in his life again. But his Ma had always been his touchstone, his rock. She had taken him in after the war, still half-mad with grief and shock. Put up with his drunken stupors, his rages, his depression, until he finally managed to get a life started.

Not today, he thought. Tomorrow. He'd close up early and take his scooter over.

He stood up and headed off to prepare for the day.

~~~~

Lunchtime, and Gustavo still hadn't contacted him. That was unusual. Even if he wasn't coming in, he always contacted Peppino. He was meticulous that way. It was a good trait to have - Peppino himself could be sloppy, absent-minded. You're a classic artiste, amico, Gustavo had told him one day. Too bad his bills didn't see it that way.

Peppino handed a customer their pizza. "Sorry for-a the wait, I'm a bit short-staffed today. Buona giornata!" They thanked him and left, the next customer stepping to the counter. I wish he'd at least contact me. He was getting concerned, his customers the only thing keeping him from starting to panic. He idly memorized the customer's order as he thought. Giuseppe said they were visiting him last night. Did something happen?

As Peppino quickly tossed the next pie's crust into the air, his phone buzzed in his pocket, and a knock came at the back door. Oh, grazie a Dio, he thought. He laid the crust on the board and wiped off his hands, then went and opened the door. "Thank goodness amico, I was getting worried-"

Except it wasn't Gustavo. It was Brick, looking concerned. Again Peppino was astounded by how human the giant rat could be. She sniffed at him, poked him with her nose, and looked pointedly in the direction of Gustavo's place.

Something was wrong. He checked his phone.

The same unlisted number.

Gustavo needs you, fratellino. It didn't go well. G

His heart skipped a beat. He hurriedly finished the pizza, apologized to the other waiting customers saying he had a family emergency, and quietly closed up the shop. Before he could hop on his scooter, Brick grabbed him and tossed him on her back. "Ehi, grosso ratto, non così in fretta-!" Too late, she was off, going as fast as his scooter. He relaxed on her back - it was a surprisingly smooth ride.

~~~~

When he arrived at Gustavo's apartment, he found one of Giuseppe's people waiting outside the building. The young woman approached him as he got off. "Mr. Spaghetti, glad you're here." She eyed Brick. "Damn big rat. Anyway, your friend didn't take it well last night, so the Major asked me to keep an eye on the place. He hasn't left yet."

Peppino nodded. Gustavo's parents had long passed. As far as he knew, he didn't have any siblings. It was just him and Brick.

Considering his own shock, he could only imagine how Gustavo felt.

"I'll-a check on him. It's OK, I don't think I'll need any help."

She nodded. "I'm still going to stick around. The Major's too concerned for me to do otherwise." She grinned. "And it's a nice day out."

Peppino nodded and started up the stairs.

Here it is. He knocked. "Gustavo? Amico? It's me! Do you mind if I come in?"

Silence.

Brick nosed the flowerpot next to the door. Peppino reached in and found a key. Really, Gustavo? A key in the flowerpot? That's the oldest trick in the book. He gently unlocked the door, and Brick pushed in past him.

Peppino gently closed the door behind him, then turned to look. Gustavo's home was just as he remembered it from the last time he'd been here - potted plants everywhere, some decorative, some herbs. The lingering smell of spices and pasta. A faint smell of rat. But he noticed the plants looked a bit wilted, and the smell of rat was stronger. He saw, just visible over the back of the couch, a faint hint of red-brown hair.

Gustavo.

Peppino approached slowly. "Gustavo? Amico? I was worried about you. Brick came and brought me here."

Silence.

Peppino walked around the couch. Gustavo was sitting stock-still, staring straight ahead. The classic thousand-yard stare. Oh no. He'd had this reaction so many times, but he'd never seen it on Gustavo, even when the stocky gnome had been wounded saving him. He was always cheerful, solid. To see him like this was like seeing the moon fall from the sky. He approached and carefully sat down beside him. Easy, Peppino, play this extra safe. He waved a hand in front of Gustavo's eyes. Slowly, he blinked. He turned to look at Peppino, a faraway look of recognition on his face.

"Peppino?" he said, faintly. "Amico?"

"Sì, Gustavo," Peppino said, "Sono qui. Ero preoccupato."

Gustavo looked down at his hands. He'd squeezed them together so tightly the nails had drawn blood. The blood had run down onto his pants, but it was long dried. The sight disturbed Peppino even more. Gustavo looked up. "Men came last night, to talk to me. One of them looked like you."

Peppino nodded.

Gustavo looked back down. "He... told me things. Things that didn't make sense. He said I was... a clone. Of another Gustavo. That it happened when I was little." He shivered. "He told me so many things about the other one. About how the government stole him away, and made me. How they were friends. Like brothers. How they traveled around the world." Tears started to well up in his eyes. "I asked where this other me was, why if it was so important I know these things, why he wasn't the one telling me." The tears started flowing. "He told me he died. He died. Saving him. I died."

Suddenly Gustavo was wrapped around Peppino, bawling. "I'm not dead! I'm not a clone! I'm here! I work with you! I have you and Brick and- and-" he choked. "That's all I have."

Peppino was crying, too. "Oh, amico. I'm so sorry." He stroked the gnome's hair, hugging and gently kissing the top of his head.

After a while, Gustavo spoke again. "He... the one who looked like you... said he didn't like telling me. But he said I had to know. He said... there are a lot of people who are clones, all over the country, and the government is going to announce it." Gustavo sniffed. "He said... you were one. Of him."

Peppino stroked his head. "Sì. It's true. At least I think it is." He told Gustavo of the meeting in the basement, their long discussion, the revelation that broke the other man. Gustavo watched with red-rimmed eyes, unusually silent.

Finally, he spoke. "So, it really is true. But... how? Why would they do such a thing?"

Peppino shrugged. "He said it was still classified, but it had to do with people with special talents."

Gustavo sniffed again. "But what special talents do I have? I can't charge through metal and stone, or run up walls, like you."

Peppino chuckled. "Amico, I've watched you pick up barrels with one hand I couldn't lift with two. Gnomes are special."

Brick snuggled her snout into Gustavo's lap, snuffling his face. He grinned, rubbing her snout. Peppino relaxed. Grazie a Dio per quel topo. "The man was crying when he left."

Peppino looked down. "You reminded him of his friend. Losing a friend... one like you... is hard."

Peppino grabbed Gustavo's hand. "You were my friend all through that war. When that damned tower showed up, you helped me. Afterwards you came to help me even more. I will always be here for you, amico."

Tears welled up in Gustavo's eyes again. He buried his face in Brick's fur.

Peppino held his friend's hand and patted his back until the sun went down.

<<Previous/Next>>

#pizza tower fanfic #pizza tower au #pizzatower #pizza tower #peppino spaghetti #gustavo #brick the rat #my stuff #tower town au

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uloelu · 6 months

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Location: Windslar, Windenburg

(transcript under the cut)

Episode 1 | Previous | Next

Hello again! Long time no see. Work got crazy these last few weeks, and I had little time to get this episode out. Thankfully, I pulled through. I'm excited to show y'all the second episode of the Fosters series! Part 2 drops tomorrow.

Scene 1 - 28 Windslar

Haven (checking her phone): 7:00AM. Spectacular. Happy birthday to me.

(heads downstairs, scowling) And Chloe’s making breakfast. That’s just great. Oatmeal pancakes and protein shakes for everyone.

Josh: Hey, isn’t today your birthday?

Haven: Nothing gets past you.

Josh: Well, I hope your day improves. And I like your t-shirt.

Haven: Thanks. I stole it off some guy back in San Myshuno. Never got a chance to actually read Thrasher.

Josh: Really? I’ve got a couple of older copies that I brought with me. Consider it my gift to you.

Haven: You don’t have to do that.

Josh: Relax, it’s your birthday. I hardly read them, anyway.

Haven: Damn it. I’ll have to get them after school. Cassandra’s waiting for me out front.

Chloe: You’ll miss my pancakes...

Haven: I’ll live.

Scene 2 - Copperdale Prep

Cassandra (sheepishly): So...I probably should have checked to see if Dunkin’ was actually open before dragging you out of your house early...

Haven: Renovations. Shit happens. I’ll just eat a full lunch.

Luna (kissing Malcolm Landgraab): Missed you last night, Mackie. Thought you were going to come over.

Haven: Nevermind. I’ve lost my appetite.

Haven (going about her day): I’ve had worse birthdays, honestly. Nothing beats having glass bottles thrown at your head while trying to put a toddler to sleep. Stuffy uniforms and boring classes are heaven compared to that.

Wes (walking into class late): Another detention, ladies and gents. I’m thinking about going for the world record.

Haven: As much as I hate to admit it, Windenburg and Copperdale Prep are kind of growing on me.

Mostly thanks to Wes and Cassandra. Though Wes did invite his...situation to the get-together our foster parents are throwing for me later tonight, so he’s on my temporary shit list.

Haven (playing piano in a restaurant after school): I even managed to convince Solstice to let me practice on their grand piano on my days off from work. They think they’re cheating me by getting free performances. I just want the experience.

Scene 3 - 28 Windslar

(The birthday is a low-key affair at the Brookestone-Walker residence. All the foster kids are in attendance, along with Cassandra and Morgan.)

Haven: And fine, Morgan isn’t bad at all. She’s friends with Cassandra and Wolfgang, so she has to be cool. I guess it just feels weird to watch Wes focus his attention on someone else, even though I’m not interested in him at all.

Morgan (telling a story to Wes and Haven): You should have seen the look on her face! She had no idea we knew her favorite...

Haven: He’s like family to me now.

It’s strange learning how to fit into this new, makeshift family. I feel like I’m constantly saying the wrong thing. I’ve never cared so much about how people see me. I don’t know if I want them to like me...I just don’t want them to hate me.

(Audreyanna hands Haven a gift.)

Haven: I didn’t think you were going to get me anything.

Audreyanna: You only turn 17 once, Haven. I remember that age very well. I hope it’s your best yet.

Haven: Thank you.

Scene 4 - Outside 28 Windslar

(Morgan and Wes sneak outside.)

Morgan: I’ve been trying to figure you out for a while now.

Wes: And?

Morgan: And I’ve realized that it’s pointless. I simply am never going to get you.

Wes: I doubt that.

Morgan: You never give me a straight answer. You talk a big game but haven’t made a move. How are you so sure?

Wes: You already have me. There’s nothing more to get.

(They kiss.)

Morgan: We’re right in front of your house, you know.

Wes: Don’t overthink it.

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bvannn · 4 months

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Weekly Update January 5, 2024

I’m still recovering slowly. I never mentioned this because I want to be as vague as I can about my big congenital medical issue, but the surgery last week removed some tissue that affects my endocrine system, and now that it’s gone I’m having some problems with my mood. I have a medicine that corrects it, but I need to wait another week and a half to get my dosage adjusted, so all next week I’m going to be volatile which sucks. Stomach has seemingly gotten better though so hopefully that pain was just caused by those cysts and nothing else was wrong. Sorry if I ramble on a bit too much tonight, I am loopy because of the endocrine stuff so I might go on too long. Anyway artstuffs.

I got a music project done. It was for Mav, and it was pretty small but I stayed up all night working on it. Working on it I discovered a big set of plugins that I got somewhere that look to be automatically doing some of that balancing I was worried about. I still need to double check what exactly it can do, since I’d like a widener plugin, but I don’t want to stack my brain over it if I already have one. I have a few ideas floating around for the next song thing, I’m a bit hesitant on continuing that vocal one I haven’t finished because I watched a bunch of videos today in the bad lyrics of the Wish soundtrack, and the lady kept bringing up cadence and pentameter which are concepts I know about but can’t hear. Like, pentameter is supposed to be the natural inflection a syllable has, but like whenever I hear it, I just hear the inflection of the vocalist. I think I’m overthinking it, since she used a writing scheme to explain it and I think the vocaloid software uses that same writing scheme so maybe I can learn through practice? Or I can just write lyrics that match the melody and call it good as long as the flow sounds natural because of subconscious understanding, like how I figured out how to do harmonies. Whatever. Music theory is hard but my stupid will and brute force is harder.

Other instrumental things I’ve been kinda thinking about include a little Zelda medley that I already recorded the melodies and stuff for, instrumental themes for my OCs because of course. And then I kinda want to just do a big fat medley that goes on for like an hour-ish because I love those kinds of medleys they’re great for car rides and stuff. And the final two I’m thinking about would be for animation memes: either an arcade beat-em-up style boss fight sounding theme, or a cover of a 90s pop-punk-rock (idk what genre) song. I think that one would be cool because I could use it as promotional stuff for a comic.

Oh yeah that O’Malley comic! I actually did good thumbnail work on that this week! I was going to do more today but mood and sleep schedule were wonky, plus I had a meeting this morning, so good chance I’ll put it off until tomorrow. But either way, chipping away at it, trying to watch more movies so I can get better at understanding shot comp, watched Kill Bill part 1 last night and wasn’t expecting it to be like, the best fucking movie ever? Like why does everyone talk about it like ‘eh it’s pretty good’ like no that shit was *Phenomenal*! Hoping part 2 lives up to the first, planning to watch it maybe tomorrow night? Definitely before I go back to uni. Anyway pitch comic is coming along nice, after it’s drawn I can either work on the rest of that story or a pitch for the secondary story I’ve been working on, depending on demand. Right now leaning towards series, since I have general synopsies for a couple more general ‘episodes’.

Also only done like one general drawing for comsheet practice hehehe it’s fine I can try others as time comes and is appropriate. Also did epithet stuff but not as much as I’d like. My original plan tonight was to work on TTRPG stuff but maybe I’ll do writing or thumbnailing instead. Or maybe both.

TRGA: got shot 1-4 done enough. Also got Jon tweened for 1-5. I need to clean him up and do his face and stuff. Tonight maybe if I’m having trouble focusing on the other stuff I’ll clean him up, I think I want to go back to that ‘one significant development a day’ schedule I was on for a bit, but pushed a bit further since I have better strategies now. I’ve also started the ‘every time I sit down and open clip studio I’m going to draw one (1) prop’ strategy so hopefully props won’t be as bad in the future either (even the ones I can’t just recycle). Tomorrow if I’m doing better I’ll try to get 1-5 Jon’s face done (and clean him up too if I don’t tonight) and maybe do another drawing. Maybe more epithet TTRPG stuff maybe not.

I’m trying to get my priorities back in order. 1) TRGA 2) Comic work 3) fix your commissions 4) other projects. Inspiration is fickle though so I’m really all over the place. My mood being volatilized is also not helping but I’ll keep going until my brain explodes. For now I’m able to plan out enough with time for sleep and stuff. I don’t know what’s exactly going to happen when classes start but I am taking *fewer* credits than normal so theoretically that means more time.

#weekly update

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faofinn · 2 years

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No. 1 A LITTLE OUT OF THE ORDINARY

@whumptober

@whumptober-archive

Adverse Effects | Unconventional Restraints | “This wasn’t supposed to happen”

“Fao?” Steve called over his shoulder as they packed up the clinic that evening.

“Yeah?” Fao looked up from the paperwork he was doing.

“Uh, I’m in surgery all day tomorrow, my list is huge, but I asked Finn to come in for a drugs trial in the morning. We’re not running any normal clinic, so there’s space for him to come in, but I can’t cancel my surgical list, and he can’t change because he’s got uni stuff going on. Would you mind doing it with him? I’ve written out the whole protocol, dosage and everything, I just need you to do the administration and monitoring. It’s Finn, he’ll be absolutely fine with it - he’s not you, after all - and it really does need doing. I’ll give you credit on the paper.”

“Sure. I’ll give it a go.”

“Thank you. You’re a lifesaver. Besides, you’re more human anyway, it’s better.”

“No worries. Can I have the protocol to read over tonight?”

“Sure. I’ll find a copy once we’re done here.”

Steve happily gave Fao a copy to take home with him, and Fao was quick to look over it that night once he’d found some peace and quiet in his room. It looked decent enough, not far off some of the stuff they’d used in the past, and he was sure Finn would tolerate it well.

He’s headed into the clinic early that morning, aiming to get a bit of his own work done before his brother arrived. Even if it did go well, he’d be busy for the next couple of hours making sure everything was as it should be, and making sure the notes were perfect for Steve’s research.

Finn appeared a few hours after Fao, bleary-eyed and still half asleep. Fao had mentioned to him that things had changed, that he'd be doing it rather than Steve, but Finn hadn't minded. He trusted Fao with his life, and Steve, too, he supposed. Besides, the trials usually ended up with him getting half a day of paid nap time, and he was never going to complain at that.

Fao greeted his brother with a smile. “Hey, Finn.”

He grumbled a response. "Where 'm i going?"

Fao laughed and offered Finn his hand. “Just through here, c’mon.” He led him through, patting the bed. “Get comfy.”

"I want another blanket." He said, getting comfortable. "Steve always lets me have them."

“Keep your hair on, I’ve got plenty of blankets.” Fao said, grabbing one from the pile and passing it to his brother.

He grinned. "Good. Gotta make sure you get it right."

“You’ve got to be comfy. Are you comfy?”

"Yeah, I think so."

“Shout if you want anything. Did you follow Steve’s usual instructions?”

"No, threw a party last night and got absolutely pissed. Downed my meds this morning with a bottle of vodka too."

“Dickhead.” Fao shot back. “Fine, I’ll make that a ‘yes’, then.”

"Yeah, I made sure to listen to him."

“Perfect.” He said lightly. “Feeling okay today?”

Finn hesitated, his attitude sobering up slightly. "I didn't sleep too well last night, but I don't usually before these, and I think I feel fine."

“I never sleep great before these either.” Fao admitted. “Fear of the unknown, right?”

"Something like that."

“It’s all good, I’ve got you. Can I get a cannula in?”

"Yeah, sure." He stuck his arm out.

“Perfect, thank you.” He murmured, grabbing his stuff and moving closer. Finn was an easy stick, he always had been, and Fao found a nice vein easily. “Sharp scratch.” He warned.

Finn hummed as Fao advanced the cannula. He knew it was just a needed part to the process, but he wasn't a fan of it.

Happy, Fao secured and flushed it. “Feel alright? No pain as I flush?”

He screwed his face slightly. "Just cold."

“Sorry.” He murmured. “That’s all good, then. Shall we get started?”

"Might as well."

Fao triple checked the protocol from Steve, just to be safe, checked his dosage for the hundredth time, and then gave the meds. “There, that’s all in.”

Finn hummed, fidgeting. He hated this part, and no amount of repetition or reassurances helped.

“Deep breaths, yeah? Well done.”

He nodded. Whatever it was he'd already started feeling it - the room was starting to spin and he felt like he was being dragged down. The flip in his stomach made him feel worse, reminding him of his auras.

Fao spent a moment tidying up a little, giving Finn a moment. He rubbed his brother’s arm. “How are you feeling?” He said gently.

"No." He struggled for his words. "High. Real high."

“That’s okay, that’s allowed. You’re doing great, Finn.” He said, surprised at just how quickly it had worked. He jotted a few notes down, conscious he wasn’t sure what Steve would want exactly.

It was fine for a little longer, but the feeling didn't fade. He shifted uncomfortably, his bones almost feeling itchy under his skin. He'd made it onto his side, curled up around the blankets, a small whine escaping his lips.

“Well done, Finn.” Fao said gently. “Why not have a nap, yeah? Any excuse.”

Finn struggled to settle, everything just screaming wrong, but too distant to do anything about it. He tried his best to claw back some control, but it just seemed so unimportant. His legs trembled with the effort, his chest burning with each forced breath.

Finn really seemed to be struggling, and Fao frowned. “Finn? You’re alright, yeah? Keep up those nice deep breaths, I’m right here with you.”

Despite Fao's encouragement, he just kept slipping. It was hard to not let the fear overwhelm him, but he knew Fao would look after him. He just had to somehow tell Fao.

Fao could feel Finn’s fear, and his own stomach twisted. “Finn? Can you talk to me?”

He tried, he really did, but he just couldn't figure out how. His eyes rolled as his body gave up, his breathing quickly following suit.

Fao had been standing already, worried about his brother, and it just got worse and worse. His eyes rolled as he lost consciousness, and then his breathing stopped.

“Oh, fuck.” Fao muttered. He had emergency kit, of course, but it was just him. “This wasn’t supposed to happen, you don’t do this.” Fao chastised. “This is the kind of shit I pull.”

He worked quickly, adjusting the bed and slipping oxygen on Finn, grabbing what monitoring he could. Fucking typical. He watched carefully, praying he’d take a breath.

The breath never came, of course it didn't. Steve’s promise Finn would be fine apparently had been missed by Finn himself, simply making Fao's life difficult - as he so often did.

Thankfully he’d laid his airway kit out and it was in easy reach. Unimpressed, Fao moved to the head of the bed, working quickly as he set up to bag Finn. He couldn’t carry on doing this alone, and prayed Steve had a spare pair of hands in theatre. He hit their emergency bell, not arrogant enough to think he could manage this alone.

It was Sam that appeared first, having been on reception. He swore at the pair, gestured he'd be a moment, and rushed back out. Theo took his place, offering help where he could while Sam got Steve. It wasn't that they didn't trust Fao - they did, more than anything - but Steve was the senior clinician, and they needed the help.

Fao was appreciative of the extra pair of hands from Theo, but stayed as he was whilst he waited for Steve. Finn was stable enough, easy to bag and doing alright. He was worried it had been his fuck up. Had he given too much, read the protocol wrong? Gone too fast or too slow? He had no idea, but Finn was always fine. The one time Steve trusted him to do this and he’d completely fucked it.

Finn was briefly aware of everything spinning again, air forced into his lungs when he didn't want it. He felt like he was on a rollercoaster, and he didn't appreciate it. He gave a pathetic retch, not actually bringing anything up, but his body's way of protesting the situation.

Fao appreciated the resistance from Finn, meaning his body was doing something, but it wasn’t enough. He kept bagging, praying Steve would appear soon. He was going to have to intubate soon, and he really didn’t want to do that.

Steve rushed in, grabbing a pair of gloves. "Politely, what the fuck?"

Fao glanced up. “Yeah, Steve, that’s what I was asking.” He muttered. “He was fine, and then he lost consciousness, then stopped breathing.”

"Right, okay. No signs of anaphylaxis?"

“No, no anaphylaxis.”

He hummed. "Obs seem okay. Any seizure activity?"

“Nothing obvious.”

"Responses to anything?"

“A little resistance to the bagging, but not enough to stop. Other than that, no.”

"Alright. Let me do a quick neuro while I have a think."

“We’ve not really got a lot of time to think, Steve. I’m going to need to intubate soon.”

"I need to make sure he's not seizing. He'll be worse off if I miss it."

“Yeah, alright. Just quick.”

"I'm being as quick as I can. Are you prepared to intubate?"

“If I have to, I have to.” Fas said. “My kit is out.”

"Right. I'll assist."

“Cheers.” He muttered, twisting to grab what he needed. He’d not done this in a while, he wasn’t exactly an expert.

"You can do this." He reassured. "Just relax, make sure you keep breathing."

“I’m a surgical reg, they’re already bloody intubated when I get to them.” He said under his breath.

"All the more reason to do this one."

Fao forced himself to take a deep breath, setting up to intubate. It certainly felt foreign to him, but the muscle memory took over to an extent, and Steve’s assist helped too. Finn was easy enough to intubate, thankfully, and when Fao was happy he looked around. “Stethoscope somewhere? I want to check my air entry.”

He passed Fao his steth. "It looks good this side. Theo's got him all set up on the monitoring."

“It looks good, I just want to listen.” He said, taking it from Steve. It sounded okay, good air entry and nothing untoward. He passed the steth back to Steve, and secured the tube neatly. “Not bad for a surgeon.”

"You did well." Steve confirmed. "Can we go through what happened?"

Fao nodded. “Set up all fine, saw Finn. Got consent, obviously, cannulated fine, no issues. Checked your protocol and the dose a million times before I gave it. Gave it fine, no issues around the cannula, and he was fine at first. Complained about being high, and seemed a bit unsettled, but overall seemed fine until he had a huge spike of fear, his breathing got more and more laboured. After that, well, as you found him. Stopped breathing.”

Steve took a step back, arms folded as he let Fao run through it. "How quickly did he complain about being high?"

“Within about a minute.”

"How quickly did you administer it?"

Fao felt like he was being interrogated. “Not particularly fast.”

"But all at once?"

“As per the protocol, yes. There was nothing about speed or giving it incrementally, so I gave the dose as standard.”

"Hey, I'm not blaming you or accusing you." Steve said quickly. "I'm just trying to work out what's happening."

“I gave it as per your protocol.” Fao repeated.

"As I asked you to." Steve replied firmly. "This would have happened had I been running this. These are the questions I have to ask when you usually pull this shit on me."

“I’m not this bad, to be fair.” Fao said, some of the tension slipping out of his tone.

"Eh, you do it more often."

“Mm. I’m not like this, I just throw up everywhere.”

"That's true."

“Or drop my blood pressure.” Fao said. “It happened so quickly… This wasn’t supposed to happen.”

"I know. I don't quite get why. He's never had problems with any of the other trials with it. That's why I thought you'd be okay. I'm sorry, Fao."

Fao shrugged. “It’s Finn, when is he ever simple?”

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eyndr-stories · 2 years

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The Stranger The Better (FNAF SB fanfic) C13 - :)

Read the intro to Chapter 1 (Enter A Sleepy Bitchard) for more details! I'd start reading there anyways else things won't make a whole lot of sense lol

In Summary: Reader is a forever exhausted young adult who has social difficulties doing their best to pay the bills, so when they get hired at the well-paying, almost entirely automated Freddy Fazbear's Mega Pizza-Plex, they don't really hesitate to think things through before stumbling headfirst into a horror mystery surrounding this company and its crew of quirky (and surprisingly kind) animatronics.

Things To Know (lmk if I should add anything):

There are some horror elements in several chapters! This chapter is Very Spooky! Lots of shit goes down in this chapter! Feelings of fear, being hunted, being grabbed, being attacked, attempted murder, feelings of stress, a taser is used, we're just getting super spooky for a bit here!

Eventual romance, minorly important to the plot.

Reader has paranoia.

There is much swearing.

Reader is also addicted to energy drinks, and not fantastic at self care. As of this chapter forward, however, they do start getting better.

Reader is nonbinary (and also trans masc) though it's not vital to the plot and only comes up once or twice.

Reader is from the south, is protective of their friends, and if you threaten their friends then I'm afraid you've yee'd your last haw and yes that is important to the plot

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C13 - :)

You knew by now that you didn't really have to be here to supervise Moon. He was sweet and gentle and quiet, and all the kids loved him. You weren't complaining though, you got an extra couple hours to hang out with Sun and Moon, and you were being paid for it.

Sun and Moon seemed happy as well, and they were always sad to see you go. You promised to be back tonight and waved goodbye to the kids. Sally wanted you to stay and keep playing games with her, but you managed to convince her that not only would you be back again tomorrow, but you really did have to go and attend to your knightly duties in the kingdom (clock out from your shift before management got upset with you).

You were almost to the breakroom when you spotted Monty coming down the hall.

You smiled at the gator. "Ah, a foe approaches! Have at thee, Montgomery!" You jumped into a fighting position.

Instead of squaring off with you like he usually did, Monty just kept walking, barely glancing your way. He shoved past you like you weren't even there.

You frowned and watched Monty turn the corner. Maybe he was upset about something? You resolved to check in on him tonight.

You clocked out and sang along to songs in your car on the way home. You were off from the deli both today and tomorrow and you could not be happier.

You worked on the fence for a few hours. It was nearly done. You were excited to finally finish the project, but decided to take a quick break to eat. You thought that Moon and Sun were maybe wearing off on you a little. You'd made an effort to sleep in, and you were taking breaks and taking care of yourself. To your pride, you had so far resisted drinking any of the energy drinks in your fridge.

You checked your phone as you finished an early dinner. To your surprise, you'd gotten another email from management.

'This is an official notice of a same-day schedule change. You have been requested to come in as soon as able, and will remain until 6am. Head of security staff employee 'Vanessa' will brief you on the security issue. Thank you, Management.'

That wasn't a lot of information to go off of. Had something bad happened? What security issue??

You tried not to worry too much as you quickly got ready. You considered drinking an energy drink on the way to the plex, but decided against it last minute. You grabbed a water bottle instead and locked the door behind you as you left for the plex.

There was half an hour left until closing, yet there wasn't a soul in the halls. The parking lot had been empty except for one other car, which you recognized as Vanessa's, with its little bunny charm on the antenna.

The lack of people having fun in the arcades and slowly making their way to the exits did nothing to ease your worries. You clocked in and hurried back out of the breakroom, not even noticing that your map was no longer on top of the minifridge.

You wandered around looking for Vanessa for five minutes before you decided to give up and figure things out for yourself. Rockstar row was right around the corner, and there was bound to be someone in one of the rooms.

You knocked on Monty's door first, since you wanted to check in with him anyways. To your surprise, the door swung open on the first knock. As you stepped inside, you realized why.

The door was busted and scraped to hell. The handle was entirely missing on the other side, and there wasn't anything really keeping the door closed to begin with. The rest of the room was in a similar state. You swept your flashlight over the darkened mess.

Stuffing and broken glass and bits of wooden furniture littered the floor. There were claw marks everywhere, buckets of paint laying around with the paint itself splattered everywhere, even the ceiling, and the vanity's mirror had been entirely torn off its desk. Strangely enough, there was a green book sitting neatly on the desk, right in the middle, spared from the destruction surrounding it.

You lifted the book and looked inside. Monty's name was written inside the cover, and a lot of pages had been torn out, leaving just a few doodles and scribbles and otherwise blank pages. The doodles were just little drawings of the other animatronics, or Monty making cool poses. There were a few bunny heads, and some angry ink blotches and tears in the pages where he had bared down too hard and ripped the paper.

This had to be the journal Monty said he was keeping. But what the hell happened to it? And the rest of his room? You tucked the book under an arm and decided to leave. You weren't going to find any answers here.

As you turned towards the door, someone stepped inside. I was Vanessa- she startled when she saw you standing there.

Vanessa's startled expression turned into irritation. "What are you doing here??"

You were not in the mood to deal with her shit. "I was looking for my friend Monty. Management told me to come in early and said you'd tell me what the hell is going on."

Vanessa scowled. "Watch the tone, kid. Management is just overreacting. Their prized star of the whole plex bugged out during the show tonight and lots of people got upset, and they had to close early. He's down in parts in service now. There's one kid left in the building somewhere, a little boy, management is upset and wants him out of here. If you see the kid, tell me immediately."

That explained why there was no one here, the plex was closed. "There's a kid still running around the plex? Where's his parents??"

Vanessa huffed. "Don't get me started. This is not the night for this bullshit." She turned and stormed out of the room before you could question her further.

"What the hell?" you muttered. You got out your phone and texted Sun and Moon via the group chat you three shared.

'Hey uh?? Yall know anything about what's going on? Management called me in early, Vanessa says the plex closed early and theres a kid lost somewhere in the building, bear guy had some kind of malfunction, and Monty is missing and his room is all torn up'

You didn't want long for a reply, both Moon and Sun had started typing nearly instantly after receiving your message.

'Oh dear, that is concerning. There's a lost child??' Sun replied.

'We knew the plex closed early but none of the rest' Moon said.

'I'm omw to the daycare now' you typed, then left Monty's trashed room. You knocked your boots on the side of the doorframe as you left, making sure you weren't tracking broken glass or anything through the building.

You kept your eye out for lost children along the way, but didn't spot anything out of the ordinary, really. Security bots were rolling along their usual routes, custodian bots had started to sweep up the day's debris and mop the floors. There was a lot going on, it felt like, and you were eager to reach the daycare and talk to Sun and Moon.

The two of them were waiting for you when you arrived. They both asked you concerned questions, but you could only elaborate so much.

"I just got here around fifteen minutes ago. Management only said there was some kind of security issue and Vanessa would tell me more. She didn't tell me a whole lot before storming off," you explained.

"Oh goodness. A lost child… I hope he's not too scared." Sun's hands fidgeted as he nervously glanced out the daycare's window.

"Don't worry, that's top of the list. Soon as we find this kid and get him home to his family, the sooner we can figure out the rest of whatever's going on," you said.

"What's that book for?" Moon asked.

"This is Monty's diary, I found it in his room. All the pages are torn out," you said.

"You snooped in Monty's diary??" Moon raised a brow.

"Well-! I'm concerned about him. Shut up. We have work to do," you said quickly.

Moon 'tsk'ed at you. "Nosy."

"Wait, you guys are… leaving?" Sun looked away. "I mean… yeah, of course you are. Uh…"

"Are you okay, sunflower?" you asked.

Sun smiled a very small smile. "Don't worry about me, sunshine. You two need to find that lost child."

You suspected Sun was hiding something, but you knew he was right. "We'll be back as soon as we can, okay? Maybe try to take a rest so the time goes by faster."

"Call us if you see anything or need anything," Moon said.

"Right." Sun nodded.

You and Moon left the daycare, leaving Sun behind.

"Where should we start looking first, sheriff?" Moon asked.

"Uh…" You reached for your map, but it wasn't there. "Shit. Forgot my map somewhere. That’s okay, I'm pretty sure I've got everything memorized by now. Lets start by the main stage and work our way out."

"Okay." Moon nodded.

You walked together quickly and quietly. You wanted to move quickly, but you also wanted to be extra diligent and not miss anything.

Your paranoia worked in your favor tonight. Not only was the adrenaline keeping you alert, but the months of checking every little nook and cranny of this place and double checking behind that meant that anything out of the ordinary stood out starkly.

You squinted at a crumpled up piece of paper sitting atop an ATM machine at the other end of the cafeteria. You made your way over and grabbed it.

"We don't have time to be cleaning up litter. Leave it to the staff bots," Moon said.

"It was sitting so perfectly in the middle, like it had been placed there," you said, carefully unfolding the paper. You noted that the ATM machine appeared to be malfunctioning. it's screen was a dark purple hue and the words were illegible through the glitchy screen.

Moon gave you a look. "That's silly."

You stared at the page. You got a few sentences in before realizing that Monty had written this. You quickly opened up the diary and set the page against the others remaining in the book. Same size and style as the other pages.

"This is a page from Monty's diary," you said, then looked back at the ATM machine. "…I think it was left here on purpose."

"…Oh." Moon stepped next to you to read over your shoulder.

"Who's the silly one now??" you teased.

Moon rolled his eyes. "Alright, alright, you're a brilliant mastermind. Now hush, I'm trying to read."

You read the page as well.

'Another episode last night. I was standing in the access tunnels by the security room when I suddenly realized I couldn't remember how I'd gotten there. Last thing I remember was heading back to my room after the show. I was awesome, by the way, my base got a tuning upgrade and it sounded AMAZING.

Writing this shit down doesn't help. I dunno why I keep writing. I guess I haven't ripped a security bot's head off in a while. Y/N was right, I think it helps with stress to get all this shit out of my head and onto paper.

I wish I could SLEEP! My fucking systems keep overheating. My paint has even started cracking and peeling, I'm so goddamn warm. I have to keep paint in my room now and touch it up every night. I'm gonna put in a request for a complete routine maintenance exam. Enough is enough. I don't care if Chica and the others find out anymore.

…Alright, I kind of do. But not enough to keep me from trying to fix this anymore.'

"Poor Monty… where do you think he is?? He told me his exam was in a few days." You frowned at the page.

"I haven't seen him." Moon shrugged. "We'll find him. Let's find this kid first."

"Right." You tucked the page into the diary and carried on, now keeping an eye open for more crumpled pages.

You weren't making a lot of progress. You hadn't seen any kids, animatronics, or notes.

You stopped and turned to Moon. "Maybe we should split up. I'll check out the access tunnels and you keep at it up here and see if you can't find anyone. Call me if you see anything."

"Sounds like a plan, sheriff." Moon looked nervous. He hesitated, then pulled you into a hug. "Be smart, be safe."

You hugged him back. "You too."

Moon let you go and hurried off, tugging his nightcap down lower over his face. You thought it was sweet that he was worried about you, but it wasn't like you were in danger or anything.

You found a door leading to the access tunnels and tapped your watch to it. You grabbed the handle and walked right into the door, which had not unlocked itself for you. You scowled and swiped your watch again, making sure the sensor read it this time. The door remained locked.

"What…" You fiddled with the watch. You couldn't even get it to pull up the cameras. All it would do was display the time and the Freddy Fazbear Mega Pizza-Plex logo when you turned it on. It was a few minutes after closing.

You called Moon. He picked up before the first ring was over.

"Are you alright?" Moon asked.

"I'm fine, Moony. My watch won't work. I can't open any security locked doors," you said.

"That's not good. Is the system down??" Moon wondered.

"I wouldn't know how to check." You thought for a moment. "Oh, hey! Sun said the security desks have those cards, right??"

"That's right! Good thinking. Try not to loose any that you find," Moon said. "Oh- Roxy? What are you-"

The call ended abruptly. You frowned and tried to call Moon back as you made your way to the nearest security desk. There was no answer. You were about to call again when you got a text from Moon.

'Don't call. Hiding.'

'Why r u hiding??'

'So Roxy doesn't know I'm still following her. She's acting weird' Moon said.

One thing at a time. You had to find that kid. You took a deep breath and used your shiny new security card to get into the access tunnels.

All was silent in the tunnels. It was just as dark and dingy as it had always been. Your steps echoed off of concrete walls stained with neglect as you made your way down a stairwell.

You stepped into the warehouse. It was dark, though if you got close enough to the wall you could make out very faint scratches from all the lightbulbs you and Monty had smashed. You really hoped he was okay. The bear bot too, he'd had some kind of malfunction, and now Roxy was acting weird as well…

You huffed and picked up the pace.

You made it to parts and service. Maybe the bear bot was still here and you could at least assure yourself he was doing alright.

You pushed open the doors, stepped inside, and froze.

The bear was here, alright. He was laying on the table in the main machine, his entire head disconnected from his body, and there was a child standing next to him.

"What the fuck??" you exclaimed.

The child darted forwards, whacking a button by the inside edge of the machine. A giant metal door lowered, sealing the kid and the bear bot inside the centermost part of the machine.

You walked up and peered inside the window. The kid scurried to hide behind the bear, who you could just barely hear through the glass, asking what was going on.

"Hey!! What are you doing, kid?? Don't hurt him!" you yelled. You were very concerned that the bear's entire head was just not on his body.

"What?? I'd never! I'm trying to help him!" the kid shot back.

You glanced at the inactive computer. "I think you need to do it from here," you said.

"I couldn’t get it to turn on," the kid said. He was still hiding behind the bear.

You paused. This was a child. He was lost. He was probably scared of you. He sure did look scared. "Hey, listen. My name is Y/N. I'm a security guard, I work here at the pizza-plex. I wanna help you, okay? I won't do anything to hurt you. What's your name?"

"…Greggory." The kid eyed you suspiciously.

"Okay, Nice to meet you Greggory. Listen, I'm gonna try to help out my bear friend, okay? You can stay in there if you want, just keep your distance from the table, alright? There's a lot of tools and mechanical bits in there and I don't want you to get hurt."

Greggory considered this for a moment, then stepped away from the table.

You gave him a smile and a thumbs up, then went to the computer.

Step one, turn it on. Check.

Step two, get it to fix the bear bot.

You called Sun. Sun didn't answer. You called again, then realized he was probably recharging. You called Moon.

"Are you safe?" Moon whispered through the phone.

"Yeah, and I found the kid. Also the bear guy. But the bear is sorta… damaged?? We're all in parts and service and I don’t know how to work the computer to fix the bear."

"I'm not in a position to come help you right now. Roxy seems so intent on… something. I'm not sure what she's doing. Maybe I can talk you through it, what do you see on the screen?"

"Uh… there's a lot of files and icons. A lot of them aren't labeled or just have numbers under them…"

"Is there any sort of search bar feature?" Moon asked.

"Oh, yes!"

"Search for the automatic general repair program," Moon said.

"Automatic… General…" You were halfway through typing when search results started popping up. You found what you thought you were looking for and clicked on it. An error message popped up. "Oh. Uh, It says error, incorrect program sequence selected."

Moon cursed. "It's not just a general repair then. What's wrong with him?"

You glanced back up at the bear bot through the glass. He was having a talk with Greggory that you couldn't hear. "Uh. His head is sort of… disconnected from the rest of him??"

Moon muttered to himself for a moment. "What automatic programs would… repair is only automatic for general issues… maybe… no… Oh! Search for the automatic parts replacement program."

You did so, and the computer seemed much more satisfied with this. The program loaded quickly, and you saw the lights come on inside the machine. "It turned on… how come it's not doing anything?"

"Did you select 'start program'?" Moon asked.

"Oh." You coughed and hit the 'start' button.

Moon snickered through the phone.

"Ok thanks for the help bye," you said quickly, avoiding your embarrassment by hanging up.

You went to the window and watched as the machine started moving. The bear's head lowered into place, and small welding tools and wire connectors darted this way and that, re-connecting everything and sealing things into place. Greggory also watched, keeping his distance like you'd recommended.

The repairs were done in no time, and the door automatically opened as the machine turned itself back off. The bear bot sat up and stretched.

"Thank you, Y/N! I sure am glad to see you." The bear smiled at you.

"Are you okay?? I heard you had some kind of malfunction earlier?" you questioned.

"Yes, I suddenly overheated in the middle of the show and collapsed as my systems shut down. I rebooted in safe made and found myself in parts and service, the automatic scan complete and reading no error. I headed back to my room, but then…" The bear glanced at Greggory. "Oh, where are my manners?? Let me introduce the two of you. Greggory, this is my friend Y/N. Y/N, this is my new friend Greggory."

"Nice to meet you." You smiled and held out a hand.

Greggory eyed you suspiciously for a moment. He glanced at the bear bot, then back at you. He shook your hand.

Now that you could get a good look at the kid, you realized he was a little… scruffy. He barely came up to your ribs. His dark brown hair was messy and dirty, and his striped blue shirt was worn and torn around the collar and ends. His cargo shorts were messy and the pockets were crammed full. His shoes looked like they might have been red once. And there, sticking out of his pocket, was a very familiar map.

Your map.

That explained a lot. No wonder no one could find him, he had a convenient mapped out list of all the best hiding places and all the areas the cameras didn't see.

"So how did you two meet again?" you asked.

The bear nodded. "Right. Greggory had snuck inside my chest cavity, and-"

"What?? That's not a safe place for kids! It's for birthday cakes and pinatas and whatever!" you scolded.

"Yes, but… well…" the bear awkwardly shuffled his feet.

"I have to hide in there cause everyone is out to get me!" Greggory said.

"What??" You looked at the bear.

"He says that the other animatronics have tried to attack him. But that goes against our programming!" the bear said.

You nodded. "That's true. But… apparently everyone's been acting strange lately. I dunno, I don't think anyone would hurt a guest. Especially a kid."

"I'm telling you, everyone is trying to get me!" Greggory insisted.

"I'm not trying to get you," the bear said.

"I'm not trying to get you either," you said.

"Well you're different," Greggory said to the bear. "And you're on thin ice." Greggory squinted at you and folded his arms.

You held your hands up. "Alright. Well for now, let's just figure out where to go from here."

"Greggory, would you mind waiting right here while I have a talk with Y/N?" the bear asked.

"Sure, whatever." Greggory sat down in the old office chair in front of the computer and started spinning around in it while you followed the bear to the other side of the room.

"What's up?" you asked.

"It is Greggory… he does not have a guest profile. Or any files," the bear whispered.

"So… that means he snuck into the plex? What do you mean 'any files'?"

"He is an unaccounted for citizen. There is no record of him anywhere," the bear elaborated.

That slowly sunk in. Your face fell into a frown as you realized what that meant. "Oh. So… no parents to return him to. He snuck in… off the streets."

The bear nodded. "I think so."

You glanced back at the kid, who was still spinning around in the chair. It looked like he was having fun.

"Right. We'll take care of him till we can figure out what to do. For right now, lets get him to Sun. You and Sun can keep an eye on him while Moon and I figure out what the hell is going on," you decided.

The bear smiled and nodded. "I am glad you also want to help him. I have promised to protect him, but I fear my systems are still suffering. I haven't had any issues since I rebooted, but I'm still close to overheating. I don't think I'll make it through the night without needing a rest to cool down."

"Right. Let's get moving then," you said.

You tried calling Moon again, but he didn't answer. Sun was equally unresponsive. You talked Greggory out of hiding in the bear's chest cavity. You really didn't think it was safe. You and the bear both promised to keep Greggory safe, and he eventually settled for riding on the bear's shoulders. You stored Monty's diary in the bear's chest cavity instead.

You had a bad feeling in your gut. Something felt horribly familiar, but you couldn't place what. You lead the way up out of the access tunnels, getting your taser out and ready just in case.

The bear's footsteps were so loud, it was impossible to sneak down the halls. You would have rather tried to sneak, but you instead tried to ensure yourself that there was nothing to sneak away from.

That's when you realized why this felt familiar. Your dreams felt like this. But you weren't being hunted… right?

You stopped and looked behind you. You weren't sure what you were expecting. You weren't sure how to feel about the fact that your instincts were right, you weren't alone.

Chica was at the other end of the hall. She'd spotted the three of you and was hurrying over.

"Chica, are you alright??" you asked. Her paint was cracked and peeling. As she charged closer, you could feel the amount of heat she was radiating. Her eyes were fixed on Greggory.

"Run! Don't just stand there! Run run!!" Greggory yelled, fearfully tapping the bear's head.

Chica shoved past you and leapt for Greggory. The bear caught her as you hit the wall. They grappled, mechanical limbs straining and creaking with tremendous effort. Chica kept twitching and jerking awkwardly.

You got up. "Sorry about this," you muttered.

The bear quickly shoved Chica back towards you, and you tased Chica.

She screamed and collapsed on the floor, twitching and shaking.

"Sorry sorry sorry," you said as you motioned to the bear, ushering him and the kid away.

You and the bear ran for the daycare, not stopping until you got there. Your card wouldn't open the door, but the door opened for the bear bot. You shut the door behind you, hearing the automatic lock click, and leaned against it, trying to catch your breath.

"That was close," Greggory said as the bear set him down.

"I can't believe… what's wrong with Chica?? Why would she…?" You shook your head.

"This is very troubling. I am afraid… Greggory may be right about the others," the bear said with a miserable sigh.

"We'll figure this out. At least Sun and Moon are both okay." You got out your phone and tried to call Moon once more.

He picked up and started speaking before you could even take a breath to say hello.

"Where are you?! Are you safe??"

"I'm fine, we're fine. We're at the daycare. Are you okay??" you asked.

"Roxy… she mistook a wet floor sign with a discarded sweater on it for the kid. She attacked it, tore it to pieces. That’s what she's been doing, that's why she was acting weird… She's been hunting. I think the others are too."

"Yeah… I know."

Moon was silent for a moment.

"It's okay, we're all fine, just… uh, I had to tase Chica to keep her from attacking Greggory," you explained.

"Greggory? The child?" Moon asked.

"Yeah."

"I'm coming to meet you. Do not leave the daycare," Moon said.

You agreed to wait here, and pocketed your phone as you told the bear and Greggory that Moon was on his way. At Greggory's concerned expression, you explained.

"Don't worry, Moon is like our bear friend here. He won't hurt you," you said. "Neither will Sun. Speaking of…" you peered around the daycare. "Where is he?"

You tried to check the camera through your watch, but it still wasn't working. You scowled and peered around. Everything was silent and still. The lights were on, so you had no trouble seeing to the other end of the daycare.

You looked back to see Greggory had climbed up on the office chair behind the security desk. You looked at the bear, who smiled and spoke before you could.

"I will watch him. You find Sun and fill him in," the bear said.

You nodded and set off through the daycare.

"Sun?" you called. "Sunflower, its me! Where are you??"

You paused. There was a faint scratching noise coming from one of the plastic play houses. It was the one you'd hid in a few weeks ago, during that game of hide and seek.

"Sun? Are you okay?" You approached the house.

Sun's voice came from the house, though it sounded strained. "Come in, play with me. I have some candy… you'd like it, it's got caffeine in it…"

"…Is that why you wouldn't let me have any before??"

"You can have some now. Come in, come in," Sun said.

"Why don't you come out? There's not really time for games right now, I'm afraid. We found the kid and I thought you could look after him while we figure out what's wrong with everyone. The other animatronics are acting weird and trying to attack the kid..." You crouched in front of the door. "Sun?"

The door opened. You could barely see Sun inside, all twisted up on himself. It was dark in the little house. You could make out the red of his eyes, staring at you. He twitched and shuddered.

You stared at Sun for a long moment, trying to deny the horrible feeling building in your gut. His paint was cracked.

"I'd rather play a game. Wouldn't you?" Sun moved forwards, reaching out with twitchy hands to crawl out of the house.

"Not right now, Sun. Please…" You took a few steps back. Sun straightened up. God, he really was tall. You took another step back.

Sun stepped forwards. "Don't leave. I want you to stay, stay, stay. I'm so lonely… can't we play a game together? Can you read me a story??"

You swallowed a lump in your throat. "A story? Sure…" You pulled out your phone, much to Sun's delight. Your hands were surprisingly steady, despite what you were about to do. You swiped to the camera, turned on the flash, and snapped a picture of Sun's face.

Sun yelped and stumbled back in surprise. You had already turned and started running.

"HEY! STAY BEHIND THE DESK!!" you quickly hollered, halfway across the daycare. "HE'S NOT ALLOWED BEHIND THE DESK!"

The bear and Greggory looked at you, concerned. Then, they both looked with surprise at something behind you.

Not a moment later, you felt something hot wrap around your ankle, and you flew face first into the ground, just barely breaking your fall with your hands. You were yanked backwards and grabbed at the sides, then lifted up into the air. Sun's hands were hot and tight. His faceplate filled your vision, his expression strained and unreadable in a familiar way.

This was not Sun.

"That was tricky, very naughty." Sun shook his head disapprovingly at you.

"Sun, please." You were having trouble breathing. You had your taser in your had, but you couldn't make yourself lift it. "Please."

Sun tilted his head at you. "You can't get out of punishment by begging, dear."

"I-I didn't break the rules. I haven't broken any rules," you said quickly. "I don't want to have to hurt you, Sun."

Sun frowned at you. "My my, a threat? What horrible behavior."

Sun's hands were starting to burn. You were sweating just being this close to him. "Put me down, you're overheating."

Sun's hands only squeezed you tighter. "But you'll leave me all alone again… I don't want to be alone. Stay with me. Stay, stay please stay." Sun's grip got tighter with every word.

You squirmed uselessly. "Sun-! Shit, that hurts!"

Sun went still. Realization washed over you, quickly followed by dread.

You lifted the taser.

Sun moved with alarming speed. He dropped you and snatched you arm before you could tase him. Electricity sparked loudly from the end of the taser, reaching nothing but air. Sun made a horrible noise and tackled you to the ground, pinning your arm down with a hand.

You couldn't do anything but stare up at him as he lifted a twitching fist to bash your skull in.

"No swearing in the daycare," he said, voice low and strained and slow. It was his voice, but it wasn't him.

Sun's fist moved, just as a blur of motion rammed into him full force. Sun went flying off of you, and every part of you told you to fucking run.

You got up, but stopped. You turned back to see where Sun had gone.

Moon had tackled him. The two were toppling over one another, locked in an intense grapple.

You lifted your taser, but you paused, realizing you couldn't tase one without tasing the other. They were both metal.

"Moon-" you started.

"GO! I'll hold him! GET OUT! RUN!!" Moon screamed.

Sun wailed and shook violently. "NO NO NO STAY!! DON'T GO!!!"

"There's no way I'm gonna leave you two," you said forcefully, pushing down the last of your fear, shutting up the voice in your head yelling at you to run.

Before you could do anything, however, you were lifted once more. The bear bot had a fearful Greggory on his shoulders, and both arms around you.

The bear turned and ran for the door just as you saw Moon's suspension cable lowering.

"No, put me down!!" you yelled, squirming and kicking.

The bear bot was way too strong. He carried you easily to the doors and out of the daycare, your protests falling on deaf ears. The automatic lock on the doors clicked behind you.

You heard the sound of glass shattering, and all the lights in the daycare went out. Then the bear rounded the corner, and the daycare was out of sight.

12 notes · View notes

pbandjesse · 1 year

Text

I had kind of the perfect day off at home. I was cozy and comfy all day. I never felt bad!! It was so excellent.

I slept okay last night. I woke up a few times. Mostly because my nose is so annoying at night. But it was good sleep.

When I woke up I decided to just chill in bed. I didn't have a text from James so I checked their location so I could be secure in the knowledge they were safe at work. And then I texted them good morning.

They had a busy day. And so did I.

I was so thrilled to wake up to my studio being clean. There just seems to be so much more air in here. I am just super thrilled.

As soon as I got up I stripped the bed and then went to get dressed. I felt very cute today. It was cool and wet outside. But it was warm in here. But I had my slipper socks on and felt very good.

I changed our duvet cover and cleaned the sheets and rearranged the bed. I felt good about the changes. I put away the clean dishes. I had cheese and crackers for breakfast. I felt really positive about the day.

I did some vacuuming and cloroxed some surfaces. Honestly it was just a really productive day and hopefully soon we'll get all the bags and boxes out of the way. But at least it's all ready to go.

I got in bed with my knitting. And got all caught up from the last few days. O'Malley called me that they were here to get their backpack. And I got to show them our apartment. Got to give the little tour. I love giving the tour. And they told me they were going to a place where you pay $30 and get to use all their craft supplies??? I hope it is amazing. I actually just checked out their website and they have one workshop on the calendar. So I said you know what. I'm going to send an email and see if they want to collaborate and it could be another space I could run workshops? Wouldn't that be amazing? Worst thing he could say is no right?

I spent the rest of the afternoon finishing my knitting and doing my embroidery. I did one today that took forever. Literally I think I worked on it for two hours with a lunch break in the middle. I had a great time. But I did not do any crochet. I only have 5 blocks left. I will finish them this week for sure. I just wasn't feeling it today.

I got cozy in bed. And soon enough James was home. I was happy to have them back.

James would order is pizza. And got me a soda. We haven't been buying regular soda the last couple of months. And honestly. Didnt love it. But that was okay. I don't want us to buy regular sodas anymore anyway. Only fancy soda and soda stream flavoring.

We had pizza in bed. And I've just been chilling and enjoying listening to the rain. Watching tiktoks and stuff. It's been a lovely night.

At 8 I took a shower and washed my hair. Me and James downloaded an app that is called Pokemon smiles. Where you brush your teeth (in real life) and get points to catch Pokemon and honestly following the brushing guide made my mouth feel very clean so that was cool.

And now I am going to go and dry my hair. And maybe soon go to sleep.

Tomorrow we are going to possibly go to port discovery so Anne can give us a tour. And I hope it's fun. I hope it's another good day.

I hope you all have a great night tonight. Take care of each other! Goodnight!!

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lexingtonprincess · 8 months

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Alrighty y’all, guess who’s back (back again). It’s meeeeeeee!!!!

Okay, should probably get to the point before my professor kills me. (It’s okay, I haven’t met them, yet. But Hiiiii)

Sooooo as we know I’m going to do my blog/research on the different places to visit in Lexington and talk about the accessibility, and affordability etc. I’ve been looking at how I want to present that, because I don’t want it to be too terribly chaotic. At least not as chaotic as THIS… It’s fineeee though!

The goal is to make it accessible as well so people can actually understand what they’re reading and understand the ratings and why that place placed the way it did. As well as giving my own ratings I want to take others into consideration as well and look at previous ratings the place has received. And even ask other people what they thought, as well as getting the opinions of the workers.

I’m debating on how I want to lay it out to make it easier to understand for everyone and even have it be possible to find other ways and through different social medias. And of course there’s going to be a lot of places, so how to keep that all together to where it’s easy to find for everyone. If I’m rating the accessibility I feel like my page should be accessible as well yk?

Canvas has been an option, making a poster type situation and adding it to one of this post with my commentary as well. I feel like the canvas poster option would make it easy to see everything and see it quickly for someone who’s giving it a last second check before planning a trip etc.

So an update should go out soon of how I plan to do that!

Anywayyyy enough about that, bit of a free right that pertains to that but doesn’t at the same time.

I went hiking for the first time today!! I went with an old teacher I used to be a TA (teachers assistant) for, but now we’re best friends! (I love her!)

Anyway, she took me to the George and we hiked a couple trails, I fell once trying to climb a small waterfall barefoot. Should’ve definitely been smarter. Climbed a huge rock bridge with some help, more like a lot of help. But I did it!! More to prove to myself that I could do it than anything, I’m sore after getting a shower but 10/10 would do again and will do again. We’re already talking about planning our next hiking trip!

We also got coffee and a donut before we went then got pizza once we left!

I’m thinking about adding a review of the trails into this and starting a review of just the different things I do as I get time! For a tracking of myself and what I do as well as sharing it, also it’s an easy grade because I love talking about all the crazy sh*t I’ve done and will do In the future. Like the point I didn’t mention I got stuck on the rock bridge cause I was scared and only jumped down because some lady told me not to jump. If it’s not obvious enough yet, I don’t listen very well.

I’m going to hope and pray this reached my word limit and end it here, because I am SORE and I work tomorrow (ewwww).

But thank y’all for tuning into my craziness of today, and thank you to my professor for giving me a good grade on this assignment (hopefully). One of my favorites and I haven’t even met you <33

That’s all for tonight folks, Till next time, see y’all next week!!

PS- I love you, no matter what, and I’m proud of you!!! Never forget that!!!🫶🏻💜

#hiking #university of kentucky #introduction #coffee #donuts #sore af #chic fil a #i love you #college blog

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loiswolf · 11 months

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Day 16 June 12 Continental Divide - Watsons Lake 140kms

I’ve only just posted yesterdays blog. Sorry, but it looked like it posted yesterday when I tried, it’s only because a friend asked about it that I realised it was missing.

So of course yesterday two bikers turned up to use the room with the fridge. They didn’t need it so they kindly moved it into my room. Now I had a fridge and and a microwave. Perfect! We went over to the “restaurant” for dinner ( I didn’t need it I just went along for fun) but the kitchen closed at 6pm! We were able to get some freebies because a bus trip was planned for the next day. They had prepared food for 24 people but 4 had bailed. We helped them out with the extras. I didn’t mind so much about the overpriced bread and muffin I’d bought earlier then.

The bikers also offered to stop in Watsons Lake to book my motel room this morning on their way through which was nice of them.

This is the very salubrious place I stayed in last night. Haha!

The bikers did get breakfast in the restaurant this morning but I was off to an early start. After complaining about the usually tough first 40kms every day, today was easy! I had a fabulous tail wind nearly all day and after the first hill I had some great downhill runs. A lot of the time I just sat there and enjoyed the ride.

It was also very pretty

At 36kms the bikers finally passed me with lots of toots and waving.

I thought this was a nice shot looking back the way I had come.

The easy ride continued on with the occasional hill to slow me down. There was a rest stop at 55kms so I stopped for a break. These rest stops only have toilets and bins. Usually there is nowhere to sit. I found a very comfortable spot out of the wind on the concrete slab with my back to the toilet wall.

I had made excellent time but I still had a long way to go. The fast flat/downhill runs continued but gradually the big hills started to appear closer together.

At about 74kms a campervan parked on the other side of the road and a young man crossed over to look at some moose.

Matt was a lot of fun to talk to so we chatted for about 15 minutes, I took his photo

He’s pointing out the moose that are no longer there. 😁

By 110kms I was more than ready for another break and the sight of yet another long climb was just too much. I sat on a barrier for quite a while working my way through a huge muffin and enjoying the sun.

Of course there was a proper rest area just up the road ( didn’t care, no seats) but after just a few kms I came to a place where I had considered staying the night. It was called Nugget City and I had been warned by 2 lots of bikers that the people there were not nice. I decided to risk it for a cup of coffee. ( I knew their accommodation was overpriced) There was only 20kms to go and I had plenty of time.

I was deluded into thinking that it would be all downhill from there. There were a couple of good runs but there was also two more big hills.

Here’s another nice picture I took earlier today. ( it looked like there was too much writing and not enough photos)

Finally I made it into Watsons Lake and headed for the motel which had been my first choice. They had no rooms so a reservation had been made for me at another motel just up the road.

I paid and checked in but as I was walking to my room I received a text message. It was from an Airbnb I happened to find this morning. The hostess’s name was Lois! I had accidentally put in dates for tomorrow bringing up her house. I had sent a quick message asking if she might have something for tonight and the text message was to tell me she did.

I got a refund on my very expensive motel, replied to Lois, and we met at the servo. Her place is just behind the motels anyway.

Lois has helped me plan out the next 2 days, I’ve been to the shops to get some fruit, veg and dinners.

I probably will have to hitch part of tomorrow. It’s even further and hillier than today.

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the-firebird69 · 2 years

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And yes the federal government is suing you idiots here and I mean business and it's other back plans as well if they mean business and it's a large large group okay huge so feel free to say stupid s*** you'll be invading every night we also have a couple things going on what's the money it's Alabama and we asked me at 2:00 I will keep everybody abreast you're going to experience a lot of change here so probably elsewhere and he is a b**** I don't use bad b**** and this is very busy up there so stupid

Once that happens The sopranos serious begins and yes at 2:00 p.m. this afternoon and it appears that Dan shoots his father at the airport and his dress is a different character almost looks exactly like him then his father chops him up tonight at the meat factory and they go back and forth quite often after that and the whole crew gets shot almost every day it's a huge huge event there are tons of fans tons of people hate them they're all going up there too makes a big mess I can tell it's going on I'm trying to mess with the bank all the time too going to be trying to mess with the bank constantly threatening out and they're going to get hit all the time their personal accounts and more. It's a huge serious huge and the money will take like a day everyone else to get it and starting today by the way and tomorrow afternoon late afternoon it'll be all in and to Texas pretty much and I think it stops at sunsets in Reno Nevada for smoking aces and Buddy Israel is Robert to have it there and that is Tommy f and they both have it there can save it and he escape the blockade is breaking in the West and will continue to lay down areas are in their heavy attack and they probably won't get the ships out this time they barely got about last time but this time they're heavy attack and it's due to the comet. The several more things happening the upper Midwest is now full and is refilling very rapidly and emptying very rapidly humongous numbers humongous numbers it's going up there and refilling and emptying and it's probably about 100 septillion a wave at this rate this country be empty and if you are they keep refilling it

There are two caverns that were mainly concerned with and they're three on Earth one is below our son is huge and we're going after it and everybody's fighting down there and Tommy f drill has been stopped we heard it needs to be checked and will and Bill say it's going again you can hear it now and the way in the UK is a huge concern and building up to go there I'm going to start Prometheus to force ourselves there and we're going there now right now to defend those shifts and the crew is going up and none of the nostrils right now and with a small jump ship a D4 and it is named Cheyenne just to give you a clue it is symbolic that the woman there would be hit in the head that's going on today too we want them out and that's going on tonight at Michigan slated for tonight and Lady Gaga's going and Weaver and some others she's usually a haters black woman to him and used to be a nice person by this to beat up and so he gets it and if he was there kind he'd be grumpy as hell too he's pretty short and kind of angry but it's not grumpy cranky and mean but really it's completely understandable this is not really that bad but it's very difficult for his face here because it was stupid well it's explaining stupid anyways. He used to a may not to get mad anyways there's a whole lot of discussion going on about this mission don't say the car wash I'm going to say it's absolutely necessary you need to know the status of the ships and the bases and what's going on up there and someone said there's aliens here they have pictures they sent data is Intel and a whole bunch of you as a reason to go up there as an excuse and a whole bunch of you into something they have to do and the same why don't you just capture them and say we can't the far too strong they're breaking our equipment before we have a chance to look at them in any way the equipment is broken and then we need to evacuation they say we need you up here immediately to evacuate us and enforce nothing will stop this critters if you let them get away with an interest they take it and yeah we crashed you by accident and it was last week and slowly the infiltrated most of them are dead and they've been calling with a distress signal and centralized it amazing was ignored but not surprised that it took this long to get there due to the incredible in fighting over those ships and let me check for keys and so forth and anymore and ships will make sure they return and in fact they haven't able for that but I won't go very well and Lady Gaga gets critically injured in the frontal lobe and can grow back it's a hassle and then Lady Gaga is transported back and she's kept it freezer the freezer said put into the ship that's right put into the ship the Prometheus and it's on purpose it's done by David AKA Brad who lost his entire group of motorcyclists and his factories are gone and they're taking by Jeff Bridges because he was such an a****** to him afterwards and that's right Brad is almost gone and he was almost caught earlier so he has a few septility left to these out so he's trying to get power and he's trying to hit people for it it goes up there you go up there together and they find this s*** it is not the alien ship the sun says he thought it was it was nearby and they do see it and they get the people out some of them and they lost a few and they left fast and they came back to destroy everything and the alien ship is missing and that's right the robot person no he's a Mac it works with my daddy put a tracer on the big ship and they found it in Scotland and they're running a mission so they're coming down there to watch the mission to leave when I grab our son an idiots

There's a huge flotilla it's heading west and it's going by Florida in moments it's going to cool off the state and it's going out there to Texas and it's from DC and it's going to fight Tommy favino it's very much needed you really have much of a check there just a few rebels occupying this time until they get there PGA found out it's true and said to people were largely incompetent oh great swami is that true and Justin says yes and that's a huge battle and it's another concern the Intel is already there and we have to monitor it and it's a gigantic battle it's really a war so huge our son says and they're going to get money today that hits the fan too but the data is extremely important to us we don't need it around we have to find those satellites too and security is going up for that too and they are forced to miss it with a try for it

I'm going to take part of Massachusetts now and we're going to start closing it off the pinch off New Hampshire and to force that AI out I don't want to hear from that anymore it's so disturbing it just does it relentlessly. You having plans to move our son to Miami temporarily all of these things are helping it happen we're going to do it regardless but we have to get it done and it is to make sure that he doesn't end up injured or worse by this tunnel situation or captured and we're almost positive he's trying to get out and it would be dangerous as hell that's the way this with our son. And he's part of bad Company in Vietnam and not many people know about it we went in there and be smart your image because your image is s*** anyways.

Opening tons of lawsuits on people. Is requested one to buy toll and got his wife and they approved for the mental hospital in Portland Oregon that Mac was injured in and he's suing because they're threatening him all the time with what they did with Mac he'll put it out there all the max will attack them retards it'll be over thinking of you get out of here and what the f*** I'm going to send the hell are these croaky at me whipping a croaky at me nuts. It's a great idea and there's other actions going on in the large as in the Sahara we're trying to take that shatteredome and the Mediterranean and the several smaller ones out there and in Europe and we're trying to take the shadow to him in California and other areas to go for the East Coast it's emptying out to Texas it is our sun points out that will be over after this weekend and he feels that Tommy f troopers will bring the money back to where they're from he'll go back to KeyBank and it's going to go back to California Bank of America and it's going back to the East Coast Bank of Boston probably the major Banks we agree and everybody should be fighting over it and it's not Tommy s plan but it will kind of work out for a little so you have to watch out for that and our son says that's when the pizza resistance occurs and we agree because the money goes back out and it's coated and they're going to fight like hell over it then it comes here it says this is the best part and the infight is going to be humongous gigantic glasses but that's not his favorite part his favorite part will be if you give me the label money to him and he's using it you're stupid mouth will be open and that's cuz there's get rid of you because we're harvesting uranium and you think there's something else there and you need the data and you'll be saying all this dumb stuff true or not so we have to grab you meanwhile The sopranos will be in full swing now yeah they're going to back up there to get the money back out and talk about it all the time but dumb Meatheads it's a lot of things going on why is a huge cavern it's a gigantic issue too there's a big little war going on out there over that cavern because they think you have access to the shadow dome that we took it's a giant war and see and the blockade will be broken and we feel the blockade ships will not come back out because they're getting hammered at the lay down areas for us have had enough and it's true they're trying to take the lay down areas for real let's go around it's not too hard to imagine why it's the comet data. They also have starblazer and ships they're always fighting to bring them down and they're not succeeding the other side

One more thing we need to get going on this Miami thing we really do he's got to get going this money and we have a whole bunch of money we can get to him from all sorts of different sources you just need one that actually can get there he says Saint Elizabeth is a good chance it's his money they wanted to spend it and it's in our possession is what vital and got his wife said but it's not really it's still at the hospital so Ella could actually go there and get the money and then hold on to it and come back and get it to him so she's thinking about it and he doesn't know why she's giving these gifts and stuff but she probably talked about his mom being passed and it would open the door to the West in Utah which China was and several others want but not Tommy f so they're going to try to do that they say there are other things that are easier these class action suits and you'll need one or two so I'm going to try it all all the time and it says we need to get a task force on this post office I thought he had one we do have one and they're moving on it it says it's incredible numbers of idiots and we're going to have to use the leverage of the current administration and we're doing that too and the Max and Max was a damn mail to go through and let's start baiting these idiots again more and I suggest taking the areas. We are using those castles in their areas but I do see what he's saying we wanted to take them over in other words you put it near their centers in dissolve them suck them all out of it and then take the center we're never going to get anything to him it's an emergency they want to keep on social security

So two things go hand in hand we need to either control and dominate the warlock or eliminate them and dominate them and get him funds to go to Miami and make it possible so far it looks like it's going to be possible very soon the shattered over emptying and they're probably empty completely to Texas you think they definitely will down because the government has come down

Thor Freya

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bnhabadass · 3 years

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Pairing: Bakugou x reader Genre: Smut, 18+, Mafia AU Trope: Woke up married Dialogue Prompt: “Aren’t we supposed to be working?” Warnings: overdosing on cold medicine, mixing cold medicine with alcohol, dub-con, mentions of sex while unconscious, vomiting Word Count: 4,480

This is my contribution to this month’s bnharem collab. I was so happy when I spun the roulette wheel and it landed on my favorite au, the mafia au. I hope you all enjoy and make sure to check out everyone else’s contributions here. Also a big thanks to @doinmybesthere for being my beta reader and putting so much work into creating the master list for this collab.

“A fever? Are you fucking kidding me?”

You winced at the voice coming out of your phone. You were curled up in bed, a heavy futon draped over your achey, chilled body. “I’m really sorry,” you croaked into the receiver. “I can’t get out of bed; there’s no way I’ll be able to come into work today.”

“You know how important tonight’s meeting is.”

You could feel the fire in the eyes of your underboss as he spat at you about how important tonight’s festivities were. You couldn’t care less. You hated the guy, but more importantly you hated your father for getting you in this mess.

A debt needed to be paid and your family couldn’t afford to take out a second mortgage on the house. So your father, as smart as he thought he was, went to the nicest restaurant on the far side of town where the boss of one of the most dangerous mobs in the city stationed his office.

A debt for a debt. That’s what he told you as he came home smiling with a big check in his wallet. No one in your family knew where he got the money, but he seemed confident enough that he’d be able to pay it back.

A month went by and one day, three scary men knocked on your apartment door. They said they were there to “collect”.

You were terrified. You thought they were there to rob you, to take the money you had been saving in a rainy-day fund. But no, they came to collect you. Now, it’s been four months and you’re still stuck doing odd jobs for them--grocery and coffee runs as well as spending reports and other money related things you are less than qualified to do.

You hate your job. You hate having to put up with the unorthodox hours and the unsavory jobs and the complaints about your work ethic and the having to do it over again because you didn’t do it right the first time. You want out. If you weren’t positive that if you left they would be able to hunt you down, you would have fled the country by now.

But your father’s debt still hasn’t been paid.

“Look,” you pleaded. “I can come in tomorrow and work double my usual time. Please, Kirishima-san, I just need the day to rest.”

“Not a chance. You’re coming in today and that’s final. If you don’t, well, then maybe we need to take an extra payment from your parents.”

Before you could even process what he just said, he hung up the phone.

Another payment from your parents. You couldn’t possibly let them take any more from your family. With a new threat looming over your head, you mustered up enough strength to push off of your futon and get dressed for the clients’ dinner.

By the time it was 7:00 in the evening, you had taken a large swig of cold medicine and were ready to spend the night serving these criminals.

Outside of the restaurant, two bodyguards were stationed at the front door and one at the back entrance. All three of them were dressed in black from head to toe. You, on the other hand, were tasked with serving your boss’s clients, so your outfit differed from theirs.

You were dressed in attire suited for waiting tables. Black slacks stretch across your legs and your pristine shirt was smoothed against your body. A tight black vest clung to your chest and pressed against your boobs, squishing them together. If it weren’t for the fever, chills, and headache, you would look like you belonged with this crowd of criminals.

You flashed your ID to the guard at the back door and he nodded you in. Your eyes had to adjust to the fluorescent kitchen lighting, but once they did you saw how busy everyone was. It truly was one of the most important nights for your boss, so you understood why you were needed. Still, this night would truly take the most out of you.

“Oi, (L/n),” one of your boss’s associates called for you. “Take these to table four. I’ve been covering your ass for the last twenty minutes.”

“Of course, Kaminari-san.” You bowed your head and skirted over to the table where two well-dressed men spoke with one another in a hushed tone. You placed their meals in front of them and bowed your head.

“Wait,” one of them called as you began to walk away. “I asked for a Jasmine tea. This is Sencha.”

“Yeah,” the other one piped up. “And I asked for a Sencha tea and this is Jasmine.”

You wanted to scream. You wanted to yell into the abyss and slap those men across the face. But of course all you did was bow in apology and take the cups back. Kirishima’s words to you over the phone rang loud and clear in your mind.

“Anything they need, you get it for them. These are important people the boss works with and we can’t have idiots like you messing this up for us.”

The men smirked at you and as you turned around to grab their “correct orders,” the man who ordered the Jasmine tea leaned over to leave a hard, painful smack across your ass.

You froze but didn’t say anything and walked away.

It was still early in the night but you had run yourself thin. You needed to sit down or to at least take a sip of water, but there was no room for breaks as you bounced from table to table getting the people what they wanted. You had even left the venue a couple times to retrieve items like the proper creamer one client required in their coffee.

Your throat was so sore and dry and it was aching for a break. Your entire body was aching for a break. But as you saw someone sitting at one of the tables raise her hand to wave you over, you had to put all of your aches aside to tend to her needs.

“Good evening, ma’am.” You bowed your head. “How may I assist you?”

A small smile was on her dark red painted lips. She seemed to be searching for something as she eyed you up and down. “Do you happen to know when Bakugou-san will be joining us?”

Bakugou-san… Were you supposed to know who that is? You had never heard the name before, although you knew your boss had many ties throughout the district. It could be one of them.

“I’m not sure,” you answered honestly. “I could ask my supervisors if they happen to know.”

She waited a moment. She seemed to be searching for something in your expression. “That’s all right. You may go back to work now.”

You bowed and thanked her.

Bakugou-san.

The name did sound familiar, but you’re not sure where you could have heard it. It wasn’t until you were deep in thought, trying to recall where you had heard the name, that you could feel something pushing up against your throat. Oh god. Your stomach was churning.

You ran to the bathroom, pushing someone out of the way to get there. You’d probably hear an earful from Kirishima for pushing a guest, but you needed to find a toilet before--

Oh no.

You barely made it into the stall before emptying the contents of your stomach onto the white tiles of the bathroom floor. Your legs collapsed from under you and you kneeled in your vomit as you coughed up your stomach lining into the porcelain bowl.

Tears fell from your eyes as you struggled to breathe while hacking everything you had into the toilet. The black eyeliner you threw on before leaving the house had smudged into raccoon eyes around your lashes.

You rested your cheek against the toilet, ignoring all of the germs that were most likely crawling up your skin and into your pores. The toilet seat felt cool against your burning cheek and watering eyes. You thought you could die happily here, kneeling on the bathroom tiles in a pile of your slowly cooling vomit.

“Aren’t we supposed to be working here?”

Your eyes shot open, and in trying to stand up you slipped. Your ass landed in the smeared vomit. You winced and let out a drawn out, “fuuuck.”

It took you a moment before opening your eyes again and looking up at the man in front of you. And boy did your eyes widen. He was clearly a guest at the clients’ dinner. His blonde hair was slicked back and the bulge of his muscles under his crisp black button down didn’t go unnoticed by you. His sleeves were rolled up, revealing his forearms and as he crossed his arms over his chest, his sleeves began to tighten.

“Who the hell are you and why are you puking on the floor?”

It took you a second to find your voice. “I’m, um...” you trailed off. “(L/n), sir.” You cleared your throat. “I am a worker for the person hosting this dinner.” You tried to stand up and bow, but he put a hand up to stop you.

“You work for them.” It was a statement not a question, but you nodded anyway. “Why? What do you owe?”

You’re not sure why he was asking, but his intimidating glare compelled you to answer his every question. “My dad owes them money,” you admitted. “And he wasn’t able to pay them back.”

“Who do you mean by them?”

You weren’t sure how to answer. You didn’t even know what these people did. For all you knew they were drug mules or assassins. You never wanted to know what they did when you were roped in. After all, the less you knew meant you could have more of a normal life. “The boss,” you finally answered. Who the boss was, you weren’t sure. You answered to Kirishima but he didn’t have much power aside from ordering around you and every other person unfortunate enough to be roped into working for them.

The man in front of you scoffed. “Get up.”

You scrambled to your feet, ignoring the wave of nausea that hit you. The man led you out of the bathroom, and as you walked behind him, people who passed the two of you stopped and stared. Oh no, it had to be from the vomit stains on your leg and down your shirt. You probably stank to high hell and your eyes wouldn’t stop watering from your fever.

The man stopped and you had to keep from bumping into him. “There’s an extra work shirt in the closet,” he said. “There should also be some slacks in there. Leave your dirty clothes in a pile and I’ll have someone collect them.”

His voice was demanding and it took you a moment to register what he said. It wasn’t until he snapped in your face that you moved.

“We don’t have all day, princess.”

You flinched and nodded before scurrying into the closet and flicking the light on. Inside the closet was the restaurant’s sad excuse for a boiler room. The low humming from the machinery brought you back into the present as you searched for the change of clothes you were promised.

There was a crisp white shirt folded on one of the shelves as well as a few different slacks in varying sizes. The shirt was a size too small, so you had to leave the first couple buttons popped open. Before leaving the closet, you tried to think about who the man was and why he was helping you. Was it possible that he wanted something in return?

When you emerged from the closet, he looked you up and down. You were too tired, however, to notice his lingering glare on your chest and the way the button down squeezed your breasts closer together.

“Thank you,” you mumbled, looking down at your shoes. You’re not sure why you were too scared to look into his vermillion eyes, but the way he called you princess earlier as he snapped at you had definitely made you tremble in your core, and you swore that if you looked up to meet his eyes, your fever would only go higher and higher.

“Why the hell’d you come here if you were sick anyway? Are you trying to poison everyone in the damn building?” His words were like little bullets that shot at every one of your doubts of coming in tonight.

You thought back to why you had come in the first place. You were huddled up in your futon that morning when Kirishima called. You begged to stay home, right? But you couldn’t. You squinted hard as you tried to remember why you weren’t allowed to rest. “I was threatened,” you thought out loud. It wasn’t directed towards the man but he nodded in any case.

“(L/n) was it, right?”

You finally managed to look up at him with bleary eyes. “Yeah, um...” You couldn’t seem to remember what his name was. Wait, he hadn’t told you. He had just led you around and given you new clothes, but he never properly introduced himself.

“Bakugou Katsuki,�� he said as if he could read your mind. His lips turned up into a smirk. “But call me Katsuki.”

“Katsuki,” you mumbled. “Bakugou Katsuki.” You had heard that name before, but where. “Bakugou,” you mumbled again as if you were trying to put the pieces of a puzzle together. “Bakugou-san.”

He quirked an eyebrow up at you.

“Oh!” It hit you like a ton of bricks and as soon as you shot up, you had to recoil because of the ache in the back of your neck. “There’s a woman looking for you, Bakugou-san, er, Katuki,” you bowed.

He just chuckled. “There’s a lot of people looking for me tonight. Who was it?”

That’s a good question. You squinted as if you were looking deep into your memories to remember who it was who asked for him. “She was a woman,” you remembered. “With long dark hair and dark red lips.”

Katsuki nodded. “I see the Yaoyorozus are here.”

The Yaoyorozus. You weren’t sure what that could mean but you didn’t feel like questioning it, so you nodded instead.

Katsuki was looking down at you. His arms were crossed over his chest but a smirk that had been playing across his face all night wouldn’t seem to go away. “Feeling better?”

You didn’t feel better. Although you felt cleaner in the new clothes, there was still a throbbing in your head that wasn’t going away and the overhead lights made your eyes water. But the way that Katsuki looked at you like he was expecting you to say yes just drew you in.

He could tell that the way you nodded a yes in response to his question was a lie, and his face fell before pushing a hand up to your forehead, checking your temperature. “Have you taken anything today?”

You had to think back to earlier that day when you brought the bottle of cold medicine up to your lips, not even reading the recommended dose before downing what you could and leaving your home. “Yeah, um, I took some medicine.”

The grin that had been spread across Katsuki’s face returned. “Well I guess we’ll have to get you some more.”

He grabbed your wrist and led you through the halls and over to the bar. You didn’t pay attention to where you were going. The world seemed to be going too fast for you to keep up. What you were able to notice was that everyone’s eyes were on you as you gently swayed back and forth, trying to settle yourself down. As you were in your own head, you couldn’t start to picture what everyone else saw when they looked at you. You with your raccoon eyes due to streaky makeup that you couldn’t stop rubbing.

“Here.” Katsuki shoved a glass in your face. “Not necessarily traditional medicine but it’ll get the job done.”

You looked up at the whiskey glass in his hand. The ‘medicine’ was a deep brown color which swirled around as he handed it to you. Your fingers brushed against his thick ones as you took the glass. You lifted it up to your nose and took a deep breath in, gagging at the smell. “Um, I don’t think I should.” You had been warned about mixing alcohol with drugs and the dangers that came with it, but no one had ever told you not to mix drinks with cold medicine. Still, that couldn’t be right, right?

“Come on, it’s good for you,” he egged you on. “Besides, it’ll get that nasty taste out of your mouth.”

You had never tried whiskey before. You were used to lighter drinks, something bubbly with a shot of vodka or two in it. But this was almost too much. You lifted the glass up to your lips and tilted it back. Your lips stung as they made contact with the drink, but you didn’t want to seem weak to Katsuki. He’d taken care of you so far and seemed pleasant enough, albeit intimidating.

As you tipped it back further and took more of the drink into your mouth, Katsuki pushed his hand against the bottom of the glass so you couldn’t tear it away, making sure you would drink every last drop. It stung going down and the cubes pressing against your lip were colder than you expected. You gagged as a couple loose tears rolled down your face from the drink’s burning sensation. You bet you looked even more of a mess now.

“Good girl,” Katsuki said with a low demeanor. With his thumb, he wiped away a drop of whiskey that rolled down your chin.

“And this’ll make me feel better?” You didn’t think you were supposed to drink when you were sick, but you were far too tired to even think about what was wrong and what was right. If he said that it’d make you feel better, then that had to be a good thing. You’re sure of it.

“Sure will.” He placed a firm, calloused hand on your head and stroked down your hair. You nuzzled into his warmth.

It was such a nice sensation that it almost made you forget that you were supposed to be working. That there were people waiting on you to bring them their food and fetch their creamer, people who were ready to slap your ass and laugh as soon as you turned away.

“I have a,” you started, not really sure where that sentence was going. “I have to go back to work.”

As you began walking away, Katsuki stopped you, pulling you back over so your face was practically pressed up against his chest. “No you don’t. You’re sick, remember?”

Right, as if you hadn’t forgotten. But he was right. You were sick and your medicine hadn’t kicked in yet. You couldn’t risk spreading your germs and getting anyone else sick.

You watched the dinner guests from afar. You leaned in to hear conversations about hitmen and other rivaling mobs around town. Some were about money laundering and clients that needed to be taken out, whatever that meant.

At one point, someone asked to pull Katsuki aside and talk alone, but instead he just pulled you closer.

“The hell do you want, Yoarashi?”

Yoarashi was a big guy, bigger than Katsuki, but it was clear even to you that he was intimidated by the blonde in front of him.

“You owe me for what I let you borrow last month.”

“I don’t owe you shit.”

To you, they sounded like they were underwater and you weren’t sure what they were discussing, but you were curious to learn more.

“Come on, Bakugou. Work with me here.”

“I’m a busy man, Yoarashi. Now get out of my face before I have my men take care of you.”

Something about the raw power and the threatening tone behind Katsuki’s voice made you excited. You wanted to melt into his words, but you weren’t sure why.

“Busy man?” Yoarashi scoffed. “Come on, Bakugou. You’ve barely been seen all night. Where have you been, fucking this little lackey of yours?”

He didn’t mean you, did he? Before you could even comprehend what he just insinuated, Katsuki turned you around and pressed your face up against his chest. You could feel yourself growing even hotter as you were pushed into one of his pectorals. One of his hands cupped the back of your head. Was he protecting you?

“Listen here,” you heard him say. “Don’t contact us ever again unless you want to end up like your first boss did. I can make your life a living hell and I will, got that?”

“Don’t think I don’t have other contacts, all right? You aren’t the only one in this town with resources, Bakugou.”

You felt something jab into the other side of Katsuki’s chest. Did Yoarashi hit him? A few seconds went by before you heard the snapping of fingers and two men came over to drag Yoarashi away.

Katsuki released the hold he had on you, and you watched as the tall man struggled out of his hold. “You aren’t gonna tell anyone what you saw here tonight, right princess?”

You shook your head. You weren’t sure what exactly you felt when you saw that man being dragged away. You were scared, of course; scared for your own life and of the raw power that Katsuki seemed to hold. But on top of fear there was something else. There was a tingle between your thighs that wouldn’t seem to go away, and there was also a sense of excitement. Out of all the people here, this man was paying attention to you. You were far from Mafia material, but he clearly saw something in you and you wanted more of his gaze lingering on you.

Your mind felt hazy with Katsuki and you wanted even more. You didn’t know what to do when you felt him smooth his hand down your back. You didn’t know what to do when his usual smirk turned into something much more dangerous. And you didn’t know what to do when he leaned over and pressed his lips against your own.

His lips felt heavenly as they explored you. They were soft and welcoming despite his cold and dangerous exterior. His tongue probed its way into your mouth. He tasted like whiskey and something else which you assumed was just him. He bit your lip and it felt like he smiled when you let out a moan.

When he released, you felt as if the whole world was spinning with Katsuki. You wobbled around a bit and he chuckled. You tried asking if you could sit down, but the words refused to come out. The last thing you remember is seeing the world go black, the sound of the clients’ dinner fading out of earshot, and two strong arms carrying you away from reality.

You were in pain by the time you woke up. Your body, especially your head, ached tremendously and you wished the sun would stop shining so bright through your window. But wait, the window in your bedroom at your apartment faced another building. The sun never shined too bright in the morning when you were at home.

Slowly, you peaked your head out from under the covers and looked around. You weren’t in your bedroom, but you were in a bedroom. The bed you had been asleep in was enormous, but aside from that there was not much else furniture in the room or even any pictures to signify who the room could belong to.

It wasn’t until you sat up that you realized just how exposed you were under the covers. You couldn’t find your clothing anywhere. What were you even wearing last night? Where were you last night?

You remembered being sick and being called into work by Kirishima. You were stressed. You were nauseous. There was a beautiful woman who asked for someone in particular but you were too sick to remember what their name was, right?

And then you raced to the bathroom and met--

A groan from beside you shook you out of your thoughts, and as soon as you saw the person lying in bed next to you, all of your memories came flooding back.

“Morning, baby girl,” Katsuki said.

You didn’t know what to say. Your mouth hung open and you felt lightheaded.

Katsuki was shirtless under the covers and you were too scared to ask if he had anything on covering his lower half. “You put on quite the show last night.”

Last night. Where you met him. What did you do last night? “I...” You didn’t know what to say, and that made Katsuki let out a booming laugh.

“Come on, you remember at least a little of it don’t you?”

You shook your head. Then you shook your head again. You couldn’t stop shaking your head.

Katsuki put a hand on your shoulder and you stopped. He had a shit eating grin spread across his face that you wanted to both punch and kiss at the same time. “First throwing up at my party and then getting blackout drunk in front of all my guests.”

“What?” You could barely remember anything. What did he mean ‘his party’? The clients’ dinner was run by…

Your eyes widened as you realized just who you had found yourself naked in bed with. Who had found you puking on the bathroom floor. Who that stunningly gorgeous woman was asking for earlier.

You clamped a hand over your mouth and Katsuki let out another chuckle. “You really were the life of the party.” He grabbed your wrist and dragged you over to his side of the bed, and you let him. He dragged his hand up and down your exposed body and roughly cupped your sex. “I had a blast toying around with you last night, but now I want you to be able to remember what it feels like when I bury my cock inside of you, sweetheart.”

You hated the way he was grabbing you and the way he forced your legs to open up for him, but what you hated more than any of that was the way his words made your inner thighs ache and how they instinctively parted just for him.

You turned away as he leaned down to smother your chest with rough kisses, and as you looked over to your left hand, you couldn’t help but notice a diamond ring that wasn’t there the night before.

#katsuki bakugou #bakugo #bakugou x reader #mha bakugou #mob boss bakugou!!!#mafia au #mha mafia au #bnha bakugo #bnharem #bnharem collab #tw: dubcon #tw: alcohol #tw: overdose

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libraford · 4 years

Text

The short version: We had a serial thief at the flower shop. She’s retired recently and I think that due to Covid she really means it this time.

The long version? hoooo boy, here we go.

This story, and others, are viewable on Tablo

There are rules and there are rules.

In dealing with shoplifting in retail, there are rules on how one engages with a thief. The handbook, if there were one, would consist of a single word.

Don't.

Don't pursue, don't interrogate, don't accuse. Let them take the merchandise, let them get away. Let them return the Cricut machine for an equivalent amount on a gift card to be exchanged once again for drugs.

Let them.

There is no handbook on how to handle Flower Thieves. Prior to working in a flower shop, I never thought that this was a problem.

Life is surprising.

I'm sure some of you have figured that out by now.

The Flower Thief is notorious, and she has a system. There are days when you simply know that she's going to be in.

"Break the heads off the flowers before you throw them away," Grandpa will say. "She's going to be here tonight, I think."

And sure enough, she would be. At 6:45, a quarter til we close- the Thief would announce her arrival. Loudly.

"Heeeeey, baaaaaaby!"

The very first time I encountered the Flower Thief, she came in through the back door.

"Oh Hiiiii, Darlin'- ain't seen your face around here: you must be NEW! I'm Wren, you know- like the bird? Well, Kyle and I have an agreement that I come and work for y'all sometimes. You should take out this trash, it stinks to high heaven. Anyways, nice talkin' to ya, see ya later."

I may only be a little bit psychic, but I've spent enough time around liars to know insincerity when I see it. Kyle, at the time, was the manager of our store and I have it on record that he's tried to throw her out of the building once or twice.

While I was taking out the trash, her pile of purchase became so tall it towered over her. I watched Clark massively undercharge her for the sake of getting her to go away.

She has a pattern.

She comes in during the design classes because she knows that when there's twenty people in the store, there's not enough people to watch her and make sure she's not stealing. "There's a class today," she asks as if it's not literally every Tuesday. "Don't worry I know you all wanna get out of here on time."

The Flower Thief announces her presence in a grand way and then makes her way to the back to grab a trash bag or an empty box and then proceeds to bury any spare parts she finds in the cooler in the trash bag, hiding them under the things that she's actually buying.

After that, she checks the garbage cans for things we might have thrown away that will last another three days and stuffs them underneath her other ill-gotten goods.

Just when you think she's finished, she'll go through her pile of flowers and say: "You know what? I don't need this eucalyptus." And she'll go back into the cooler with it, stuff it in her purse, and walk back to the register.

And when she's all done being sneaky, she asks one of us to come ring her out.

This is the part that no one wants to do. Because ringing out the Flower Thief means haggling with the Flower Thief.

"Oh baaby, you know I don't pay those prices."

"Oh baaaby, I only pay $19 for roses."

"Oh baaaaaaaaaby, those carnations were on special."

She'll talk you down to under $100 with a sob story:

"Oh baaaaby, you know I'm donating this spray to the family. It's for that woman you know- you know the one. She got herself murdered a couple nights ago? Two children and she was pregnant too! Pregnant! Can you believe it? Who murders someone with child? What's the world coming to? So I need a good discount to make sure we treat this family right because they got a looooong road ahead of them."

"Oh baaaaaaby, you know this one's for that car crash over on Cleveland Avenue? I hear he was taking care of his dying father himself, so it's such a shame for him to go first like that."

"Oh baaaaaaaaaaaaaaby, this is for that little boy that shot himself, isn't that sad?"

Thank you, Sister Mary Loquacious.

And you nod because you don't want to come off as an uncaring sociopath. And while you're nodding and adjusting the price for her sad, sad consequence and mulling over how good she is for donating to these people in their time of need, she steals some greens from the trash can and sticks them in her bag.

She hands you crisp $100 bills. You check them and she makes jokes about how she printed them this morning. They're legit. Counterfeiting isn't why she went to prison.

What she went to prison for was drug trafficking.

"Do you need some help," you ask, trying to be a good citizen.

"Oh no, I got it," she insists. "I'll make it in two trips. I'm stronger than I look!"

And don't you dare get caught looking to see what she put in the bag or she will give you one hell of a lecture.

By the time all of this has passed, the class will be over and there will two minutes left in the work day. She's spent thirty-seven minutes in the store. Your register is unbalanced because now you don't have enough small bills to balance it and only have one $100 bill to get you through tomorrow.

And that's why there are rules.

On occasion, a new person will break the rules not knowing that there's rules. One such occasion was when Clair decided to be helpful.

"You know what? I don't need this eucalyptus," Wren said.

"Oh! I'll put it back for you," Clair suggested. And before Wren could protest, it was out of Wren's hands and nowhere near her purse.

It was mentioned to Sage, who only worked for us one summer, that Wren had failed to pay for something and she immediately chased her out into the street.

Wren drives very fast.

If you cross her too many times, she'll make sure you never forget it. One day, she stomped her way in through the front door, angry.

"You ain't treated me better than a damn THIEF," screamed the Flower Thief.

Grandpa, who was helping Blue make a wedding bouquet at the time, departed from the desk. "Beg pardon?"

"A thief! You been treating me like a thief ever since they made you manager and I'm sick of it! I see you bringing in your henchmen, following me in the cooler, chasing me down the street. Treat me with some damn respect."

Words were exchanged. They were not kind. We thought we'd seen the end of her.

But she was back one week later, doing the same damn thing.

So now there are rules.

If you make something and there's an excess of flowers left over from the pack, you have to make something out of the leftovers or she'll pick through them and stuff them in her bag.

If you cannot make something out of them, you must throw them out.

If you throw them out, you must break the heads off first.

The trash cans must be emptied every night before 5:00.

We do not keep trash bags in plain sight.

Break down all empty boxes, or she will use them in place of trash bags.

Do not leave any food or drink where she can find it.

Do not leave any half-used rolls of floral tape where she can find it.

Do not let her know anything about you- lest she use it against you.

If you speak of a Thief, you summon a Thief- speak quietly, and never her name or you invite trouble.

The basic rules one makes when dealing with pests. Or fairy-folk.

There are rules and there are rules and there are rules.

If you want to keep a pest away, you make these sorts of rules. But if you want to get rid of a pest indefinitely, you have to remove their food source. And Wren's food source was her discount.

You start exercising your right to say 'no' to a customer in small ways.

She saw a bunch of carnations in the trash and said:

"Oh baby, these are still good! I'll take them off your hands for you!"

"They've been sitting without water for hours."

"They're still good!"

"They were out in the sun."

"Oh baby, I've been working with flowers for 40 years and I know that these will still be fine for a couple of days!" She picks a bunch of them out of the trash and shoves it in my face. "See, it's still stiff- it's still good!"

"Okay," I said. And before I could stop myself: "Full price."

Her eyes just about popped out of her skull. If it were just a little bit colder, I would have been able to see steam coming out of her ears.

We stared at each other for about a minute, waiting for the other to flinch. She took the bunch away from my face and threw them back into the trash. While she was in the cooler, I took the liberty of snapping the heads off of them and burying them further into the garbage.

And so began a war between the flower shop and the Flower Thief.

She came in: every single night. And each night, she got me.

Again.

"Oh no, baby! These carns are supposed to be 39 cents a stem. I can bring up the email."

"Sure." She brings up the email. "I see that they are 39 cents but... this was for Saturday."

"Yea, and I bought those carns on Saturday and you charged me full price!"

"Saturday."

"Yeah."

"You didn't buy these on Saturday. You bought them Friday."

"Well I didn't know that they'd be on sale, so I need them for that price because I didn't know they'd be on sale."

"The sales are one-day only. I can't adjust a sale from Friday to reflect Saturday's sale... on Sunday."

She made a noise that reminds me somewhat of a cement mixer.

And again.

"I got a bad banner last time, can you print me a new one?" She shows me the banner in question. It's white. The 't' and the 'h' in 'mother' ran together.

"Sure."

"Okay, I need it to say 'Beloved Mother' and I want it in pink."

"Sure."

I print it. I ring her up $5.

"Oh baaaaaaby, no, that one should be free."

"Grandpa said- banners start at $5."

"Oh, but you sold me a bad one last time."

"We haven't sold you a banner in three weeks. How long have y'all had that body sitting in your cooler?"

She grumbled, and paid.

And again.

"I swear you been workin' every night this week! You must be tired," she said, nerves plain in her voice. "When do you get a day off?"

"When the work is done."

"That ain't what I'm askin'. When's your next day off, baby?"

"I stop working when the work is done, Wren."

She narrows her eyes, which is a fun change from them bugging out of her skull like a fruit fly. "You don't ever get any days off?"

"When the work stops, I rest."

And again.

"I'll be in and out, I know y'all want to get out of here on time," she said- announcing her presence to the entire class. She piled her stuff across the register counter and Grandpa began ringing her up.

"Oh baby..."

"No. We're doing away with the discounts."

There are twenty people in the workshop for the class and Grandpa doesn't want to make a scene. She pulls her into the back, and I choose to make my instructions louder to mask the sound of them yelling.

"So you're going to take your hypericum berries and you're going to cut the stem to about ten inches-"

"How can you do this to me?"

"And you're going to slowly fill the vase with these berries to kind of set the shape of the arrangement."

"After all these years and this is how you treat me?"

"Fun fact- you might know hypericum berries as their more common name: St John's Wort! St. John's Wort has been used as a medication for depression prior to modern medicine." You see- I, too, have taken notes from the Chattering Order.

"You can't do this to me," Wren said, stamping her feet like a toddler.

"But I wouldn't recommend eating them. However, they do smell somewhat like baked brown sugar."

Stamp, stamp, stamp.

Wren threw herself into the cooler and began putting a bulk of her flowers back.

"This is robbery," I heard her say to Grandpa at the register.

"Is it now?"

And again.

She came in and immediately reached for a half-empty box of oasis bricks (the green sponge material that we use to hold flowers.) She said few words to me, few at all. She talked to Carrie about how she was going out to the country for awhile, to take care of her nephew's property. She needed to stock up. And oh- don't worry about it, she knows what she's doing. She's part of The Family.

She is in no manner of speaking, a member of The Family that owns this shop. Not even a third cousin.

I saw her beeline for a rose I'd set in the trash. I picked it up, opened my mouth, and bit the head off of it. She stood in the middle of the workshop, absolutely stunned.

Rose petals have the vague texture of arugula, by the way. Slightly sweeter, though. Tough to swallow in one go.

She ran back into the cooler and didn't talk to me.

I began taking down numbers.

27 bricks of oasis. One pack of roses. Ten calla lilies. 1/2 pack of assorted greens.

I punched the numbers in to the register. As if sensing something was amiss, she emerged from the cooler.

"$54? What do I have that's $54?"

"The oasis. They're $2 each."

"Oh no baaaaaby, they're $1."

"I can text Grandpa and ask her."

"... that won't be necessary. Why are you charging me $22.50 for roses? You know my prices by now!"

"22.50 is the price for a pack of roses."

"22.50 is everybody prices."

"Welcome to 'everybody.'"

"I ain't paid a price increase in 7 years!"

"The price of milk went up, Wren. So does everything else."

She was seeing red, I knew it. There's a vein in her forehead that pops out when she's angry and it's the same shape as the river that runs through my home town. She sized me up, as if wondering if she could take me.

I'm 256 pounds of 4H beef, and I have a knife. Try me.

"I'm gonna call Kyle on this."

"Do it." A lifetime of retail has made me immune to 'I'd like to speak to the manager.'

She grumbled and put things back. Carrie offered to watch her, I held up my hand.

"Can you do something for me on these carns? They're the last pack in there and they're lookin' kinda ratty."

"9.50."

"9.50's the regular price."

"Regular price is $14."

"No it ain't."

"Is today. You're taking our last pack and we need those for funerals."

She put them back.

She gave me a credit card. It seemed fake, but it ran. Every time I see here, she's got a different card. Did she print this one this morning, too? At least she stopped trying to sell me on Bitcoin. As you can see, it made her incredibly wealthy.

She gathered her things and left. "Guess I'm getting the rest of my flowers from KROGER!"

There are things you want to say. Like... I hope they enjoy your company just as much as we do. Or: Haven't graced them with your presence in awhile, huh? But at the time, it was better just to watch her leave with her minuscule bunch of flowers. I get a choice in where I loan my voice.

Not here.

Is it over? Nah. She'll be back for another round. But one day she'll finally retire in the way that she's always threatened to. And then? Then it can be as over as it ever will be.

It is shocking to come from a history of retail, where you're not allowed to even hint at the idea of a customer being wrong, where you have to override every single price change to get the scores up, where you have to just let them steal your things and pull the wool over your eyes...

... to flat-out telling someone 'no.'

"No."

It's such a great word.

There are rules and there are rules.

And there are thieves that the rules are made for.

And there are words like 'no.'

And all those things are magic in very human ways.

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