#because marriage works differently after the apocalypse
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Since I'm currently stuck in Sandrock Hell, figured I'll just start doing some pic spams and regaling you with the tales of how I've broken the game. Approaching end game, and my little builder Aria, who has been a hopeless flirt (inadvertently breaking hearts left and right because she thought flirting with certain NPCs was really funny), has finally met her match.
What's funny is, this romance sort of started as a joke because I kept accidentally clicking on the bounty hunter poster every time I was attempting to go into the Commerce Guild, and @grumpyhedgehog kept saying that Aria was lusting over it each morning to psych herself up before having to face Yan to grab her daily commissions.
Then Logan went and robbed a train and apparently that sealed the deal that they were meant to be because of my long history of romancing train menacing npcs
Anyway he also tried to... *looks at smudged writing on hand* blow her up why does this keep happening to my blondies and they had a knife fight or two. She punched him so hard at one point his mask fell off.
Anyway they're married now.
#mtas#my time at sandrock#mtas logan#mtas builder#well sort of#they're married but haven't had the wedding#because marriage works differently after the apocalypse#grey's my time tag
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Simon “Ghost” Riley Headcannons
A/N: these are loosely inspired from real life experiences I’ve had living on a military base, these men have a on & off switch it’s crazy
Simon “Ghost” Riley x F! Reader
Warnings: NSFW
• Simon first saw you while he was in the States for a training exercise, he was out at one of the local bars with some of the other soldiers he was with
• Soap had actually asked for your number first & since he was so intoxicated you turned him down
• Simon apologized for Soap & that’s how you met
• he did have a heart attack when he found out there was a bit of a age gap between you two but quickly got over it when he realized how mature you were
• it was a long distance relationship at first (from personal experience it sucks in the beginning)
• there were times when he couldn’t talk due to the risk of potentially exposing his teams location so you had to write letters every now & then
• you cried constantly whenever you saw some horrific news in the paper about what was going on overseas, the anxiety was awful
• but when he returned the reunions were euphoric
• you have a bottle of his cologne & aftershave so you can always feel close to him
• and you’d spray your perfume on the letters you sent so he couldn’t always smell the paper when he was missing you
• it took him sometime to open up to you about what had happened to him in his past, & your respected that
• when he first met your family, he was shocked by all the support he had received from them
• he asked your parents to marry you the first time he met them & showed them the ring too (ofc they said yes)
• he proposed to you in private after a nice dinner, he got choked up during the proposal
• your dad specifically was elated, he got to brag at how bad ass his son in law is
• your mom if she’s a teacher, had her entire class send cards, candy, anything they’d need in care packages Soap nearly cried when he opened the sweetest letter from a little girl (this actually happened irl my mom’s class did this & one guy got really choked up)
• Simon always would be your fiercest protector
• since he’s like an freakin tree he will guide your head with his bear paw of a hand in crowds
•he CANNOT sit with his back facing the door it stresses him out
•this man is strapped 24/7 whether that be a knife, bear spray etc. he’s ready
•he has a trauma kit in his car because “you never know”
•Simon is 1000% one of those apocalypse preppers you have freeze dried food, medicine, water, etc. he’s always on edge
• he sleeps with a damn rifle next to y’all’s bed
• you have a whole security system too
• your guy’s apartment is impeccable like you could eat off of the floor
• hell your guy’s bed has damn hospital corners
• Simon adopted a cat so you don’t feel as lonely when he’s deployed
• He’s your chonky boy & you do send plenty of photos to Simon when he’s deployed
• Gaz & Soap tease him about him living his “cat dad” life
• you start trying for a baby two years into your marriage
• Simon does fall victim to the “curse of the infantry” (which is not a negative thing btw it’s a running joke that infantry soldiers have all daughters) he makes girls
• he was deployed during your pregnancy & was worried sick he nearly missed the birth of your daughter
• that little girl is the most well protected baby in the whole world, the Task Force gifted him not just baby stuff but damn security for the nursery
• He watches your baby from his phone in the nursery on deployment, he was silently crying once when he was watching you sing a lullaby to your baby girl
•Price had to comfort him father to father
•In reality Simon has a very hard cold exterior at work for the sake of keeping his mental health for the profession he’s in but deep down he’s always held a soft spot & your relationship just brings it out
✨NSFW ✨
• there is a big size difference between you two & it drives him insane
• the first time y’all had together he didn’t want to break you in half
• when he returns from deployment y’all go at it like rabbits for multiple rounds, your poor pussy was so sore afterwards
• has a massive corruption & daddy kink
• he’s an ass man I don’t make the rules here so any position where your ass if the focal point is his favorite
• y’all have made so many sex tapes for him when he’s deployed, he has a whole folder on his phone & jerks off to them in the bathroom or the porta potty (it’s a canon event, trust me) to them
• he lets your cockwarm him constantly when you’re on the couch, when he’s working, hell y’all had even fallen asleep like that
• I know people say he has a Prince Albert piercing but alas per army regulation that is safety risk I think it’s more likely he’d use a cock ring on you
• during a military ball you two snuck off & fucked in a supply closet
• he couldn’t wait to get back to the hotel room after seeing you in your gown, it was red his favorite color
• and he just looked so fucking good in his dress uniform, that was the night you totally conceived your baby girl
• he groans into your ear when he cums & he’ll use his body to just eclipse yours
• “one more baby girl” & “c’mon pretty girl use your words tell me what you want”
• is a sucker for babydoll lingerie it brings your innocence & triggers his corruption kink
• moral of the story Simon Riley fucks
#call of duty#cod imagines#ghost call of duty#ghost x y/n#cod masterlist#ghost x reader#ghost mw2#ghost simon riley#simon ghost x reader#simon ghost riley#simon riley x reader#simon riley x you#simon riley smut#ghost smut#ghost cod smut#cod modern warfare#cod mw2#simon ghost x you#call of duty smut#cod smut#ghost x female reader
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CHRISTMAS FIC RECS: Below you can find a quick list of all the Good Omens Christmas fics I’ve read this year so far.
I thought some of you might want to indulge in some cosy reading as well!
You can request more fic recs here.
O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree How Terrified Your Branches by Supergeek21 (1.2k, G)
As their first Christmas in their cottage approaches Aziraphale asks Crowley if he wants to get a proper Christmas tree. He's surprised to learn the demon already has one.
Christmas Angels by TawnyOwl95 (1.8k, T)
It’s starting to look a lot like Christmas in London and that means there are lots of angels about. Aziraphale does not handle this well.
A half-penny will do by penny_archer (2k, G)
It’s Christmas in Victorian England and Crowley is trying not-very-hard to hide the fact that he’s been giving pickpocketing lessons to the disenfranchised youth of London. Oh, and he has a cute gift for Aziraphale that’s totally not a big deal.
The Nice List by GaryOldman (2k, T)
When watching Christmas movies with Anathema, Crowley can't work out why no one else seems to believe in Santa when he's been receiving gifts for years.
A Christmas Miracle by Santillatron (3k, M)
Crowley gets irritated at couples kissing under a holly arch. One thing leads to another, and a sprig of mistletoe makes a timely appearance.
Well, it's bad luck not to, isn't it?
Taking the Cake by Caedmon (3K, T)
Aziraphale has noticed his handsome neighbor, but hasn't had an excuse (or the nerve) to talk to him. He gets his chance, though, when a bakery delivers a package to the wrong door a few days before Christmas and his neighbor comes knocking.
And All Was For An Apple by Lindewen (3k, T)
The second winter after the Apocalypse didn't happen, Crowley and Aziraphale are out for some sightseeing and Christmas shopping along the south coast, simply because they can. But Crowley also has a secret errand to run--and, as it turns out, he can't always balance very well in his human form...
All The Lights That Light The Way by FeralTuxedo (8k, E)
On the run from a disastrous work Christmas party, Anthony Crowley encounters an angel singing in the streets of Soho.
Of Love and Lattes by edna_blackadder (9k, G)
A.J. Crowley, part time barista at Madame Tracy's Coffee Shoppe, only wants one thing for Christmas, which is to get through the joyous season without his head exploding. His coworkers are already not helping, and then the proprietor of the bookshop across the street develops an unfortunate addiction to seasonal espresso beverages.
Secret Santa by AppleSeeds (18k, T)
On the advice of his therapist, Crowley signs up to be a 'Secret Santa', an anonymous gift-giver for a community initiative aiming to bring some Christmas joy into the lives of people going through a hard time. He's partnered with Aziraphale, a librarian who has lost his home and bookshop in a fire. Through the power of Christmas Magic, Crowley ends up meeting Aziraphale in person when he takes his nephew to the library and is immediately smitten. He becomes determined to use his expertise and influence to give Aziraphale the only Christmas present that could really make a difference, but are some things too important to be kept secret?
muddle through somehow by curtaincall (27k, T)
Aziraphale Fell runs a successful food blog, Celestial Comestibles, where he shares mouthwatering recipes and heartwarming stories about his happy domestic life in a cottage with his husband and son. As promotion for his upcoming cookbook, his publishers run a contest: one lucky winner will get to spend Christmas with Aziraphale and his family.
What the publishers don't know is that the real Aziraphale Fell is a single city-dweller. And if he wants to keep up his happily married persona, he'll have to acquire a cottage, husband, and son before Christmas.
As it happens, his friend and neighbor Anthony Crowley has his nephew staying with him for the holidays. One fake marriage proposal later, and everything seems tickety-boo--as long as Aziraphale can keep from developing inconveniently real feelings for his pretend husband...
First Class (Hons) Christmas, University of Tadfield. by heloluv (41k, M)
Dr. A.Z. Fell is a renowned literature tutor at the prestigious University of Tadfield. December is upon the University, and Dr. Fell is leading the Christmas Charity Drive. He needs volunteers.
Dr. A.J. Crowley is a skilled plant ecologist who recently began his tenure at UoT. He can't stand Christmas, and nothing at all could ever possibly convince him to partake in "festivities". Until a certain literary expert catches his eye.
A Christmas and New Years fic, in which Aziraphale teaches Crowley how to enjoy the most wonderful time of the year.
bonus: The Christmas fic I wrote this year
The Anon Before Christmas by foolishlovers (58k, M)
When Crowley’s friend, blogging buddy and business partner Anathema announces her annual Secret Santa Exchange on Tumblr, she is very adamant Crowley should join this year.
The old-fashioned (but admittedly compassionate) man he gets assigned to send anonymous messages to every day until Christmas sounds awfully similar to the fussy bookseller that his friends adore, yet Crowley tries to avoid at all costs.
But surely his friends would have mentioned if Aziraphale had taken an interest in the Bad Omens fandom as well… right?
Or: An Enemies to Lovers Secret Santa Tumblr AU.
#support so appreciated 💜#might add some if i read more the next few days!!#good omens#gomens#good omens fic#good omens fic rec#good omens fanfic#good omens fanfiction#aziracrow#aziracrow fic#crowley x aziraphale#good omens christmas#good omens human au#ineffable husbands#ineffable partners#foolish recs#go fic masterpost
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Is Leaving Even An Option?
Joel x F!reader
Explicit, 18+
One: All Alone
Series Masterlist or Main Masterlist - My Ao3
Summary: Your days have become one in the same, even with the terrifying reality of death right outside the walls of Jackson. You never thought you’d be in the situation you’ve been stuck in for seven years now, the daily abuse you endure has become an expectation. You take whatever your husband throws at you, literally and figuratively, because you’ve been trained to believe this is normal. But a new man, Joel, moves next door and happens to be friendly towards you, this causes your husband’s anger to worsen. Your mind starts a gruesome war with itself - can you leave him or do you stay until the inevitable happens?
Chapter Summary: How did you, out of all people, end up in this situation? You knew about it all, yet it still happened to you. How does losing a significant person in your life make you vulnerable and weak? You meet the man who ends up being the reason your soul burns to death.
Word count: 3.4k
⚠️Warnings: Mentions of verbal and physical abuse from stepfather, mentions of women/children in shelters and domestic violence situations, self-hatred, angst, violence against raiders, blood, slit throat, young death, overkill by stabbing, vomiting, dark fic
—
Shameful. Detached. Callous. Numb.
These are the emotions that are now embedded into your skin, so much so that you can’t remotely begin to remember who you were as a human before your marriage to Nate, seven years ago. Ever since you found Jackson and got married the same year, you were known only as Mrs. Rossi, Nate Rossi’s wife, his beautiful little house wife who always made sure dinner was on the table and did everything for him, and in all honesty, you were fine with it for the first year. You were the happiest you could have been living in the apocalypse - Nate got you anything you wanted and made you feel safe.
He would go out on patrol for supplies with Tommy and he would bring you back the things you absolutely needed, from the best foods to the best board games. This was so different for you - you had always been independent and never let yourself rely on a man, or anyone for that matter. So you got comfortable and truly believed you were secure since you were being taken care of for the first time ever - big mistake, because just after the second year of being married, the true side of Nate started to come out.
—
When the outbreak started about twenty years ago, you were in your mid-twenties, lived in a small town in Tennessee and worked with women who wanted to leave their domestic situations. You spent a lot of time, more than you wanted, at women’s shelters trying to help these women who were at their lowest and completely suffering. You didn’t directly work for the police department, but you were technically working under the “Welfare Department”, and if the situations were bad, the cops would call you, or your one other partner, for help.
You had a love-hate relationship with your job. You absolutely loved it when you were able to save a woman, or her children, from the violence and yet, you despised it when you weren’t able to save them - which happened a lot more than you liked to admit. You knew how hard it was for a lot of women to leave their abusers, even if they were treated like the dirt they walked on, the men were able to sink their talons into these women for as long as they wanted. But you had a really hard time understanding how the women who had kids stayed with the man when he abused the kids also.
Your own mother experienced abuse so badly it almost killed her, and she had gone back and forth with him for four years, but she would not give up on him. It got so ugly that, one time, you found her bloody and a bruised mess, curled on the kitchen tile, unconscious. She would be dead if you hadn’t been there. Your step-father, Roy, had beaten her with a wooden baseball bat because he thought she was cheating on him with his best friend. Yet, she stayed with him for two years after that. You witnessed a lot of fighting between your mom and Roy between the age of fifteen and nineteen, to the point where you were stepping in to deflect his anger and violence from your broken mom, to you.
And this is why you had a hard time understanding why women stayed when the kids got involved. Your moms last straw was when Roy laid hands on you for the first and only time - she kicked him out that same night. He had cornered you while shouting in your face about how you and your mom were whores and didn’t appreciate anything he did. You pushed him away from you, and he backhanded you so hard that his knuckles left a mark on your cheek. You screamed bloody murder and your mom came in holding a knife with her eyes about to burst out of her head.
“Get. The. Fuck. Out.” is all she said, as her body was violently shaking but her face was blank.
He left that day and never came back, and your mom and you were thrilled that he was gone, the both of you finally feeling like you could relax. Soon, however, reality kicked in - the reality that your mom was reliant on Roy because he worked and paid the bills, so you and her inevitably ended up battling poverty, so badly that she almost lost the house she owned for eleven years.
In spite of this, your mom found her way, and she ended up getting promotion after promotion at her job. It took her five years after he was gone for her to feel genuinely comfortable again, with money and with herself. She was the reason why you decided to work with battered women and children, as you never wanted people to go through something like your mom and you had. You also knew that it was possible for women to get back on their feet, that it wasn’t easy, but it was possible.
But here you are, years later, in a worse marriage than your mother had, way worse than most of the women you’ve helped along the years, and your own self twenty years ago would be so disappointed in how you, out of all people, got stuck with an abusive husband.
——
Before marrying Nate and before living in Jackson, you were a badass. Surviving by yourself for thirteen years just by constantly moving, you never stayed in one location for longer than four days. In the beginning, you had overheard FEDRA talking about a camp in Boston, and ended up reaching it in the fall time. After about a month there, you found out about the fireflies and you knew Tommy through one or two incidents before he left everything and traveled out West, creating his own camp. You decided you wanted to leave Boston, realizing that the camp just wasn’t what you had imagined, so you snuck out six months later and headed West.
Doing it alone was the most efficient way to survive - you didn't have to worry about anyone else, only you. You quickly mastered shooting a bow and arrow along with guns - the bow was your talent though. You could shoot clickers from yards away and none of the others would be set off, and you were a quick thinker because If something didn’t go as planned, you instantly thought of a backup plan.
Evading FEDRA was another thing you were especially good at, all because you had a radio that had all the stations they used on their walkies. You knew their every play. Even if it didn’t pertain to you directly, you knew about it. Groups and raiders were something that you took care of from a distance, mainly due to the fact that a lot of these groups were men, and even though you could fight a man off, there was no way you could stop all of them by yourself - it was simply unrealistic. You would stumble upon a group of raiders inspecting a building for anything, and you would stay a couple of blocks away, following them for a few days just to study them. The way they talked to each other, what they talked about, who was the leader, who was the weakest link, how comfortable and trained they were with their weapons, and what was their watch rotation at night.
Depending on how smart and big the group was, you would either shoot them with your bow from afar as they were occupied with something and causing chaos, or you would sneak into their base at night, tiptoeing around and silently stabbing them one by one. You would then proceed to steal whatever you could carry with you. Killing was never something you looked forward to, but you looked at it like this; it was either killed or be killed in this new world. If they found you, they’d do worse than just killing, and you’d be damned if you allowed that to happen. So maybe sometimes you got pleasure from making sure these animals never got to hurt anyone again, and that didn’t make you evil, just a little malicious - which you didn’t mind being.
You didn’t mind being alone all the time either, except for when some nights got lonely. After the first three years, you started to hate being alone. You missed having someone to at least talk to - all you had was yourself. You kind of started to go stir crazy from talking to yourself, from reminiscing about your past life always, making you upset more often than you’d like to admit. But you always got up and did whatever you had to for the day, and you came to terms with the prospect of traveling and dying alone.
However, during the winter, after a couple days traveling through Nebraska and being by yourself for eight years, you stumble upon this girl, alone, stealthily trying to cross an open road. You’ve been hiding behind a tree up on the hill right by it, camping there for two days just to see if anyone would come by. But this girl looks no older than seventeen, and she reminds you a lot of yourself, looking like she knows what she’s doing and having things she needs. You’re still hiding, but peek your head to the side to see her, and she turns right towards you, making you snap your head back. “Shit,” you mutter to yourself.
“I saw you,” the girl yells towards you, in a raspy tone of voice, “I know you’re alone. As long as you don’t try to kill me, I won’t try to kill you.” You’re unsure of what to do or what to say, but your instincts tell you to show yourself, so you step out from the tree with your hands up like a truce.
“I’m cool with that,” you yell back, actually getting a chance to look at her.
She’s about five foot three, has the fit yet curvy body type, and looks healthy. Her hair is a dark red color in a messy bun but you can tell it’s long, and although she has a healed scar across her right cheek from what looks like a knife, her face still has this soft look to it. Her backpack and the gear on her back looks worn, like she’s had it for years, her ripped jeans and long sleeve shirt fitting her like they’re all she has along with her black combat boots. You also take note of the weapons that are visible, that she’s holding a bow in one hand with arrows on her back, a rifle strapped along her back, a pistol in her holder on her hip, and a large hunting knife on a thigh holster. This girl is smarter than she puts on, you think as you examine her.
“My name is Rosa, what’s yours?” She asks you, and the two of you are now only about ten feet away from each other, just talking, no weapons drawn. You tell her yours and ask how long she’s been alone.
“Forever. My mother died by FEDRA agents when I turned ten, but she had taught me everything I needed to know to survive,” she explains as her eyes scan your body, then repeats the question back to you.
“Forever. I was in the Boston camp just about eight years ago, but hated what they did. So I left and I’ve been heading West, a guy I know had left before me to head there also, I heard fireflies talk about a new settlement somewhere over there.”
She nods her head and asks, “So, like… Could I come along with you?” Her face shows that she is clearly tired and needs to rest, but you’re hesitant. This could be a big ass ploy, but there’s something screaming that she’s being sincere. You also have this weird gut feeling that you need to take care of her, and it’s the same feeling as seeing the kids in domestic situations back before the apocalypse. You are almost too eager to reply to her, “Yes, you can! I just have some ground rules that I follow, and as long as you can keep up with that, we’re all good, hun.”
She then comes up to you and hugs you, and your body freezes, not having had human contact in years. Yet, she somehow feels like home. Your arms naturally wrap around her shoulders and you two stay like that for a little while, and having the comfort of another living person who you trust is a feeling you can’t even explain.
Rosa and you grow to have a mother-daughter kind of relationship over the next five years, which actually makes a lot of sense in some way, since you were in your early thirties and she was about eighteen when you met. You two built a connection so strong, incredibly fast, like it was meant for you both to stumble upon each other that one day. But one night after you two go to bed in an isolated cabin Rosa found, the worst happens.
“NO-“ Echoes in the room you two share, shocking you awake in a panic, realizing that it’s Rosa’s voice. As you turn to look in the other bed, you see a dark shadow-figure slicing her throat with a large blade, and in a blind rage, you grab the knife under your pillow and lunge towards the attacker, who must’ve not realized you were even in the room. He has no time to react as you start to stab his body over and over and over, not stopping, not caring if he has others with him - he killed Rosa and you have to get revenge. By now, the attacker’s body is on the hardwood floor next to Rosa’s bed and you’re still on top of him, stabbing him repeatedly while screaming and sobbing.
“Why her?! Why not me?!” You scream at the top of your lungs as you stab him for the final time, leaving the knife in his chest and you stand up to look at the mess. You stare at her bloody, lifeless body, the long slice along her neck, full of blood that soaks the mattress under her and her body below, her golden brown eyes wide open along with her pale mouth, and her gorgeous red hair now soaked with blood. The sudden urge to throw up climbs your throat, so you cover your mouth with your right hand and sprint behind you to exit the bedroom, and as soon as you reach the other side of the door, you vomit onto the floor.
After a minute, you swipe your face with your bloody hand and walk out the front door, trying to process what just fucking happened. You open the front door and the sun and cold air hits you in the face immediately, the most gorgeous morning it’s been in weeks making you even more angry because Rosa should be here and be able to enjoy this weather - the way the white snow lays perfectly on the ground and trees, the sun causing the icicles to glisten as they hang, and the wind blowing just enough to make it a bit cooler. You’re standing outside, looking into the sky as tears sting your face, and a piece of your heart breaks in your chest. Rosa was like your child and she told you that you reminded her a lot of her mom. You just lost your girl.
You shake your body, clear your throat, and whisper, “Okay.” A minute later, you walk back inside, grab all of your belongings and some of Rosa’s things you either need or simply want to keep, then you stand over her body one more time as you kiss her forehead and close her eyes.
You leave the cabin, not looking back again, and after a day of walking, you come across a sign that reads, MOTEL 6. The building looks dirty and rundown, but you can’t really complain anymore. You end up clearing the whole building with no issue, which has about twelve rooms, and a total four clickers scattered throughout.
You find the room that is the least destroyed, room 616, and you whisper to yourself as you open the door and walk into the bedroom. After closing the door, you put your back to it and slide down, and as your ass hits the cheap dirty carpet, the true emotion is allowed to leave your body. The anger, grief, and pain is finally able to leak out of your skin with tears that come out of you like a waterfall. You end up in the bathroom and you stare at your reflection, at the amount of blood staining your hands, chest, and face - all horrific. The fact that you know that most of it is from Rosa's killer makes you feel disgusted. The reflection you see of yourself, makes you want to die, just to be with Rosa.
You make yourself shower, since this motel magically seems to still have running water - warm water at that. You scrub and scrub the blood that has stained your skin over the course of a day, just needing to feel clean again. After turning your skin almost raw, you change into the one other pair of clothes you have, and check your perimeter one last time before you go to lay down in your room and sleep for the night.
The sound of a shotgun cocking wakes you up, your eyes open and you see two men standing over your bed with guns pointing right at you. “Who the fuck are you?” The man closest to you demands, he’s blonde with a buzz cut and a patchy beard to match, but he has a face that looks like he doesn’t play around.
“I’m just moving around, was gonna leave when I got up,” you instantly respond, basically defenseless, then turning your attention to the other man at the foot of your bed. He looks kind of familiar but you can’t put your finger on where from. It’s right on the tip of your tongue too.
“You by yourself?” The familiar man asks with a southern twang to his question, and it then clicks in your brain, Tommy.
“Yes, my dau- my friend just died yesterday,” you remark, and they lower their guns to the floor.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Tommy says with a different tone than before, and the other man stays quiet.
“Thank you,” you start, still very confused, “Um…who are you guys?”
The man next to you scoffs and replies, “You really don’t know?” You shrug your shoulders with honest curiosity, because last you checked on your map, you were still in Nebraska.
“Sugar,” Tommy laughs, “You are in Wyoming and you have stumbled upon Jackson.” You can’t believe it, you’re in disbelief and filled with sadness. Rosa just had to survive one more day and she would’ve made it with you.
“No way,” You laugh out of disbelief, the two men having a confused look on their faces.
“Yes ma’am. I’m Nate and he’s Tommy, he and his wife are a big founder of the camp,” Nate replies as he sits on the bed next to you, and that’s how you get introduced into the safe life of Jackson and how you meet your ultimate demise, Nate Rossi
#joel miller x f!reader#Is leaving even an option#traumadump story#dark fic#READ WARNINGS BEFORE READING#joel miller#joel miller x you
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Hey, i hope i'm not being super annoying by asking this but do you ever plan on finishing 'In Waking Dreams'?
This fic is probably one of my favorites of you (along with 'some kinda benefits', 'The Apocalypse Is Nigh!', 'my eyes are up here' .... honestly if i go throught all my bookmarks we would be here all day, your writting is just that incredible aksjka) and it has lived in my head for so long, i love how hob's initial reaction to the news of "you have a husband" is simply oh fuck yeah, i love the whole set up of the marriage just happening because dream said yeah sure why not, what could ever come from this? and then slowly actually falling in love with hob, i love the tenderness that which you write them with when they actually reunite and just, i really love the whole fic 😅
So yeah, i hope you find in you that Dante Alighieri spark of fanfiction inspiration to pick it up again it one day, is a really good story ^w^
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
i am, yes! i've been ever so slowly working on it
i often find that after the climax is the hardest part of a story to write, especially if it's a really obvious and delineated climax like 'hob rescues dream' - before that you always have the climax as a north star, if you start getting lost you just remember that you're supposed to be going in that direction, but afterwards it's like... where does it go now? there's a lot to wrap up and you want to try to do it organically, not just like... infodump all the answers to the outstanding questions XD so i'm slowly poking away at that.
this is making me think that i should probably just write the very last scene of the fic (don't know what that is yet) and then i'll have a new north star...
but here's a small bit from the beginning of the chapter
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Hob’s home was in a bit of a state, thanks to all the crazed research and rescuing he had been doing. Books and ledgers left open, a mug of tea still cooling on his desk, jumper thrown across the couch instead of put away. He tried to remember, as he led his husband to bed, hand low on his back to guide him, if their home in dreams had ever been in such disarray.
Home was a bit of a nebulous concept, in their dreams. They had had many different houses over the years, the details of which were hard to remember upon waking. Really, home was the man beside him, an inexorable force that drew Hob back, across landscapes and time, from cottage to manor to palace.
King, he thought, it coming to him again, the way dreams appeared and disappeared as context called them. The ragged, slumped form of the creature beside him, leaning into Hob’s side for support. Hob remembered taking his hand, pressing his lips to those fragile bones. My king, he’d murmured, at his side, in bed, like he was in a fairytale.
A king would have a kingdom. A kingdom of dreams?
His king of dreams turned to him as they stopped by the bed. Now that the rush of power, of darkness, had bled off him, he looked haggard, swamped in Hob’s coat, which was still all he was wearing. Strange, so strange to be here, in Hob’s so ordinary bedroom. Not the half-remembered palace of a hazy dream-life, but just here, standing by the bed. Hob, and his dream-walker.
He had come to him, hadn’t he? Once, or so he’d said. Hob didn’t remember the specific instance of someone ringing his doorbell and not being there, but he could imagine it. God, if he’d been just a moment sooner in opening the door. If his Dream had been just a moment sooner in knocking.
“Hob,” said his husband, in his solemn, sleepy voice. Hob had missed that voice. The dreams he had had of him, the ones that were memories, were never quite the same, never quite right.
He said nothing else, like Hob’s name was all he had wanted to say. So Hob said it back—“my Dream”—and the softening of his husband’s face was worth everything.
#when i first started this fic in september 2022 i had the absolute unmitigated hubris to think i could finish it in a month#and now here we are#in waking dreams#my writing#ask#lutheban#youve made me think about the structure of the thing which is good. i think i'll go move some things around and that'll help correct the#flow and get me back on track
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My take on the "infection" au, basically back to the original zombie apocalypse vibe uwu I'm not a fan of the creepy infection stuff its a little much but I saw an artist making angsty trolls next gen stuff and I wanted to do somethings similar ^^
The first character is a broppy child.
Basically the idea is the bergens get sick and star eating trolls again and act liked zombies, they are completely mindless. Broppy have an egg and it hatches and Bridget doesn't come to the shower so they go to see her and realise she sick, Poppy is the first victim ^^
After losing Poppy Branch as the king (through marriage) gets all the trolls into the bunker and they live there for years. The broppy child is called Begonia, begonias are a flower that mean warming and danger is coming heh but they also mean good communication which is something very important to broppy since poppy sucks at communication in the second movie ans then its branch in the third movie. They both learn and over come it so I believe the name suit their kid for this au well.
After years of living in the bunker begonia gets tired of it and when she turns 14 she snaps at branch who never talks about poppy or the outside ans she sneaks out. Alarms go off and branch goes to find her, he get to her just as she's about to get eaten. History repeats ans Branch saves her at the coast of his own life. Just like his grandma rip ^^
Begonia escapes back to the bunker and has to step up as queen now, unprepared Creek helps her. Creek is good and has actually been helpful, he put his differences aside with Branch and helped him a lot now he helps Begonia.
Somewhere else in mount rageon floyd is living in the sewers with the few trolls who also lived there. Only trolls don't get infected because of their magic ( they seem to have some special magical abilities when they sing no other creatures posses) some of the mount rageons get infected and those that don't flee to the sewers with the trolls because they are in the big city there underground would be the sewers. Some mount rageons notice the trolls are completely unaffected and ask if they can run COMPLETELY human experiments and with the consent they work together to try and come up with a cure.
Floyd also became popular after the scandal with v and v and thats why he returned to mount rageon to finally succeed in his solo career but it was short lived.
Floyd is now a sewer troll and Creek and Begonia are Bunker trolls ^_^
Begonia if she wasn't grey and all the important details uwu
Also creeks hair drooped because he's saaaaad this is something I've noticed in the first movie ? Or it might have been tbgo series, I remember it was am old detail i loved
#fanart#trolls#trolls band together fanart#lgbtq#trolls band together#trolls fanart#creek trolls#creek x floyd#floyd trolls#broppy#angst#broppy child
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I’m sure things to this effect have been said much more eloquently already by others but I just. A Long Long Time, man. It hit me so hard in so many ways.
And what I’ve really been thinking about since I watched it is, yeah, it’s true that Bill was surviving, not really living, before he met Frank. But I think it’s more than that. Bill cared about life. He cared about good quality food, and wine, and looking after himself. What I think the difference is, is after he met Frank, he cared about a legacy.
Think about it. Frank’s art. His insistence upon making friends, hosting them, fixing up the town even if no one but him and Bill and Joel and Tess ever saw it. Maybe no one would care, but he wanted to make things beautiful. He cared about art, about leaving something behind.
When I was watching, I was struck with the realisation that there is no way that story could’ve been the same if it were a hetero couple. Other people have already pointed out how much more powerfully the line “older means we’re still here” hits when you realise the context of Bill and Frank being older gay men who lived through the AIDS crisis. There’s also an absolutely stunning post that compared Frank’s last art work to that of Keith Haring, and I’m probably reiterating some of the writer of that post’s thoughts here, but hear me out.
Like so many have pointed out, Frank and Bill never saw gay marriage legalised; the fungus pandemic hit long before that could have occurred. They were finally able to live as their full selves after a fungus wiped out so many people. They could’ve lived quietly, made no waves, changed nothing, and died happy and together. They died happy and together, yes, but they also made a mark.
That’s what’s been affecting me so much since I watched it. Yes, the TLOU world is fictional, but there are so many parallels that can be drawn to the real world, to a world that wants queer people to be small, quiet, unassuming, fade out without a trace. In my mind, Frank is a hero for refusing to do that. He wanted to love things. He wanted to leave a mark. He saw beauty even in the apocalypse, and he wanted to make things beautiful with the flowers, the paintings, the strawberries. He left a mark. Even after he and Bill are gone, his paintings are there. Joel knew they must be gone because the flowers were wilted, but even though the flowers died, the mark Bill and Frank left on the town wasn’t erased.
I don’t know. I just think there’s a lesson there. Or maybe not a lesson, but something to live up to. A reminder not to be afraid to take up space, to leave our marks, even when the world is on fire and it seems like no one will ever notice, it matters. The beauty you see in the world, what you create, it matters. The entire story of Bill and Frank, I think, boils down to choosing to create the world you want, no matter how small of a bubble it is. There may always be horrible, scary things pressing in on you, but you can find beauty. You can create beauty. You can leave a mark, a legacy, on the things and the people you love.
And, really, what more can any of us ask for than to love and be loved and someday leave behind a message that says I was here. I was here, and I was loved, and there is nothing anyone can do to take away the fact that I matter.
#frank and bill#the last of us#tlou#the last of us episode 3#random musings I guess#back to your regularly scheduled shitposting#Victoria tries to be philosophical
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So what is this 144,000? Who are they? I don’t actually think there’s a single answer to this but I do believe I’ve found one of them. Since the Bible, and the book of the Unveiling especially, speaks in symbol and allegory it’s only fair to say there are many possibilities to it’s real meaning. I’d say that the orthodox “understanding” of the book is the one that’s most incorrect. We’ll get into more of that later.
So let’s get to it. Most folks have heard of Chakras. If you haven’t, I strongly encourage you to do some homework. They’re basically where the universal life force energy plugs into your body. Whirling vortices of energy at specific vibrations are channeled into your vital systems via these nerve centers. When there’s a blockage, disease manifests. It’s really fascinating stuff. Anyway, these energy centers are represented by different stages of the lotus flower, which is itself a symbol of purity of the body. Here are the chakras and their corresponding lotus blossoms:
Making reference to the 144000 sealed men whose speaks in the Revelation (Apocalypse), this number is that of the election, 12, carried to its paroxysm: 12 x 12 x 1000, where 1000 is a coefficient of the immensity. In others words, this number indicates that all the elects, without exception, are kept under the protection of God.
Bible
Number of sealed or elected of all the tribes of Israel, marked of the seal of God. (Rv 7,1)
General
The 144000 petals of the main chakra or coronal (located to the summit of the cranium) represent the 144000 rays of light originated from all the seven chakras, or centers of energy of the body, deployed and balanced, or again the 144000 vibrations of the divine Creation which travel in the cosmos and that are source of life.
In the Gospel of Barnabe, chapter 17, it is written: "144000 prophets that God sent to the world, have spoken obscurely; but after me will come the splendor of all prophets and saint; he will illuminate the darkness of whole what have told the prophets, because it is the messenger of God". Some have seen in this passage an allusion to Muhammad, "The Seal of prophets" (Koran XXX, 40).
When we add the number of petals of the five inferior psychic centers, we obtain a total of 48 petals. By adding 96 petals of the frontal center (the place of the third eye where the small number must receive its divine mark), we obtain the number 144, symbol of the perfect and expressed spiritual work, that is to say of the marriage between the soul and the personality. If now we multiply 144 by the thousand petals of the coronal center, we obtain 144000, the number of the elects, who will be all these that will have waked up in them the seven stars or spiritual and psychic centers.
John Phaure advances two mathematics divisions which, according to him, are very revealing. As numbers he uses the 144000 servants of God "marked to the front", the number of the Beast, 666 and 216, a fundamental cyclic and cabalistic number (tenth of the one Era: 2160 / 10) that he interprets as one of figures of the Christ:
144 000 / 216 = 666 with a rest of 144
144 000 / 666 = 216 with a rest of 144
These results express according to him that the 144000 "marked" as servants of God before the advent the Antichrist are here the object of the eschatologic combat between the Christ and his Adversary. From this combat leaves "the rest": 144, those who will be the Elects of the celestial Jerusalem". He points out moreover than 666 + 144 = 810, numerical value of the Greek word Parakletos, the Paraclete. Thus the Holy Spirit espressed at the end of time "will be the 'glorificater' of the Creation".
By using the pyramidal inch, the external volume of the tomb of the Room of the King in the Great Pyramid gives 144000 cubic inches. The pyramidal inch measures 25.303 mm. By using this unit of measure, the pyramid would have a height of 5800 inches and a volume of 160 billion cubic inches, giving all numbers without decimal.
The external recovery of the Great Pyramid would be made of 144000 stones.
Occurrence
The number 144000 is used 3 times in the Bible.
-Thank you Paul
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What was Freddie's reaction to finding out Robin and Grima was the same? Did he feel he was paid enough for everything? How much did he want to say, "I told you so" to Chrom?
(Hi, this is Robot from the future after writing the post. This is a long and unorganized stream of conscious disaster. Please bear with me. I promise I have an actual point to make lol.)
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In my mind that was a pretty complicated moment for Frederick. In part because the reveal of Robin's nature happens very late in the story, long after Frederick has become friends with Robin and come to trust them as a commander... and in part because depending on which shipping AU I'm in, Robin is likely to be Chrom's partner in marriage, by that point.
Frederick is responsible for the safety of Chrom and Lissa. Whoever those two marry becomes a part of Ylisse's royal family, and thus, Frederick's duty to safeguard the royalty extends to them. If Robin is exalt-consort of the realm, then Frederick is going to protect them. Perhaps not as fervently as he does Chrom and Lissa, given that he hasn't known them since childhood, but it's Frederick, so you know he's putting his full effort into it. The man does nothing by halves.
What happens if the exalt-consort of Ylisse is also the fell dragon? What do you do, what do you even think, when your dear friend's partner, your own close friend, the commander you've trusted your life with for years, the royal you're duty-bound to guard the life and health of... is bringer of the apocalypse?
Oh, he's certainly vindicated in his initial mistrust of Robin, but it's a bitter victory.
And it's made yet more bitter by the fact that Robin was as unaware of it as the rest of them, and as horrified. It wasn't even a betrayal on their part; he can't even direct his anger their way.
I think that at first, and similarly to Chrom, Frederick probably took it at face value that Robin and Grima must be separate entities. From the way Validar talks about it, from the ravine of difference between the Robin he knows and the monstrous fell dragon, it doesn't make sense for them to be the same.
But by the time the Shepherds reach Naga, I think he's clued in to the fact that Grima and Robin are the same person on different paths. He's seen Robin's work firsthand, worked under them for years. He remembers how they defeated the Valmese fleet. He's seeing how they're changing as a person as the battle with their other self draws nearer. He heard Robin exclaim that they are the fell dragon -- not its vessel, but it in its entirety -- and heard the other Robin confirm that. He's the one who calls out the concept of defeating Grima with his own power as suicide, too.
Whenever I think about this I keep coming back to Frederick's pyromanic tendencies, and the fact that he has them so effectively controlled that he can be trusted to set up all the campfires for the Shepherds early in the mornings. Clearly being the reincarnation of the fell dragon god Grima is at a COMPLETELY different scale of severity from his issues... But I think he can relate, to some degree, to having some inherent destructiveness in you, inextricable from you, and how scary it is to face the severe and immediate risk that you may hurt or even kill people you care about, and not necessarily be able to control those terrible actions. He's come to terms with and leashed his demons. But he can also see the world where he failed to.
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...I guess to answer your first question, about what Fred's reaction would be... Ime Frederick's in a better position than most of the cast to understand the conflict of self Robin is dealing with, and he has a lot of reasons to worry about their fate and to work towards reaching that understanding of them. The initial shock might lead to him trying to soften the reality to preserve his opinion of his friend, but I think he would come around to genuine understanding of their nature faster than many. And that he would ultimately want them to get out of this alive. The reveal of this aspect of their nature doesn't change the fact that they've fought long and hard for what's right.
He would absolutely think "i told you so", but with the amount of trauma the whole plot point deals to the gang, and especially to Chrom, I don't think he would ever seriously consider saying it. Just silently soak in the irony. Stare into the camera like he's on the office.
He absolutely does not get paid enough for this and he knows it. Obviously he cares too much to sit any of this out but gods above, when he signed up to be a knight he didn't think he would be fighting a whole ass deity by the time he was 30.
#fe awakening#frederick#it's late night blorbo posting hours#not even one of these thoughts is organized. good luck <3
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"Where Art Thou?" A LMK Apocalypse AU.
So a few weeks ago, I had the grand idea of making a Fallout/Mad Max-themed AU for Monkie Kid. I don't know why I had this idea, I just did.
After developing it for a while with a friend via RP, I think I have a pretty good idea of how I want it to work. Read the main explanation for the AU below!
How Did The World End?
In the year 2085, World War III had begun.
Nobody exactly remembers how it happened, only that tensions rose and the countries, armed with nuclear weapons from the Cold War, started depleting their stocks by using them on each other.
Many cities and countries were hit, but by this point nuclear defenses had been created- and the damage wasn't as bad as it would have been, say, 60 years ago. People survived, and moved on with the war.
The lack of proper fear and high ground prompted many countries to violate the BWC and create biological weapons to wear down the populations of other countries. "Gene bombs" were created, and dropped on major cities. People fled in fear, spreading the contamination and ultimately dooming the fighting forces of each country. Sadly, humanity itself was also doomed because of this.
Super-soldiers and "tube babies" became common, all created in an effort to turn the tides of the war. The most prominent of these programs was Project NUWA, a super-soldier project that tried to force evolution onto human embryos, and Project LOTUS, which attempted to splice human DNA with that of plant genes and create stronger soldiers.
In a last ditch attempt between America, Russia, and China, they fired three thermonuclear warheads at once, which hit and created a massive explosion- the force and heat of which speeding up the melting of the ice caps and casting most of the world in water. Tsunamis and earthquakes destroyed what was left, and people's DNA was so fucked by the prior gene bombs that humanity had practically gone extinct.
In the year 2100, the old world was gone. A new world, the Wastes of Aurala, began to prosper terribly.
So... What Happened After That?
The gene bombs coupled with the leftover radiation from the thermonuclear warheads left the remnants of humanity... fairly dead. Instead of regular old humans, three new variants emerged:
Demons, Dirt-bloods, and Beasts.
Dirt-bloods were humans who just looked... wrong. Eyes too small, mouths curled up just a bit much, fingers elongated and legs backwards. The uncanny valley was strong with these folks, and they gained the name "dirty blooded" in reference to their irradiated genes.
Demons, on the other hand, were humans whose genomes had copied and mutated to resemble that of animals. They typically had beastly features, and were very clearly inhuman. The type of animal they were depended on the person and the area they grew up in.
(Humans miraculously saved from the genome-scratching were referred to as "pure-bloods", due to their genes being unfiltered with radiation or animal DNA. They were unique, regular humans, different in all the perfect ways they needed to be.)
And then there were Beasts. Beasts were people changed too much, losing themselves and turning into feral monsters. It's recommended that you leave these creatures alone- and if you do see one, put it out of its misery. God knows how long they've had to endure hell.
How Did Society Change?
Society changed greatly- television was a commodity for the dreamers, food was dried and served with little fanfare, and clean water was a precious resource only the hardest workers could find and drink.
Most groups devolved into nomadic tribes, full of those who had a fickle reason to survive, and they typically put trust and "pack mentality" first, reasoning that they survived better if together. Survival became the common instinct of everyone on the world's surface, and the idea of procreation was adamant. Marriage was a forgotten concept, people instead "mating" to preserve their remnant generations.
The animal genes also led to a lot of animalistic contest between finding mates. Many, both men and women and non-binary alike, battled for the affections of another.
(Sexuality and gender remained a fluid thing. Same-sex couples weren't uncommon, and asking for one's pronouns had become a form of greeting in this day and age.)
Children were a protected people. Every mating couple was expected to either bear or raise children, in hopes that the remnants of humanity could continue on. For those that were rendered infertile, they typically parented and doted on others in the form of surrogate families, often growing in size and becoming clans.
The idea of continuing what little was left was important. Even the sickest of the sick deserved to survive, if only to carry on the future for a little while.
Wait, What Happened To The Remaining "Pureblood" Humans?
Well, one day, a bunker full of pure humans was discovered, somehow saved from the bombing and radiation. They had been monks, who agreed to meditate in an underground monastery in defiance of being recruited as soldiers. Upon emerging in a distasteful world, many were quickly killed by raiders and cannibals, jealous that they survived the horrors of the war with little conflict.
One monk was rescued, and word got out that he could be used to save humanity- to fix everyone's genes and turn the world back the way it was. The only issue is that the lab with the required material to conduct such an experiment was in what was left of India, and the bunker they had been discovered in was far up by Northern China. The monk, named Sanzang, was ill equipped to handle a journey there.
So, he found some help in the form of an ex-Project NUWA soldier, codenamed "Wukong".
So What Now?
Well, I'll cover where Monkie Kid's cast fits into this in a later post! for now, feel free to read over this one and make your own ideas and theories! Thanks so much for reading this far!
Detailing the Cast in "Where Art Thou"
#where art thou au#lmk#lego monkie kid#monkie kid#jttw#journey to the west#journey to the west au#apocalypse au#fallout inspired#mad max inspired#fangirlsbedrawing
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Hiii, can i have some funny misunderstanding fic? Either A and C misunderstanding or others people misunderstanding them is good.😊😘
Hello! We have a #misunderstandings tag, and if you want other people misunderstanding things check out our #outsider pov tag! Here are some more misunderstandings fics...
Can I have your number? by AppleSeeds (G)
Aziraphale is delighted when a stunningly handsome bartender asks him for his number.
Guess Who's Coming to Coffee by Augenblickgotter & FacetiousKitten & KaytheJay & Supergeek21 (T)
The Apocalypse has come and gone and Aziraphale wants to admit his feelings to Crowley... that is if he could work up the nerve to do it.
Crowley has loved Aziraphale for ages, but he's not going to say anything. He's gone "too fast" before and now it's the angel's turn.
It appears the duo is at an impasse... until Aziraphale stumbles across the demon at lunch with a human friend and misunderstandings run rampant.
A Serious Talk by lexophile (M)
Crowley had seen nearly every romantic film produced in the past century (though he would never ever admit this, even if confronted with a swimming pool of holy water) and he was well-aware that the words “I need to talk to you” were Not A Good Sign™. In fact, they were bad. Very bad. Nuclear winter and exploding star levels of bad.
Aziraphale was going to break up with him tomorrow night.
Well, no. That wasn’t quite right because despite all the hand-holding and soppy eye contact and cuddling, they’d never actually defined the relationship, had they?
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In which Crowley, an actual occult idiot, mistakes a proposal for a break-up.
got a pretty face, pretty boyfriend too by KissMyAsthma & leukozyna (T)
Aziraphale and Crowley are next-door neighbours.
They’ve been attracted to each other since they met.
The only thing keeping them apart is a thin wall between their bedrooms and Atticus and Freddie, Aziraphale’s and Crowley’s respective life partners… or are they?
A human AU glued together by misunderstandings and wet food.
How to Be Your Favorite: The Ultimate Guide based on Harlequin Novels, Self-Help Scams, and Insecure Ramblings by Anonymous (M)
Crowley wants to take the next step in their relationship. What that next step is, he had no idea, but he'll climb every misunderstanding and try every mistake.
Aziraphale wonders why Crowley is acting strange, and by strange he means a marriage proposal after taking a seven month vacation.
(A series, and yes, I mean a series of misunderstandings that lead to angsty and soft confessions)
the wide ocean by witching (M)
it's a hard thing, adjusting to a new kind of freedom, relearning the world. there are many ways of handling a change like that, many differing attitudes concerning how to address it, many courses of action to take. it just happens that Crowley and Aziraphale, each in their unique manner, through their processes of personal growth, independently of one another and for wildly different reasons, somehow manage to land on the same big conclusion:
I should buy a house on the beach.
- Mod D
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📖"Body Heat" : A Snowpiercer-Marvel Mashup Story
Part 2 - "A Microcosm of Humanity, Boiled Down to its Base Elements" (Wait! I haven't read Part 1 yet!)
Rated: Explicit
Pairing: Curtis Everett x ofc
Tags: dystopia, food insecurity, post apocalypse, age difference (18/34), dark!fic, implied/referenced suicide, background character death (offscreen), poverty, arranged marriage, implied/referenced past cannibalism, hurt/comfort, attempted rape, dub-con
Summary: Curtis stops a would-be assailant in the wash car. Still worried for Rose's safety, he brings her back to his bunk to sleep.
Author's Note: This fic is dark. This chapter includes explicit, non-gory mentions of: past cannibalism, the consumption of rat meat, and a character who attempts to rape another character but is stopped just in time. 🖤DNI if you can't handle it 🖤
Part 2 - "A Microcosm of Humanity, Boiled Down to its Base Elements"
Mealtimes in the Tail are more about social interaction than they are about food—Kind of hard to have a dinner party when the only things there are to feast on are protein blocks and a meat that you’re pretending is chicken, after all. But they make due.
They have dishes now, at least. A couple hundred plastic bowls and cafeteria cups, dimpled and chipped at the rims, but still serviceable. They’re some of the newer amenities, part of the package that the council negotiated for in last year’s talks. It’s never much but it’s something, brings them just a smidge closer to being able to live like human beings, rather than animals.
It’s been twelve years, and still they’re celebrating over bowls when they should be aiming for antibiotics. But conditions were so miserable after Boarding that even the smallest concession from uptrain feels like a luxury now. Curtis would prefer the progress be faster, but he’s not in charge. He’s Gillam’s second in command, and Gillam’s so old and frail now. After the turmoil of the Year Two (and Three, and Five) Revolts, Curtis made him a tacit promise to not resort to such violent measures again lightly. For now, negotiated castoffs and increased recyclables from uptrain will have to do.
He doesn’t see Rose again for the rest of the afternoon. Four hundred people living in a metal box tend to brew discontent and interpersonal problems over the tiniest of things, and as one of the Tail’s five elected, a big chunk of Curtis’ days are spent solving petty conflicts between the Tailies. He navigates his way through a list of waiting disputes in the market car and in the bunks, making his rulings on what’s fair, and trying not to worry obsessively over Rose and where she is and how she may be doing and who may be bothering her.
But he’s not entirely successful, because something still loosens in his chest when he catches sight of her—looking peaceful and sitting quietly alone at dinnertime. He walks over, grinning the closer he gets as she continues not to notice his approach. “Hey Petal!” he whisper-yells right beside her as he taps her shoulder and sinks down to sit next to her on the floor.
She gasps and almost drops her bowl, but a relieved smile splits her face when she sees that it’s him. “Curtis! Hey. It’s you.”
“Course it’s me.” He frowns quizzically at just how relieved she looks. “Who’d you think it was?”
“Nobody,” she excuses quickly, shaking her head and inching over to make more room for him. “Just glad to see you, is all. Today’s been … long.”
“Yeah,” he agrees. “Did you get the clothes to Gilliam?”
Her smile softens and she nods. “Yeah. And the arm to Coulson.” She gestures down the car to where Phil is sitting, using the rudimentary limb with clumsiness but steadfast determination. “He has to practice, but I think it’s gonna work pretty well for him.”
“I’ll bet.” Curtis smiles, happy for him. Phil’s also one of the elected, and along with Gilliam, Curtis, The (recently deceased) Man, and Banner, he’s always done his best to help the people in the Tail survive. That’s why he’s currently missing his arm from just above the elbow.
Curtis remembers the taste of human flesh. He wishes he didn’t, but he does. And what’s more, he wishes it’d tasted worse than it had, wishes he didn’t have the memory of how his mouth had watered when he’d finally gotten to eat for the first time in over a week. He averts his eyes from Coulson, ashamed, setting his bowl on the floor and sliding his right hand up under his left coat sleeve to trace the jagged evidence of his own failure.
It hadn’t tasted bad. That’s something he’s never said out loud. Because it’s too shameful. Talking about the early days isn’t forbidden, per say, but there’s an understanding amongst the Tailies that you don’t discuss the actual experience of eating human flesh. Unless it’s in private with someone very, very close to you, you don’t talk about the worst things that went down in those days.
Curtis glances back to Phil, wondering. He doesn’t actually know who he’s eaten. Back in the Desperation, there had been a decision amongst the volunteers that their donations would be mingled and prepared anonymously, to avoid people knowing—even family members, even the donors themselves. Curtis gets lost in the horror of the memory for a minute or two as he stares across the car at Phil, wondering, remembering the taste …
He snaps out of it when Rose says something to him, and he realizes that he’s still got his right hand stuck up his left coat sleeve, touching the scar. Rose’s voice pulls him out of it, like a fog suddenly lifting, and Curtis hastily picks his bowl back up, asking Rose to repeat herself and then mustering a cheerful answer for her as he puts the memories of the past back in the box on the shelf in his mind.
He and Rose sit shoulder to shoulder and converse over their bowls of stew. It’s one of only a few things that Tailies ever have to eat, and it consists of broth made from cooked down protein blocks, and chunks of meat from the only other animal that shares the tail section with them.
Yeah, they eat rats. Curtis has stopped caring at this point. In fact, he’s not sure he ever really cared in the first place. Once you start with cannibalism, the only way to go is up. And it doesn’t taste too bad—especially since they’ve graduated from catching the rats to actually breeding them in cages. Between that and the artificial salt substitute that Curtis negotiated as part of last year’s package, things have a nicer flavor to them than they used to.
“Didn’t you work in the kitchen car for a hot second?” he says between one sip and another, when he’s paused to try and use his fingernail to get a stringy bit of meat out from between his teeth. “What’d Wanda have you and MJ doing in there?”
Rose makes a face. “There're only a couple steps to making this slop, Curtis. Use your imagination.”
He laughs at the comical shudder she gives, and she kicks him for laughing at her. “So dramatic,” he teases. “What do you have to compare it to, anyway, huh?” He rolls his eyes. “Train babies. Don’t realize how good you have it.”
She gasps and pokes him as though he’s heaved a grave insult at her. “I am not a train baby!”
“Barely.”
“I’m eighteen!” she says, as if that makes her a full fledged adult. “I remember food from Before,” she insists, and Curtis shakes his head in amusement at her.
“Fine. What do you remember?” He’s breaking one of his own rules for her, talking about Before. It should alarm him but it doesn’t. “What food?” he taunts.
She sticks her chin out haughtily and thinks about it, before declaring, “Goldfish. And noodles. I remember noodles.”
It takes all Curtis has inside him not to snicker at her expense. He does want this girl to like him, after all. He looks down at his own bowl of stew and smiles fondly. “Goldfish crackers and noodles. That’s very specific.” The kind of thing a young child would remember. “Is that all?”
She twists her lips and admits, “Yeah.”
You have blocked a lot of it out, Curtis thinks sadly. Just not the parts that happened after Boarding. “It’s better that way,” he tells her. “Makes all of this more bearable.” Rose has never really had a life that was anything other than “bearable,” and while that is something of a mercy for her, it also makes Curtis want to be the one to give her more; be the one to introduce her to finery and pleasure, show her what it can taste like, what it can feel like. “There’s things I want to get for us,” he tells her, speaking quietly because he doesn’t need the people nearby overhearing and getting themselves worked up. “Things for the Tail, food I want to negotiate for. I think this might be the year.”
Rose looks intrigued. “What?”
“Lean closer,” Curtis whispers. “This is top secret.”
She smirks and scootches even closer to him, until they’re pressed together from hip to shoulder. “What?” she whispers.
Curtis looks her in the eye and lets the tension build for a moment, trying his damnedest to keep his expression serious, and then he declares, “Goldfish and noodles.”
She gives an outraged squawk and swats at him for making fun of her, though she’s laughing herself. “You suck!”
Curtis stays her hand, pulling her into a one-armed hug and apologizing through his own laughter. “Wait, wait, wait. I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Shh. I’ll tell you.” He calms down from laughing. “I’ll tell you, I will.”
“Jerk,” she mutters, but he can hear the fondness in her voice.
“Chickens,” he whispers in her ear. “You remember those?”
She purses her lips thoughtfully, then shrugs in a way that tells him she really doesn’t. “That’s an animal,” she says, in what she doesn’t realize is a sad demonstration of her limited knowledge. “A bird.”
“Yeah,” Curtis says. “Yeah it is. You know the New Year’s eggs?” Every year since Year Five, a wheelbarrow from uptrain arrives on New Year’s Day bearing the coveted gift of hundreds of gleaming white, hard-boiled eggs—one for each blasted soul who lives trapped in the Tail section. Rose hums and Curtis nods. “Those come from chickens. They lay the eggs and you can eat them. It’s a good source of food. And you can kill the chickens and eat them, too. Eat their meat.”
“But … don’t baby chickens come from the eggs?” Rose asks naively.
Curtis smirks. “Yeah, but that’s when they’re fertilized. If a male chicken isn’t around fucking the hens, then the eggs just come out, and you can eat ‘em. They don’t have baby chicks in them.” He watches Rose’s face screw up at the stark visual, and is surprised when she bluntly declares,
“Oh. So … like a period, with us.”
Curtis almost swallows his tongue. First of all, he wouldn’t have expected Rose to be able to make the comparison. Because she may be old enough to bleed, but they don’t exactly have comprehensive sex ed in the Tail. As far as Curtis knows, the girls are taught young—very young—what sex is, what it leads to, and how to avoid it at all costs. Curtis doesn’t think he’s heard a person talk openly about these things since before Boarding. It just isn’t done. The women handle their stuff themselves, and the men have their heads bitten off if they interfere.
“Um,” he says, face heating. “Yeah, I guess. Except you don't lay eggs." Rose snorts and Curtis winces and scratches awkwardly behind his ear. “So anyway, I want to get us some chickens. If we had those, it’d help a lot.”
Rose stares pensively into the depths of her soup bowl, with its globulous broth and stringy bits of meat. “It’d taste better than this?”
Curtis scoffs. “Most things do, Petal.”
“Jeez, you’re really sticking with that, aren’t you?”
He wraps an arm around her shoulders and gives her a squeeze, laying out his vision for the future. “I want to negotiate for another car. With dirt and chickens.”
“Dirt?”
“Yeah. They grow things uptrain. Crops. We could too. We could raise chickens in half of it, grow potatoes in the other half.”
Rose looks at him like he’s just announced he’ll be negotiating for the moon. “They’ll never give it to you,” she whispers. “Why would they?”
“If I could threaten them with something big enough. We might have the bargaining power.”
“What would you threaten them with?”
He smiles sadly and squeezes her shoulder. “I dunno. That’s what I’ve gotta figure out.”
“But you’re not gonna … I mean there’s not going to be another war, is there? Not like before …”
There’s genuine fear in her voice when she asks, which makes Curtis feel like crap. Everyone had suffered back then. Many had died. He thinks about how Rose would’ve only been eleven or so, during the Year Five Rebellion. Just a kid, still playing with the crummy little doll Curtis made for her. “No, Hon,” he promises gently. “No. There are other ways. Other things we can do to gain leverage. It just takes time.”
“What ways?”
He shakes his head and smiles. “Don’t worry about it.”
“I can’t help it,” she pouts. “I may not know many things. But I like to know them.”
He smiles fondly. “I know, Petal. You’re curious. Always have been. You like to 'know the scuttlebutt', as they say. You’re not afraid to ask questions. I like that about you.”
“You do?”
“... Among other things.” He sees her cheeks color prettily, and realizes he’d better stop talking. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“I’d tell you if I could, but these things are above your paygrade. Me and Gilliam’ll figure it out.” He shoots her a wink. “That’s why they pay us the big bucks.”
She titters at that, because they both know that there’s no such thing as money in the Tail. Oh there’s currency, for sure, just not the kind that’s handed over as stacks of bills. Curtis lets his eyes drag over the few parts of Rose’s body that he can see: her attractive face and the slope of her neck, the delicate suggestion of a collar bone where it peeks out before it’s swallowed up by her sweater. He looks away. “I want to improve things for us. Change is possible. There are things we can get. We just have to work for it.”
“What things?” she presses, leaning closer.
He thinks about brushing her off, but he can see that she’s genuinely curious, and the interested gleam in her eyes sways him. Because ideas can mean hope, and he wants her to have hope. They’ve both seen what can happen when there isn’t any.
He tells her about the basic medicines and medical supplies that could be useful, tells her about the items they could receive if people uptrain were more willing to bargain. “More castoffs would go to us, instead of into the recycling machines,” he tells her. While it is true that some old and unwanted items eventually make their way into the Tailies’ “market,” the sad fact is that many more materials are cleansed, disintegrated, and recycled for use through the train’s 3d printing machines. Curtis has never seen them, but due to his yearly talks with a woman named Melanie, he now knows that they exist, and they’re why not much gets sent back to the Tailies.
“We’d have more clothes, toys and books, all sorts of new things.” Of course when he says “new” he only means new in the sense of new to them. To people in the front, Tailies are second class citizens at best, subhumans at worst. The funny thing is, Curtis doesn’t take offense at it like he used to. He’s learned by now that it’s human nature to kill, cheat and steal, clamoring all over each other whenever resources are limited. They’ve literally eaten the weak in the Tail, after all. It’d be hypocritical to hold the first class passengers to a higher standard.
No, Snowpiercer is just a microcosm of humanity boiled down to its base elements. Nine-hundred people surviving on a miserable little train, barreling endlessly around the frozen corpse of the planet. Of course there’s going to be subjugation of the weak so that others can have more. Curtis doesn’t hold it against them anymore, but he sure as hell isn’t going to take it lying down. The Tailies were never ticketed passengers. They forced their way on, they scraped and scrounged and earned their survival. And if they ever get the chance, they’ll turn the tables on the passengers uptrain in a heartbeat. Curtis makes speeches about “leveling the playing field,” but he doesn’t have visions of utopia. Not really. He just wants to die in a feather bed.
“What would we have after chickens?” Rose asks, drawing Curtis out of his gloom. She knows as well as he does, what the definition of a 'pipe dream' is, but it’s fun to pretend with someone you like, and Curtis likes her. Always has. He likes that she hasn’t turned grey and dull like everyone else in the Tail. So he indulges her 'what ifs' and they continue to tease each other over various colorful and increasingly stupid imaginings: how they’ll have potatoes, and then beef, then televisions, bathtubs, a swimming pool.
At some point, Curtis realizes that he’s actually managed to make her smile, and giggle. Even sitting on a cold steel floor slurping at a bowl of rat and god-knows-what stew, he feels like a king knowing he was able to do that. “You’re really beautiful when you smile,” he blurts out, soaking up the way that her eyes get just a little bit wider and her lips part in surprise. He averts his attention back down to his bowl, pleased as punch. “‘Course, I always think you’re beautiful,” he murmurs, fully intending for her to hear.
She gets quiet after that, bashful and seemingly deep in thought. Curtis doesn’t worry though, because when everybody settles in to listen to that night’s story, she goes to fetch one of the blankets off her bunk and brings it back. She plops herself right back down next to Curtis and hands him a corner of the blanket to wrap it around both of their shoulders. He obliges. The assembly car fills up for that night’s entertainment, and just before the lights are dimmed down to their lowest level, Curtis locks eyes with Tanya from across the car, who’s shooting him a scrutinizing look. He’s grateful to escape her judgment for the moment, but he knows she’ll be on him before long.
They set out the tall stool at the head of the car, and Painter, the Tail’s historian, climbs up and settles on it.
A quiet man of short stature, Painter’s been performing the nightly stories since almost from the very beginning. He has a way of seeing things that others don’t, a way of weaving words and details together in graduating, elaborative cadence; like his drawings, like strings on a loom, always managing to convey the true heart of a matter in a way that resonates with people. It’s the closest thing to watching a movie any of them will probably ever get again, and in Curtis’ opinion it has just as much value as the food they feed their bodies with. People need more than just food to survive. They need community, they need love, they need hope.
Painter sits silently at first—a sign that he hasn’t decided on the topic and is taking suggestions that night. Someone calls out in the dimness to suggest The Man for tonight’s story, and a murmur of general agreement goes through the crowd. Up ahead on his stool, Painter nods. The Man was well known in the Tail, having long-served on Gillam’s council, among other things. Curtis hadn’t been lying to Rose, when he’d said that her father had been a good leader.
In the crook of his arm, he feels her shift subtly. Aware that this might be hard for her, he leans over and kisses the top of her head. “Hey, are you okay?” he whispers, giving her the option. “You want to go?” But she shakes her head and tucks herself further into him, so Curtis relaxes back, looking forward to getting to hold her in his arms for the next hour or two.
Painter does The Man justice. Children are always kept in another car during storytime, so that the plotlines don’t have to be watered down for their sensibilities, but even still, Curtis doesn’t doubt that Painter knows Rose is present, because he takes care to soften the corners of the story where she features, and to use gentle words when the most painful memories are fleshed out.
For over an hour, Curtis lets his eyes slip closed and the words wash over him. He tucks his nose into Rose’s hair and breathes the scent of her in, holding her small, soft body against him. He can feel every shift and sway that she gives as she hears the story, too, and they enjoy their time together, connecting over the shared intimacy of Painter’s words.
At some point, he brings her into his lap, and she comes so easily—like she was just waiting for the invitation, and is relieved that he wants her there. This isn’t something they’ve done before. Not like this. And he can tell by the slight tension in her body that she knows it, too. This is new. It could be the first time a man has ever showed her attention like this, and Curtis wants it to be good and easy for her. He gently rubs her back as the story stretches on, relieved when he can feel all the tension slowly leaving her. “Good girl,” he whispers against her hair.
She hums and rubs her cheek on his chest with complete trust, and Curtis suddenly remembers what it used to feel like to sink into a full, hot bath. Is this what it means to be touch starved? he wonders. Probably. It’s been so long since he’s been genuinely intimate with another person, that he’d almost forgotten the feeling.
Eventually he can hear the tone of Painter’s words changing, can hear it all coming to a close as he wraps up his retelling of that night’s story. Curtis has never hated anything more. Please, he thinks. Please let him keep going. Let him keep talking just a little bit longer so she’ll stay in my arms. He doesn’t want to let her go.
… Maybe if he plays his cards right, he won’t have to.
Tanya does confront him that night, cornering him by her spot before he can follow after Rose on her path to the wash car. “Pretty sure that girl knows how to bathe herself,” she says, hand planted firmly on Curtis’ chest. “She doesn’t need you, Curtis.”
Curtis loses sight of Rose going into the next bunk car, and he settles back onto his heels, glaring at Tanya. “I’m trying to look out for her.”
Tanya raises an unimpressed eyebrow at him. “You sure that’s all you’re trying to do?”
Curtis’s eyes narrow. “Have you been paying attention? Look around.” He nods at the crowded bunk car around them and speaks in a hushed tone. “You’re in charge of all the female stuff, you should know better than anyone what’ll happen now that her father’s gone. I’m only trying to protect her.”
Tanya purses her lips. “Uh huh. Protect her with your penis, is that how?”
“Jesus.” Curtis takes a step back, crossing his arms in frustration. He leans back against a metal rail. “I’m just being realistic,” he eventually says, after sulking over it for a moment. He respects Tanya—she’s a crucial part of the Tail, helping the women who get pregnant and give birth, helping the girls when they start developing (and, eventually, when they start attracting the attention of the men). “You’ve seen them looking?” he asks, not having to look at Tanya to know that she understands him. “So what am I supposed to do? Just wait until somebody else stakes their claim?”
Tanya makes an angry sound, though it isn’t directed at Curtis. “I stop them.”
“You stop the ones you can,” Curtis says lowly. “But eventually—”
“Eventually is eventually. Right now is right now,” she hisses.
Curtis turns back to her. “We play it your way and the first guy who stakes his claim gets her. That’s how it works. You know that. Is that what you want, huh?” Tanya’s face works in frustration, and Curtis softens. “Hey,” he says, placing a consoling hand on her shoulder. “I don’t like it either. We do the best we can with what we have.” He feels her shoulders rise and fall in a beleaguered sigh.
“I boxed Batroc’s ears last week,” she tells him; her way of giving tacit approval. “Keep an eye on that dirtbag.”
Curtis nods. He’s aware of who the biggest threats are, currently. It’s the men in their twenties and thirties who prey on the up and coming girls. Marriage isn’t a thing in the tail so much as claiming is. The men have a sort of ‘first dibs’ honor system that Curtis despises, but that he can’t change on his own. Not when the majority is so set on it. “I’m not going to force her,” he promises Tanya. “Okay? I’ll give her the choice. You know I will.”
Tanya’s jaw works, but eventually she nods and turns to the side to let him pass. Curtis pats her shoulder in thanks and heads off in the direction that Rose went with her towel.
He gets there just a few seconds too late—or at least, that’s what he thinks when he hears her crying out from the women’s side of the wash car. Curtis barrels around the partition, heedless of whoever else may be in there when he can hear Rose in distress.
There’s a man standing at her back, pushing her face up against the wall of one of the stalls. She’s naked, the shower spraying aimlessly not even a foot away. She’s struggling, crying … and the man’s pants are halfway down his thighs.
Curtis sees red. “Get the fuck off her!”
Everything happens in a blur: him pulling the man back by his shirt and throwing him onto the floor at the opposite side of the car, the man’s head hitting the wall, Rose crying out in fear, Curtis going over to gather her naked body into his arms. “Are you okay?” he asks breathlessly, holding her as she sobs and presses her head of soaked hair against him. His hands slide over the water-slicked skin of her back, his heart in his throat. “Did he hurt you?”
She sobs and shakes her head, clinging to him. “Curtis!”
“Shh, you’re okay. It’s okay. I’ve got you.” He looks across the car at the man, who’s now rubbing his head with a pained wince. Curtis feels rage consume him and he has no control over his actions as he abandons Rose by the stall and stalks across the car to punch the guy square in the face. He immediately grabs his shirt collar and hauls him back in. “Who the fuck do you think you are?!” he roars.
“Stop!” the man—a guy Curtis knows only as Hodge—coughs out, speaking through blood and what’s likely a broken nose. He holds up his hands to defend himself from further assault, and Curtis shakes him with a furious growl.
“Did you touch her?! What did you do? I’ll kill you!”
“I didn’t!” Hodge coughs, pushing against Curtis. “I didn’t do anything! I was just—”
Curtis slams him back into the wall of the car. “Then why’s your dick out?!” Hodge sinks down the wall to the floor and Curtis follows him down. “Answer me!”
“I just wanted to talk to her!”
He’s about to reach down and rip this guy’s nuts off, but Rose calling to him from the other side of the car draws his attention away: “Curtis, please. Curtis!” She’s standing there—naked, wet and shivering, futilely trying to cover herself. She looks at him pleadingly through her tears. “He didn’t. You stopped him. He didn’t.”
It’s enough to make Curtis rein himself in from further violence. Rose needs him more than he needs to hurt Hodge. Still, he shakes the man again as he hauls him back up to standing and shoves him towards the exit of the car. “This isn’t finished,” he warns him at the door, pushing him through hard enough that he falls to his ass on the other side. Curtis points at him. “You’ll pay for this.”
He slams the door and goes back to Rose, who’s still standing there looking lost, shivering, cold. The shower’s still running, so Curtis hurries over to turn the water off. He grabs the towel that’s hanging on the hook and brings it to Rose, intending to bundle her up as quickly as he can. She takes it and wraps it around herself, but it ends at mid thigh and Curtis’ eyes are drawn to a trickle of red running down her inner thigh. All the blood drains from his face. “You’re bleeding,” he says, horrified.
Rose looks down at it and sniffles. “Oh.”
“I’ll fucking kill him,” Curtis breathes, already turning to go back out and finish the job.
“Curtis! Curtis wait!” Rose grabs his arm with both hands as she shakes her head frantically. “I’m fine. It’s my period. He didn’t hurt me.”
Curtis calms down, his chest heaving from adrenaline. “You swear?” he urges, grabbing her upper arms and holding her in front of himself to get a better look at her. Now that he’s paying attention, he can see that she’s dripping wet and rattled, but not visibly hurt.
“I swear. I’m okay.”
His eyes track back down to the blood on her leg, suspicious until he looks beyond and sees her pile of clothing sitting over on a shelf. There’s a small folded rag there the likes of which he’s seen before; what the women pass around silently amongst themselves when they bleed. Curtis calms down as he realizes that Rose is telling the truth and not just lying to keep him from murdering Hodge. He lets go of her upper arms, suddenly aware that she may not want him touching her right at this moment. “Sorry,” he mutters, not knowing what else to say. He feels like he’s just run a marathon, his heart is beating so fast.
Rose surprises him by throwing herself into his arms again, a sob making her whole body heave against him. “Thank you,” she cries, hugging him, hiding her face against his chest. “Curtis, god. If you hadn’t come in …”
“Shh. I did. I did come,” he reassures her, wrapping his arms around her fully again now that he knows it’s welcome. She feels so small. “You’re okay. I’ve got you.”
They stand there for who knows how long. Minutes, at least. Calming down together. Rose’s crying fades, and Curtis’ blood pressure re-enters the stratosphere. He can feel the red hot anger and instinct to kill bleeding out of his mind the longer that time stretches on. He becomes aware of how cold Rose must be in only her towel and still all wet. “Here,” he says, ushering her back towards the shower. The stalls have changing areas right in front of them, and he steps back so that she can have privacy. “Get dried off. Get dressed,” he says. “I’ll …” his gaze falls back down to the trail of red on her leg. He swallows thickly and averts his eyes. “I’ll be right here.”
Shakily, she nods and pulls the curtain. She gets dressed, and when she opens the curtain again, her hair has been towel-dried and hangs limply about her face. She looks shyly up at Curtis. “Hey.”
“C’mere, Honey.”
She folds back herself into his arms eagerly, whining and pressing into him. “Thank you,” she whispers. “God, Curtis. Thank you.”
“I should’ve been here,” he grunts, thinking of how Tanya had held him back. He silently curses her. “I knew something like this would happen,” he hisses to himself, though he regrets saying it when he feels how it makes her shudder against him.
“Can we get out of here, please?”
He nods and starts to lead them towards the door of the car. He’s not surprised to find Hodge gone on the other side. Curtis silently fumes about what he’d walked in on, as he leads Rose backtrain. They walk through the car where her spot is, and Curtis gives her hand a squeeze when she looks back at it and makes a questioning noise. “I want you with me tonight,” he tells her, gentle but firm, because no way in hell is he leaving her alone now. “Please?” he coaxes, pleased when she looks up to him and nods.
“Okay.”
He smiles softly. “Good girl.”
Curtis has a good sized spot. Certainly big enough for two, which he’s grateful for when he guides her to scoot in across the bed. His is the third bunk up out of four, which means climbing a few rungs, but once you’re up there it affords a fair sense of privacy, especially once he draws the curtain across to close them in together. He flicks the small lamp on, its dim bulb flickering to life and giving just enough light to see by.
He’s got his blankets spread out on the bed. There’s plenty of room enough to sit up and move around, all of his worldly possessions hung to the wall or else strapped against the top of the bunk above. “Home sweet home,” he says, gesturing around half heartedly. “Nothing special.”
“It’s nice.” Rose looks around with a little curiosity before tucking her head down. She shrugs. “You’ve got one of the lights. Our spot doesn’t. I mean … my spot,” she amends quietly. “Our neighbor has the light.”
The lights are built into the walls, meant to faintly illuminate what were once the train’s original baggage racks, powered by the Arc Reactor and impossible to move. But some people have managed to rig up their own lamps from salvaged materials and a little creative wiring over the years. There are no windows in the Tail. Curtis has heard that there are windows uptrain, but he doesn’t know whether to be jealous or not. Would it really improve anything, to have a view of the wasted, frozen world they left behind? He’s not so sure. At least this way they can pretend that Snowpiercer is all there is, the delusion only ruined whenever the Jackboots arrive to deliver food or raid them.
Curtis settles beside her and knocks their legs together. “I’ll keep my eye out for something in the market,” he promises. “Someone as pretty as you shouldn’t be in the dark.”
She smiles as though pained, looking down at her lap. “Being pretty is what got me into this mess.”
Curtis sighs. “No. It’s not just that, Hon.” He cups her face, stroking his thumb over her cheekbone. “It’s not just that.”
“What then?”
He smiles sadly. “Look, if there’s one thing you gotta understand about men, it’s that we covet the rare … and the pure. You’re good. Truly good, in a way most of us aren’t. In a way we can’t afford to be.” He drops his hand and turns away, feeling gross for having told her that, for having included himself in the roster of ‘men’ who think like that. But it’s true. “That’s why you stand out,” he mutters. “None of us are good the way you’re good.”
“What? But you’re good.”
Curtis scoffs. “Please.”
“You are! You’re on council aren’t you?”
He rolls his eyes. “That means I’m good with people, not good. There’s a difference.”
“No,” Rose insists. “No, you help everyone. You lead us, try to make life better for us.” She gets incensed when he continues to disagree. “You do! You … you make dolls for little girls who’ve lost all their toys. You protect us.”
Curtis slumps back against the wall. “Is that what I did back there? Protected you?”
“Yes. Curtis you saved me. You stopped him from …” She falters, unable to say the word, and the silence grows uncomfortable between them. Eventually she stares down at her lap and scoffs bitterly.
Curtis looks over. He doesn’t like the pinch that’s settled between her eyebrows. There’s something strangely self-deprecating about it, and he can’t figure out what’s going on in her head. “Hey.” He nudges her knee with his. “What are you thinking, Hon?”
She shakes her head. “Hodge,” she whispers. “He said things.”
“Oh god. Don’t. Rosie, don’t pay attention to anything that cretin said. Did he threaten you? Because if he did, you know I still have half a mind to rip off his—”
“He said that somebody would choose me, and if it isn’t him it’ll be someone else ‘staking their claim’.” She looks rather mortified as she repeats it. “And he’s not wrong. I mean that’s the way it’s done, isn’t it?” she asks bitterly. “The men. They choose who they want. We don’t get a say. Not really.”
“Rosie,” Curtis mourns, wishing that he could spare her, wishing he could tell her that she has choices, choices that people will respect. But he doesn’t want to lie. She doesn’t deserve to be lied to. “Hey,” he says instead. “You know I care about you, right?”
She nods, sniffling. “Yeah.”
“You should sleep here. Not just tonight but every night.” He can tell by her reaction that she realizes what he means, and he’s pleased when she leans against his side, still seeking comfort in him. He relaxes now that the hardest part is done. “Would you like that, Petal?” he asks softly, wrapping his arm around her and holding her close. She scoffs at the nickname, and Curtis kisses the top of her head. It’s been a long time since he’s had another person in his bunk—a long time. Not having a partner is lonely, sure, but with the way things are in the tail, it’s easier just to jerk off. Romance is all but dead, as is evidenced by the Tailies’ near-transactional customs regarding sex and relationships. “Will you?” he checks, relieved when she gives a little nod and a sniffle.
“I don’t want to be alone.”
“I don’t want that either.”
They sit there in silence for a while, and just as Curtis starts to wonder if Rose has fallen asleep, she whispers, “What was it like?”
“What was what like?”
“Men and women. Before. How did it …” she pauses, considering what she wants to say, or perhaps how to ask. “My dad and my mom,” she settles on. “They loved each other. Nobody claimed my mom. They chose each other.”
Curtis nods and gives her arm a squeeze. “Yeah. That’s how it was.”
“Tell me?” she asks, sounding for all the world like a child asking for a bedtime story. “Please?”
Curtis rubs her back, resigning himself to telling her the truth. “People met,” he says. “At school, at work, through friends. If they liked each other romantically, they dated.”
“What’s ‘dated’?”
He winces where she can’t see. “When you liked someone, you’d ask them out on a date. You’d meet them and go do something nice together. Something fun. Get a drink or see a movie, eat a meal in a restaurant.”
“Did the man decide the dates?”
He frowns. “Sometimes. Women would too, though. Sometimes they’d be the one to ask the guy out. It just depended.”
“What happened next?” Rose asks.
“Well … you’d just keep spending time together, you’d keep dating. If the people decided not to date anybody else, they’d agree to be a couple. Boyfriend and girlfriend. … Or husband and wife.”
“What’s the difference?”
Curtis winces at how sad it is that she doesn’t know that. The long term implications of their confinement in the Tail section are obvious and jarring, at times like this. He licks his lips. “Marriage was more serious than dating. More permanent. You might break up with your girlfriend eventually, but if you made her your wife, then that was like saying you wanted to be together forever.” He doesn’t bother getting into the concept of divorce, knowing that she just needs a basic understanding of the matter. “That’s how it was,” he finishes. “Before.”
Rose is quiet for a long while, thinking it over. Eventually she says, “And now the men choose.”
Curtis hates how resigned she sounds about it. “What happened in the wash car isn’t allowed,” he says, aware of the way her body tenses against him. “I’ll make sure Hodge is punished. But the thing is, Sweetheart … I’m worried he won’t be the last.”
Rose sniffles. “It’s ‘cause my dad’s gone, isn’t it?”
“That doesn’t help the matter. But you’ve been old enough for a while now, for some. And I’ve seen them looking.”
“For some?” Rose peeks up at him. “Not you?”
Curtis hesitates to answer. “... You’re young, Honey.” It’s not like he can say that he wants her. But saying that he doesn’t would be a total lie. He might not be looking yet, if he didn’t have the other men to worry about; but he does have to worry about them, and so he has been looking. “I’ll make sure Hodge is punished,” he reiterates. “Severely. Even with the way things are now, that was completely beyond the pale.” He feels that hot surge of fury boil up inside him again as he thinks about it: Rose standing there, shivering and crying, Hodge with his hands on her, his dick hanging out of his pants. “He was going to rape you,” Curtis growls. “He needs to pay.”
“And the others?” she asks. “You’ll stop them?”
His chest aches at her unshakable faith in him and what she thinks he can do. “I can only protect you one way,” he murmurs, pulling her close and burying his nose in her hair so that she can’t look up at him with those big doe eyes again. “Has Tanya talked to you much?” he asks. Her head moves against him in a little nod, but she doesn’t say anything. Curtis kisses her hair. “What happened in the wash car could happen again. Someone’ll want to claim you.” She whines and rubs her face against his sweater, clinging to him. He pulls her into his lap just like he had during storytime, earlier that night. “Hey,” he soothes, “I wish it could be different, you know? Wish I could take you outta here, make other people respect your choices.” He sighs sadly. “That’s just not how it works anymore, Petal.”
“I know,” she says quietly. “Would you take me on a date, Before?” He hesitates, and she notices. She looks up at him. “You wouldn’t?”
“You’re too young for me,” he admits. “Or you would’ve been. Before.”
“Now I’m not?” she asks, and Curtis averts his eyes uncomfortably, because of course she’s still too fucking young. If they were still in the World she’d be finishing up high school, going to prom and the mall, glued to her phone. Learning about sex from school and porn and from fumbling encounters with boys her own age, not from some jaded midwife in a squalid train car.
“Now …” he sighs. “Now, it’s different. It doesn’t make it right, but girls become fair game once they’re about your age. And any man who’s interested can try for you.”
“I know that,” she whispers. “But what about you? Are you interested?”
Curtis’ mouth is dry. He can’t answer. So he nods smally instead. He’s surprised when she doesn’t seem frightened or upset by this admission. He lets his hands hold her more securely, fingers dipping into the curve of her waist from over her sweater. “I care about you,” he croaks. “I want to protect you. And the only way I know to do that is to claim you myself.”
“Will you?” she asks. She lays her cheek back against his chest and yawns. “Claim me?”
Above her resting head, Curtis grinds his teeth. “Let’s just take it one day at a time, okay Hon?”
“Mm.” She nods sleepily. “Okay. I trust you, Curtis. Thank you for helping me today.”
He doesn’t answer her, just holds her against him and rubs her back as she gradually falls to sleep. He’s not the man she thinks he is, and she should be in her own spot right now, not tucked away in here with him, because sooner or later he knows he’s going to take advantage. He’ll have her, and he’ll make sure that every other man in the train knows that she’s his. That may not be what she really wants, or even what’s good for her.
But oh well, he thinks. At least it’s better than the alternative.
Masterlist
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Yantober - 2022
(To send in an ask from these prompts, write the day and characters you want to see <333 If you want the prompt to be changed up a little bit, please tell me!)
Day 1 - Fling AU
After getting a little bit drunker than you should have, ending up having a one-night stand with a stranger. Disappearing before they woke up, you thought that was the end of things, but what the hell? They keep appearing everywhere in your everyday life! what is going on?
Day 2 - Secret Protector AU
You've always had horrible luck, bad things happening to you all the time, but that was okay, as someone would always come and save you, before disappearing. Who were they? You wanted to meet them and you will do anything you need to to make that happen.
Day 3 - Hero AU
You're a new hero, just starting out but you have the passion! On your first rescue mission, you end up saving someone, who ends up becoming a huge part of your life, in the worst way possible. Maybe this lifestyle really isn't for you?
Day 4 - Love Potion AU
You're a magic user in training. After falling in love, you end up giving a love potion to your crush but something is very wrong! Instead of falling in love, they became madly obsessed with you! Are you going to fix this or die trying?
Day 5 - Revenge AU
After having your heart broken, you decided that the best revenge would be to seduce your ex's current partner. But oh well, who would have thought that things would end up with you tied in a basement with your ex and their partner saying they love you.
Day 6 - Tied together AU
Your friend was stupid. So damn stupid. Why did they end up tying you up with the creepy loner that everyone avoided, just because you once joked that you had a crush on them? Now... How to get out of those handcuffs?
Day 7 - Enemies to Lovers AU
You wanted to kill them, and all they wanted was to see you covered in their blood. It might not be exactly the most conventional relationship, but hey, if it works, it works, right?
Day 8 - Abduction AU
You, a petty criminal, just wanted to get some money after kidnapping a rich kid with a trust fund. Why did things get so confusing and why are they suddenly trying to kidnap you instead???
Day 9 - Blind Date AU
You love your friend, you really do, but they have no chill or game at all! That's why you keep setting them up on blind dates with strangers that keep trying to kidnap you in pursuit of love. Surely, some of them will be desperate enough to date your friend, right?
Day 10 - Arranged marriage AU
Getting married off for money wasn't exactly how you thought you would be spending your Sunday, but your life has always been a little bit weird. They might not have been One Direction, but this new spouse of yours seems troublesome enough already.
Day 11 - Opposites Attract AU
You were like fire and water. Like the sun and moon. So damn different, but for some reason, they still fell for you. No matter how much you hurt them, they still loved you.
Day 12 - Mad Scientist AU
You didn't really expect to be kidnapped by a scientist after finishing a photoshoot, but well, they don't seem all that bad, besides! Making new friends is always fun, right?
Day 13 - Monster AU
In a world where monsters and humans coexist, you always wanted to meet one, but never had the chance, as you lived in a human-only town. But that all changed when a monster moved into your neighborhood. Though... Why do they keep following you around everywhere??
Day 14 - Apocalypse AU (yandere can be either a child or someone else. If child, it's gonna be platonic)
You're dying, and with a child in your care, you are running against time to find someone to take care of them.
Day 15 - Toxic AU
What happens when an abuser and a maniac get together? Well, you were exactly in that situation. You couldn't help hurting them, and they couldn't help but hurt anyone who tried to get in the way of your relationship. It might not be perfect, but it worked.
Day 16 - Paranormal AU
You're dead, congrats! They also recently died! With you both only having each other and learning how to navigate the afterlife, they learn to love you while you enjoy the company.
Day 17 - Unrequited love AU
You love them, and they love her. You love them so much, you go as far as to help them get her. Everything for your love, right? But why are they so... possessive over you? Something's wrong... How can you move on with them acting like that?
Day 18 - Murder AU
Tell me, what happens when you try to murder someone but fail? You go to jail? Get away with it? Or have the victim confessed their undying love to you? If you guessed one of the first two things, you are completely wrong. Let's navigate this peculiar new relationship, yes?
Day 19 - Bachelor/ette AU
You're invited to be on a new show to find love as the bachelor/ette. Though... The contestants are a bit strange... But nothing can go wrong, right?
Day 20 - Yandere adoption center AU
Being born in a family full of yanderes, you've learned that they are pretty great and deserve love! That's why you have the goal of helping as many yanderes find a loving home!
Day 21 - Tattoo shop AU
You are the receptionist at the local tattoo shop. Things are perfectly fine! Sure, your boss is weird, your coworkers are little creeps and someone is stalking you, but everyone has troubles in their lives, right?
Day 22 - Tennis AU
As a tennis player, you've been training for an upcoming competition. But your trainer is very weird, and you don't know who to as for help from.
Day 23 - Hitchhiking AU
Everyone always tells you to never pick up a hitchhiker. That's how you get killed! But who would have known that you can pick up a future partner too, who is willing to brew a storm in your life?
Day 24 - Lawyer AU
You're a lawyer, about to help a couple get divorced, but... Why are they suddenly trying to ask you out? At this rate, you lose your clients, as you are bringing them back together!
Day 25 - Time travel AU
You are tasked with seducing the villain and saving the world! Problem is... You don't want to! How can you still save the world, and end up going back to your partner in the current timeline?
Day 26 - Underworld AU
You're a demon and the childhood friend of the ruler of the underworld. Watch as you navigate your friendship with the demanding ruler and try to find a lover too!
Day 27 - Group therapy AU
You're a therapist, a very special one! You specialize in helping yanderes get better, so watch as you help yanderes get better while making lifelong friendships!
Day 28 - Zookeeper AU
The world is divided into animals, humans, and hybrids. You are a zookeeper at the first-ever hybrid zoo. With care, you learn about their culture and teach them about yours too, not knowing they are becoming attached.
Day 29 - Undercover AU
You need to infiltrate an evil organization and steal its data. Making a maniac fall in love along the way is not in the plans.
Day 30 - Soulmate AU
What happens when someone without a soulmate and someone who's soulmate doesn't want them, meet? Well, of course, they bury their pain in each other, finding comfort.
Day 31 - Dating sites AU
Are you a lonely loser? Great! How about you meet some other lonely losers on the best site known as "tRuE lOvE"
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⚜ 𝒯𝑜 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝑒𝓍𝓉𝑒𝓃𝓉 𝒾𝓈 𝒪𝓉𝓉𝑜𝒦𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓃 𝒸𝒶𝓃𝑜𝓃
I came across a discussion on Twitter about whether OttoKallen is canon now, specifically in relation to SakuKallen.
~♥~
Otto and Kallen started out as friends. But subconsciously you always noticed that Otto had feelings for Kallen. You never really got to know how Kallen felt about Otto.
And that's the breaking point where many haters stop.
~♥~
But let's start again from the beginning.
Otto and Kallen met as small children. Because Otto was ill and fragile, he was of little value to House Apocalypse. Therefore, he tried to be useful in a different way and to work on inventions. Kallen was the one who praised his work, which made them friends.
The twist of the story begins when Kallen learns about the true intentions of the church and also to what extent Otto is involved in it. Protecting those around her is important to her, while Otto is willing to sacrifice the individual for a greater good. And that is ultimately the reason why the two split up. Yes. They have different ways of thinking, but that´s no reason for their separation. In fact, they never separated emotionally. Their disagreement hasn't hurt their relationship.
In a conversation between Otto and his father, it sounds as if he is already engaged to Kallen. But most important is the conversation between him and Kallen about how she would like to marry him if the conditions were different.
It is also important to mention that the letter she sent Otto included two red roses. Two red roses symbolize love returned. So Kallen also had feelings for Otto.
In the letter, Kallen again explained why she turned down his marriage proposal and declared that they both did terrible things. Here is the link.
Even if Otto never received this letter, the world view is also reflected in his feelings:
When you truly want to change the world, you will discover how pitiable your own strength is. The Holy Maid gave her all to the people, and was repaid with merciless shackles und nooses. The world is at chaos. It´s neither fair nor sensible. It wrongs heroes and breeds scum. It is rife with ugliness without a trace of beauty. The malice of the world shal be sundered- by the villain.
Source: Thus spoke Apocalypse
~♥~
Crucially, the story portrays Kallen as a heroine with a good heart. She remains true to her principles to the death. Otto, on the other hand, deliberately chose to play the villain. Not just to bring Kallen back to life, but to change something in the world. The wall in front of which they parted is also the wall where they once met. OttoKallen is a very symbolic ship and that's why it's so beautiful.
And when it comes to how Kallen felt about Sakura.... Personally, I think the two were very good friends. That's why soulmates were mentioned in the webcomic named The Graditute Arc. Very good friends can also be soul mates. In the end they live happily together in the stigma world... Kallen's soul fragments were sucked up by it. She can't leave there even if she wanted to. So the happy is probably to be put in quotation marks.
And when it comes to certain poses in the Event of "Cooking with the Valkyries"...
Here's a picture where best friends are leaning against each other.
Here's a picture of best friends holding hands.
Aside from that. If leaning and holding hands is a token of love... Otto also saw the pleasure. Here Otto doesn't hold Kallen's hand like Sakura does. They have intertwined their fingers. And please don't come at me with "There was Kallen still a child". She was 13 years old or even older. So in their adolescence and capable of loving.
And anyone who deals with Sakura will notice that she loves to flirt. Even a Theresa blushes after certain actions of hers.
So now Theresa is in love with Sakura too? It would at least be the more interesting couple. And while we're at Kallen blushing...
Look how cute she blushes when she talks to Otto. And she wasn't already drunk at the moment. It's also worth noting that this game was created for a male clientele, and there's a bit of fanservice involved in some of the scenes. Just because you blush, because someone gets too close, leans in, or allows someone to take their hand doesn't mean you're in love.
But for a long time, the content of St. Freya High could be argued with. This is a webcomic linked from the official Honkai Impact the 3rd website. This showed clear love scenes between Kallen and Sakura. But Mihoyo already removed this comic as it is inconsistent with other webcomics and game content.. The chapters that showed these scenes have also been pulled off the page. But honestly. The writer can't be serious about that.
Why do people care if she loved the person? That seems pretty out of place and if I had been present at the Trial and hearing that, I would have said she was crazy too.
So let's talk a little bit about the four samsaras. The samsaras are a virtual world created from the memories of Theresa Apocalypse and part of the black box. In the first samsara, Kallen has no choice but to kill Sakura. In the second samsara, Sakura, under complete control, kills Kallen. In the third samsara, they then manage to defeat the enemy and live "happily" together. But the real Kallen was never present. Everything that happened in it was fake. Also Kallen from the fourth Samara, who was fed up with staying with Sakura and runs away.
And yes. In the sideevent named Sanka Saga they love each other. But then maybe some haters should stop calling Otto obsessed. After all, the joke of the story is that Kallen slips into Otto's role. You can tell that clearly from the fact that she wants to save Sakura from death at all costs. Just like Otto for Kallen. That she did soul experiments. Yes. Just like Otto, only in a different form. That she suffered. Just like Otto. And that she realizes that a clone of Sakura is not Sakura. Otto notices that with Theresa. But that she secretly noticed that Sakura's soul is in Kasumi, but she's still not like Sakura and therefore wasn't interesting for her. Just like Otto. So it should be noted that this event has nothing to do with the actual reality of the game. In Sangeline Knights Kallen Klon can only remember Sakura, but it was also the last big event and a very decisive one for her life before she died. And in Kallen Fantasy, they are even enemies.
~♥~
So what's left of SakuKallen ship other than Sakura's fantasy? But OttoKallen has no canon content....
Otto and Kallen got married in Gun Girls Z (Houkai Gakuen). But Kallen was certainly forced to do so? - Uh, no. Hmm... Remember the conversation between Kallen and Otto about a wedding? A marriage that Kallen rejected for the sole reason that she whouldn't be a pawn? But the conversation ended with "Maybe in another world..." The rest of the sentence went under, because Otto left the room. It´s clear that Kallen means a wedding. So this isn't a forced wedding, it's the one that's likely to take place in the timeline where Kallen thanks to Otto lives.
The Endresult is: Just because you can't see a person's feelings directly, it doesn't mean they don't have them. Especially when a relationship has had little time to develop. But Kallen wasn't forced to marry Otto. She did it for love. And in that case, OttoKallen is even more canon than SakuKallen.
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that's good! don't overwork yourself! 😺
Yoooo! I don't really think I'm going to do it so there's the transmigrante!Soo's (both ideas)
They're polysoos too, but you can ignore it if you're not into it <3
-------------------------------------------------
To clarify, LSH transmigrated into Fredo, CJS into Cale and KRS into White Star (yes, GoD kick WS from the body like a ball)
OG!WS didn't do much before he was exchanged (like, he only put the plan for the capital and the wolves on) for KRS in that life but he's not dead-dead, he's currently in the body of a baby somewhere remote on the Eastern Continent, he's not going to have the means to act until after the adultes and even then he'll be more of a nuisance than a threat (at least for a while).
KRS did not read the entire novel, just as the canon only went up to the fifth volume.
CJS read the novel in his adolescence cuz' there was a copy in his house, but he don't remember too much of it (only the first two volume).
LSH is... well, his position is secure and he has a very clear idea of what to do, even if he don't read the novel at all. He meets KRS first and together they determine that probably, if they are lucky enough, CJS is also reincarnated in this world.
In the end the three of them meet, everyone is very confused about why three of the strongest and most lunatic men in this world are hugging each other as if they haven't seen each other in an eternity and speaking in a language that only CH seems to have an idea of what it is.
They locking themselves in a room together for almost three whole days and people assume a LOT of things but the reality is that they were walking around, catching up, deciding where they are going to make their new house with farm and chord, taking up their platonic marriage vows and making out a little because CJS loves kissing and his (again) husbands love to spoil him.
-
CH doesn't speak much Korean these days, forgot most of what he knew and is now resuming his classes with KRS along with the kids (Raon, Hong, On, Dodori and all the others).
Bc yes, KRS go for all the childrens and people who need help, just because he can.
CJS left the heir position officially and for a while was a "free spirit", post-canon he usually travels around the world (or as far as he can) but spends a lot of time wherever his husbands are.
KRS dismantled Arm and most of WS's plans shortly after reincarnating so he has free time, if he's not lounging around, glued to some other "Soo" or the kids, he finds himself generating mayhem for fun.
LSH became the new king of Endable Kingdom, he has a lot of work to do but he always makes time for everyone's visits, especially his children and husbands.
Technically no one but them knows about their marriage but everyone smells something going on between them, especially after those three days locked up. There are a lot of rumors out there, they don't deny or affirm anything.
-------------------------------------------------
About the other idea, is almost the same au except each comes from a different version of the Earth.
KRS comes from an Earth where the three had been married for a decade and a half and is very interested in remarrying them (he's not going to force them or anything ofc).
CJS comes from a version where he only knows KRS, they got along extremely well even though they knew each other relatively recently (two years), he transmigrated a year after the start of the apocalypse and hopes his KRS will be fine without him (he is, though he still has him on his mind)
LSH doesn't know any of them, he also comes from an apocalyptic world but was alone (with his team but never really forming strong relationships), he meets KRS!WS almost by chance and they end up spending a lot of time together, he also falls in love with the concept that is CJS
“Lee Soo Hyuk wasn't the type to fall in love at first sight and he didn't believe in falling in love with someone he didn't know either, but the way Kim Rok Soo talked about them, about Choi Jung Soo, with that soft tone and the bright gaze made it impossible for him not to fall in love, even if just a little, with the ray of sunshine that seemed so unreal.”
#anonymous#lcf#tcf#trash of the count's family#lout of the count’s family#fanfic ideas#🐱#polysoos#the soos#kim rok soo#lee soo hyuk#choi jung soo#cale henituse
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Splintskirt lore
this will probably be edited and added onto a LOT
its also very disorganized so you can read as many or few paragraphs you want in whatever order
CW for mentions of death and seizure, as well as general themes of prejuduce
So the kraang dropped mutagen bombs on Earth a few decades ago (60-ish years). It was a series of mutagen bombs similar to those in the mutant apocalypse but a LOT smaller. Like instead of the whole world, it was parts of cities being glossed in mutagen ooze, causing people to mutate and evacuate.
This mutagen was cleaned up pretty quickly, and stored in facilities around the world, that way nobody could get all the mutagen in bulk, and scientists could experiment and work on anti-mutagen. Of course, capitalism, so the anti-mutagen is super expensive. This means that only the richest mutants can get their hands on it, which means Splinter cannot.
Mutants are fairly normalized, but there is a lot of prejudice against them for being "different", "feral", etc. They are part of society, but they are highly underprivileged and not on a level playing field in work and school scenarios.
Splinter is a descendant of a rat mutant. (Yes this means im retconning my lore but stay with me here it makes more sense to me this way). He had a long-time girlfriend named Tang Shen, who was a turtle mutant. She had 4 kids from a previous marriage, all being turtles with a bit of human dna sprinkled in. She dieded though. Tang shen was already struggling with health issues, but she died from a seizure that caused a heart attack. thankfully the turtles were way too young to remember their mother's death, but it struck splinter HARD. Now, he had to support a family of 5 on one income, deal with the traumatic death of his girlfriend (basically wife), AND navigate his children's lives with them being mutants and just children in general.
Splinter met Kirby O'neil after their mail kept getting mixed up. Soon after tang shen's passing, kirby stepped up as the kid's uncle in a way. He is the embodiment of "he's confused but he's got the spirit!" because he is supportive of splinter, even if he doesnt understand everything. This is how the turtles also met april :>
in splintskirt, mutants are known of. They are a huge minority in society instead of a secret from the world. They can do everything normal people can do, they just get a lot of hate for no goddamn reason.
Splinter is genderqueer. He uses he/she/they pronouns. He still has her turtle kids, but they are raised in a small apartment complex's basement rather than the sewers.
Splinter gets his money by working as a dish cleaner for a nearby pizza restaurant, but he also gets money by visiting clubs and seducing drunken people, and pickpocketing them. It never goes any farther than kissing, as Splinter is not interested in that. Splinter is demi-aro-ace, and just uses kissing people as a distraction. This is the main reason Splinter is so interested in skirts and dresses. Soon after the turtles were in his care and Splinter was desperate for money (which they were already struggling with), splinter realized that he got more money at clubs if people thought he was a girl. Her appearance is pretty androgynous other than her beard, so he shaved it off and started wearing skirts and dresses to clubs to seem more feminine. This kickstarted a gender crisis, and now Splinter is genderqueer.
Splintskirt's timeline takes place pretty early in the turtle's life. They are about 10-13 years old, so too young to be on their own, but still old enough to have decently developed personalities.
The biggest change is that none of them are ninjas. Splinter is still Asian, and the turtles were raised with cultural influence no doubt, but they have no need to learn how to fight, as the kraang and shredder are not huge plot points. Its more of a realistic setting imo, where shredder is like a mega toxic clingy ex-friend instead of a murder machine
#tmnt#tmnt 2k12#tmnt 2012#mmmmm tortl#teenage mutant ninja turtles#splinter#2012 splinter#splinter tmnt#splintskirt#donnie drabbles
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