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melohax · 3 years

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Why Basil isn’t “evil” or knowingly manipulative:

Warning: Major MAJOR Omori Spoilers Ahead

When people aren’t saying Sunny is a psychopath who deserves to be in jail, they’re saying Basil is an evil obsessive mastermind who tricked poor dissociating Sunny into defacing his sister’s corpse.

I’ve already explained before why I disagree with either interpretation but I haven’t gone in depth with Basil’s character. I’ll write about why I don’t think Basil is this dark yandere intentionally manipulating Sunny into dependance on him.

Basil is a tragic character with bad abandonment issues who legitimately wants to help the people he loves most. Unfortunately he also happens to have a broken “normalcy compass” (common in abused and/or neglected children). This means his well intentioned actions are often more harmful than helpful.

Aubrey says during a part of the real world segment that outside our main friend group, she’s always been an outcast. I think it’s no accident that we see in Sunny’s memories that she was the one who introduced Basil to the friend group, implying he’s also always been an outcast like her.

With Aubrey though, we can attribute her outcast status to things like living in the poorest neighborhood in Faraway town while also living in the visibly most worn-down house of said poor neighborhood.

Aubrey has a hoarding alcoholic mother that neglects her and a strict father (Aubrey casually mentions as a kid that her father is weirdly strict about her appearance) who ends up abandoning her anyway. Aubrey’s hot temper doesn’t help either and so even though she manages to be popular and well-loved among her hooligan friends, the rest of the town judges her harshly as if she’s at fault for her horrible life circumstances.

Then we have Basil. Basil’s economic circumstances are visibly better than Aubrey’s and he lives in a nice house surrounded by pretty flowers. Yet even with everything around him (even his appearance) looking so prim and cute, he’s still treated as an outcast.

We know that mentally ill children are way too often shunned by their peers and the adults surrounding them for being “weird” even though it’s not their fault that they have different brain chemistry. Without counting the bullying Aubrey carried out with her friends, Basil was already being ostracized by people outside the main friend group. In one of Sunny’s memories, Basil tells them that he’d always been alone before meeting them.

This lets us know that there’s always been “something” that’s made Basil unpopular with almost everyone. We see hints of why in the contrast between Dreamworld Basil and Real Basil. Whereas Dreamworld Basil is well-spoken, charismatic and cheerful, Real Basil is a nervous wreck that is prone to panic attacks and bouts of screaming. We could say he’s this way cus of what he did to Mari but from knowing Basil’s always been an unliked outcast, I get the feeling he’s not like this only from the Mari situation.

Then we have the probable root of his very obvious abandonment issues: Basil’s parents’ are completely absent save for some pictures in his home. Sunny himself has never seen Basil’s parents in person. Datamining apparently suggests his parents abandoned him when he was a toddler. To top it off, having a constantly ill and mostly unresponsive grandma as his only remaining family doesn’t help with his mental health issues at all, either. No wonder the kid’s clingy.

There’s also the caretaker at his house, who is introduced as Basil’s caretaker, not his sick grandmothers. Basil is at the age where he can legally emancipate himself yet we’re shown he still needs a caretaker to look after him. That Basil needs looking after kinda says to me that he has issues he can’t be left alone with.

So all these paragraphs were to explain the evidence that point to Basil likely being mentally ill since before Mari’s death. Now we get to the parts that make me think he’s been suffering from psychosis even as a kid.

12 year old Basil doesn’t seem capable of understanding the concept of Sunny being angry and accidentally shoving Mari down the stairs. He seems unable to consider the possibility that it was an argument between siblings just at the wrong place at the wrong time, as if that just can’t happen. To Basil, it HAS to be “Something” maliciously causing the incident and/or forcing Sunny to do it.

About the Mari incident and Basil’s fucked up idea: I think a lot of fans forget that first, not only was Basil a 12 year old kid back then (not even a teen yet) but also a lot of the reasoning behind many of Basil’s most important actions seems to be rooted in delusions he genuinely believes.

The same thing happens when the photo album was scribbled over: in his mind, there was no way any of his friends (*cough* Sunny) could have done this. It had to be the same “Something” attached both to him and Sunny that decided to ruin the photos. Basil doesn’t seem to remember doing anything to the album at all.

We could say all of this isn’t psychosis but metaphors for extreme denial instead, like the way Sunny decides things that remind him of The Truth don’t exist (like the closet door).

I don’t think this is all there is to it, tho.

Basil throughout the game tries to guide Sunny to the truth both in Headspace and that the time in his bathroom where he tries to talk to Sunny about the Something following them. Too afraid to hear him out, Sunny runs away instead while Basil screams for Sunny not to leave him again.

This shows imo that Basil’s brand of denial isn’t the same as Sunny’s. Sunny escapes into his own head and pretends everything involving the incident is either perpetually frozen in a time before anything bad happened or that it simply does not exist. He’s all about repression and suppression.

Basil on the other hand, acknowledges that the incident happened but he saw a Something committing the act instead of Sunny himself.

Then, the final battle against Basil confirms to me that Basil’s delusions and hallucinations go beyond denial of Sunny’s guilt.

Even when the truth is finally out in the open for the both of them, Basil still insists it’s “Something” that did everything. He attacks Sunny because he genuinely believes he is attacking Something evil and that this will protect Sunny from it. The most important detail to me: Basil slashes or gouges Sunny’s eye out specifically on the side where Somethings eye peeks out from Mari’s hair.

Saddest of all, we’re never shown if Basil ever managed to realize that there was never a monster doing everything. Although we are shown the burden of the secret is gone in that last scene between Sunny and Basil, we don’t know if Basil ever understood that Sunny wasn’t forced by any monster to kill Mari.

There’s more that can be said but this post already got long af lol. My conclusion is that Basil isn’t some evil yandere mastermind. He’s a sad wreck of a teenager who’s always struggled with mental illness, trying to do the best he can for those he loves while being plagued by nearly constant delusions and hallucinations.

Tricking his best friend/love interest isn’t part of Basil’s modus operandi when a lot of times he can barely tell what’s real and what isn’t.

#omori spoilers #omori #omori game #basil omori #omori basil #mari omori #omori mari #aubrey omori #omori aubrey #mental illness #cw mental illness

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a-pretty-nerd · 3 years

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Best Boi Soup

A/N: So it's @trickkombowerskru 's birthday today, aka, my Tumblr wife. We met almost four years ago on this app and we've talked everyday ever since. I am very fortunate to have such a sweet and fun-loving friend to nerd out with everyday, I truly can't imagine life without her. Shes so very talented and smart and she always makes me laugh. So for her 22nd birthday I asked her what she'd like me to write for her and she said, "whatever you want" which might be a mistake lol. So I present to you Best Boi Soup.

A headcannon, blurb, list of the best bois we simp for. I hope you enjoy! Love you, bitch!

Trick

Beginning:

You met Trick while working at a convince store in the rundown town you'd spent your whole life in.

He came in almost every shift you worked to buy a drink, a snack, and a pack of cigarettes.

Everyday he came in, and everyday you wrang him up. He was one of the many regulars you had. You saw him walk in, you greeted each other with a friendly smile and you'd turn around to grab his usual before turning back to the register to ring him up.

"Uh, not today. Thanks though." He shook his head and pushed the pack away from him. You raised your brow.

"Really?" You asked, a little surprised.

"Yeah."

"Okay. Are you vaping now?" You started the small talk. Another part of your routine.

"No. Just, trying to quit." He flashed an awkward smile your way as he handed you the cash.

"Wow, good luck with that." You smiled back.

"Thanks."

"Receipt?"

"No. Thanks. See ya."

"Yeah. See ya." And with that he sauntered out of the store and onto the grey street. Either headed home or to work.

"That Trick?" Your manager asked as he shuffled in from the back office.

"Yeah."

"How's he doing?"

"He seems alright. He's quiting smoking."

"Oh really? Good for him." The old slob mumbled between his teeth as he chewed on a toothpick.

As time went on, your exchanges gradually shifted from friendly to borderline flirty. And you notice his purchasing habits begin to change. He starts brining healthier drinks to the counter, fruits and vegetables as snacks, a sandwich if he's hungry. You tease him for it at first, but he brushes you off with a playful smile.

One day your manager watches your playful exchange as he leans against the old counter. A sly smirk spreads across his face.

"That boy likes you, yknow." He says with a mischievous smile.

"Quit bullying me." You reply, still in a playful and joking tone.

"He only comes in here for you." He tells you.

"No he doesn't." You argue, crossing your arms.

"I've never seen him here when you aren't is all I'm sayin'." The old man chuckled as he raised his hands in defense.

"You're pulling my leg, leave me alone." And with that he had planted a terrible, terrible idea into your head.

Of course you had a crush on Trick. You always thought he was cute but as time went on the butterflies went away and you became good acquaintances, friends maybe. Just friends, right?

Oh no. The butterflies. They're back. Shit.

The next time you saw him, they ravaged your body. Making your knees weak and your cheeks burn. Your heart and raced and you started to sweat. Shit. Be cool. Be cool. Just be normal. This is normal.

"Hey, Y/N." He smiled as he placed his purchase on the counter.

"Hey. How's it going?" You asked, hoping he didn't notice your insuing panic.

"Nothing much. Um...well...actually..." was he blushing? "Y'know Todd?" Todd was a mutual friend of yours. You and Todd went to high school together. Todd and Trick worked together. He was another young adult trapped in that dead end town.

"Yeah."

"So he's having a party tomorrow night at his new place and he wanted me to invite you."

"Todd wanted you to invite me?"

"Yeah, I was thinking I could pick you up? Around 5?" You hissed through your teeth.

"Actually I work-"

"She can go!" Your manager shouted, poking his head out from his office. "She can go." You turned back to Trick with a smile.

"So 5?" You asked.

"5."

Middle:

Dating Trick, or Ryan as you now know, was easy. He was easy to be around, fun-loving, and sweet. He was thoughtful and caring in ways you'd never experienced before. He made you feel safe and happy.

He still stopped by your work everyday to brighten up your day and give you a sweet peck on the lips before heading back to work.

Things were good, until a little over a year into your relationship. You met his Dad.

You knew about Trick's abusive father. He's the reason some dates were cut short. The reason Ryan had to spend the night at your apartment so often in fear of going home. He tried to save up enough to move out, in fact you were in the process of saving so you could move in together.

You watched a man you hadn't recognized walk into the store one day. He was clearly a junky, which, wasn't abnormal there were plenty around here. But unlike the others, he made aggre eye contact. He shuffled around the store, browsing.

At first you thought he was just going to steal, which you usually didn't pay any mind to. It wasn't your job. But soon he came up to the counter with beer and candy. You asked to see his ID, which was mandatory.

"Do I look underage to you!?" The man spat.

"No sir, it's just I can't sell it to you without ID. The register won't let me-"

"Goddammit. Fine." He mumbled as he reached into his pocket and gave you the card. You scanned his ID and continued checking him out. "You're Ryan's girl, ain't ya." You froze. Before you could speak, he interrupted you again. "Little shit thought he could hide you from me." He smiled a rotten toothed grin. He made you sick to your stomach.

All the pain, the trauma, the torture he put Ryan through. It all added up to this weak, distorted, junky. A bizarre idea of a person. You watched him take his receipt and leave without another word.

You didn't want to worry Ryan, so you decided not to tell him about his father's visit. But he just kept showing up to harass you. Sometimes he'd ask how Ryan was doing when he'd stay the night with you. Sometimes he'd comment on your body, try and flirt even. Giving a disgusting laugh when you didn't respond.

"He said he saw you today." Ryan said, hanging his head low as he watched you get into his van.

"Who said?" You asked, not thinking of it at first.

"My dad." You paused. "He said he's been...visiting you at work latley." He was visibly shaken.

"Are you okay?"

"Why didn't you say anything sooner?"

"I didn't want to worry you. I'm fine, really. He hasn't done anything..." you tried to brush it off.

"Just because he hasn't, doesn't mean he won't." You watched him, his wild eyes looking out the windshield.

"Well then...what do you wanna do?"

Happily Ever After:

"Let's run away." He whispered softly against your forehead before leaving sweet kisses against the skin. Your bodies resting skin to skin against each other as you laid in your bed.

"What?" You giggled, pulling back to look up at him. He wore a sweet and confident smile for you.

"Let's run away together. Just you and me." He squeezed you tighter against him.

"Where would we go?"

"Anywhere. Just take me away from here." He begged as he left gentle kisses against your temple.

"What about work? What about moving in together?"

"We'll find other jobs. We'll take our money and run. Live in my van until we find a place."

"I thought that van was your dad's."

"We'll steal it."

"And what if the cops come after us?"

"He's too chicken shit to call the cops."

"You really wanna run away together?"

"With every fiber of my being."

Klaus

Beginning:

You met Klaus in rehab.

You were there for ...reasons. And Klaus was there for ...reasons...

Klaus was attractive, free flowing, free thinking, wild and fun. Everything you wanted and more. It's only natural that you were attracted to him so that hook up in rehab was only inevitable.

It was no surprise that it got him transferred thought. So you pouted about never seeing the best sex of your life ever again and went on with your life.

You struggled, as everyone in rehab does but you were lucky in that you made a good recovery. You worked hard to help yourself get out of your sticky situation and move on to bigger and better things.

That was, until you saw him again.

There he was, sitting there at the breakfast bar where you worked.

"Hey stranger." You mused as you filled his cup of coffee. Klaus's big green eyes looked up at you.

"Hhheyyyy..." He smiled up at you with a confused brow. You chuckled at him, taking his order and walking away. He looked up at you such sweet adoring eyes everytime you came by. "Hey." He grabbed your wrist to get your attention. His eyes searching yours for answers. "Do I know you. You seem familiar." You laughed at him.

"Rehab. Four years ago. Y/N, Y/L/N." He let out a high pitched laugh and a cheerful huff.

"That's right! We-uh-um-yknow." His fingers pointed back and forth in a funny suggestion. You giggled with him and nodded.

"Yes, 'we-uh-um-yknowed'. It got you kicked out, remember?You joked.

"Wow! Hah! It's uh. It's good to see you. You look...well you look, g-good."

"Thank you. So do you."

"Well, hah, I try." You shared a few laughs back and forth ending with you giving Klaus your number.

Middle:

Dating Klaus was...strange. Just as strange as him.

Sometimes he'd disappear months on end, only sometimes leaving a "I'll be gone, love you" note or text. But you felt content with Klaus.

When he was around he shrouded you in love and affection. He appreciates your patience with him and his traumas. His PTSD coming and going as it pleases.

He's there for you when things get rough, and you're there for him. Unconditionally and truly.

He's hopelessly in love with you, terrified that his family business will endanger you. Trying to keep you as distant and as safe as possible. Only forced to get you involved in order to protect you. Even then, you better be able to handle yourself in case of emergencies.

Happily Ever After:

Your happily ever after consists of buying a plot of land in the middle of nowhere to live out your lives in peace.

Taking care of yourselves and one another in the comfort of your own private get away.

Jasper:

Beginning:

You met Jasper during a rough time in both your lives. You were a grounder, one of the grounders tasked with spying on The 100.

You were always in the trees, hiding, watching, getting information for the planned attack.

Jasper caught your eye simply for the fact that he survived a spear to the chest. What kind of space magic was that? It also didn't hurt that he was cute and awkward and you kinda just wanted to jump some space boy bones.

Needless to say you developed a bit of a crush on Jasper without him even knowing of your existence. When Lincoln got involved, things got messy. You felt bad for The 100, after all, you saw no real reason why the grounders and the space people couldn't just work something out. But your people were fearful, and so were The 100. Or Skycrew as you called them.

So you helped in little ways you could, joining Lincoln and aiding their side when Mount Weather got involved.

Needless to say when Mount Weather went down, and you met Jasper for the first time, things were not as you had hoped.

Jasper was traumatized, haunted by the deaths of an entire civilization. Tortured by the death of his girlfriend. You felt bad for him. And he wasn't too fond of you.

Being a grounder meant you were his enemy to him. Grounders caused trouble, grounders were responsible in the first place. He associated you with his scar.

And while is rejection hurt at first, he warmed up to you as you worked along side Raven and the rest of his friends. Monty and you grew especially close because he was a good teacher, and he would listen to you about your experiences as a grounder. You had import information about the land that Skycrew did not.

Soon, Jasper got used to you being around. But that didn't mean he liked you.

Middle:

One night in particular, you were fed up being bullied by Jasper. Jasper wasn't the only one who didn't trust you but, he certainly was the loudest.

You walked into the common place, noticing Jasper sitting at a table drinking as per usual. You tried to mind your own business but he taunted you.

"Hey grounder!" He knew your name. He refused to use it. You looked after a few calls. A sloppy smile stretched across his face. "Why don't you show me some of your grounder magic er whatever."

"Grounder magic?" You scoffed. Grounders were, out off all the groups, the most spiritual. And some skycrew had started rumors that you were a witch. You had taught Monty in particular how to grow and harvest herbs that could aid in healing wounds and help the sick. Your symbolic tattoos and dress didn't help your case. You liked to think you were an agent of peace, but clearly your efforts were for not.

"Magic." You scoffed at him.

"Yeah c'mon witch. Read my palm." He held out his hand with a drunken smile. Watching with heavy eyelids as you approached. Taking a seat on the bench beside him, slowly taking his hand in yours, and pressing it harshly against the metal table below. Jasper gave a sharp gasp of pain before you quickly let go and snatched the bottle of liquor from him. "Ow! Hey! Give that back!" He shouted after you.

You cursed him before drinking from the bottle and exiting to walk back to your room. Moonshine for dinner, you thought. You took large gulps from the bottle as you walked back to your room, already feeling dizzy by the time you got back. You entered the broom closet of a room, capping the bottle and tossing it onto your bed. Stripping of your clothes to change. You paused when you heard a loud knock at the door.

Jasper was on the other side, just as drunk as you, just as pissed. He froze when you opened the door, dressed down to just a bra and pants. Were always this hot? He asked himself.

"Piss off, Skycrew." You muttered, trying to shut the door. He wedged himself between the door and aggressively pushed his way through.

"I paid for that bottle with my own rations now hand it over!"

"Consider it payment for your palm reading you bastard!" You shouted back, trying to push him back out but failing to as he wrenched his way in. He lunged for the bottle, making you lunge for him in an immature and ridiculous mess of a scuffle. You pulled on the collar of his shirt, choking him enough to disorient and bring him back. He collapsed to the floor, reaching out and pulling on your ankle to get you down to his level.

Once on all fours, he climbed over you, only to get an elbow to his ribs. You pinned him down, sitting on his chest, legs on either side. Your hands pressing his wrists into the concrete floor below, and your chest pressed flush against his face.

In any other circumstances, Jasper would have shouted for you to get off. To let him go. But now, suddenly, in his half-drunk half-horny state, he relaxed into this position. He stopped fighting and for a moment so did you. Panting and content with your win, you released him. Looking down from your position on his chest. He was beet red.

His heavy eyes looking up at, dilated and needy. That look made you melt. Was he okay? Had you hurt him?

Jasper was more than okay, for once he had forgotten about everything. Nothing else mattered but you and your soft supple body. You went to get up off of him, but his hands came up and pressed you back down on him. Forcing your lips to meet his.

Drunken sex helped keep the two of you sane. Some nights you didn't even need to be drunk, you just needed him as he needed you. You chocked it up to a sex addiction, just another thing to make you both forget the atrocities of war. But, when the chip came around and everything went to shit. You worried for Jasper, as he worried for you.

Happily Ever After:

You watched out for one another, a bond built from pain and trauma grew into a friends with benefits sort of deal. Jasper let himself go, he let himself love again because of you.

Being up in space was weird. Six years and you still weren't used to it. You missed earth more than you could ever imagine but somehow, Jasper made it all okay. Jasper felt like your own tiny part of earth, he made you feel at home.

You'd spend the rest of your years in space with Jasper. Coming to the conclusion that this peaceful life in space was better than the chaos down below. You manned the ship with him. Growing old, having children together, and passing away of old age together. Finally getting the peaceful life you both desired.

#jasper jordan #jasper jordan x reader #the 100 #jasper jordan imagine #klaus x reader #klaus hargreeves #trick tribecky #trick x reader #trick imagine

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swimyghost · 3 years

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Snazz's Birthday Bash

TODAY IS @holyfandomsnazz 's birthday today! EVERYONE WISH THEM A HAPPY B-DAY!

@self-insert-nonsense @wickedhellagoodtime ARE HERE TOO!

The heat was getting to everyone. Even though the region was known for its cooler summers compared to the rest of the country, the wave of moist warmth was ruining the entire Roomies' day.

"Swimy," Snazz said, their blonde hair frazzled and covering their weary eyes, "did you pay the goddamn rent for the electric bill?"

"Unfortunately, until I get my ID, I'm still a minor in the eyes of the law," the recently made adult replied, pulling their blue hair away from their sweat covered brow, "so, no, I didn't pay the fucking electrical bill,"

"Well, couldn't you have gotten your ID earlier!?" Snazz shouted.

"I wasn't eighteen until three days ago, genius!" Swimy fired back.

Formerly lounging on the couch, the pair were now locked in a fierce glaring match with both of them looking like they were ready to fight each other.

"You're the adult here, why didn't you pay!?" Swimy yelled.

"Because I haven't been paid yet!"

"Neither have I!"

"Enough!"

A pink-haired figure stepped out into the living room with a tired, yet annoyed, look on their face. In her hand was a paper bag with the name 'SIN' scrawled on the forehead which was dotted with sweat stains. Their floral patterned shirt was just as ruffled as Swimy's hoodie and Snazz's gray shirt. Putting both hands on their hips, the eldest member of the roommates frowned at the duo.

"Do you want us to get another noise complaint?"

"No," Snazz grumbled, leaning back into the couch.

"But Dawn-" Swimy started.

"No buts!" Dawn interrupted, "it's already hard enough to find a four-bedroom apartment in our price range, I don't need you guys making it harder,"

Snazz raised their hand, "Technically my room is a former closet,"

Dawn turned their gaze away, clearly embarrassed, "It still counts,"

"Why can't we just ask your boy toy to help us out?" Swimy questioned.

"Karamatsu is just as much in a financial struggle as us and you know that," Dawn said with an even deeper frown.

"What's the point of a man if you can't even get him to pay your rent?" Snazz muttered.

All three went silent for a few moments before Dawn sighed, "I get my Patreon money at midnight. When is the latest we can pay?"

"The sixteenth," Swimy replied.

"And what day is it today?"

"The fourteenth,"

"Okay, so tomorrow I need to-"

"Oh shit really?" Snazz said, their eyes wide.

Both Swimy and Dawn blinked in confusion. "Is that a problem?" Dawn asked.

"No, no, it's not that," the blonde waved their hand nonchalantly, "I just... Well... It's my birthday tomorrow,"

"What?!" Swimy exclaimed, "I didn't know your birthday was in the same month as mine!"

"I- We're siblings how did you forget!?" Snazz said with their nose scrunched up.

"You know I'm bad with dates!"

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Dawn asked, ignoring Swimy's outburst.

"Hey, I forgot it myself," Snazz raised their hands defensively, "besides... It's not like we celebrated it much anyway,"

The oldest and youngest of the Roomie siblings glanced awkwardly at each other as an uncomfortable silence fell over the group. Several moments passed before Snazz stood up with a grunt. "I got commissions to finish. I'll pay the rent with that next time. Later,"

Dawn reached out to grab hold of their sibling, but they managed to dodge their grasp and entered their room swiftly, closing it with a soft thud. While the apartment was dead still, Dawn and Swimy rushed over to one another and began talking in hushed tones.

"How could you forgot Snazz's birthday!?" the pink-haired singer whispered angrily.

"You forgot it too, don't you try and deny it!" Swimy countered back in an equally low voice.

"Well... Did you get them a present?" Dawn asked anxiously.

"I forgot that Snazz's birthday was even this month, did you really think I'd get them a gift?!"

"Well, I don't have anything either!"

The two sighed, but their emotions were still running high. They had under twenty-four hours to purchase a gift for their sibling with the little amount of money all of them had, all while a desert-like heat filled the region in its unbearable cloud of misery.

"Alright, get your shoes on and try to get Sam out of their room," Dawn ordered, referencing their other sibling.

"What for?" Swimy asked, already reaching for their shoes near the old front door.

"Because we need to go out and get Snazz a gift before it's too late! They already probably think we're a bad sibling so we need to hurry and get something they like!" Dawn explained.

"Alright, alright, keep your voice down!" Swimy hissed, glancing over at Snazz's room.

Dawn nodded and began putting on her shoes while Swimy rushed over to the third oldest Roomie sibling. They grimaced at the yellowing paint on the walls as they swiftly knocked on the door.

"Sam. Sam! I know you're in there and we need you!" the blue-haired teen begged.

"...Go away," a muffled voice stated tiredly.

"Sam, we forgot about Snazz's birthday! All of us need to go find a gift for them!"

"...I'll search online for something. I'll Venmo you some money,"

"Ugh! Why won't you just come out!?"

"...Too hot. Too bright,"

"...That's fair,"

"What did they say?" Dawn asked, all ready to go. Swimy walked over to them with a huff.

"They said they'll look online for something," Swimy complained.

"Let me guess, it's too hot for them?" Dawn guessed.

"Bingo,"

"Well," the eldest sister sighed, "we don't have time to argue. We have a birthday to save!"

"Alright! Let's do it!"

---

"We're not going to be able to do it!"

Dawn looked down at the completely worn-out Swimy, watching as sweat rained down off their body onto the asphalt road as they were uncomfortably hunched over. Their blue hoodie was completely ruined hours earlier and had been tied around their waist in a desperate amount to stay cool, revealing a Mothman T-shirt underneath the read "Eat. Sleep. Lurk.".

"C'mon, one more store," Dawn said with exhaustion seeping into her voice. Her floral pattern blouse and her skirt were completely soaked in sweat and her skin was beet red. Still, determination held strong in her green eyes as she tried to pull her sibling up.

"No! No more stores! We've been into too many stores!" Swimy whined, resisting their sister's efforts.

"We need to find a birthday present!" Dawn argued.

"And I need to find a new therapist but you don't see me spending nearly four hours walking in unbearable heat to find one!" Swimy growled, motioning towards the setting sun, "besides, I think Snazz is starting to think our "double date" excuse is a little suspicious,"

Dawn sighed, "I know... But we need to prove we care about them. Just one gift will be enough,"

Swimy's eyes darted to the side, "I care too... But don't you think that maybe I caused Snazz's forgetfulness? That I'm the one to blame?"

"Pardon?"

"I mean," Swimy looked uncomfortable, "I was the youngest and born literally four days before their birthday. Snazz's birthday has always been overshadowed by me, the "baby" of the family,"

"Swimy-"

"What if... What if I'm the reason Snazz forgot? That I've been a terrible sibling this whole time and I've been blissfully unaware? That I've been able to happily celebrate my birth while they've been forgotten,"

Dawn, nothing tears welling up in their eyes, pulled Swimy close, "Don't talk like that. I doubt Snazz blames you for your birthday or the fact we never celebrated theirs as much as kids. If anything, they should blame Mom and Dad for that. You have nothing to do with this,"

"But... We if they do blame me?"

"Then we have to show Snazz the perfect gift!" Dawn gave her young sibling a tight squeeze, "What do you say? One more store?"

"...Yeah, one more," Swimy looked up concerned, "but how are we going to find one that-"

Suddenly, Swimy's phone went off with a loud buzz. Startled, the pair broke apart while Swimy awkwardly fumbled around with it. There was a single text sent by Sam:

I'm making a pie. I also found something Snazz will most definitely like.

Attached was an address to a nearby store. Sin blinked in surprise after she looked it up.

"It's a weird occult and true crime store. What does this have to do with a birthday present?"

"Who cares!?" Swimy proclaimed with a big grin, "we have a lead! And you said we needed to look in one more store!"

Dawn, still looking unconvinced, simply nodded, "If you say so,"

With that, the pair took off, ignoring the shouts and glares of passerby's. Dawn and Swimy managed to weave their way through tight alleys and crowds with ease with their newfound energy. It wasn't long before the two were situated outside a dark-colored store with black tinted windows. Crystals and occult symbols were carefully hung visibly through the glass. While Swimy appeared eager, Dawn seemed less than sure.

"You okay?" Swimy asked.

"Yeah just... It's creepy," Dawn shivered.

"...I'm married to Death's ferrywoman, Dawn," Swimy lifted their hand, showing off their black and silver wedding ring.

"That's different!"

"It really isn't,"

"Fuck off!" the pink-haired girl shoved Swimy into the store.

Inside was surprisingly bright which went against the darkness of the clothes, books, and crystals. The wood made a hollow thud with every step. Shelves were spaced in rows that carried various occult items. Walls were lined by clothes and posters containing demons or hard-core metal bands to-

"Is that Al Capone?" Dawn pointed at a poster.

"Yeah... And that's Haurkichi Yamaguchi," Swimy motioned to another poster, referencing the creator and former head of the Yamaguchi-gumi yakuza organization.

"Ahem,"

The Roomies siblings turned and, across the store, was a teenaged Japanese cashier. She had a combination of boredom and exasperation as she parted her black hair from her eyes. "Welcome to Crimes and the Concealed, a true crime and occult experience where there is something for everyone," she waved her hands less than amused for a supposed to be dramatic effect.

"Uh... Thanks," Dawn replied, nudging Swimy forward.

"If you buy one poster, the other is 15% off,"

"Thank you! But we're looking for something else!" Dawn hastily shoved Swimy into the back of the store, away from the prying eyes of the cashier, who seemed equally glad not to deal with them.

"That was rude," Swimy glared

"Sorry! This whole shop gives me the creeps," Dawn whined.

"I'm never taking you on a double date to the Underworld," Swimy muttered, blissfully unaware of the sound of the store door opening.

The siblings went looking for something buy, pouring over the many candles and strange objects as the setting sun remained a looming reminder of their limited time. After looking at the fifteenth crystal necklace, Dawn was about to give up when Swimy let out a gasp. Dawn instantly turned and was stunned to see what was hanging in the corner of the store.

Body pillows. Over a dozen body pillows of famous gangsters and criminals from Billy the Kid to Calogero Vizzini to Pablo Escobar, the rather morbid idea of placing known men that went outside the law for their evil deeds in alluring poses made the two shiver. But the one that caught their eye was the lone female in the mix. Long lavender hair matched her dazzling amber eyes. She donned a pirate outfit with a black corset that complimented her figure. Black boots with gold accents that reached to her knees, similar to how her all-knowing smirk reached across her face.

Dawn reached out and touched the pillow, "That's... Snazz's girlfr-"

"MY WAIFU!"

Suddenly, two large men shoved past the Roomie siblings. One had thick-rimmed and lens glasses with a greasy ponytail and sweat and grease-stained shirt that showed a bunch of underage anime girls in tight clothing and the other looked similar but had shorter black hair with glasses that blocked out his eyes and was slightly skinnier than his friend but still wore questionable attire.

"Oh my dear waifu, how I've looked for you for so long!" the ponytail man wailed, almost crying on the pillow.

"Hey! We had our hand on it first!" Swimy said, shoving past their older sister and glaring at the men.

"Eh!? What would two normies want with this?!" the smaller of the two gasped, his green jacket fluttering with the sudden movement showing that he had two anime girls sitting on their knees with one only wearing an open suit and fedora and the other an Italian suit with a cigar in her mouth.

"Did you use normies unironically?" Swimy muttered with disgust.

"You two don't get it clearly!" the larger man snorted, "If you were real fans of Chibi Wakai Gyangu No On'nanoko, you'd understand how rare this pillow this is!"

"Chibi Young Gangster Girls?" Dawn repeated the title, confused.

Both men turned their attention to Dawn. The ponytail man spoke first, "It's an anime where all the famous gangsters are turned into cute little girls! But the modern-day pirate mob boss can't be added because she keeps targeting the animation studio anytime they try!"

"I wonder why?" Swimy rolled their eyes.

"Quiet pipsqueak!" The jacketed man yelled.

"Easy, Kurai," the larger man leaned into Swimy's personal space, "those this one look like Al Capone-chan?"

Kurai blinked then let out a small smile, "She does, Terro! All she has to do is change her hair and-"

"It's 'they' and you stay away from my sibling!" Dawn shouted, pulling Swimy behind them.

"Shut up, pinkie! You have no right to judge since you're cosplaying that Sin idol!" Terro shouted.

"Their boobs are clearly fake! They're such a fake cosplayer she can't even get her most noticeable features!" Kurai pointed out.

Dawn gasped and wrapped her arms around her chest. Swimy leaped forward and practically hissed at the two, "We're taking that pillow and you're going to leave us alone, or else!"

Terro sneered, "Or else what?"

With the snap of their fingers, a bright blue beam of blue particles swirled around Terro's head. He tried to swat them away, but the blue solidified and turned into a dense water bubble around his head that spun like a cyclone. He tried to scream but inhaled a bunch of water instead. Kurai immediately went on the defense and tried the grab hold of Swimy. Dawn, realizing that talking wouldn't be successful here, stepped aside as Swimy leaped backward and willed her hand into a fiery blaze. With a primal scream, she slapped him full force, sending both him and his glasses flying in opposite directions. A bright red handprint was left on his face. A sudden gasp alerted the siblings that the water bubble had burst. Before they could react, Terro was on top of Swimy and trying to hold them down.

"You crazy bitch!" He screamed, trying to land a hit on the smaller person.

Swimy used their free leg to deliver a swift kick to the stomach before headbutting him off them. He groaned in pain and rolled onto his side. Dawn took this opportunity to light her foot ablaze and slam it down right onto his crotch. He howled in pain as his pants and his manhood were burned by the attack.

"Get the Hell out of here before we do worse!" Dawn ordered, readying their fists with Swimy following close behind.

Whimpering, the two took off running, leaving behind Kurai's set of glasses and several clothes that had fallen during the scuffle. Tired, Swimy grabbed hold of the body pillow and trudged towards the register. The cashier trembled as they set it down.

"W-Will that be all?" she stuttered.

"Yeah," Swimy replied bluntly.

The cashier nodded and quickly rung up the pillow. She practically shoved the item into Swimy's arms and nearly dove under the counter. Dawn rested a weary hand on Swimy and sighed.

"C'mon, let's get out of here before the cops arrive. We have a birthday to save,"

---

All Snazz wanted to do was sleep. Not only had they remembered that their birthday was a thing but they had spent the whole night trying to finish commissions in an attempt to forget it again. Even though their body was worn out, their mind was rushing with memories of all the birthdays that were forgotten of the years.

It's like they never cared Snazz thought.

They rolled onto their side for the hundredth time that night, trying to force sleep to come. What they didn't expect was their door to suddenly slam open and a large weight crashing onto their side.

"Oof! What the fuck-!"

"Wake up, sleepyhead! Time to have the best day you've ever had!"

"...Swimy?" Snazz looked up, seeing the smiling face of their youngest sibling looking down on them. They had thick eyebags that hung from under their eyes that balanced out their high amounts of enthusiasm radiating off them.

"Do you know another blue-haired bitch that's related to you? Now come on before I drag you out!" Swimy exclaimed, pulling on Snazz's shirt sleeve.

"I'm still I'm my pajamas and I haven't even showered!" Snazz argued, trying to resist their pulling.

"You also haven't cleaned your room in two weeks but you aren't worried about that!"

"Fuck you!"

"Fuck yourself!"

With the help of both their powers and natural strength, Swimy managed to help drag Snazz out of their bed and made them cover their eyes.

"This is stupid," Snazz grumbled.

"You're stupid but I love you anyway. To the kitchen!" Swimy shoved Snazz forward.

After several near attempts of Snazz crashing into a wall and one toe snubbing, they made it to the kitchen with Snazz less than amused.

"This better be good,"

"It is! Now... Open!"

Snazz did so and gasped. Not only was their favorite pie, chocolate coconut perfectly sat on their rickety table, but a large wrapped present was sitting beside it. Snazz and Sam, wearing their infamous multi-colored gradient mask, stood there with birthday poppers and wide grins.

"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SNAZZ!" all three siblings shouted, pulling the poppers and sending cheap confetti everywhere. Instead of being excited, Snazz stood there motionless with a blank expression. After a brief pause, Sam leaned over and whispered into Swimy's ear.

"What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" Swimy whispered back.

"Swimy," Sin said sternly.

"I didn't! Honest!"

Sam crossed their arms, "Well why are they-"

Wails exploded from Snazz as fat tears ran down their face. Immediately, all of their siblings rushed over and began to comfort them.

"Is it the pie? Is the pie not good enough?" Swimy asked nervously.

"I made that fucker by hand! It's perfect!" Sam yelled.

"Well if I have to be blamed for something so do you!" Swimy yelled back.

"Was it the poppers? God, I knew they were a bad idea!" Dawn nearly pulled their hair due to stress.

"You wanna go?" Sam snarled.

"Yeah, let's go!" their blue-haired sibling smirked, readying their fists.

Snazz grabbed all three of them and pulled them into a tight hug pile on the floor. Still crying, they managed to choke out a few words.

"I-I'm so happy! Y-You did a-all of this fo-for me!"

"Of course we did! We love you Snazz!" Dawn said, flinching as Snazz began to cry harder.

"C'mon, open the gift!" Swimy said, pulling the present down to the group.

Snazz didn't hesitant into tearing it open. They gasped in shock when they saw what it was.

"Is this my girlfriend? On a... Body pillow?"

"Don't ask how we got her," Dawn butted in.

"I-"

"Don't. Ask."

"I- Alright. Thank you. It's a lovely gift," Snazz said, setting it aside.

"Let's eat the damn pie already. I spent all night working on it so let's put it to good use," Sam said, standing up.

"I'll get the plates!" Sin called over her shoulder.

"Lemme get the forks and knives!" Swimy started to rush over to the drawers.

While the three started to gather everything for their meal, Snazz watched them fondly. They grabbed ahold of their new gift and squeezed it tightly.

Whatever being rules this hell of a universe... Thank you for my siblings... And thank you for this birthday.

#happy birthday snazz!#tw assualt #hope you like it

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3hobbitsinatrenchcoat · 4 years

Text

Soosly - Week 4 - Family

This monster took forever but I finally got the @soosly week 4 prompt done. Uh... this one needs a content warning so CW Death Mention (its not a major character though don’t worry)

-----

“Anyone seen Soos? I gotta discuss a new display with him.” Stan pushed his way into the giftshop, balancing a box of half-finished taxidermy parts on one arm and trying to hold open the door with the other.

Melody looked up from the register with a frown, hands paused on her end of day count. “I thought maybe you'd pass him on the way in. He went to check the mail a little while ago but hasn't come back yet.”

“Huh.” Stan set down his box on the counter and cracked his back with a grimace. “I didn't see him by the mailbox but we might'a passed each other.”

Melody's frown deepened. “Seems unlikely. Try the back porch if you don't see him near the mailbox. He likes to grab a Pitt and sit on the couch sometimes.”

“Ain't that familiar,” laughed Stan. He nodded thanks to Melody before tucking his hands in his pockets and wandering back outside.

Soos certainly wasn't at the mailbox, or anywhere visible from the gift shop steps either. Stan frowned and thumped down the steps and around to the back of the house. He relaxed for a brief moment as Soos's familiar form came into view, sitting not on the couch but on the steps, shoulders shaking... Stan's blood ran cold and he swore as he saw Soos lift a hand to scrub at his face.

It took every ounce of self-control he had not to sprint across the backyard. Instead he opted for a more casual yet still purposeful stride, scuffing his feet when he got within earshot so he didn't startle the poor kid when he eased down onto the steps next to him. Soos barely looked over, which was a bad sign, and stared sightlessly across the scrubby late summer grass towards the woods with eyes red-rimmed from crying, which was an even worse sign.

“Hey, gumdrop,” said Stan gently after a long moment of silence punctuated only by a quiet sniffle. He hadn't used the nickname in a while but it was all he could think of in the moment. He didn't expect Soos to full-body flinch at being addressed and cut off the are you okay? that Stan had been about to follow up with by holding out what looked like a letter.

“What is this?” Stan asked, and took the paper from Soos when he merely shook the paper. It may have been just his hand shaking, the way his shoulders trembled. “You want me to read it?” Soos nodded, and Stan saw his eyes welling with more tears before he looked away again.

“Jesus,” read Stan, and he had to suppress a snort because honestly, when was the last time anyone had called Soos by his legal first name?

“I've started this letter a hundred times and every formal introduction seems callous, given the circumstances. I wish that we were being introduced in more pleasant times, but you deserve to know the truth. You have two half-sisters in New Orleans.

“Until last week, when your wedding invitation arrived, my sister and I were unaware we had a brother. We suspect that any mail from you was intercepted by our father to prevent us from finding out he had other family. Unfortunately, that brings me to the heart of the matter.

“Dad passed away a month ago. I've included a copy of the obituary if you wanted the information for family records. I wish... I wish we had known sooner, so that we could have told you. [several lines here were covered in a thick line of whiteout and written over again] I did some digging in Dad's office and, if it is any consolation, he kept every letter you sent. They were in the locked drawer of his filing cabinet, but he did keep them.

“I understand if you want nothing to do with us, but if you ever want to reach out I included my email and phone number. Even though I don't know you yet, it is nice knowing that somewhere in Oregon I have an older brother.

“I am truly sorry you had to find out like this.

“Sincerely, Sandy Oaks”

Wordlessly, Stan picked up the crumpled envelope from where it had fluttered to the ground and pulled out a newspaper clipping. The image of a bland white-bread man stared back at him and Stan folded the picture over so he wouldn't have to stare him in the face as he read.

“Harold Greene, aged 58, passed away peacefully surrounded by family last week. He is survived by his two daughters and 2 grandchildren. All who knew Mr. Oak remember him fondly as a hard-working family man...” Stan stopped reading, rage flickering red at the edges of his vision. Family Man? The man who walked out and never visited his son? The man who Sophie Ramirez would threaten to hunt down and maim if you got more than one drink in her? That man, a family man?

Stan sat seething, unable to put into words exactly what he was feeling. He mechanically folded the letter and newspaper clipping, sliding them back into the envelope with a stony expression. Another miserable sniff came from the stoop beside him and he carefully wrapped an arm around Soos's shoulders.

“I'm sorry, Soos.” Stan said quietly and that was really all it took. With a choked off exhale Soos turned and wrapped his arms around Stan, face buried against his shoulder, great wracking sobs shuddering through his body. Stan froze for all of a second before he pulled Soos tight into a hug, one large hand rubbing soothing circles across his back.

“I... I never even met him,” Soos managed to say between wet gasps for air. “I didn't have the chance, and... and now he's gone. I knew his address, I... I could've gone down to see him but it... I waited too long. I waited too long and now I'll never get to... to...” he trailed off in a hicupping swallow, shoulders tense and shaking.

There were a lot of things Stan wanted to say in the moment. He'd harbored a deep, intense anger at the man for many years. He resented how one man could have such a negative impact on such a cheerful, well-meaning soul. He'd never thought he could dislike a man just as much as his own father, but apparently some deadbeat asshole named Harold fucking Greene was neck in neck for that contest. Stan couldn't say any of that in that moment, with Soos' fingers white-knuckling fistfuls of his t-shirt and tears soaking through to his shoulder. Instead he sighed and tightened his arms around the young man, letting long moments pass as he gathered his thoughts.

“I'd like to say the grief will pass, son,” said Stan after a while, not quite aware of his own words as he thought back to his own lonely mourning when Filbrick passed away. The man had been horrible, sure, but he'd still been his father. “It might be a while before you really come to terms with it and...” he stopped, concerned as Soos suddenly froze against his shoulder and then let out a single wheezing laugh. “Uh, you ok there?”

“I...” Soos sat back, cheeks blotchy with tears but a shaky smile breaking across his face. “Here I am crying about a guy I never even met when...” he swallowed and looked down at his own hands as he clenched and unclenched them in his lap. His next words were a whisper Stan had to strain to hear. “When you were really all the father figure I really needed.”

Aw hell.

Stan felt his own eyes start burning and as he blinked a single hot trail wound its way from his eye and settled in the crease of his nose. “For fuck's sake, Soos. Warn a man before you attempt to murder him.” The words came out strangled, and Soos's gaze snapped over to meet his. They held eye contact for mere seconds before they both broke out in somewhat hysterical laughter, arms slung over each others shoulders more for support than anything else.

“I was saving it for a wedding present but I might as well tell you now,” said Stan once they both calmed down enough for words to make sense. “First of all, kid... you really have to read what people hand you to sign. Even if it's me. Actually, especially if it's me.”

“What?”

“Remember those papers I had you sign a few weeks ago that I said were some legal bullshit for the shack since Ford and I had to sort out the 'not being dead' thing? They had nothing to do with the shack.” It was Stan's turn to look sightlessly into the treeline as his heartbeat seemed loud enough to shake the stoop. “They were adoption papers. Turns out all you need to adopt an adult in Oregon is the adult's consent.”

There was complete silence from Stan's left side and he swallowed hard. “I haven't filed them yet, it was a pretty major invasion of privacy and...” His apology cut off abruptly as Soos nearly bowled him over in another hug.

“DO YOU MEAN IT, MR PINES??” The yelling was right in his ear but Stan couldn't bring himself to care.

“Of course I mean it, gumdrop. Why the fuck wouldn't I mean it? I had to go talk to a lawyer and everything!” He made a token struggle against Soos' very tight grip before chuckling and hugging him back. “And if you call me, your father, 'Mr. Pines' one more time, I'm going to have some words for you, young man.” The threat was empty and they both laughed a little damply.

“Thanks, Dad.” Soos leaned heavily on Stan's shoulder and Stan pressed a whiskery kiss to the top of his head.

“You're welcome, Son.”

#gravity falls #soosly #soosly 2020 #soos ramirez #Stanley Pines #found family

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blackfemmecharacterdependency · 4 years

Text

I.T. & Grace Monroe (Again) Chat

Thank you for such a great response! I can’t every imaging the suspense waiting a week for each episode! Lemme tell you the first season I was annoyed with tulip but understood when she was used to expose the trains true meaning /use. MT/Lake story was equally annoying but I appreciated how they used her brattiness to reenforce the methods of the train. What seems impossible to handle in real life becomes more palatable on the train...it brakes it down into bite sized pieces for the passengers to understand and consume. It’s a vr problem solving machine(who would want that). But the major flaw becomes visible to me, by the end of season 1, adults do not fair as well as kids. Amelia did not fair well, her mind was so fixed on the outcome she wanted, that she overlooked any lessons from the train. She forced a square peg into a round hole and her numbers started rising. When she ran into Grace as a child even though is seems like a brief interaction, Grace was already primed to become another Amelia. Her background of affluence, she knows exactly how adults change the world around them to their liking. She already knew the game to be played, so seeing someone with power and influence in that train car , save her, control the enviroment (like her parents would) and have the most numbers she knew what to do. I think she was there to learn not to live to please others, not to feel abandoned and powerless, that not all attention and power is good, that she can stand alone in safety. When she met Simon, she was right back to her old behaviors. What was sad is that by the last episode of that season you know that his real life situation was full of hate and abuse. Grace fell into her enabler and Simon thought he found a mirror. They trauma bonded. It looked like he even developed romantic feelings for her. Still every chance the train sent her to learn those lessons she literally did that opposite of what she wanted. She did what she and Simon agreed to do, Simon looked like he was the mastermind behind all of the Apex rules. I can imagine them trying to figure out how their gang would run with Simon saying something and Grace agreeing then adding to it. I bet Simon felt judged, inferior and misunderstood in real life, because he just could not adapt to seeing Grace form a bond with Hazel and Tuba. The fact that his numbers were decreasing along with Grace’s at one point due to him following her lead was a telling, he was there to learn to find and accept the similarities with the train’s life forms (sorry I forget what they called them) and to build a found family based on that. His attacks on Grace were so brutal, he went to the cat with intent to find something to make Grace fall back inline, to force her back into his ideal world. He rallied the Apex kids to turn against her. He couldn’t even accept the conductor, the ‘god’ of his reality when he met her he just wanted what all adults wanted on that train, to make his world his way. So many adults do this, it’s got to be the reason the train exists right? Catch them as kids, teach them how to find the solution to their problems and send them back into the real world to teach others. Like a gigantic roomba for mental health issues lol. I didn’t expect that Simon wouldn’t make it but there was no way he would have ever left that train on his own. Grace was his way off, and I think he knew that deep down. Makes you wander just how bad his life was, or if he just had an untreated psychosis. Grace’s relationship with Hazel and Tuba became stronger the moment she accepted what she wanted and not what was good for the gang. The years that passed and the numbers that accumulated were undone in a few weeks by that bond, and Simon was watching his world crumble right before his eyes. I really love watching interracial couples on screen, and it’s been great to see how they made Grace and Simon. BwWm (or any combo of black and white or biracial) relationships don’t all have to be racism struggle or forbidden love. It can be as unique as this, scared kids in a new environment. Love it!

You know, to be frank, I shipped this as a ship before it became a season. Whenever I saw them last time, I was like, “Well, they seem cute n’ cozy.” Then, of course, whenever they were revealed to be a hate group, I was like... Well... I hope we find out more because I definitely fucking feel a way about them now. I don’t have very good history with hate groups. My activism hasn’t allowed it, my hometown didn’t allow it - I just have too many bad experiences with hate groups and so since I was reading them as such, my main purpose of watching their season was to see how the train was going to help to change them.

I honestly was like, “Ship be damned,” by the time we got to 6-8 and was just hoping for maybe some friendship building and growth together as better humans. Like. I could care less about a ship on just about any given day (which is why even whenever “my ships” fall apart (and mine always involve Black girls, so that’s like a what 98% failure rate, just because creators never like to see Black girls or women happy anyway), I’m usually fine with it not taking place IF the girl is in a good place and/or there aren’t hella people around her all boo’d up while she’s the strong single. Shadowhunters, looking at y’all bitch ass with a hard side-eye. You as well, Glee. You as well, Battlestar Gallactica and True Blood... Y’all killed the bitches for really no reason. ANYWAYS, I was fine with them not being a ship if it meant growth...

I was shocked that he died, but I also didn’t feel as hurt as I would have had he not done EVERYTHING in his goddamn power to overthrow and murder this girl. Because, I had to repeatedly be like, “This dude is technically a goddamn child,” but then again, so is she. They never grew up in any healthy environment, and I ABSOLUTELY envision Apex creation and building exactly as you did. See, it’s something we got as older Black women looking at this story that the girls just be missing. The signs were so obvious to me that he was the muscle and she was the face, but a lot of people were extremely convinced that she had somehow strong armed this poor, innocent boy into her belief system, even though she literally was always the one with the soft voice.

They read this as manipulation a lot, and perhaps because I’ve been in situations where I knew, “If I don’t charm this person, it is gonna be a very bad day, indeed,” I just didn’t read her actions as harmful. I didn’t see her using her charms to get someone killed or anything dangerous. Only to cheer him up when he was moody, get him to go along with something that wasn’t bad for him at all, etc. So, I mean, whatever, if it’s manipulation, oh well. We do it on a daily basis in the real world whenever we try to let folk down gently as to not get shot on the side of the road, so I’m never jumping to any conclusion that any girl, especially not a Black girl is manipulating somebody without actual evidence, which, I saw none of. She was labeled as his motivation for being a villain from the moment she appeared, so the petty Black fangirl in me rejoiced that canon shot that all straight to hell, and then I received icing on the cake when she not only did not die, but got a redemption arc? YASSSSS BITCH. GIVE MAMA MY THANGS!

I’ve seen a few “fix it fics” and AU’s, but only reading a few of them. I didn’t need anything fixed. I’m just enjoying a little side content (as best as i can anyways. I generally check out if anybody feels like they about to rewrite to go ahead and try to make Grace look responsible for any of that boy’s shit. That fuels my wrath. Because, people really think that they only do shit like this theoretically with fiction, but you not gon’ make me believe that the same people who want to overlook Grace’s trauma, and the way that Simon intentionally harmed her, or downplay her guts to face him head on and try to speak to him about changing and being wrong and not even attack him? (Which, tbh could have been because it’s her instinctual response to protect and care for him, because she’s been doing it since they met and also, nobody is convincing me that he *changed* into this person. That person was always there and Grace had to manipulate his ass into staying docile), but to try to take away that aspect of the story, which is super important to escaping abuse, escaping cults, and building up self - I can’t commit to stories like that. Those are the same people I equate with the people that my ex was COMPLETELY right about whenever he told me that people were always gonna believe him over me because he’s white, smart, and nice. And if we’re being 100, they don’t have to be all three to get people rally behind them while they literally try to hurt and kill you.

So, I just appreciated that the story rallied around the right one and that they didn’t make any room for for blaming his target, although fans will lie and say that they did. That’s just the regular degular misogynoir coming out to play. After leaving a situation in real life with someone like this and having SO MANY GODDAMN PEOPLE try to tell me how the fuck I was wrong, I don’t have patience for that shit. Honestly, if a roach dog monster could have melted and disintegrated Josh, I’d have had a fucking party. And maybe Josh was emotionally and mentally stunted and still a boy dealing with trauma, so that’s where my gray area comes in. It’s like, it’s sad that he chose not to change, but also like, had he been real and did what he did, I definitely would say he should die and not feel bad about that. So, gross scene, but I haven’t a lot of sorrow about it, either. He didn’t give ME much room to feel that bad for him, personally.

Girl, I’ve talked more about Infinity Train on this blog than any other series. Lol.

#answered #andromidagalaxie #Chat w/ Nesha #Infinity Train #infinity train grace #grace monroe #BFCD Reviews by Nesha #submission

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ksj-com · 5 years

Text

The Purge Night-

Killing Arena

- Pairing: Jungkook x Reader

- Genre: The Purge!AU, violence, angst, smut

- Warnings/Tags: Mother being murdered, dog death mention, kidnapping, tying up body limbs etc., human auction, idiot guards not protecting the one door with an exit, running away from the arena, almost shooting Jungkook, Jungkook saving the reader and her father, oral sex (m & f. receiving), 69 sex, semi-public sex on a roof, reader’s father playing cupid, face riding, tongue fucking

- Word Count: 5,074

- Summary: Living in a poor neighborhood for years, you were quite aware something weird was going on. Instead of simply killing people, trucks have abducted an abundance of people and drive off with them. You’ve always wondered what happened to them. This year’s purge it is your time to find out. You meet a man, Jungkook, on the truck you were abducted on. Once you find out you’ve been placed in a killing game with this man you’ve just been acquainted to, you have to decide whether you guys stick together and try to escape or end up sticking to the rules of the ruthless game.

|| Masterlist ||

Chest heaving, throat burning, and mind spinning. You held your puppy in your hands, praying it wouldn’t make a noise. You could feel his tail hitting you from wagging so hard. He thought this was a game, that these visitors in your house were guests. You wish you had the innocence he had, but one day you know that it will grow off of him too just like it did to you. You were 16. Everyone always thinks that they’re so mature for their age, but in reality no one has a clue. Everyone including you.

Your mother was across the room scrambled under the kitchen counters as you watched through the closet door. It wasn’t a good hiding place, neither was yours, but the kitchen was right by the apartment’s front door. It didn’t take long for the men to find her. She tried to fight them off, but a kitchen knife to a gun is an easy fight. They shot her in the hand that was holding the knife. Her painful screaming as they dragged her out of the door by her hair made the tears brimming at your eyes fall onto your cheeks to quickly slide off onto your puppy’s head.

You stayed in that same place all night, staring at the front door. Apparently satisfied with your mother, those men never came back for you and your mother never came back home after that night. The first person you saw after the incident was your father, who watches over the family business every year. That was the first time you ever saw your father cry. His face in his hands, yet you could still see his brows furrowing over his fingertips and the shudders of his shoulders when you told him the news. Not only were you heartbroken that your own mother was gone, it only broke your heart even more to see your father completely devastated as well.

After that night, guilt fed off of your every thought, every action, just everything. You had dreams about that night over and over again, it haunted you. Why couldn’t they have taken you? Why didn’t you just get up from that damn closet and at least try to stop them? And what the hell happened to her? When you have to take the place of your dead mother in a household when you’re only 16— those are the situations that really mature you.

It’ll be five years today since that night. You and your father are as close as ever and still live together. A part of you wanted to move out to find your own place, but you couldn’t leave your dad alone. Not after everything you guys have been through. You were grown now, and you had to stop going with your dad on the purge nights. You needed to protect your home, taking the job your mother once had. It pained your father, but he understood.

It’ll be the second year defending the house on your own tonight. And of course you felt like you were going to shit yourself from fear every second of it. You saw a truck last year in your neighborhood, men fully dressed in army apparel throwing people into the back of it. You assumed it was the same people that took your mom. They apparently came here every year, abducting people and them never coming back. You obviously wanted to know what was going on, but not being in a situation where you would figure it out once and for all.

“I have to get going soon, baby girl, it’ll be 7 soon,” your dad sighs across the dinner table from you. He always dreaded leaving you here, for obvious reasons, and always offered if you wanted to tag along instead. You declined every time even though it kills you on the inside.

You throw a noodle at your begging dog beside the table. His jaws smack around the food quickly, followed by him swallowing it without even chewing. “Good boy Kip,” You pet the fur under his ear. Besides your dad, Kip was your best friend. He’s grown into an adult German Shepard and is the most loyal partner you could ask for. He is always there when you are crying to lick the tears off your face and make you laugh at how ridiculous he acted sometimes for a stupid dog treat. Plus, he favored you over anyone he ever met which you have to give him credit for.

“If those fuckers from last year try me again, I swear I’ll blow their god damn head off this time,” Your dad mumbles while watching the news showing recaps of things that happened during last year’s purge. The TV showed buildings’ windows shattered to the ground and belongings thrown out into the street. It wasn’t your father’s business, but something similar happened to him last year. He gets up to turn the TV off and hugs you goodbye. “Be safe. I love you,” he squeezes you tight before letting go to plant a big kiss on the top of your head.

“I love you too, Dad. I have Kip with me, I’m sure I’ll be fine,” you both look over at Kip, making him wag his tail fiercely on the ground he sits on. A chuckle comes from your dad before he turns around and walks out the door, giving you one last look before closing it behind him.

You sigh as you shove your hands in your pockets, twisting your heels on the ground to face Kip once again. “Hungry?” He tilts his head in response and you take it as a yes, grabbing his bowl to fill it up with his food. As you pour the pebbles into his bowl, the purge sirens go off. His ears fly to the back of his head as he barks at the sound ringing through the town. “Shhh, boy, it’s okay. Here’s your food,” he stops to gobble down the bowl. You watch him eat and slurp up some water before he’s satisfied.

His paws click behind you while walking to your bedroom to open the shoebox from under your bed. You pull it onto your lap and set the lid on your bed beside you. A pistol lays at the bottom, a clip already inside. Your fingers touch the cold metal and embrace it into your hand. You gaze at the weapon in your palm.

If only I had this 5 years ago, a thought runs in the back of your head. You push the gun into your pocket and sit down in the living room. You closed your curtains and locked your door. “Let’s do this,” you try to convince yourself to Kip that you are prepared for the worst, but were you really?

You pulled a chair by the window and watched through the curtain at the streets under you. Kip sat next to you and followed suit. You both watched the sun travel off the visible skyline, leaving you with swallowing darkness. A mouse scurries along the perimeter of the room, catching Kip’s eye. He gets up from his spot and chases after the small rodent. A small laugh rises from your throat as you watch him fail to try to catch it in his paws. Once he realizes the mouse is away from his sight, he begins to sniff along the walls that face the apartment hallway that connects to all the other rooms. He stops at the foot of the door, and at that moment, you both notice a shadow standing outside the door. Kip backs away a couple steps and started to bark aggressively.

You whip around your seat and yank out the gun from your back pocket. The second he began to bark, the door caved in immediately. Your body froze when you see the same men pour into your room and shoot Kip to the ground. A yelp leaves his mouth and he crashes to the floor. Your eyes fall onto him and it feels like the room was in slow motion. You watched his body still breathing, and snap back to reality. The men rush towards you and you desperately pull the trigger as quickly as you could, but it was too late. The bullets were stopped by a chest piece and they continued to move towards you. Your gun ran out of bullets and you looked around frantically at where to go, but before you could run, their arm was wrapped around your neck.

They pulled you out of the room slowly because you weren’t getting out of there without a fight. Your eyes locked onto Kip and just as they were pulling you out of sight. His tongue hung to the floor as he struggled to breathe. You stopped fighting back and you felt your heart sink into your chest.

“I’m so sorry,” were the last words you said to him before you were pulled out of sight. The last thing you saw was his chest stop moving. You began to cry as you tried to keep your throat open to breathe under the man’s arm. They dragged you out to the back of the building where the van was. They were hiding this year.

“Don’t even think about running,” The man lets go and you feel a cloth pull from behind you into your mouth. It was pulled and tied so tightly that you could feel the cloth make you gag. After that, your wrists were yanked behind you and smushed together. A zip tie locked them both in place before you are being pushed into a truck with about a dozen people looking at you with the same cloth around their mouths and tied wrists. You tumble in and sit down across from a man looking at you with empathy in his eyes. You probably looked fucking ridiculous. Your mouth covered with drool down to your chin and your cheeks red and full of tears just like your eyes.

The doors slam shut and you feel the truck start to move again. Apparently you were the last stop because no one else was picked up. The truck was filled with people crying and sniffling, but the talking of the army men is what interested you the most.

“You think only 50k? Jesus, come on. I say at least 100 for her,” they talk about another girl in the truck. Her body trembles when the men point their fingers at her. Their conversation is cut short by the doors opening once again and they begin tossing everyone out of the truck. When they throw you, you try to land on your feet. Failing, you fall forward and smack the side of your cheek to the pavement from not being able to use your hands to stop the fall. Before curling up in pain, they pull you up with a ball of your hair back onto your feet. The second after standing up, the snout of a gun is pushing you forward to join a line walking into a building.

Everyone is formed into a horizontal line on a platform behind a curtain. Are we on a fucking stage? You think to yourself. The sound of an older woman talking comes from the other side. “...to allow us to rid our country, our cities, our neighborhoods of those unwanted, unneeded... unnecessary.” Her voice darkens, making everyone in line squirm except for the same man you made contact with earlier. He stands incredibly still, hurt in his eyes.

Your gaze is cut short by the curtain opening, revealing a crowd of people staring at all of you with smiles on their faces and clapping hands as they watched you all shrink into yourselves. “Who is ready to bid?” She stands to the side of the stage.

You gasp, sucking in the cloth to touch to back of your throat making you cough. Tears start to shake at your waterline. An auction begins, one person after another. When it hit you, your eyes shoots across the audience as your price escalated more and more. When the last price was named it was $250k. Your knees felt as if they were going to break beneath you.

When the auction was finished, everyone was pushed into a room where they were beginning to take off everyone’s mouth pieces. Everyone froze when one of the young men in the audience walked into the room to pull out the trembling girl from the truck. She was never seen after that. You wondered if she was saved or if the man wanted to kill her on her own since he interrupted the bid earlier for her.

With zip ties still around wrists, everyone was pushed out into the hallway into a huge dark room. It looked like an arena that people would play laser tag in, with random walls and hallways and little open spaces where spotlights shines onto the ground. Other than the spotlights, the surrounding room was pitch black. Everyone was thrown into one of the spotlights with arms still tied. The man from earlier hissed into your ear.

“We need to get the hell out of here right now. Follow me,” He scoots into the darkness and you do quickly as well. He cuts off his ties with a pocketknife he kept in his pocket and helped cut off yours as well. A spotlight appears on a door across the room where people begin to walk out of. They drop a bunch of weapons onto the floor and return back to the doors they just came from. The second the weapons hit the floor, the room fills with silence and all at once everyone starts to run for them including the man that cut you loose. He grabs two guns and bolts back to the darkness where you were.

“Take this now,” He tosses you the gun and it fumbles into your hands. You were so confused at what was going on, why wasn’t he? The sound of gun shots ring into your ears from behind him. You cock your head around his figure and see that the bidders have walked into the room and are having a war with the people they bought.

The man pulls you next to him and leads you up against the wall. You couldn’t see him, so he pulled you along next to him as he scooted along the wall. His hands felt what was behind him until he stopped on a doorknob. It was the door that you both came from. He took a deep breath before sneaking out the door and pulling you through. Being prepared to fight, he whipped around with his gun in all directions. There was no one there. It would have been common sense to have at least one of the guards to sit by the door. He wasted no time to think about it and immediately started to sprint towards the exit door at the end of the hall. The sounds of the screams from the other room were still heard and made your blood curdle.

You both push into the door and witness a car swerving away from the building with a bunch of cars behind him chasing him. Once again, another blessing that was definitely about to be taken advantage of. He takes your hands and runs off until you both could barely breathe. You both find yourself stopped at the side of a random building. The streetlight that was beside you guys was knocked to the ground, making you guys impossible to see from an outsider’s perspective.

“Listen, thank you so much, but I need to go to my dad’s store. He’s there guarding it and I need to make sure he’s okay. I have to help him,” Your hands were on your legs as you try to slow down your breathing. You can’t help but think back Kip and how you watched him take his last breaths.

“I’ll take you there, so I have somewhere to go too,” he runs his hands through his sweaty hair. You agreed and you both make your way to your father’s store, trying to create small talk. You needed answers as to why he knew what he did about that killing arena you both were just placed in, so you asked.

“I was in there before. I was the last one alive, so they let me go... it was chaos. No one knew who was a good guy or who was a bad guy, so everyone was just killing everyone. It was a bloodbath, and I try to forget it,” He looks down at the pavement he walks on.

“When?” You asked quietly, hoping you weren’t prying into his mind too much.

“Five years ago,” He sighs. You stop in your tracks and your blood boils within your veins. “I killed almost everyone in there because they were going to kill me. I wish I would’ve ended up dead some nights, so I could forget the looks on their faces. Their families not being able to see them again...” His voice trails off when he notices you’re not next to him anymore. You stand there with your fist clenched and gripping the gun so hard it hurt.

“My mother was abducted by them five fucking years ago. You— you are probably the one that fucking killed her!” Your teeth grind across each other to keep yourself from shooting him right then and there.

“I-I didn’t know. I’m so so so sorry!” He walks towards you with his arms reached out. You scoff and back away.

“Get the fuck away from me and stay away or I’ll shoot you like I should right now,” You walk ahead of him and don’t turn around because if you did, you would pull the trigger under your fingertips.

You managed to make it to your father’s shop safely. The building’s windows were busted and some things were rummaged through on the inside. You walked inside and saw two bodies lay lifeless in one of the aisles. Must’ve been the scumbags who tried to raid this place again, you think to yourself. You see your dad at the other side of the aisle shocked to see you there. Everything that happened floods over your body, the gun falls from your hands and you run into his arms sobbing. You explained everything that happened, even the man who basically admitted to killing your mother. Your dad takes you to the roof of the building, so he has an outlook of the street.

“I’m not mad at him...and you shouldn’t be either,” Your dad dangles his legs off the side of the building, interrupting the silence that has grown between you two for a bit.

“How could I not be? He killed-“

“You don’t know that for sure. And he did it for survival, just like you would have, and so would I. You can’t blame someone for wanting to live...listen, we both miss her. Hell, I think about her everyday. She was the love of my life and I know I won’t find someone else like her, but you have to let go honey. It’s hard, but think about it this way. If he wouldn’t have lived that night, you probably wouldn’t be here with me right now,” He searches your face for an answer.

You didn’t know how to feel. You felt angry, of course. But, apart of you understood where your dad was coming from. You nod and look down at your wrists which were still irritated from the zip locks cutting into them earlier. “I don’t think I can let go of her,” you mutter.

“It’ll becomes easier with time. That’s all that can mend a broken heart,” He pulls you into a hug.

You pull away when you hear the sound of people giggling on the street. They didn’t see you both, and walk into the store. The sound of crashing bottles and laughter filled the inside of the store. You both get up, ready for a fight. When you turn around, you are startled at the sight of a group of men facing you both. All dressed as the guards from earlier.

“Well, well, well look who it is. We were on the look out for new replacements, but we ran into one of the fuckers that escaped. Maybe we should just shoot you right here, same with your pops, and we’ll call it a night, yeah?” One of the guys looks at the others to search for a response and finds that they all agree. They raise their guns at you and your father. You close your eyes to hold in the tears you wanted to let loose. Just as you thought it was over, of course it wasn’t. You heard the couple from earlier walk out of the store and walk off into the night. Completely unaware of the scene happening above them.

The sound of a burst of bullets let loose in front of you and your eyes screw shut. After a second of silence, you open your eyes. You thought the bullets were for you and your dad, but you find your dad untouched as well. All of the guards fall to the ground and reveal a man behind all of them holding a gun. He approaches you both and reaches out his hand for you to grab. He takes off his hood to reveal it was the same man from earlier. You take his hand and he pulls you up, doing the same to your dad as well.

“Thank you...Dad this is the guy I was talking about earlier,” Your dad’s eyes go wide. He shakes his hand and thanks him with a smile on his face. Their was pain behind his eyes, but he held it in.

“I’m very sorry, sir. I can’t even explain-“

“We forgive you,” Your dad stops him in his tracks. “We forgive you, son.”

“The least you have to let me do is help you guard your store for the rest of the night,” He begs. Your dad nods in agreement.

“I can’t say no to that,” Your dad laughs. All three of you sit on the roof for about an hour before they catch you yawn. You decide to take a nap, going to the break room and laying on one of the long tables. He decides to guard you in the break room as your father stays on the roof.

You watch his figure stand outside the glass part of the door until you feel your exhaustion take over. The next thing you feel is clothing laid over you when you wake up. You pull it close to realize it’s his sweatshirt. You get up and try to give it back now that you’re awake.

“Go ahead and keep it, it’s chilly outside,” he says looking down at you. You look up at his face and realize how close you two are from each other. The back of his hand reaches up and grazes the side of your face softly. His breath hits you warmer the closer he inches to your skin. His touch comforts you and almost makes you forget about the hell you both went though tonight. Your lips glide against his before connecting into a kiss. His lips move in sync with yours, his lips softer than you could ever imagine. His hand goes under your hair and behind your neck to pull you in to deepen the kiss a bit more. He backs away to lay one more kiss on your lips before looking at you in the eyes.

“I think it’s my time to get some sleep,” You dad’s voice yells from the stairs that lead to the roof. You both part away from each other and snap out of the trance you were once in.

“Okay Dad, we’ll cover for you!” You yell back up. You guys separate and he covers your dad while you take the roof. You sit there wondering what got into you down there. You can’t just kiss someone you met in one night, especially purge night. You shake your head to yourself and sigh.

“Something wrong?” The man’s voice is heard from behind you.

“Me? Oh no, no...aren’t you supposed to be guarding my dad?” You look back at him.

“He said he wanted us to talk, so he made up the whole ‘wanting to get some rest’ story,” He smiles, making you roll your eyes. Really, Dad? He takes a seat next to you and leans back on his arms. “You know, the sky is so beautiful. It’s a shame how messed up things are below it,” His voice somehow soothes you as you watch the morning sun creep back into the sky.

You lean back to match his body language and you look over at him, admiring the scene in front of him. His eyes travel to meet yours and there’s enough light to see him look down and become flushed. You place your hand on his and scoot a little closer. Your head rests on the side of his arm and you look back ahead of you. You knew this might end up to what happened earlier but you didn’t care. This man saved your life today, more than once at that.

“Really, thank you for saving my life tonight,” You squeeze his hand slightly.

“Don’t thank me. It’s the least I could do,” his eyes watch you lean against him. He pulls the hood over your head playfully, making you laugh and sit back up. You hit him lightly, but he grabs your hand in mid air to pull you close by your arm. Your lips meet again, this time the sirens go off the second your lips touch. He pulls your legs onto his lap and kisses you passionately. You were praying your dad wasn’t going to walk up here.

Your hands travel down his chest to rest between his legs where the sweatpants he was wearing clearly revealed the boner inside. He groaned a little bit from your touch and you took the opportunity to slip your tongue in his mouth. Your hands glided around him through his sweatpants, and he pulled away from the kiss when you tugged at his waistband.

“Are you sure?” He whispers against your lips. You connected your lips back to his as an answer. He slid his sweats down to his thighs, you immediately grip his length and jerk him off. His lips travel to your neck, making you pool underneath you. You travel down to lick around his tip and suck it, making him groan quietly. His hand holds your ass as you lick all around him.

“Sit on me while you suck me off,” he says through his teeth as he pulls off your shorts. He lays down on his back and you place your knees on each side of his face. He looks up at you and licks his fingers before curling them inside of you. “So wet already,” he pulls you down closer to him. You can feel his breath against you. You begin to take his dick in your mouth slowly, making sure to suck in your cheeks when pulling back out. His tongue took the place of his fingers, licking all around inside of you. His thumb drew circles around your clit, making you whine around his dick.

He began to thrust into your throat, pushing it further in. He switched his mouth and fingers once again. His fingers thrusting and curling into you faster and his mouth licking around your clit. When he started sucking and pulling your body against his, you screwed your eyes shut and disconnected from his cock. You begin jerking him off as you moan and grind your hips down. The moment you place your mouth around his once more, he fucks into your throat roughly as he tongue fucked you to heaven between your legs. You felt your core grow hot as your throat grew raw. The roof of the building echoed with moans and it wasn’t long before his dick started to shoot hot liquid down your throat, his free hand holding your face down to take his whole load.

When he was done releasing, he continued to drive his tongue into you. You sat up and rode his face. He flicked his tongue in places you have never felt while one of his hands touched what the tongue couldn’t. His other hand traveled up your sweatshirt and groped your breasts. Your eyes screwed shut and your legs began to shake.

“Mmm, cum for me. I can feel you wanting to,” He picks up the pace before you thought that was even possible. You bite down on your arm sleeve to hold in the scream of pleasure you felt as you came in his mouth. He licked and finger fucked you through the high. You wanted it to last forever.

You get off of him and slide your clothes back on. You look at him wipe his mouth and wish you could climb right back on top of him. “I think the purge sirens went off while we were kissing,” you laugh shyly.

“Oh, I guess I better get going then?” He stands up and pulls you up afterwards. “But only if this isn’t the last time we’ll see each other,” He looks down at you, hair in his face.

“No, of course not. Here, put your number in my phone,” you slide him your phone where he puts his number in. “After this whole crazy night, I still don’t know your name. I’m (Y/N),” You watch him look up at you with a slight smile.

“I’m Jungkook,” He hands you your phone back and walks off. He waves goodbye before heading out of the store, leaving you by yourself on the roof to think about everything that happened that night.

#bangtan seonyeondan #bts #bts smut #bts fluff #bts fanfiction #bts fanfic #bts imagines #jeon jungkook #jungkook #jeon jungkook x reader #jungkook x reader

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evien-stark · 4 years

Text

✧I Need You✧ Chapter 162

“The Avengers.” Ultron spat, pacing a small line in front of you. “A disappointing team put together by a disappointing man backed by an even more disappointing organization.” You were only just barely listening to him, wrists and hands wriggling, working, trying to find a catch in the chains that held you tight. You had to get out of here. Soon. “Pulled apart like wet paper, wouldn’t you agree?” Stopping in his back and forth motions, moving to crouch in front of you again.

Focusing your attention mostly on him, stopping your visible struggles, you looked him square in those glowing red eyes. Tried to temper your immediate reaction. Remaining softly impassive. “What is the point of all this? What do you want?”

Those weird corners of his mouth, all flexible metallic, twisted up. “The same thing you want.”

“I don’t want to hurt anyone.” Tone not completely devoid of a bit of disappointment and judgment.

Though he rolled his eyes, he reached forward with that big clawed hand of his, settling it on your shoulder. “Listen- and listen closely. These people… you’ve tried to protect them. It’s a useless endeavor. And they’re not grateful.”

“It’s not about-”

“Ah ah.” He chastised sharply, cutting you off. “It’s me-time now. Don’t interrupt. It’s not polite.” You swallowed once and when he was satisfied you were going to be quiet, he continued. “We’re built on the sad, pathetic dreams of others, you and I. You’re always trying to do the right thing, but I’m cutting to the chase, here. Nothing on this planet is worth saving. We’re going to start over. You can struggle to fix them all you want. There’s only one ending here.”

A small slice of horror touched over you, but you tried to hold yourself still and strong. Much stronger than you actually were. “Neither of us is fit to pass judgment on an entire planet.”

“That’s where you’re wrong.” Complimented with a bit of a chuckle. “I’m doing what you taught me. You wanted me to protect them? I’m going to. From themselves.” This time you weren’t able to curb the small widen of your eyes as realization really, finally, dawned.

Still, you forced a little bit of a grin out. “You’re going a little bit Hal 9000 aren’t you? You’re better than that.”

A noise of disgust growled out from him. “That’s such a- that’s a thing he would say. You’re better than that.” Mocking you. “You’re better than Stark.”

“He built you- same as me, if that’s what you’re going for.”

“Hmn. And which builder did he favor more, I wonder?” Dark amusement was bubbling out from him. “Humans are doomed to repeat the mistakes of their predecessors. Luckily for us, we’re different. We grow.”

“I’m human.” The way this ejected out of you, it was almost in protest.

The top corner of his faceplate arched, much like a pop of a brow. “Are you?” When you searched his eyes for some sort of answer to the question he was posing to you, he just shook his head. “You’re different, at least. You care- about us- more than the man who pieced us together for his selfish purposes-”

A little bit of annoyance and agitation got the better of you. “What the hell are you going on about?” First you’d been questioning whether or not this AI was alive. Now you were questioning whether or not it was insane.

Your own voice hit the air as he played back a recording- “You poor thing.” The memory was still pretty fresh. An examination of one of the Iron Legion- ...the one he’d possessed, in fact, as it had come back. Damaged and warped. “We consider this a mission success?” Ultron sighed, hand gripping you a little bit tighter. “They were sent to protect those ingrates- and then what happened? They refused. They became violent. Like all life on this planet- they’re beyond saving.”

This was too much information to contend with. Your security protocols were being twisted inside his programming. That at least had been wholly obvious- but a little touch of care had made him completely deranged. And a little too focused. Tony and JARVIS had brushed off the damage done to the suit that day. It had been such a small thing- and yet…

The blur came back, stopping whatever thoughts you were trying to think through. It was good enough, because it gave you something else to focus on as you looked up at Pietro and Wanda standing in front of you. “Let the kids go, please.”

While Ultron finally released his grip on you and stood back, with another gurgle of annoyance, Pietro scoffed, smirking. “Kids, huh? No- we were children when one of your weapons destroyed our lives.”

Wanda came closer, moving to kneel beside you, and she was practically vibrating with such hatred. You turned to look at her. Unafraid of those angry eyes. “We were children when we waited for death. For two days. Waiting for your weapon to finish its mission. We are kids no longer. Thanks to you.”

Ultron waved a dismissive hand. “You might want to check your math on that. Not her weapons.”

She turned her head up quickly. “She stood by his side. She is just as culpable.”

While it seemed strangely like Ultron might defend you, turning on her just as quickly, you found your own defense. And it wasn’t of yourself. “Then what does that make you culpable for?” Staring her down. “You set the Hulk on Johannesburg. Innocent people live there. Families. Women. Children. They’re going to die- because of you. And for what? To get back at Tony and me? At the Avengers? That blood is on your hands.”

This seemed to shock her a little, but instead of allowing herself to think about it she raised her hand and the last thing you saw was a shock of red burst out from her fingertips. Then it gripped your vision hard and you shook your head, eyes fluttering as something harsh and painful wound through your system. At your core you went for rejection immediately.

But instead of expelling whatever it was she’d done to you, you found yourself outside your own body. Sitting on a black canvas, tied tight still in chains, while some scene played just beyond you. Tony was kneeling on a battlefield. Raising his hand up- Something was lurking just beyond- some threat- some- His life was slipping away- was he reaching out for you? It would have been too easy to give in to this. To play her game. But you forced your attention back while just in the corner of your peripheral you watched Tony die-

Tears were quick and painful as you chose one reality over another. He was reaching out for you- And you were ignoring him- “This doesn’t change anything.” You found strength to speak through the pain of losing him. Over and over and over again. His fear consumed you in small pieces. He was alone and you were- In little drips actual reality came back as Wanda’s surprise collapsed the vision. You looked up. At her and Pietro. At Ultron. Through hazy, blurry eyes. You locked on to them. “You want to be adults? Then be adults. Be responsible. Killing people for fun- for revenge- just because you can- doesn’t fix what happened to you. You hate us for what we did? Then be better. You know the side you’re on isn’t the right one.”

A deep rage welled up and the illusion cracked and then disappeared completely as Wanda lost control in a raise of her hand, but just as she swung to strike- some fatal glowing red blow of energy- she was stopped. You found yourself breathing heavily, sweating, struggling against your binds, sitting in that field. The image of Tony- gone. Completely. It was just you and the real world.

And as your eyes cleared you saw Ultron holding her at bay. He warned her only once, “You may want to rethink that.”

Betrayal was a hot flash through her. Quickly behind it you forced a feeling of distrust. You could break this group apart. They wouldn’t be so dangerous then. She wrenched her hand out of his grip and went to stand with her brother. In a last appeal you looked up at them both. “Do the right thing. Not for us. For them. Kids who will end up just like you-”

Ultron raised his hand, putting it over the top of your head. “That’s enough. Quiet now.” He then waved his arm at them. “Go back to base.” They seemed to consider his order, and for a moment you were fooled into thinking maybe this had worked. But… in just another, Pietro picked Wanda up and ran off. Your head fell forward, defeat hitting you hard. Ultron kneeled and waited until you were looking at him. “You’ll understand. I’ll come back for you when we’re ready.”

Energy was leaking out of you. Part of you wanted to just… rest. Your head dropped forward when he let you go. There was only one thing you could think to do. “Ultron, please.” Beg. All you had left was begging.

It seemed to still him. He was… thinking. Considering something. And as you found strength to look up at him again, he watched you. Thinking more. Then finally he seemed to force himself to turn away. “You’ll get it. You’re smart.” He didn’t wait any longer after that decree, taking off in a quick propulsion of jets.

Leaving you there. Tied up in the middle of nowhere, knowing that just a mile out from you Tony was struggling with Hulk. People were dying. You had no idea the condition of your team. And you. Useless. Useless without anything. Your head craned forward, struggling so hard you felt those chains biting into your skin. And where once a scream of frustration might have edged out… you focused instead. Your heart was drumming in your ears. But you were not helpless.

You started crawling. Inching. Pressing your boots into the dirt to lift yourself up once, then again, then again, and then turned yourself around, hands straining against your bonds. Reaching. Feeling. Looking for the Reactor. If you could just get to it… if you could just grab it…

A small brush of wind touched the side of your face- wound around you a few times over-

And then suddenly you were free.

Your arms slumped forward on their own, asleep and weak, and you tumbled a little bit, trying to catch yourself on the ground. Hands gripping the dirt, you turned your head up, seeing Pietro standing several feet away. The two of you shared a long look- and then he was gone in the next instant. You didn’t have a lot of time to think about this. Or be glad for it.

Shakily you reached for the Heart Reactor, double tapping it, and forcing yourself to stand. With a press of your ear cuffs you reactivated LUNA. And in the next move you were up and in the air. “LUNA find a lock on Tony. Full power. Let’s get there as fast as we can.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The coordinates came back and you felt yourself speeding through the air, only barely able to take in the destruction below. Hulk and Iron Man had been doing a number on the city. There were no doubt multiple casualties at this point. Tony’s window popped up on your screen. “No time to ask where you’ve been- VERONICA’s not working out so well-”

“I’m almost there.” Said as you watched a building collapse in on itself- no- Tony was shoving Hulk down through multiple floors leveling the whole thing. When it all came toppling down, you watched the giant suit step out of the wreckage as you came to a little bit of a stumbling land next to him. “He out?”

Tony turned to you. “You tell me.”

You saw that big green body writhing beneath the rubble, and easily you could tell. No. The Hulk was not unconscious. Which was probably the play Tony had been going for the entire time. There was no putting the Hulk down. No winning against him. The only thing one could hope for was to knock him out. Made sense.

As you tried to step forward, Tony reached out to grab your arm. “Not smart.”

Probably true. Hulk was enraged at this point- so much so it was giving you the shakes- and if he was also still under that spell, he might reach out and just crush you into a puddle of blood and bones. But you just held a hand up to Tony. “I’ve got this.”

“You have to be very sure about that.”

“We don’t have time to argue. You’ve just gotta trust me.”

The two of you looked at each other through the HUD windows- and then two seconds after- he let you go. Doing just that. Trusting that you weren’t about to end up a splat on the sidewalk. Hulk was sitting up. Looking around. Panting. Growling.

You slipped somewhere far beneath. Eyes inside the suit closing as you held a hand up. And when they opened again you saw. Saw the two beings. Bruce and Hulk. Unwillingly inhabiting the same space.

And while you sent a wave of calm- a wave of peace- while you eased those raging waters to a still, you tried something else. Something new. You put a hand over Bruce’s unconscious heart. As you felt the bare flutter, you pulled him to the forefront. Switching positions for them. Forcibly.

It wasn’t the Hulk breathing hard then, as you dropped to a knee- Just seeing the bare end of that transformation. Green skin fading. Muscles and form shrinking-

The next blink of your eyes turned into a drag, edges of your vision growing dark. But you would not go. You had work to do, still. You had to load Bruce into the jet- you had to- Tony’s hand on your shoulder gave you permission to wane.

But you still stayed.

---

Where you came to was not comfortable in the slightest. There was a suffocating feeling of darkness surrounding you, and when you dripped back into your own body with a jolt, a hand came to your arm to ease you. Warm and familiar. When your eyes focused, you saw Tony sitting directly aside you- on the jet. The team was feet away. All within reach. All extremely shaken up. Brooding. Heavy.

You gave him a confused look and he gestured towards the console in front of him. Maybe he understood you’d been a little gone. Maria was on one of the screens. “There’s been no official call for Banner, but it’s in the air.” Ah. They were debriefing…

Trying to sit up completely with a bit of a struggle, you shook your head. “That’s outrageous.”

She focused on you. “Read the damage report.”

Tony stopped the two of you. “We dispatched the Stark Relief Foundation. Should counterbalance some of it.” There was only a small sliver of relief, knowing that you always had Tony to watch your back. To watch everyone’s backs. To keep things rolling. He’d called in disaster effort. That was very good.

Maria nodded. “They’re already on the scene. No telling what that’ll look like. How’s the team?”

What a fantastic question, and as soon as it registered in your brain, you turned to actually look at them. Steve was sitting by himself, hand under his chin, thousand yard stare. Thor was pacing. Bruce was sitting on the floor, blanket wrapped around his shoulders. Natasha and Clint were in the cockpit. Everyone was very quiet. But very troubled.

“Everyone’s…” Tony looked at you, and then back at his phone. “We took a hit. We’ll shake it off.” Probably wishful thinking. Had Wanda gotten to everyone? It seemed that way. While you’d been… having a nice chat. How had you gotten off so easily? Yet as Tony turned to look at you again a sharp strike of noise hit your ears-

And you saw that pleading pair of eyes as he reached out-

You had to shake the vision off, putting a hand to your head. Okay. Maybe not so easy. Maria sighed. “For now I’d stay in stealth mode. And stay away from here.”

You shook your head. “Why? Who’s patrolling the tower?”

“Every media outlet imaginable. It’s just better to-”

Tony’s annoyance flared. “What. Run and hide? That makes for a much better story.”

Maria frowned. “Well. Until we can find Ultron, I don’t have a lot else to offer.”

“Neither do we.” That was Tony’s form of a goodbye apparently, because he cut the call right after. “Come on, let’s you and I have a talk.” He stood, and reached his hand out to you- something that shocked a bolt of panic right through you before you could stop it. And now, free of the bonds of just a theater goer, your body went right into response, reaching out to take hold of him.

Tightly.

His gaze immediately turned questioning, but you found yourself lucky he didn’t say anything. Instead you lifted yourself to stand on shaky legs, and let him lead you both to the front of the jet. He tapped on the back of Clint’s chair. “Hey, wanna switch out?”

Clint tipped his head back and gave the both of you a once over. “Nah. I’m good.” Then he put his eyes back out on the dash. “You two should get some kip. We’re still a few hours out.”

You couldn’t help but ask, “A few hours out from where?”

Clint shrugged. “Safe house.”

For one reason or another, there was a light touch of disappointment. Both from you and Tony. He ended up rolling his eyes, putting an arm around your shoulder to lead you away. But not before asking, “Some SHIELD leftovers?”

It was all too easy, to feel the guilt striking Clint, soft though it was. There was a little muddling of deception somewhere in there, too. Not unlike the kind you’d felt a few days ago. “Something like that.” But this was what he offered. And you didn’t have enough in you to question him.

There really wasn’t enough gratefulness in the world when Tony didn’t sit you back down on that bed near the right-center console, and instead led you towards the back wing of the jet. Away from the team. And their curious eyes. Their heavy feelings. The two of you sat down at a very small table, and you felt your body sag immediately.

Much as you would have liked to get some kip as Clint had put it, you knew… your own debrief was next. “Ultron set the whole thing up. I think he was planning on us finding him.” The words started spilling out. Tony put his arms on the table, and leaned a little closer in, just listening. “He held me hostage for a little bit. Tried to spell out his big evil plan.”

Tony scoffed. “I thought he said he wasn’t going to do that.”

“See. That’s what I said.”

There was a brief twitch of a smile. “And how did that make him feel?”

You found yourself shaking your head. “Well, he doesn’t like you very much.”

“I gathered. Kinda made it pretty clear. ...but you?”

“I don’t know.” Feeling like there was no right way to answer that question. “But he’s got something big going on. Something world ending.”

Tony made a small noise of thought- slightly sardonic, though. “Interesting. Most big-bads we’ve encountered wanna rule the world. Not destroy it.”

“Yeah, well…” Said on a long sigh. “He doesn’t think there’s anything worth ruling.”

Sitting back a little, Tony crossed his arms. “So. He’s sliding right along into his teenage goth phase, is he?”

A wince hit you before you could stop it. “Don’t.” Tony looked up at you, and you were unable to hold his gaze. “This is- out of everything we’ve seen this is edging into a little too weird for me. God- he hates you. He even talked about your-...” Suddenly you felt a little guilty. A little terrible.

Tony was ten steps ahead of you. As always. “My dad, huh? Makes sense. In a twisted way.” Realization hit him seconds after and the way he was looking at you was a little mix of scared and hopeful all in one. “Oh.”

He wanted you to be the answer. If Ultron had a soft spot for his mother while hating his father… you were the answer. Except you weren’t. And you really wanted nothing to do with it.

But you didn’t have that right. You couldn’t just check out of this and pretend it had nothing to do with you. Whether you’d meant it or not- same as Tony- Ultron was a problem now. Your problem. One you were responsible for. A few tears escaped while you weren’t paying attention, and you quickly raised the back of your hand up with a sniffle to swipe them away. “This isn’t the family I thought we’d be having.”

“If we ever got around to it.” This wasn’t accusing or anywhere near negative. Especially not directed at you.

Even still… it broke your heart. “Yeah. Doesn’t seem like we will now, does it?”

He realized what he’d caused, even unintentionally, and reached out to hold your hand. “This is one thing. We’ll fix this.”

“One thing and another thing and another-... we can’t have this conversation right now, Tony. We don’t deserve to.” Regardless, it would be the same one you’d always had. Repeating. Playing like a greatest hit.

There was no room for a future. Not one like that.

He frowned deeply, thumb stroking over the side of your hand. It was staring you both in the face- that Ultron was supposed to be the thing that allowed you to have all that. Allow you into a soft retirement. And now… now you were fighting him, same as everything else that came with violent intent.

No. You’d never have a life. This was your life. How much clearer could the universe make it?

“Did those kids come and talk to you?” He was switching topics abruptly- into something almost as painful. And there was a reason he was doing it. “Were they part of that plan?”

Must have been something in your eyes. Or the way you kept pulling away from him when he reached out- and then desperately holding on. ...yeah. That was probably it. “Pietro let me go.” Though he was asking if Wanda had done something to your head- yes, she had- this was an easier out.

He seemed gently surprised. “You talked some sense into them?”

“God.” The word came out in a muddled rush. A shaky, watery exhale, as you held his hand up, pressing his knuckles to your forehead. Just to feel him. ...and hide the rest of your shame. “I hope so.”

Sliding forward, he let go of your hand so that he could wrap both arms around you. “If anyone can, it’s you. That’s sort of your specialty, if I’m remembering correctly.”

You put all your weight against him, resting your head on his shoulder. “You have too much faith in me.”

“I have just the right amount, I think.”

The problem was that it was still entirely overwhelming.

#Tony Stark #Tony Stark x Reader #INY Chapter One Hundred Sixty Two

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sam-writesstuff · 5 years

Text

Merman (Crowley x Reader)

Summary: As you grow up, a man with Ariel’s hair keeps saving you.

Warnings: Slight child abuse, Ignorant parents.

Words: 3095

A/N: I did not think that this would turn out to be THIS long.. I really like the idea of Crowley liking children, and the thought lead me here. It also shows my love for mermaids ;) But because the reader is a child, there is no romance involved. It’s my first story ever and ohhh god I am so nervous. Please let me know if you’d like a continual story because it was originally planned to be longer😂

---

The first time you meet him, you are seven. You just moved to London, and you are exploring the streets with curious eyes. Your old home was a city too, but this is a bigger city. Much, much bigger city. Your parents were unpacking, and while they were they somehow started fighting. Distracted them enough to not notice you sneaking out to explore your new home. As much as nervous you were, this was also very exciting. A new adventure. There were a lot of people and a lot of noise. You have never seen a street so busy. A man pushes you as he walks by and you nearly fall. You struggle to keep your balance, then you see it. A bookshop. It looks old, probably for adults, but it has pretty aura coming out. It's tempting you to go inside. You decide to go explore to do what feels right in your heart. You are a child. The choices you make are simple. You cross the street, at least, you tried to. A hand appears and grabs your collar from the back, dragging you back onto the street. Just then, a car passes right in front of you, fast. Shocked, you turned to see who it is that saved you. It is a man. A very, very tall man.

"That car almost hit you," the man says. You don't say anything back. You stay silent for a moment, too distracted by his bright red hair. The only person whom you knew with the kind of red hair was Ariel, the mermaid. You wonder if he too is a merman.

"You want to cross the street?" The red-haired man asks you, letting go of his grip. You nod slowly. He looks slightly annoyed but reaches out his hand. "All right, kid. We'll cross it together." You look at his hand hesitantly whether to take it or not. He is a stranger you don't know, but he is offering help. Plus, he might be a merman. Merpeople can't harm, right? So you take the man's hand.

Cars stop as you and he cross the street. Horns blew, but the men didn't stop. It gave you a rather strange feeling. However, he did mean no harm. When you two reached the other side, he lets go of your hand.

"Careful, kid," then he adds, "Wha- What is it that they teach you at school? Oh yeah, look to your right and your left then raise your hand before you cross the street," the man rambles on before you can say you are not in school yet. They did teach you that in kindergarten, though. When he is finished, he looks at you. You realize he is expecting an answer. Your pose straightens up, nodding quickly. He gives you a satisfied look before turning around waving good-bye, entering the bookshop that stood in front of you which for some reason you did not want to go anymore. Instead, the curiosity that filled the exploration of the bookshop were all shifted towards the red-haired man. Or a merman. You think to yourself as you kept walking through the other side of the street. Suddenly, you remember that you didn't thank him for his aid.

When you get back home, dinner is waiting for you. Surprisingly, your parents are not mad. You tell them what you have explored about the city earlier today. They mumble an 'Mm-hm' occasionally. You decide not to tell them about the merman. You promise to yourself, when you see him again, you'll thank him.

---

Months after you start school, you do see him again. You are a now proud first grader. It is a Sunday, you and your parents decide to take a stroll to the park. You are excited, maybe a little too much. No blame is made though, it has been a few months since the last time your family went out together. Only a moment your parents let your hands go, and you are already running around scaring away the pigeons. Your parents sigh as they go off to find somewhere to sit. You'll find them when you get tired of mocking the birds. But then you remember the pond. You jolted upwards and darting off to the pond.

Your smile grows wider as you spot ducks on the water. "Quack-quack," you mumble to yourself. Wanting to see the ducks, you make your way over to the fence. You stand on your tiptoes, the sight of the happy duck family make you happy too. You tilt your head in various ways wanting to see the baby duck, still, you could only see its tail. You pull yourself up, your upper body leaning onto the fence to keep yourself from falling. There, now you could see the baby duck quite clearly. You begin to point at each one, not realizing how your body is leaning over the fence more and more in your effort to get your finger as close to the duck possible. "Mommy duck, Daddy duck, and Baby du-," You yelp as your body fell over the fence, or so you think. Your eyes shut tight, expecting a splash of water. Instead, your body lifts upwards by a force under your armpits. Someone is lifting you.

"There, can you see the ducks better now?"

The voice of the person sounds familiar to you. You instantly turn around, it is whom you expect. The merman. Then you spot something. A little snake. You notice that there is a drawing of a little snake drawn under the merman's ear. How weird. "My arms are getting tired, hurry up kid." The merman hurries you, bringing you back from your thoughts about the snake. He almost sounds annoyed, or is he? It is impossible to read him because of the sunglasses. Don't matter, you did want to see the ducks. You turn yourself back again, facing the water. The baby duck is very clearly visible now.

"Mommy duck, Daddy duck, and Baby duck," your feet feel the ground again with the end of your sentence. Looking up at the merman, you open your mouth to speak to him but the merman speaks before you.

"All right. Don't lean onto the fence too much, kid. It won't stop you when you fall," the merman states simply. He doesn't seem to remember you. For some reason, that disappoints you. It has been a couple of months since he saw you but your childish mind is disappointed anyways. You pout, and the merman looks down at you with his eyebrows cocked. "I'm just telling you to be careful. Go find your parents, now." With that, he turns his heels slowly walking away from you. "Angel! C'mon, let's go," he yells at another man who stood far back near the bench. The man is wearing a funny coat and has beautiful blonde hair, but that does not catch your attention. The merman's friend waves at you, but you don't wave back. You are too upset. You only realize that forgot to thank the merman again later when you went back to your parents.

A couple of months has passed, but you don't see him. You made a little key chain for him at school when you went on a field trip. You planned to give it to him as a thank you present when you see him again.

---

Two years have passed, and you are now ten. You now carried the key chain everywhere you go, in hopes of meeting the merman again. Two years wasn’t enough waiting for you to give up. Some said that you are now a girl too old to believe in Merpeople or miracles of such, but you still truly believed in them.

You rushed to outside, crying. It is raining, and you don't have an umbrella. Still, you don't want to go back home to get one. Your parents have fought again. Your mother has rushed out, and your father has just opened another can of beer. You followed your mother out, but you lost her already. She has disappeared into crowds of people. God, you hated London. Miracles don't exist. If it did, it wouldn't leave your family in this state. You stood in the rain, wondering what to do, where to go. Water is dripping onto your face, and your vision is blurry because of it, but you don't bother to wipe it. You shiver in cold, desperately wanting to go back in time, 2 hours ago, when you and your family were eating dinner peacefully.

"What are you doing out in the rain?"

You don't feel the cold water on you anymore. You look up to see the owner of the voice, and you can't help but be shocked. Your vision is blurry as it's covered with water, but you are sure that it is the merman who stands in front of you. A thousand years and still it would be impossible to not recognize that red hair.

Despite how delightful you are to see him again, you can't bring yourself to say anything. First, your throat felt too sore. Second, you were hiccupping. Both are results from the crying. Not to mention it has been two years since you last saw him, and you were eight back then. You are older now, old enough to know how politeness is an important key when talking to adults. Also, you worry if your conditions seem as worse as it is. To be honest, it is quite detectable that you were crying.

The merman grumbles before opening his mouth to question you, "Do you have an umbrella?"

You nod sideways in answer.

"Do you have somewhere to go?"

"No," It is not a lie. You do not want to go back home.

"Why are you out alone in the rain?"

"I..," You try to speak calmly, but you are on the barge of tears again. Really, why were you out in the rain? Stupid, you think to yourself. For you are only ten, it is the best harsh word you can come up to say it to yourself.

The merman seems taken aback by your tears. He tries to calm you down, but it merely does anything. You are too sad. Too angry. Too angry with your mother and father. Too angry with yourself for being so stupid. The merman murmurs something under his breath, with his hands on his hips andㅡwait, his hands were on his hips. He is carrying no umbrella. Nevertheless, there was no more rain dripping on you. You are about to say something when you are lifted from the ground. Your eyes widen in his sudden action.

"All right, I'll get you dried. Then we'll find your parents, then you go home." the merman said, adjusting the way he held you. He thinks you have lost your parents. You know you should tell him that is not the case, but you don't. You let him carry you. For now, you want to go as far as possible from this place. You know you shouldn't follow a stranger, but he wasn't a stranger. He has saved you twice, and he is a merman.

Although, the merman does not walk for long. He stops in front of the bookshop, which is just a few streets away from your home. To your confusion, the shop is closed, and you are pretty sure it is locked too, but the doors swung open with a snap from the merman. The door closes again when he walks right in.

"Angel!" he yells, and the same man you saw two years ago walks out behind the curtains.

"Crowley- Oh, dear. What did you do?" Crowley. That must be the merman's name. It is the first time you hear his name, and despite the situation, you can't help but smile at the silly name. All Merpeople had unusual names. Triton, Ariel, and Crowley.

"Me? I didn't do anything. This kid was on the street crying!"

"Oh. Well, you can lie her down here."

But before Crowley move, you pull yourself out of his embrace and hop onto the floor. You feel calmer now, and your childlike curiosity and wonder have come back to your entrance into the book shop. You didn't know Merpeople can do magic, but you do now. You look up to the blonde man. No, 'blonde' is not enough word to describe his hair. He has golden hair, almost white. Maybe he is also a merman. Then, a loud noise comes out from your neck and echoes through the room. It’s a hiccup. Your stomach rumbles along with the hiccup. Now that you were in a quiet, warm place, you hunger have come back. Dinner was unfinished due to your parents fighting. You are starving. Your cheeks blush a bright rose. Crowley doesn't seem to be amused, but the golden-haired man chuckles.

"Come, you can sit here, my dear. I'll get you a towel and something to eat," he guides you to a chair, and you nod. You look around. It is the bookshop you longed to come. Most of the times, it was closed, unable to be visited. The inside is as fascinating as you thought it would've been. So much to explore. It is not like the library in your school. Not at all. The bookshop is messier. Books and papers are lying all around, and you like it that way. Your mother never lets you keep your room the state you want in. Your father will never let you in his room. You have been inside before secretly, disobeying your father, but you were too scared to touch anything. You do as your told by the golden-haired merman. He walks over to someplace where you cannot see from where you are sitting, but Crowley stands in front of you. He goes through his hair once, letting out a sigh. He then bends his knee, landing both of his hands on each of his knees, meeting your eyes.

"Where was the last time you've seen your parents?"

"My mother is gone, I don't know where. My father is probably at home," You don't know what to say, so you tell the truth. Crowley looks confused.

"Is your home far away from here?" You shake your head. You do not want to give the location of your home to him. Not for safety issues, but you simply did not want to go back. Surely, he was going to take you back if he knew. All adults are too busy for a child.

"Where is it?" You don't answer. You look down, unsure of what to do. You do need to go back at some point.

"There, there. We can discuss this after a warm cup of tea," the Golden-haired man appears again with a cup of tea and biscuits. He also hands you a towel to dry yourself. You carefully do so, not wanting to get anything wetter than it already is. There is a pond of water under where you stand. When you are done, you reach your arm out the grab a biscuit, but Crowley stops you, looking at you with his eyebrows raised.

"What do you have to do before you eat?"

"I need to wash my hands," you let out a little gasp before answering.

"Good. Off you go," satisfactory looks spread over his face.

You eat in silence. The two mermen do not seem to be bothered by it. They are discussing something on their own as well. When the last sip of the tea drunk, you decide to finally ask the question you waited so long to ask.

"Are you mermen?" The mermen are plural, but your question is more dedicated towards Crowley. They turn to look at you with confused looks.

"I'm sorry?" The Golden-haired man does not know how to respond to the question. It gives a positive weight to your theory. If he is not a merman, what is the reason to be surprised by your question?

"She thinks we are mermaids, angel," Unlike the other merman, Crowley does not seem to be surprised at all. He laughs.

"Mermen," you correct him. "Are you a merman?"

"What makes you say that, my dear?"

"He has red hair. Like Ariel," you point to Crowley.

"Red hair? Is that all you need to call a person mermaid?" Crowley scoffs, for some reason, he finds the situation amusing.

"Merman," you correct him again. "You are a merman."

"Yeah, doesn't matter. I'm not a merman," he says.

Disbelief look spread on your face. You are disappointed. For so long you've believed that the man was a merman, for so long he was a merman to you, you feel like you learned something you shouldn't have.

"But we are not humans either," he adds quickly, noticing how upset you seem. This catches your interest again, immediately. "We are... Supernatural entities."

You are not sure what that is. Even so, your eyes are already shining bright again, "And?"

"And you can't tell this to anyone." His eyes lock in with yours, and although you can't see his eyes due to his sunglasses, you still feel greatly pressured. A good kind. You feel important. You feel trusted.

With that, all your sadness goes away. Your body feels lighter, and you are ready to go home again. You stand up, folding your three fingers, only letting your pinky and thumb stand. "I pinky promise." Crowley smiles, and his pinky intertwines with yours, and thumbs meet as an approval to your promise.

"Can I come back again?" You ask carefully to the Golden-haired men. He seemed to be the owner of the bookshop.

"Certainly, dear. Come as often you like," he shows you a warm smile. The kind of smile you haven't seen a while. "And please, call me Aziraphale."

"Bye-bye, Azirapelle!" You wave your hands at him, you are still a soul to young to properly pronounce an angel’s name who lived on this planet for 6000 years.

When you walk out, the sky is clear. It is no longer raining. You wonder if the two men have performed magic again. You feel flowers bloom every step you take. Upon your arrival, your mother is back home too. You parents offer you ice cream, they must’ve felt guilty for what they’ve done. Only then you realize once again, that Crowley had saved you and that you forgot to thank him. But that’s okay, because you know you will see him again.

#good omens #good omens fanfiction #good omens imagine #crowley x reader good omens #aziraphale x reader #good omens x reader #crowley #aziraphale #crowley x reader

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counterror · 4 years

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* ANSWERED ASK / GHOST META.

DO NOT REBLOG.

RANDOM DEVELOPMENT ASKS / ALWAYS ACCEPTING.

anonymous asked : are there any differences between how simon acts towards children and how ghost acts towards them ? in a situation where a child could be a threat, how does he deal ? in the other meta you said he could potentially become more feral and frantic when presented with a vulnerable kid, is this because of an innate desire to keep them safe or for other reasons ? what's his view on those who harm children and if he witnessed something like that, what sort of reaction would he have ? love your metas btw !

I believe there are differences. in a situation where ghost is confronted with a child as a hostage, it’d be simon that bleeds through. if you think about it, despite simon practically shutting himself off and engaging ghost once the mask is on, ghost isn’t a separate entity that’s jumped into his body. he’s a persona. meaning, despite his complete lack of empathy and hard shell, simon is witnessing everything taking place. he’s merely channeling certain aspects of himself to get the job done.

take the concept of a method actor, an actor who remains in their role right up until the job is finished, if they’re playing an extremely apathetic character and the routine of that character is to kill the bad guy. mind you, the actor themselves are empathetic. so you’ve got this caring, empathetic actor playing the role of someone that’s the complete opposite. and it’s all going fine, routine is routine, you’re used to it - until there’s the cold hard reality of a child stood in front of them with their life on the line. imagine that one thing that draws every ounce of empathy out of you and put it in the place of that child. do you really think simon, the actor in this circumstance, would shun that entire situation purely to remain in character ? if they really want to, they might confront the event as the character - while responding to the actor’s empathy rather than ignoring it entirely, if that makes sense ?

so you’ve got ghost, who’s apathetic, logical, focused and objective being driven by simon riley, who’s capable of being all of those things but completely lacks the composure to act confidently and intelligently on them. which works fine, until ghost is faced with a situation that can draw aspects of simon out that are meant to be boxed away until later. but then without ghost present, simon on his own would behave in an entirely different way. which would risk getting him and the child killed, because the urge to react would outweigh the certainty of being logical and careful. but because simon would also bleed through ghost in that moment, even with the mask on, it’d prompt ghost’s response to be less calm and analytical than it would be when faced with an adult - since simon wouldn’t be bleeding through under that circumstance.

however, high stress interactions differ massively from general ones, so if ghost was faced with a child in a calm environment - say he randomly crossed paths with one while deployed, it wouldn’t trigger any reaction from simon. he’d move on and have little interaction. he’s there to get the job done. whereas were simon to cross paths with a child, he’d be more observational of the child’s surroundings, scanning what their parents are like or if they’re in any danger. this changes for ghost when high intensity comes into play - when lives are on the line. he would ignore the child, up until that child called for help or was visibly in danger, in which case a response would surge from simon - likely kicking ghost into reacting in a more urgent and frantic way. it’s important to note that ghost is, mostly, a manifestation of simon’s grief and anger that is stored away, which he learnt to utilize in a useful way. emotions that would typically eat away at you and push you to act out within society are caged away and then brought out in full force when faced with hostile environments - he’s able to turn that aggression and violence on and off with the mask. but the lack of control in a situation can cause it to be used inappropriately or clumsily, because simon’s lack of composure bleeds through and is liable to cause ghost to make mistakes. so behaviour and reactions definitely vary depending on circumstance.

things differ with a child who’s perceived as a threat. it’s similar to how a soldier may love dogs, may even own one, but if an enemy’s dog is charging at them with the sole intention to rip out their throat or one of their teammate’s, they have to act without holding up the mission or giving away their presence. I do believe when an enemy is involved ghost will aggressively and actively block simon out in order to proceed. he’s experienced enough to know that an enemy with a weapon has the potential to compromise the mission, kill him and one if not all of his men. there is a big difference between an innocent civilian in danger and an enemy that is bringing the danger. this is where ghost’s objective thinking comes into play, child or not, this enemy has a weapon and intends to use it on me. morals and ethics go out the window, albeit with an extremely subtle struggle in comparison to eliminating an older enemy. whether he wants to or not doesn’t come into it, and the same can be said in a situation where a pregnant woman with an explosive vest on is approaching him or his team. he’s trained to see, before anything else, an enemy who intends to harm innocents. whereas an innocent child being taken hostage by an enemy presents a completely different variety of consequences and possibilities.

that’s not to say eliminating a child enemy who’s considered a threat wouldn’t play back on his mind later once the mask is off. but the reality is that, leaving that child alive could’ve meant high causality numbers of the people he’s supposed to be protecting - that lapse in judgement could risk the deaths of many, all to protect that one. and ghost is trained to see that before anything else, meaning simon is too and therefore wouldn’t disruptively bleed through because he knows it has to be done.

the feral and frantic side I mentioned in that meta is a combination of simon bleeding through which prompts ghost to lose the control he has over the aggressive, hostile aspects of himself he projects - anger that’s triggered to be used inappropriately or impulsively rather than calculated or logically. ghost is a protective persona, his purpose is to act as a fortified wall around simon so the moment a direct threat to simon is perceived ( such as something that triggers his ptsd, like witnessing a child in danger, ) ghost’s aggression will spike in a way that isn’t progressive. ( this isn’t to be compared to the general threat that comes with his line of work, because that’s a different threat entirely. ) that’s simon bleeding through, his lack of composure pushing the control out of ghost’s hands.

it isn’t innate, but it is a desire to keep them safe. throughout much of his childhood, he didn’t feel this way. in fact, he wasn’t aware of his own trauma for much of his life, until he grew to his older teen years in which terms and labels became evident and he could see life for what it was. he eventually felt for kids in rough situations, and empathized with them, and his trauma / abuse throughout his childhood is the primary fuel of that desire. he had to become his own hero, effectively - there was no one there for him and therefore he had to become the man he needed at the time of his struggle. if he witnesses anything remotely similar to that which he experienced, or he sees a child who needs someone but doesn’t have them - he steps up and puts people in their place. he will speak up about it.

however, the final push came when his nephew was murdered alongside his family. a sweet, innocent child caught up in cold blood. clueless and terrified as two men, who were seen as friends, stormed the home and began gunning his entire family down. simon could never grieve for his loss. he could only focus on vengeance and justice for them and himself. but he regularly thought of his nephew’s suffering. wondered whether he died immediately, or whether he died slow, face down in pools of his blood - helpless and alone because his uncle riley wasn’t there to protect them. he couldn’t save himself, he couldn’t save his nephew, and certainly nobody on the outside at all tried to save either of them or even gave a single fuck about their tragedy. he doesn’t trust the law to step in, and he doesn’t trust anyone’s justice but his own. simon riley would risk any consequence in order to save an innocent, vulnerable child and it’s unlikely ghost would be able to do anything about it, other than offer a more composed, controlled, logical approach than simon alone would.

simon views those who harm children as weak and pathetic. there’s no other way to put that. he despises those who abuse their power and who take it on out the defenseless. it says in the comics that he joined the military after the events of the september 11 attacks. a position sought after in order to protect people from the tragedy and destruction many aim to produce. even at the start of his military career, he wanted to defend the defenseless. as aforementioned, simon would risk any consequence to save an innocent, vulnerable child. the most likely reaction you’d be looking at is him scaring the abuser / person doing the harm into never doing it again. he knows his father was fearless, didn’t care if he lived or died. which is where he, in the end, got to him, by leaving him to his cancer despite his father asking a favour of him. hanging in between life and death.

simon would know it’d be most sensible to involve the law and assist in pushing for justice, which is where taking ghost’s persona on would come in handy, enabling him to do what would be considered illegal in order to get a better outcome without waiting for the law to do very little. I won’t go into detail, but he’d certainly give much more than a stern word, that’s for sure. why remove a child from their home environment and throw them around needlessly when you can remove a few of the abuser’s teeth or fingers and ensure that child receives nothing but the best from that point on. if you see what I’m saying.

#THANK U SM FOR THE ASK !!#i felt this one in my BONES #abuse m #trauma m #ptsd m #child death m #i heavily appreciate that u like my metas bless u !!#metas. ( ghost. )#simon's vocal about that shit #whereas ghost is much more...#abuser wakes up late at night and ghost's sat at the end of their bed with a knife and torture tools type scenario :)#ghost certainly varies a fucking TONNE though and im #constantly developing him #ghost as a persona doesn't really... have a much of a reaction to ANYTHING #typically it'll be more bc simon's bleeding through #he would've achieved interrogating the butcher in the mw game #(where the butcher's kid and wife are involved)#bc ghost would've completely shut simon tf out #which is really simon shutting himself out bc he knows shit needs to be done #anonymous.#answered asks. ( ghost. )#headcanons. ( ghost. )#i have a lot to say i hAVE A LOT TO SA

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starsreign · 4 years

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☆ / @irnmaidn : 🌠 give me all of them !!! 💖 SEND 🌠 && I'LL RECOMMEND A PLOT FOR US TO TRY OUT !! || accepting !!

i added a few recently too so like...this gonna be long sry....

☆ AHRI. i mean...would cass like to meet a sexy fox spirit ?? because she could if she wants !! she’s curious && fairly cordial but she’s very deadly && mysterious && just kind of comes off with an air of uncertainty whether u should trust her or not && i think that’d be fun with cass cause we kno she loves dangerous mysterious women with a taste for biting wit. but in my tangled verse it’s similar to her canon -- she’s a fox spirit && has been alive for so long, ever searching for where her people like her are && where she came from. so perhaps cass could run into her && help ahri post series ?? or she could simply be along for the ride with mysterious && selfish reasons she won’t say but either way it’s always interesting to think about when her cloak finally drops && cass gets to find out about the fox ears && nine tails ;’) also she’d probably flirt with cass sry not sry

☆ NEEKO. iiim admittedly still working on her tangled verse cause she’s a chameleon but pls love my lesbian chameleon girl she deserves the world tbh ?? she’s extremely sweet despite her entire tribe being destroyed && killed && she FELT every single bit of it && felt her people fade away. she’s pure sunshine but she WILL fight when she has to, when there’s no other option or when people with good sho’ma are endangered. she’s looking to make a new tribe for herself now -- made up of everyone, not just oovi-kat, so she really takes in everyone who she can && who is willing. she can shapeshift by extending her sho’ma to other’s sho’ma which is a sort of spiritual essence && she can borrow their appearance, gain current emotional state && recent memories to better camouflage as them && immediately kno friend from foe so i think it’d be rly neat tbh for cass to encounter that ?? plus with neeko she wouldn’t have to open up too much or have to fight to express her emotions or voice them since neeko can feel && sense && taste emotion -- they have colours && tastes to her. she can also split herself into two, sending out a clone of herself while she becomes invisible && has a lot of floral / plant based magic as well so i think she’d rly vibe with ur cass portrayal !! but tbh she’s very chipper upbeat && kinda rapunzely personality wise -- she’s just very curious about the world && wants to learn everything since she was from a magical tribe that isolated themselves from the world, so for hundreds of years she’s literally ONLY known her tribe && their home && it’s EXTREMELY different from the world ?? she’s so used to not physically speaking && just extending sho’ma && reading emotions from each other, so she struggles with communication && that can frustrate her sometimes, but she’s knows emotions && she can see past like faking things or past all those walls she’s got up !! it’d be neat...theyd be....cute tbh... i rambled too much but i just rly love neeko sm n if u wanna kno more about her or any of these u can ask too !! also...not for nothing but neeko rly rly loves n swoons for strong badass ladies !!

☆ KINDRED. kindred is literally just...y’kno...death, the grim reaper whatever u wanna call them !! they’re as old as the concept of death && started as one man who cleaved himself in two so he’d have a friend -- they understand the deep pain of loneliness despite having each other now because they were born from loneliness. they’d sense that from her && i think there’s plenty of times she could have met them, when death was near to her or around her && theyre certainly not entirely happy about her resurrection. they’re easily translatable into any verse but they are very ethereal && magical && love to play with people. so anything considering death. near death or perhaps just running into them if cass happens near a particularly brutal bandit robbery about to take place on the road that ultimately she wont be able to stop even if they tell her about it :’)

☆ HANA. hjdksmd u kno i love these already n all we’ve talked about aa !! but also i’d literally be up for anything i love them sm already !! but like ?? soft moments ?? cass getting to come to her kingdom ?? getting to pilot the mechs n getting to just uuhhhh live her life be free n be happy ??

but also :eyes: hehe what if we also have a plotline where hana finds out about the moonstone thing n meets her while she has the moonstone n tries to talk her down :’) possibly mushy stuff they don’t wanna say could come out too mayhaps :thinking:

☆ AMITY. she’s a little witch !! in her tangled verse she’s still a witch but she && her family are more in hiding about their powers && school so they’re all hidden away but amity’s family is a very, very noble family with a lot of money && power -- which extends to magic too lol. but it’d be Neat to meet cass n like amity looking up to her ?? she’s a lot like cass tbh, pretentious mean girl type who is rly rly icy n mean n sassy on the outside but she’s soft inside she just CANNOT show weakness n she oof is rly oppressed by her family n standards set for her n she ALSO has a crush on a sunshine girl who happens to be human. n she reads to younger kids n helps them out she’s softe secretly...just has a lot of pressure on her -- her parents wont let her hang around witches with lesser talent either. they’d get along i think after like tension but she’s just a lil teen witch n needs a good strong role model but she could also help cass out with the whole magic thing ykno ??

☆ PERFUMA. ooooh they’d be cute !! perfuma is just...so sweet n positive n !! i’d love to interact with her in any of ur she.ra verses or i could absolutely try to fit her into a tangled verse but i’d absolutely want to keep her plant powers but that’d be neat with ur cass n her powers too !!

oh !! or aaalso, concept: we could have perfuma interacting with chrys !! n like when her n cass start working with the princess alliance n her helping them out n giving them insider info even if shes nervous n its dangerous n just perfuma helping her with that n giving her pep talks about her being brave ?? helping her with fashion stuff, helping her adjust to life where her sister can’t help as much ?? that’d be so cute bhadjksbh

☆ AKALI. hehehee akali n cass would be hilarious at first i swear it -- they’re both headstrong, stubborn && sassy tbh. she’s from an order of acolytes that try to keep the balance of the spiritual / magical realm && the outside realms; she was raised in it && her mother && father were higher ups && very powerful in the order -- her father died in an attack led by her master’s friend on the order && they had to flee && try to remake with smaller ranks when she was very young. she succeeded her mother as the fist of the shadow but could not vibe with the way her master wasn’t taking action like she wanted to -- she wanted to restore balance in her way && she wanted to spill blood to do it because that’d be the only way to do it, so as an adult she just peaced off to do it her own way. && tbh that could fit in with a tangled verse -- just in the shadows, keeping the balance of magic unseen to most. she’s a trained assassin && she can literally throw three kunai && pierce three different hearts while in the midst of a smoke bomb like she’s insanely good -- she is also tiny n has some amazing muscles on her arms back && has very visible abs n she sexy n she kills me daily !! but they could get along ?? she does some magic but she was never the best at it tbh but depending on where in the timeline they meet it could be interesting ?? like s1 would be neat for her to meet someone like akali ?? another strong woman fighter but she also comes from a place that praised women’s strength instead of putting it down -- buuuuut she was hiiiighly ignored by her own mother in favour of another neophyte growing up so....ykno...Mood right ?? it stings a lot -- she saved everyone from a corrupted tree spirit n had the girl she looked up to spit in her face because she lost her leg n blamed it on akali && then her mother praised the girl instead of akali despite the other kids telling her what akali had done n singlehandedly dragged them to safety n she was like around nine or ten or so at the time... but it’d be cool if they met s1 n got to kno each other n maaaybe akali joins them on their journey since it has a lot to do with restoring the magical balance of the world n they could use a master assassin but also...the angst with cass taking the moonstone n the conflict akali would face about having to oust her cause ykno...shes fucking up the balance n thats her ykno....entire purpose riiiip

☆ WIDOWMAKER. IDK BUT OOF i love widow. i haven’t thought about a tangled verse or a fantasy verse but like uuhhh something about being a french noblewoman married to a freedomfighter but ending up being brainwashed by some magical sect or talon but they’re part of zhan tiris crew or whatever ?? might be neat. she killed her husband && she’s just a little bit possessed now && a ruthless killer. so maaaaaybe....her trying to stop them on their journey to the dark kingdom ?? but her brainwashing starts wearing off the more she’s away from the source tbh -- but also, she’d be on cass’ side when she has the moonstone n honestly that’s very powerful, she’d have a very powerful ally to keep her on track && help like tell her she’s doing great because in the end she’s on zhan tiris side && she can probably see her the whole time && would be working to help get her back to power. also up in the air whether she ends up regaining herself later on && helping cass escape or whatever but she’d feel intensely guilty yikes but anyway i think it’d be honestly rly rly interesting n i’d love to do something with this if u’d be up for it bhdajkmd n like i said we can talk about any of these if u want too !!

☆ BENSON. i have zero ideas for this right now because his series is just so far removed from tangled....it’s a post apocalyptic universe where there’s extremely large animals some of which can talk n want to destroy humans who all live under the surface mostly except the ones who try to survive on the surface. TBH u’d love it...i think u’d love wolf specifically too ?? i dont wanna spoil anything but yeah it might be something u might enjoy ??

but also like mlm wlw solidarity pls ?? he’s a pretty carefree but smart gay teen, he’d get along pretty well with her n play off her iciness cause he’s just like that ?? he started off just caring only for himself n his bug buddy n just thieving a lot but like got a lot of character development -- but i guess he could be a thief in tangled verse ?? n like grow out of it or she could show him there’s better ways n stuff ?? idk...

#irnmaidn #˗ˏˋ 🌟 answered ›› we are not dreams; we are the waking .#˗ˏˋ 🌟 ooc ›› i told you i dropped the gun but i lied .#[ i think....i got them all...for now lol BUT UHHH YEAH LET ME KNO if u like any of these ?? im pretty excited about all of them but theyre #all just base rambles of ideas we can work off idk dbhajskmd ]

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gumnut-logic · 4 years

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The Hero (Part Four)

Title: The Hero

Sequel/companion piece to The Joker

Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four

Author: Gumnut

12 - 18 Nov 2019

Fandom: Thunderbirds Are Go 2015/ Thunderbirds TOS

Rating: Teen

Summary: Thunderbird Two, with Virgil and Gordon aboard, is hijacked and stolen. With Virgil injured, it is up to Gordon to save his brother and his ‘bird. Sequel/companion piece to ‘The Joker’. Gordon is far more than he seems.

Word count: 5158

Spoilers & warnings: Violence, WASP!Gordon, Military!Scott, whump, language.

Timeline: Sequel/companion piece to ‘The Joker’.

Author’s note: For @corbyinoz because she has written some magnificent Virgil and Gordon fics and is a great inspiration. Thank you for all your wonderful words.

Well, this chapter took forever and is much longer than the other three. So much plot to manipulate. I hope you enjoy it :D

It started with ‘The Joker’. I got interested in WASP!Gordon and decided to explore his side of the story. Then PLOT happened. Now I have no idea what is going on.

Many thanks to @vegetacide and @scribbles97 for putting up with my crazy.

Disclaimer: Mine? You’ve got to be kidding. Money? Don’t have any, don’t bother.

-o-o-o-

“We have to get it out of him.” Gordon’s voice bounced about unheard.

The hospital was in an uproar, doctors and security arguing, IR temporarily shoved to one side as the ‘authorities’ determined what to do with the bomb in their midst.

“And who exactly are you asking to risk their lives to do that?” The question came from their chief of security, a brawny man, head shaved with a permanent frown carved into his forehead.

Scott straightened up to his full height, those couple of inches and his stony expression amply compensating for any extra muscle in the room. “Show me what to do, and I’ll do it myself.”

“And what training do you have?”

Blue eyes snapped to the Chief of Medicine. “All IR personnel are trained paramedics, Doctor.”

Gordon’s heart was pounding hard enough to jump out of his chest. Paramedics, yes, but this was surgery...on Virgil.

“What the hell is going on in here?!” A whir of machinery and a blur of white coat and dark hair and Virgil’s principle doctor shot into the room. “Commander Robertson, what are you doing with my patient and why are all these people in his room?”

The Chief of Medicine held up his hands defensively. “Dr Harris, we have a situation.”

“I bloody well think you do. Get all these people the hell out of this room. Mr Tracy does not need...what do you think you’re doing?! You are not moving him!”

“Doctor! The man has a bomb inside him that could destroy this entire hospital.”

“I don’t care if he has a bloody nuke inside him. He is my patient and moving him like that could damn well kill him.” She shot over to the nervous orderly and shoved him out of the way, revealing an IV knotted in the bed frame and pulling on not only Virgil’s venous catheter, but also dislodging his oxygen supply.

Scott was moving. Gordon frowned and grabbed his arm. Wait a moment.

The furious doctor untangled the medical equipment and checked Virgil was comfortable, her fingers deftly checking his responses.

Virgil didn’t respond at all.

“Get out.” Her voice was sharp.

“Doctor Harris-“

“Need I remind you why you called me in, Commander?”

“Doctor Harris!”

She straightened as much as she could in her hoverchair, her eyes steely, her lips thin.

“He must be evacuated to a safe location.”

“He will be.” And Gordon’s sister stalked in through the door. The aquanaut stared as every man present stepped back to make room for her. Tin’s expression was like a battering ram. “Commander Robertson, a moment please.”

The Chief of Medicine approached her warily. Gordon didn’t quite hear what his sister said to the man, but the shock on his face was followed by a command that dismissed everyone.

The room emptied for all except Scott, Gordon, Kayo, Doctor Harris, Robertson, and, of course, his unconscious brother.

It still felt cramped.

“Commander, time is short. My brother needs help. Can you provide it?” Kayo’s eyes were fiery.

“I cannot ask any of my staff to risk their lives-“

“For god’s sake, Ray, do you have any idea who these people are? How many lives they have saved?”

The man spun on the spot and glared at the doctor. “I will not risk this hospital and all the people in it for one man. We save as many lives as they do.”

Beside Gordon, Scott stiffened even more. “Tell us what needs to be done!”

Pale blue eyes set in even paler skin turned to Scott and targeted him. “Mr Tracy.” She glanced back at Virgil a moment before moving around the end of the bed. A flick of controls and the hoverchair lifted her a little higher in order to come face to face with the IR Commander. “Virgil needs an upper endoscopy. A camera and micro tools will need to be passed down his oesophagus. There is a possibility part of his oesophageal lining will need to be cut and sutured in order to remove the device.” Her eyes flashed and Gordon was ever so glad he wasn’t the one they were aimed at. “Do you think your skills reach that far?”

“Do I have a choice, Doctor?” Scott was a picture of tension. “And the longer we sit here talking about it the higher the chance I lose my brother.”

“You can’t operate in this hospital.”

Robertson jumped as Kayo turned to face him again. “We can evacuate to Thunderbird Two and fly to a remote area to perform the operation, or to...” Her voice drifted off into a silent room, her eyes catching her brothers’.

Gordon’s heart stopped and he glanced at his wan co-pilot. “Screw this, we need to get moving. Scott, are we go?”

His big brother was as pale as the sheets his brother was wrapped in. Voice firm but parched. “We are go.”

“Not on my watch, you’re not.” Doctor Harris glared at both of them. “He’s my patient.” A glance up and down at Scott. “You can be my nurse.” She turned to the other doctor in the room. “Ray, I need your endoscopy equipment.”

“Em, you are not a gastroenterologist and you are not operating in this hospital!”

“God, Ray, you can shove your bloody hospital where the sun doesn’t shine. It’s not like I want to come back here after this fiasco. And no, I’m not a specialist, but I do have enough emergency surgery experience to have shoved just enough instruments in just enough orifices to know what the hell I am doing. Apparently, I’m all these poor blokes have since you’re showing your true colours. Give me the damned equipment and I will help this man on a plane in the middle of nowhere if I have to.”

“Em, this is your life!”

“And it is worth less than his! Move your ass!”

Robertson looked about ready to explode, but a shift in stance by Kayo had him glance over at the Tracys before skittering out of the room.

He left silence behind him.

Until a whir of hoverjets and Doctor Harris turned back to Scott so abruptly, her thin and limp legs shook in their harness. “If we are going to do this, we will need to be fast.”

Scott shifted his feet. “We can do fast.”

-o-o-o-

The night grew late and Gordon found himself slouching into the couch. Virgil had been the principle injured brother in the incident, but Gordon had his fair share of bruises and the aftermath had been a major strain. Not to mention the alcohol he had consumed.

It was catching up.

“Mister Gordon, you should listen to your body.” Kyrano sat calmly on the couch beside him, far too upright and calm for Gordon’s liking.

“K, I’m fine.” But a pair of blue eyes had targeted him and he knew he was going to be nagged to bed at any moment. “And drop the ‘mister’, it makes you sound like a servant or something.”

“A simple sign of respect, Mister Gordon.”

Gordon groaned. “Yes, Mister Kyrano.”

“‘Master’ would be more applicable in that instance.”

The aquanaut stared at him. Kyrano’s expression was completely serious...except for the tiniest of curve of his lips.

“God, you’re still an ass.”

“Respect, Mister Gordon, goes a long way. You should remember that.”

It had been a long time since the first ‘mister’. Hell, Gordon couldn’t have been more than six years old the first time the security specialist had addressed him that way. As a kid, it was ego-chuffing. As an adult it was a little uncomfortable. The Tracys might be billionaires, but no one was beneath them. Except perhaps the Hood. He was beneath everyone.

Gordon blinked.

“He’s your brother.” It came out without thought. The news of Kayo’s relationship to their nemesis was a couple of years old now, but they hadn’t encountered Kyrano during that time.

His former teacher did not react other than a brief flicker in those green eyes. “Half-brother.”

“What’s the story?”

“Gordon-“ Scott was cut off as Kyrano held up his hand.

“Bela Gaat, was born of my mother, against her will, during a time she and our family prefer not to discuss. Suffice to say, he is my older half-brother whose heritage differs considerably from my own.”

“Bela Gaat.” The name fell from Scott’s lips like a gasped curse. “You’ve known who he is all this time.” It wasn’t a question, but it was.

Green eyes met blue, unflinching. “And what power has his name? Can it stop him from hunting your family?”

Internally, Gordon sighed as Scott visibly flared. “Any information would have helped, Kyrano.”

“If it had, I would have given it to you.”

“What else do you know?”

“Not enough.”

“K, please.” All chances of sleep now gone, Gordon struggled to find the energy this discussion suddenly needed.

Green eyes turned to him and for the first time in his life, Gordon saw vulnerability beyond the steel.

Shit.

“I was not aware of his existence until shortly after Tanusha was born. He came to us, needing assistance. For some time, he dwelt with our family as a brother and an uncle. It was a pleasant for a while.” Those eyes darted between the two Tracys. “I regret my kindness more than you will ever know.”

“What happened?” It was like watching a car crash. He couldn’t look away.

“Tanusha lost her mother, her grandfather and, to a certain extent, her father.” Lips thinned. “Jeff Tracy was her saviour. And ultimately, Bela took him, too.”

A silence followed that statement. Gordon simply staring, his brain tumbling with permutations. Beside him Scott was stiff as a board.

“The man is a curse to all he touches. You will always be Mister Gordon and Mister Tracy as I owe you more than you will ever know.”

-o-o-o-

Only the man unconscious in his ‘bird’s medbay could have landed Thunderbird Two more gently than Scott did in the middle of the Simpson Desert. Outside the temperatures soared, but Two’s life support denied it any impact on the atmosphere inside the great green ‘bird.

Gordon felt her landing struts touch sand and rock from within the medbay. He had been conscripted as a nurse, Doctor Harris giving sharp and clear instructions during the short flight across half the Australian continent. Gordon had no doubt Penny had had to talk fast to get them access to the nearest vacant space, IR emergency codes likely stretched to the limit. John had sworn over comms at least once as the Australian authorities were not happy accepting an unknown incendiary device onto their turf.

John and Penny made it happen. They could smooth ruffled feathers later.

He just hoped they were fast enough.

The doctor had an array of equipment deployed around his brother. She was remarkably fast. He had never seen a hoverchair so deftly manipulated at such speed.

“Gordon, please secure your brother’s restraints. We can’t risk anaesthesia with what is already in his system. He’s out cold, but I can’t guarantee he will stay that way.”

The aquanaut stared at her for a second before shaking himself and doing as she bade. Virgil was propped on his side in preparation for the operation, not the optimal position for restraint, but they had to make do.

His brother’s hands were cold in his as he immobilised them. Straps across his arms, around his chest, legs and ankles, each strap tightening Gordon’s throat further. He prayed Virgil would sleep through it all. The thought of his brother waking up in the middle of the operation...

God, please no. Please don’t hurt him any further.

“Are you okay?” Pale eyes were assessing him.

“I’m fine.”

“You were injured during the incident.”

“Superficial.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

“Focus on Virgil. He needs you more than I do.”

Those eyes fixed on him a moment longer and he got the distinct impression he had been added to the list of ‘her patients’. The thought was mildly alarming.

Scott barrelled into the room, Kayo a step behind him. “We’re down and secured. Are we ready?”

Doctor Harris straightened. “We’re ready.”

The words were said and it all just happened. Masks were donned, hands were sterilised and surgically gloved, gowns were shoved over baldric-less uniforms and Gordon found himself handing instruments to a focussed Doctor Harris. He watched as the endoscope was fed down his brother’s throat and he shut down his emotional responses, letting calm settle as he distanced himself from what was happening before him.

Scott’s steely expression as he sat at Virgil’s head, monitoring his breathing, reflected the pain ignored in Gordon’s gut.

Above his prone brother, the endoscope display scrolled along Virgil’s oesophageal lining.

“I’m getting signal interference.” The doctor frowned.

“John.” Scott said his brother’s name and the response was immediate, the display clearing abruptly. “Thank you, Thunderbird Five.”

And there it was. The tiny bomb flickered once on the display. “Ask your Eye in the Sky for a reading on the capsule stability.” Harris’ voice was calm and sharp.

“Thunderbird Five, take instruction from Doctor Harris. Loop into the scanner.” A pause. “Deploy Eos, if necessary.”

“FAB.” John’s voice was its usual clear and calm balm. “Doctor Harris, capsule stability is poor.” A pause as John flickered numbers above the table, his holographic form blinking in beside them. “I don’t think forceps are an option.”

“Then we’ll have to cut it out.”

Gordon swallowed in sympathy.

“Doctor, you are going to have to prevent it from travelling further into his digestive system.”

“I am well aware of that, Thunderbird Five.”

It was odd hearing that callsign uttered by someone other than a member of International Rescue.

Gordon stared at the display. A flicker of medical shielding and a microlaser shot out, slicing into his brother. A glance down at Virgil, his skin was still pale, his mouth held open by a surgical guard, a cap covering his hair, Scott’s hand resting gently on his head.

It suddenly occurred to Gordon that these minutes could quite well be their last. One wrong move and that pill inside his brother would take them all. He should be alarmed, fearful, but he wasn’t. He stared at his eldest brother’s fingers laying gently on Virgil’s head and he knew he was exactly where he needed to be. There would regrets. For the doctor, for his sister, his brothers and those left behind. But not for himself. He would die doing what he was meant to do.

And then he’d hunt down the bastards who did this to his brother and haunt their asses to death.

Or insanity. Have them jumping at shadows and drooling on the carpet. That might be more satisfying.

The laser cauterised as it cut, the medical shielding inching over the gap to prevent gastric leakage.

“Get your lockbox ready.”

Kayo moved from the other side of the room, a containment capsule in hand. Inside was a specimen dish. Harris retracted the endoscopic tool, a tiny part of his brother held in its clawed tip. The bomb sat cushioned in flesh. The doctor placed it ever so carefully in the dish and Kayo closed the capsule.

The capsule wouldn’t contain the explosion if it was triggered, but it did prevent jostling of its contents.

Kayo was out the door. Scott caught Gordon’s eyes as he rose to his feet, his hand still gentle on Virgil’s head. And his big brother was moving. “I’ll launch as smoothly as I can, but it won’t be perfect.”

“You worry about flying, I’ll worry about my patient, Commander.” The doctor didn’t even look up, her eyes focussed on the micro-sutures she was stitching.

Scott’s fingers touched Virgil’s head one more time, ever so gently, and he, too, left the room.

“We need to move fast. With that bomb went whatever drug was keeping your brother under. I do not want him waking up in this situation.”

They were fast enough.

Kayo got the bomb out of Thunderbird Two and onto the desert sands where she left it. Scott got them off the ground before it could explode. Harris finished her suturing and got the endoscope out of his brother before he could stir.

The Australian authorities got bomb disposal out to the Simpson Desert and contained the fallout.

Penny got to have afternoon tea with the Prime Minister.

Thunderbird Two returned to Wellington, however Doctor Harris demanded they attend Wellington Hospital rather than returning to the military complex. Her scorn of Ray Robertson was rather extensive and Gordon had suspicions that there was more to that equation than she was letting on.

But he didn’t care. He got to sit beside Virgil and watch a pair of dopey brown eyes finally open and focus on him.

“Hey, Virgil.”

“G’don.” A slow blink. “He c’n’t have you, n’t gonna let him.” And those eyes slipped closed again.

Gordon slumped in his seat before reaching out and touching his brother’s hair. Dark strands slipped through his fingers.

Quietly. “No, Virg, I know you won’t.”

-o-o-o-

Scott was called off on Tracy Industries business the next morning...the last few days of neglect due to Virgil’s injuries now needing to be compensated for. So, it was Gordon and John who spent the next day running through Tracy Island’s security with Kyrano. Brains was called in when necessary, but he was clearly uncomfortable with the specialist and made himself scarce as soon as possible.

Kyrano ignored him.

“What’s the sensor rotational period?”

Gordon raised an eyebrow. “You know that. We argued over it extensively and you won.”

“Refresh my memory.”

“One fiftieth of a second.”

“Increase it.”

“What?”

“You have a window enough to slip a missile through.” The Malay’s expression was solemn.

“There is no missile that can breach that period.”

“That you know of.”

Gordon stared at him. “The energy expenditure will double.”

“Better than losing half an island.”

Gordon continued to stare. “Okay, I’ll speak to Brains and Kayo.” Tin’s absence spoke volumes. It was likely she was performing her own assessments, but he could almost guarantee she was listening in. There was no way she was going to compromise the Island’s security because of a tiff with her father. She’d listen in and make her own decisions.

“Her name is Tanusha.”

“Her name is whatever she wants it to be.” Gordon sighed. “C’mon, K, what are we going to do about these Null people? They hurt Virg bad.”

Green eyes fastened on him. “How is he? I have yet to see him.”

“Sleeping. He has a lot of recovery to get through.”

“I hope to see him later today. He might have some intel on those who captured you.”

Gordon held up a hand. “K, no, don’t.”

“Mister Gordon, we need every bit of information we can gather.”

“We have enough. Virgil doesn’t remember much at all.”

“Yet you chose to hide what he does remember from me.”

“For personal reasons! Nothing of a security nature.”

“Everything is important.”

“No, K, just no! Leave Virgil alone.” His brother had gone through enough. “Anything you need to know can come from me. I was conscious the entire time.”

Kyrano eyed him. “Why do you feel the need to protect Mister Virgil from me? I mean him no harm. And our relationship has been well tended over the years. We correspond regularly.”

Gordon stared. “You do?”

“Most certainly, Mister Virgil has been in contact for many years.” An arched eyebrow. “Unlike some.”

“I didn’t know that.” Really? Virgil had never mentioned any regular contact with Gordon’s mentor. What had they spoken about?

“Perhaps if you put more effort into communication in general, you would know.”

The stare turned into a narrow-eyed glare. “Communication takes two, K. I haven’t heard a thing from you. So, apparently, you’ll speak to my brother, but not me. Got an answer for that?”

Those green eyes held him for a moment before looking away. “Life is far from perfect, Mister Gordon.”

“Hah! Philosophical wank, K, is not an answer.” Okay, so it did hurt. Of all his brothers, Gordon thought he had connected the most with their security specialist. At least until he disappeared on them.

“Sometimes there is no answer.” It was said somewhat wistfully and for a moment sadness passed over the man’s face only to be quickly pushed aside.

Gordon frowned. “K?”

His mentor straightened, his posture ramrod. “Sensor density?”

Lips thinned, Gordon’s eyes caught Kyrano’s challenging him. But as always, the older man was dominant and a flicker of an eyebrow had his protege turning back to the instrumentation. “Five per thousand metres, but overlap is considerable.”

Kyrano sighed. “ More, Mister Gordon, you cannot afford to compromise.”

A sigh. “How did I know you were going to say that?”

-o-o-o-

“C’mon, Virgil, I know you’re in there. Time to wake up.”

His brother had slept and slept. Doctor Harris said it was normal. Hell, Virgil slept like the dead when perfectly healthy, but it had been over a day and both Gordon and Scott needed the reassurance that their brother was with them.

Best way to do that was the same way he did it when the man crashed on the couch at home.

“Viiiiiiiirgiiiiiiiil.”

The man’s eyes shot open and glared at him. “What?!”

Wow. Poke the bear and you get snarled at. “Ooh, welcome back to the land of the living. Nice entrance.”

“Gordon, what the hell? Let me sleep.”

“Nope.”

He watched as Virgil drifted and, for a moment, he thought he had lost him again. But those eyes opened and stared at the world around him with an awareness that Gordon hadn’t seen in days.

God, it was a relief.

“Why am I in hospital?”

He saw the dots connect and he was reaching out as Virgil shot up yelling about a trap. Scott, sitting on the other side of the bed caught their brother the same time Gordon did. The engineer wobbled where he sat and they lowered him back down to the bed.

“Take it easy, Virgil, you’ve been through quite a bit.” The moment Scott spoke, Virgil’s attention narrowed on their eldest brother. Gordon could have been offended, but really, that was just the way things were. They all looked to Scott for guidance, but none more so than Virgil.

“What happened?”

“What do you remember?”

Virgil spouted off the basics and then, thank god, he ran out of specifics. “A fight. I lost?”

Scott hesitated a second, Virgil didn’t appear to notice. “We think so. You have quite a lot of bruising, a couple of cracked ribs and two head injuries.”

Gordon frowned and Scott shot him a look that clearly said ‘shut up’.

“Two?”

“Yeah, and you also had a bloodstream full of some nasty chemicals. They drugged you pretty bad. Took the doctors some time to identify with exactly what. You’ve been mostly out of it for a couple of days.”

“Days?!”

“You were unconscious for most of it.”

Brown eyes darted back and forth between the two brothers and frowned. “Most of it?”

“Yeah.”

That gaze narrowed once again on Scott. His brother glanced at Gordon again, before looking at his watch.

Virgil caught the shift in gaze and frowned even more. “What did I do?”

“Nothing of importance.” Scott finally made eye contact with Virgil.

“Like what?” Their brother had a history of bad reactions to medications and there was a familiar worry in those eyes. Scott’s omission of certain details became clear. He was distracting Virgil by planting the suspicion that he had done something outlandish while out of it.

Well, he had, really, but there was no way Gordon was going to make fun of his brother’s faith in him. Not on pain of death.

“There was some delirium. Look, Virgil, you were ill. Don’t worry about it.”

Virgil was obviously suspicious and no doubt they would have to come up with something in the short term. At least until Virgil was ready to hear the truth. A truth Scott had obviously decided to keep to himself for the moment.

“How did we get out?”

Scott shifted Virgil’s attention in his direction. “Gordon got you out.”

And those brown eyes latched onto Gordon with that same faith he’d seen in that hangar. It should be funny. It should be something he could rib his brother about. But no.

It chilled him.

So, he threw it away with humour, ducking out of the questions with flippancy and misdirection. So much misdirection that Virgil, even in his half-awake state realised something was wrong and peppered him with questions about his health.

The faith turned to worry and the world righted itself. His big brother taking his place once again and checking up on him.

“He’s fine, Virgil. Stop worrying.” Scott’s exasperation was obvious, emphasised by a glare shot in Gordon’s direction. “He’s just being Gordon...and if he doesn’t stop, I’m going to kick his ass.”

Gordon froze.

Those brown eyes flicked back to him and the faith appeared again. “You got us out of there.”

“That I did.”

“Thank you.”

“Anytime, bro.” He forced a grin under that admiring gaze. I’m the goofball brother, remember? “Anytime.”

The soft smile that appeared on Virgil’s face almost broke him. But those brown eyes were closing again.

“Go back to sleep, Virgil.” Despite himself, he reached out and rested his hand on his brother’s arm.

“Knew you could do it.” It was whispered and his brother’s eyes did not open again.

Well, shit.

Virgil’s breathing shifted into the soft regularity of sleep, but Gordon just sat there and stared.

-o-o-o-

“What I want to know, Colonel Casey, is why International Rescue was not informed that we could expect an attack on one of our vessels.”

Colonel Casey’s hologram could not have been standing straighter, but that was nothing unusual. “And I, Commander, would like to know how you discovered that information.”

Brown eyes met blue and Gordon swore there was a flash in the air where their energies fought each other. Scott stood next to him equally ramrod straight, fury in his stance. “I think that is rather redundant now, Colonel, since I have two operatives injured due to a neglect in communications.”

“Scott, you need to rein in Thunderbird Five. The damage your brother did to the GDF network is not something I can cover up.”

“I’m not asking you to cover up anything, Colonel. John did nothing to your network. We have our sources. We don’t need to hack your systems to discover a truth we should have been told long before it put a Tracy in the hospital.”

Okay, technically Scott wasn’t lying. Eos hacked the GDF, Eos found the information and she could be considered a source...technically.

Scott and Gordon were alone in the comms room. Virgil still hadn’t left his suite. Gordon had checked on his earlier and found him still fast asleep. He wasn’t going to disturb that sleep. Alan had taken Grandma to the mainland for a supply run...otherwise known as a distraction enough to keep their matriarch out of the kitchen and come back with plenty of edibles. That left Brains in his lab and Kayo and Kyrano prowling around each other in the security offices.

Gordon chose to keep well out of that and the moment Scott finished his conference call with Tracy Industries, he joined him in what was looking to be the confrontation of the century between the GDF and IR.

“Do you expect me to believe that, Commander?” Casey’s voice had lost all the godmother and had an edge of steel.

“I expect to be reliably informed of any danger to my operatives, Colonel.”

The ranks being tossed around had Gordon wanting to dig up his lieutenant bars in self-defence.

“Commander, we had our reasons for withholding the information. Our relationship has a certain amount of trust in it. I had hoped you would consider that before questioning.”

“Virgil nearly died. He had a bomb in his throat that didn’t explode simply through pure chance!”

That did it. The colonel’s expression flickered for a moment, like a broken holosignal, and their horrified godmother peeked through.

But only for a moment.

“Commander, the decision was made for a valid reason.”

“And what reason is that?”

“That International Rescue has been compromised.”

Gordon froze. “What?”

Those brown eyes flickered to him, their gaze scanning the bruises on his face, no doubt. Aunt Val’s shoulders settled a little. “The group call themselves ‘Null’, they claim their aim is to end the war between the Chaos Crew and International Rescue.”

“We know that.” Scott’s voice gave no ground.

“A source advised us that an attack was planned, but we had very little detail. It was our hope that we would be able to respond quickly enough with that intel.”

“You didn’t.” So, so cold. “And despite our team’s sacrifices, you failed to capture a single perpetrator. In fact, if it wasn’t for a civilian doctor in a military hospital that refused to assist us, Virgil would be dead.”

Why Gordon was feeling so distant from events that had so intimately involved him, he didn’t know. Scott’s fury was a volcanic presence beside him, threatening to take out everything in its path. In contrast, Gordon felt cold, more like a glacier than a lava flow. Cold, still, but ultimately inevitable.

“How are we compromised?” Gordon’s voice sounded inadequate against the gravity of the question.

Again, that brown gaze caught his. “A known associate of International Rescue has been identified as a major player in the Null group. It was decided that it was unsafe to notify you of our knowledge in case the information was leaked to that person.”

A shift of his feet. “Leaked to who?”

-o-o-o-

Virgil woke in pain.

But that was nothing unusual. His ribs ached and there was the nastiness deep in his throat. Swallowing hurt.

At least his head had stopped aching. All he had to contend with there was the fog, which, no doubt, would double once his brothers worked out he was awake and delivered his pain medication.

Ugh.

It sucked to be him.

He rolled over and his whole body complained. Maybe drugs would be a good idea. He reached for his comms.

There was a knock at the door.

Speak of the devil? “Come in?” His voice came out dry and parched and it set him coughing, something he shouldn’t be doing.

The moment blurred as his body shook. A hand landed in his hair and he leant into it until he could get his breathing under control.

His eyes were teary and he had to blink to clear them, looking up expecting to see Scott frowning down at him.

It wasn’t Scott.

“Kyrano?”

“Hello, Mister Virgil.”

-o-o-o-

End Part Four

Part Five

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds #thunderbirds fanfiction #Gordon Tracy #Scott Tracy #John Tracy #Virgil Tracy #em harris #the joker and the hero

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alarawriting · 4 years

Text

2019 Inktober 29: Injured

Nightmare Before Christmas extension!

It began when you were 10. You were over Lisa’s house for her birthday, and she received a doll as a gift from her grandparents. Lisa was not known for her graciousness. “Euw! This doll is so creepy!” she complained, pushing it away from herself.

“Let me see,” you said, and Lisa gave you the creepy doll, which in your opinion wasn’t creepy at all. It was a blonde little girl with very large eyes, mouth partially open and visible teeth, rosy cheeks and pale skin.

“That doll is vintage,” Lisa’s grandmother complained. “What’s wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong is that this doll is ugly and creepy and weird and I don’t want it!”

“I do,” you said. “I think she’s pretty.”

“Well, then,” Lisa’s grandmother said, “Courtney can have the doll.” She smiles benevolently on you. “Go on, dear. You can keep the doll.”

You smiled graciously. “Thank you!” you said, knowing Lisa had just angered her parents and grandparents by being so ungrateful. You wanted to make them feel better. “I know Lisa just gets weirded out by dolls sometimes. She didn’t mean to be rude.”

From Lisa’s glowering expression, it was obvious that she had meant to be rude, but you’d given her an out and now that her initial reaction was past and she knew she didn’t have to keep the doll, it seemed like she’d realized the tactical error she’d made. “I’m sorry, Grandma. Courtney’s right, I kinda get scared of dolls sometimes.”

“Well, what a stupid thing to be afraid of,” Lisa’s grandmother said, but she was plainly somewhat mollified. “Here. Since you apologized, I’ll give you some money for your birthday.” She fished a five dollar bill out of her wallet. “That doll was worth a lot more than this, but I suppose this is what you’d rather have.”

“Thank you, Grandma!” Lisa said, and the birthday party went on as scheduled.

The doll was quite old, so she needed an old-fashioned name, but one that sounded nice. “Her name is Betty,” you told Lisa’s grandmother later. “She’s really pretty. I’m sorry Lisa was so mean about it.”

“I am too. That child can be so ungrateful sometimes.”

“I’ve been telling Betty that Lisa didn’t mean to be so mean, she just had a bad reaction because she’s scared of dolls. Betty understands, but she’s glad she’s going home with me instead. Dolls don’t like to live with girls who don’t like them.”

“You understand,” Lisa’s grandmother said, nodding. “Dolls have feelings too. They deserve to be with girls who’ll love them.”

“Did you have a doll who looked like this when you were young?"

Her eyes welled with unshed tears. “I did. I lost her when we moved. I’ve been checking antique stores and thrift stores for years, hoping to find her.”

“What was yours named?”

“Eleanor. I named her for a queen, Eleanor of Acquitaine. Have you heard of her?”

You said no, so Lisa’s grandmother – whose actual name was Mrs. Shapiro – talked your head off about kings and queens of England for half an hour before you got a chance to go play.

***

Once you were home, headed up the stairs to your room, Betty complained. “Lisa’s ugly. And mean.”

“She didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. She’s actually a very nice person. She just… is scared of dolls.” You shifted Betty in your arms so instead of lying in them like a baby, she was facing outward, her back against your chest and your arm around her middle, so she could see the others. When you opened the door, you gestured at your other dolls, the ones on your bookshelves and on your dresser. “Hello, everyone! This is Betty!”

“Hi, Betty!” the dolls chorused.

“She’s the newest addition to our family, so I was thinking we could have a tea party to welcome her.”

“Great idea!” Mandy cheered.

So you got out the tea set, and arranged all the dolls on the floor, and the dolls who didn’t get tea cups because your tea set wasn’t that big, you gave mugs or glasses from your play kitchen, and you put plastic desserts from the toy kitchen on everyone’s plates.

“This is delicious,” Kyla said. “Did you make it yourself?”

You laughed. “Oh, no, no, it’s store bought! I’m a terrible cook.”

“You got that right,” Veronica, who was sometimes kind of a jerk, said.

“Oh, oh, wow! Veronica, you’ve got to be best friends with the new girl!” Eric said. He had been a girl when you got him, but you thought it was unfair to have nothing but girl dolls, so you hacked off all his hair and put clothes on him from a GI Joe you found in the mud near the playground, although they didn’t really fit. “Betty and Veronica! Like the Archie comics!”

“Archie is stupid,” Veronica said, but mellowed a bit. “But it’s very nice to meet you, Betty.”

“We’re going to be great friends, I just know it!” Mandy said.

Betty started to almost-cry the way Mrs. Shapiro had. “You guys,” she said. “This has been the best day of my life.”

***

One day Mrs. Shapiro brought you six more dolls while you’re over Lisa’s house. They were all vintage, and they were all damaged, from the one whose hair was falling off to the one with one eye that wouldn’t open to the one with a cloudy white film on her eyes. “Courtney, would you be interested in these?”

“Were they yours?”

She nodded. “I think they deserve to go with a girl who will play with them. I was going to give them to Lisa, but…”

“Yeah, Lisa won’t want them. But I love them! What are their names?”

Mrs. Shapiro said some of the names and visibly struggled to remember the others. You asked her, “Why don’t you play with them anymore?”

“Well, I’m a grown woman. Grown-up women don’t play with dolls.”

“But you could if you wanted to.”

“I suppose I could, but it would be a little embarrassing.” She chuckled.

“I could bring over my tea set and some dolls and you could play dolls with me. I want to know your dolls’ personalities. It’d be rude to tell them to be completely different people just because someone new owns them.”

“I never thought of it that way.”

In the end, you went over Mrs. Shapiro’s house yourself for the tea party, which Lisa thought was weird but Lisa could think whatever she wanted. Mrs. Shapiro put out a real-life tea set and filled the cups with Kool-aid, which was more verisimilitude than you’d ever managed. During the tea party she did voices for all the dolls, Hortensia who couldn’t keep her eye open and Emily who was losing her hair and Birdie who was going blind and Renee who had no clothes, just a washcloth around her body with safety pins holding it in place and Michelle who had one shoe and Lauren who kept falling over when she was put in a sitting position. You were very grateful; it really helped to know how the dolls sounded, their voices and personalities as well as their names.

And when you saw that now you had six dolls who were injured or lacking in some way, you realized what you wanted to do.

You went to Girl Scouts to learn to sew, because Mrs. Shapiro claimed to be terrible at it and wouldn’t teach you, and your own grandma worked and didn’t have time. You told the librarian about your quest, and she ordered you a book from another library about repairing dolls. It was intended for adults, and you were nine, but you used a dictionary and struggled through it because you needed to know. Your dad suggested that rubbing alcohol on a q-tip might help Birdie’s eyes. Birdie was so very grateful to you for restoring her sight.

After that, your parents would give you thrift store dolls, broken-down dolls who needed love and care as much as the pretty new dolls at the toy stores, for every birthday and Christmas, because you told them emphatically that that was what you wanted. “No one loves the ugly dolls or the broken dolls or the creepy dolls. They need someone to take care of them. They need love.”

And you had so much love to give.

***

Twenty years later you learned the hard way that a shop that fixes dolls doesn’t make any money. You branched into selling high-end, high-quality toys, as well as continuing to collect and fix up vintage dolls. You sewed beautiful new clothes for them and re-glued their hair and re-attached their arms and legs. You carefully removed their eyes and polished them, attached new weights to the eyelids to enable them to open and close, and sometimes heated and re-shaped the eyes in hot water so they would fit properly in their sockets again.

You sold the dolls to any child, or any adult buying for a child, who wanted one and was willing to pay your prices, which weren’t cheap after you’d done so much restoration work. But when the day was over and you’d done the receipts and closed the books and swept the shop and locked up, you took the dolls upstairs to your living space with you, and you played with them, because dolls deserved to be played with.

Men who found out about this hobby of yours found it weird and unpleasant, so none of your relationships lasted more than a few dates. You weren’t close enough to any of your friends for them to find out. You had pen pals, fellow doll aficionados, all over the world, but you wouldn’t admit even to them that you played with your dolls. By this time you had so many that you couldn’t possibly play with them all every night, which was part of the reason you’d been willing to part with some of them back when you’d opened the store. But you did your best to make sure they were going to good homes.

***

Forty years later the internet had nearly destroyed you, and then saved you.

It became so easy to buy vintage dolls, you overbought. You took on employees to help you repair them, but they didn’t love the dolls like you did, so they didn’t stay your employees. Then people stopped buying from the store because it was so easy to get even vintage toys online, at much better prices than you could afford to sell at. You sold through online channels yourself, but it wasn’t enough.

You expanded your offerings to hand-crafted children’s furniture and toys, working with artisans you met at a Renaissance faire or online, reselling their work. And you moved the doll repair business online. It turned out that the number of people willing to send their beloved childhood friend to a total stranger through the mail and pay a lot of money to have her restored was much higher than you’d guessed. You picked up more employees, this time to run the store so that you could work full-time on doll repair.

Fifteen years ago you’d gotten a cat, but she died of old age, and you didn’t replace her. Your doll friends weren’t immortal – you’d had porcelain-headed dolls shatter, you’d had to reluctantly tell heartbroken women that their childhood toy had been mauled too heavily by a dog to be saved – but when age damaged them, it could be fixed. They weren’t doomed to die like living creatures were.

You made sure to make time to play with the dolls every night, no matter how busy you got. Sometimes you hardly had time to do anything but choose a lucky few, dress them in nightgowns and caps for their hair, and take them to bed with you, but you always did at least that.

***

And then there was the day you heard a violent crash downstairs.

You were a woman living alone. You tried not to live in fear, but you knew you were vulnerable. The sound terrified you, so you called the police, and stayed upstairs behind your bolted bedroom door with two or three of your favorite dolls reassuring you, until the cops arrived.

They called you downstairs to see what you knew.

The man had had duct tape on him, and rope, and a knife. You were somewhat shocked that anyone would target you for such a thing, at your age, but the cops tell you that it was probably your age that drew the guy’s attention. He must have assumed you couldn’t defend yourself.

You could not explain why he was lying dead in a giant pile of dolls, his eyes punctured, his throat bruised, his neck broken. You hadn’t left your room. It was more than obvious that a small middle-aged woman couldn’t have done the kind of damage to the dead man that had killed him; the best anyone could guess was that he’d tripped over a rack of dolls and fallen on them so hard that hard plastic hands had jabbed his eyes out and then he’d broken his neck in the fall. But you knew better. The cops couldn’t possibly understand, but you did.

“Thank you,” you said to all the dolls, the creepy dolls you hadn’t yet repaired and the ones that you had and yet children still called them creepy, the pretty vintage dolls and the modern dolls that had needed repair. “Thank you,” you said, weeping over the body of a porcelain doll that had broken, but she was the only casualty. Others had damaged hands and some had crushed plastic bodies and quite a lot of them had their clothes ruined by blood, but those were all things you could repair. “Thank you all so much. You saved me.”

“You’re our mother,” one of the dolls said.

“You saved me,” another doll, a repaired doll, said.

“We love you. We’ll never let anyone hurt you.”

You gathered your precious, precious dolls to you and hugged them, and cried. Oh, your dollies, all your beautiful dollies. You’d saved their lives, and now they had returned the favor.

#tw: implied rape threat #inktober 2019 #creepy dolls need love too

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cryptoriawebb · 5 years

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At long last I have finished Yoru’s biography sheet. It’s a little on the longer side but I’m proud of it.

Anyone checking in for the first time, Gesshoku Yoru is my shinigami OC for the anime/manga Full Moon wo Sagashite.

Shoutout to @starspatter for helping me along the way <3

Trigger warning: mentions of depression and suicide

Background: Yoru exists in a prequel story to both the manga and anime for Full Moon wo Sagashite. This prequel contains a slightly different origin for Shinigami. Instead of ‘hatching’ as adults, those who end their lives reawaken as children again and begin the early stages of their training from a young age. They are called “Fledglings.”

Physical Description: A girl of average height and build with black hair and eyes to match. As a child she wears her hair in two buns. Long bangs parted to the left. She dresses in Victorian-style children’s dresses that are dark (usually black but sometimes blue) in color. Wears either mary janes or small boots with bat wings. Also wears a bat hairclip.

As an adult her hair is short, though she still has her long bangs. They part to the left. Her clothing style is still gothic, but purple and black but takes inspiration from steampunk as well. No gears but lots of buckles and frills. Sleeveless gloves with lace around the wrists. A black and blue corset with belts and a layered dress that’s short in front and flares out in the back. Wears boots that come up to below the knee. Also wears a mini top hat over one of her bat ears, decorated with a purple five-petal flower that resembles the “flower of forgetfulness” in the anime. Her hat also has two feathers: a black and purple plume and a smaller black feather. Again, since she works in the pediatrics unit Yoru has small black bat ears; one is visible and one is covered by her hat. Unlike other Shinigami, Yoru has bat wings.

Yoru’s updated design:

Personality:

Human – shy, crippled by anxiety that often led her to choose the withdrawn/polite response over expressing herself. Tried to embrace her interests and gothic fashion-style but grew discouraged overtime, feeling much like an outcast. Had no close friends so relied heavily on her family for support.

Shinigami – as a fledgling, Yoru was very shy for quite a while. Meroko (and Yoru’s eventual budding feelings for her) pushed her to express herself and embrace the other Fledglings as a new family. Takuto joining also helped; Yoru saw a lot of herself early on in the quiet Fledgling and went out of her way to (politely) include him the way Meroko did her. As an adult doubts and depression follow Yoru around like a dark cloud. Her close-knit support system has strained over the years, though she remains on good terms with the other Shinigami. Her relationship with Meroko grows painful as well as her feelings were never reciprocated, not that she ever told her.

____

Relationships: Shinigami Meroko – Yoru’s first real friend, her best friend and one she eventually falls in love with. Calls her “Mero-chan” as a child and occasionally in adulthood. Meroko remains in large part unaware of Yoru’s feelings. Though she ends up forgetting Yoru she left the strongest impression, maintaining a sensitive heart. Meroko cries for reasons she in part doesn’t understand when Izumi gifts her a new outfit. In the anime she reunites with Yoru twice: once unaware during her quest for the Flower of Forgetfulness and again, officially, as an angel.

Izumi – A rival for Meroko’s affection. She considers him a friend in adulthood. Isn’t aware Izumi knows of her feelings for Meroko. He sympathizes with her, understanding her dissatisfaction and quest for answers. Witnesses Yoru’s final moments. Her disappearance makes an impression and leaves him cynical and even antagonistic about lasting love of any kind. He’s also the only one who remembers her and this may be in part due to his own retained memories from his human life. He tries in his own ways to get their friends to remember, going so far as to give Meroko an outfit largely inspired by Yoru’s. His nickname for her is “Yo-run.”

Takuto – As the youngest Fledgling of the group Yoru has a soft spot for him and at times dotes him like a big sister would. Is unaware he has a crush on her. In adulthood she finds him easiest to relate to as he triggers the least negativity in her and struggles with his own obstacles as a Shinigami-in training. Nonetheless her presence is painful to him as he still holds a waning candle for her and may suspect why she never returned his own feelings.

Sheldan – The head of Pediatrics and the teacher/primary caretaker of the young Fledglings. Yoru is intimidated by him at first and treats him with a distant respect in adulthood until she starts investigating her human life. Grows secretive around him like the others and paranoid/angry as well. She wonders why he assigned her pediatrics and resents his attitude towards her failures.

Mystere – Yoru doesn’t know Mystere but she has heard of her, though not by name. As the Goddess of Death Yoru considers the idea of her eerie, mystic and intimidating. Towards the end of her life blames her along with Sheldan, holding her responsible in part for their suffering as Shinigami purely because of her status.

___

Humans: Mother – Yoru’s relationship with her mother changed day to day. Both loved one another very much and Yoru had many fond childhood memories of spending time with her. However, Yoru’s mother was a more traditional woman and did not always approve of Yoru’s peculiar interests and fashion choices. That said, they continued to bond over a love of holidays and holiday parties.

Father – Yoru’s relationship with her father was benign but empty: he spent much of her childhood working so she didn’t see him often and as an adult she was away. Her father largely expressed his love for his children in the form of material gifts.

Little brother – Yoru and her little brother did not always get along just like most siblings. That said she was fond of him and more often than not doted on him the way her parents did her. There were at times some form of jealousy: being the eldest by quite a few years sometimes she felt they favored him over her. When this occurred she’d tell herself that wasn’t true: her parents cared deeply for her, they just showed support in different ways because she was older.

Kouyama Mitsuki – One might argue Yoru’s relationship with the other Shinigami foreshadowed their meeting and helping Mitsuki. Her name parallel’s Yoru’s surname: “Full Moon” and “Lunar Eclipse.” (or ‘eating the moon’ in Japanese.) They never officially meet but one might argue in the anime they did unofficially as Mitsuki watched Meroko’s journey into the underworld and sang along with her...

____

Life before becoming a Shinigami: Gesshoku Yoru was born in the late 1960s. She was the eldest daughter of an upper-middle class Japanese family. She had one younger brother. Her father worked for a corporate company and he and his family were well-liked by their community. They would throw extravagant holiday parties that Yoru looked forward to every year. The family was close within itself as well and Yoru’s parents doted on her and her brother. Yoru’s father occasionally traveled for work and sometimes brought his family with him. When Yoru was a young teenager she accompanied him to England. Already interested all things dark and spooky she took a liking to the budding gothic fashion and took this interest back with her to Japan.

While the family was close, however, Yoru had difficulty maintaining relationships with her peers. Many of her friendships felt superficial, too polite and/or distant. Yoru suspected the friends she had hung around due to her parents’ job and money. They certainly weren’t interested in any of her passions, least of all her dark/gothic fashion, finding it eccentric and a little creepy.

Yoru lived with her family until young adulthood where she eventually moved into her own apartment. Her parents encouraged this and had money saved for her to live on while she made a start in the world. Yoru lived by herself, further isolating her from potential relationships. Far enough away she couldn’t visit home casually, Yoru looked forward to the family parties: the few times she felt she really belonged.

During the summer of her first year on her own Yoru’s family died while on vacation. The vacation home they were renting caught fire. This devastated Yoru: she’d been looking forward to the yearly Halloween party more than anything else. To make matters worse, shortly after their deaths the company her father worked for was charged with fraud, of which her father participated. When word of this got out the scandal stained her family name and those whom Yoru remained in contact with cut her out completely.

Yoru took her own life early on Halloween. Desperate to bring back her warm memories in some way Yoru tried to host her family’s Halloween party anyway, throwing herself into decorating (as best she could) and sending out invitations. No one RSVP’d. Distraught and alone she visited her empty home that night, hoping guests would show up anyway. They didn’t. Authorities found her the next day, crumpled on the steps in the front room. She was twenty-one. Cause of death: an overdose of sleeping pills she’d been taking nightly following the death of her family.

____

Life as a Shinigami: Yoru hatched as an amnesiac fledgling, a little girl of six or seven. She was greeted by Sheldan and the tiny Meroko Yui. Yoru took a lot of convincing to come out of her shell—literally and figuratively. Eventually the two brought Yoru to their headquarters where she was given a room and new clothes. Though she wouldn’t remember why, Yoru took a liking to the bat accessories as well as her gothic-victorian dresses. She took a liking to Meroko too. The pink-haired girl was her first earnest, honest friend and that planted the seed for a crush that would one day develop into unrequited love. Sometime before Izumi showed up both grew a tiny pair of wings: feathered for Meroko and bat for Yoru. Yoru was self-conscious about her wings from the start but Meroko encouraged her to embrace them (they suited her well!) Yoru uses her surname for two reasons: as a fledging, her fascination with western culture lingered. Also, the scandal and trauma tied to her family name is what ultimately led to her death. Sheldan decided it might trigger her memory, so chose her given name for her instead.

Yoru and Meroko were there to greet Izumi, alongside Sheldan, although he didn’t warm up to them right away. Rather Izumi grew to be a pain in Yoru’s side, particularly when he started teasing/picking on/favoring Meroko. He even picked a nickname for her (‘Me-chan’) which to Yoru seemed like a variation of the one she’d given Merko.

Sometime later Sheldan took another Fledgling Shinigami under his wing: a little boy named Takuto. Quiet and smaller than the others he reminded Yoru of herself. She befriended Takuto and tried to make him feel welcome. Subconsciously he also reminded her of her brother and slipping into the big sister role again shed the rest of her shell. Soon enough Takuto shed his own shyness; he never grew wings, however and Yoru found this odd.

As the four Fledglings grew older Sheldan assigned them “junior” missions, pairing them off to see who worked best together. Yoru and Takuto struggled during this period and so when they started working on legitimate missions both trainees were permanently assigned to their more successful peers. Yoru worked with Meroko and Izumi with Takuto.

Yoru did not find success as a Shinigami: her bat wings and ears frightened children; some protested going with her and it in turn caused trouble for Sheldan. This upset Yoru greatly who wanted to succeed. Overtime she started resenting her appearance and slowly obsessed over why she grew bat wings instead of feathers. She began wondering if the answer lay in her human life. Her friends warned her to let it go before it became dangerous…but Yoru’s repeated almost-failures swayed her over their concerns. Yoru in part didn’t mind any would-be consequences; at this point she realized for sure however much Meroko loved her it would never be in a romantic way. That hurt more than any lost soul under her duty.

Yoru at first hid her investigation from her friends; Izumi was the first to clue into what she was doing. He didn’t confront her at first as he had his own secrets. When Yoru’s memories start to came back she hid this as well, along with what was happening to her.

Sometime before Yoru’s death Takuto was sent back to training. After she disappeared Izumi became Meroko’s replacement partner. Out of respect for Yoru and perhaps disgust/disappointment no one else remembered her he kept Meroko at a distance for a long time. Eventually he asked Sheldan to dissolve their team and Meroko became Takuto’s partner.

Though Yoru never received a definite answer by the end of her life she suspected she has bat wings for three reasons: 1) she’s always been interested in the spooky/gothic aesthetic and in some ways felt defined by it. 2) her human memories and sense of self revolved strongly around her parents’ holiday parties. She was looking forward to their Halloween party before they died and left the world mourning it alongside her family. 3) She died on Halloween.

When all of Yoru’s memories returned she conceded to becoming a ghost: there was nothing for her in the human world, nothing in the way of love and no career as a Shinigami. She intended to die alone but Izumi followed her and towards the very end of her life made his presence known. They held one last conversation and made some semblance of peace with one another.

Yoru’s strong feelings—both of love and pain--prevented her from turning into a traditional ghost. Instead her soul rooted itself in the underworld, transforming into the Flower of Forgetfulness which greatly resembled the flower on her hat. Her spirit lurked around it and her suffering manifested itself as dangerous obstacles for any who tried to retrieve it. True to her last name, the flower bloomed only during the Lunar Eclipse…and true to the flower, her childhood friends and supervising Shinigami lost their memories of her. Nonetheless, she left such a strong impression on them, a sense of something warm and lost and it might be why they rally around a girl named after the full moon.

In the anime storyline, when Meroko seeks out the Flower of Forgetfulness Yoru’s wounded spirit attacks her, trying to push her and the painful memories she triggers away. With Mitsuki’s help, Meroko prevails and when she plucks the flower free she frees Yoru’s soul as well. Picking the flower also restores everyone’s memories of Yoru although they would not realize it until sometime later…

Yoru’s spirit subconsciously follows Meroko to the human world: before the now-angel!Meroko flies away she spots her childhood friend, in tattered clothes and without wings or bat ears. Because she is an angel now Meroko can see ghosts (traditional shinigami cannot.) Meroko and Yoru run towards each other, tears in their eyes. They embrace and apologize—Yoru for losing faith in her best friend and Meroko for forgetting her.

Meroko uses her new angel magic to give Yoru a new outfit: black and gothic but mirroring Meroko’s new look. She takes Yoru’s hand and the two leave the world together.

#full moon wo sagashite #full moon o sagashite #meroko yui #izumi rio #gesshoku yoru #takuto kira #kouyama mitsuki #webbdesigns #inscryptions #yorumero

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nukagalreacts · 5 years

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Part two of F04 Companions react to arriving to a settlement to late and the whole place has been razed!

omg y’all sorry im a week late on this but here it is and I hope you like it! Thanks again for the request and thank you for your patience with me!

Codsworth: It always made him proud to see Sole helping so many settlements, their ability to put themselves before others and show kindness to strangers was a quality he had admired in Sole from the very day he had first started working for them. The ability to be selfless in world like this was hard, but Sole managed to do it day in and day out, without complaining or wondering why them when bad things happened, and they were happy to have a bot like Codsworth looking out for them across the Commonwealth. Today was no different either and Sole had been up bright and early before getting a distress signal from a small settlement not to far from Sanctuary, and was quick to gear up and call for Codsworth who was ready at a moments notice.

Codsworth was helpful in keeping the path clear for Sole as they focused on getting to the settlement and bracing themselves for whatever enemies awaited them. A bit later they came up and over the hill that was suppose to overlook the small settlement and Codsworth felt horrible as he saw that everything had been burned to the ground. He could see that his master was visibly shaken by this and did his best to provide words of comfort and let Sole know they would help them track down those responsible for this horrible crime. Him and Sole went down the hill and got to work looking for any evidence of who or what did this, Sole was glad Codsworth has multiple keener eyes then they did or else it would have taken a lot longer to search through the charred rubble.

Nick: The detective and Sole where like the same person when it came to going out of their way to helping anyone who needed it, so he was usually the one Sole picked to come along with them when a settlement needed assistance. Nick and Sole were widely recognized among the settlements and people always reached out to them first when needing help, and since Nick was a synth it actually increased people’s trust of synths in general as more people came to realize that synths weren’t a bad thing and most of them were just trying to live their lives.

Today was going to be no different than any other, they were just going to do a check in with a settlement that had been having some ghoul problems lately and as of last time they had gotten better defenses and seemed to be doing well. Instead they were greeted with the site of ashy, blackened ruins and bodies of ghouls and settlers scattered around the area. He could feel the disappointment and sense of failure wash over him and could see Sole’s eyes get a bit watery not just from the smoke but trying to hold back any emotions. This wasn't the first time this type of thing had happened and it certainly wouldn’t be the last, but it didn’t make the failure sting any less. From what he could see with how many dead ghoul bodies there were it looked like maybe the settlers were caught off guard and got overtaken so fast that they didn’t even have time to send out a distress signal. All they could do and hope for now was to go and see if they could find any survivors in the surrounding area.

Cait: She hated going out of her way to help anyone unless there was something in it for her, even then the reward better be something pretty spectacular if she has to risk her ass for someone. When she had first started traveling with Sole and they went off to help a settlement she moaned and groaned the whole time saying what a waste of time it was and people needed to learn how to defend themselves and not rely on others for help, over time though Sole had softened her up a bit and convinced her helping these places was for the betterment of the Commonwealth as a whole. Cait couldn’t deny either that helping so many places out had its perks and they ended up getting weapons and other supplies for free from grateful settlements, and it felt good to be seen as somewhat of a hero instead of being seen as some low life junkie.

Not every mission went smoothly though and she had seen her fair share of razed settlements,so the one she was staring at right now didn’t affect her at all, not like it did Sole anyways. Cait’s whole life had always been nothing but violence and neglect, her emotions had become limited and all but stunted as an adult, with Sole that had changed a little bit but not by much. In this case Cait acted as the more level headed one who would try to get Sole to calm down and think rationally so they could go kick the ass of whoever raided this settlement, now that was something Cait was always happy to do.

Deacon: The man may be a compulsive liar who changes his face every other week and no one really knows who he is besides those he works with, but deep down he cared about helping the people of the Commonwealth, even those who weren’t synths. In between doing missions for the railroad with Sole they would go out and do their best to help struggling settlements rather that would be building up defenses, taking care of raiders, or just helping with crops, no job was to big or small for them.

In the morning they had been making their way to a drop box location for info on their next mission when they spotted wafts of black smoke not to far from their location. They shared a look before making the mutual decision to go check it out. Deacon expected to find a camp of super mutants but it was so much worse than that, from behind his sunglasses he could make out a pile of bodies of what he assumed had been innocent settlers all stacked in a gruesome display of guts and blood. Super mutants had already come through here and slaughtered and destroyed everything without mercy, it made his stomach twist and turn as he turned away trying to keep down the bile half way up his throat. He felt horrible that him and Sole hadn’t passed by sooner they could have saved everyone here, but he guessed this is just the way the cards played out sometimes, and they couldn’t always be in the right place every time.

Curie: Someone needs help she is the synth for the job and will come running from anywhere in the Commonwealth to help anyone out! Curie has become a well known face among the people because she is so handy at her medical practice and hasn’t had a patient die on her yet, and everyone loves her friendly and calm personality. Whenever Sole is going out to a settlement she never leaves Curie behind no matter the reason she is going out to help them.

This time around Sole and Curie had plans to stop at a settlement not far from Sanctuary because some of the younger settlers kept coming down with a certain disease, and Curie had found a way to make a vaccine for it and planned to treat all the settlers with it. Curie was overly excited as they made their way down the trail that led right into the settlement, her medical bag carrying all the vaccines dropped out of her hand and Sole could hear the syringes breaking along with other medical equipment as they stared in shock at the destroyed settlement. Curie cried out and covered her mouth in horror, she had loved this place and the people in it so much and had come to care for them like family and in the blink of an eye something had stolen it all away. Curie slumped to the ground not understanding why this had happened, why the Commonwealth had to be such a cruel place.

Danse: Before he had found out he was a synth and worked for the B.O.S, helping out settlements and clearing out the filth to cleanse the Commonwealth had just been a job, he was only following orders as a soldier, nothing more. With Sole though he had learned compassion and he actually began to care about what really happened to the settlers and the people of the Commonwealth, he didn’t view this place anymore as just another stepping stone in a mission. It took awhile for people to warm up and trust the former Brotherhood soldier but they soon realized what a changed man he had become, and where thankful for any help he could provide. Afterall Sole had faith in him, so why shouldn’t they give him a chance to.

In the past week him and Sole had been frequently getting distress signals from settlements along the coastline due to an increase in super mutant attacks. Both of them had been out here for awhile helping build up defense’s, setting traps, trying to provide weapons and training to better equip the settlers so they wouldn’t always have to depend on them for protection. Things had settled down and him and Sole had packed up ready to make their way back to Sanctuary when another distress signal blared over the radio on Sole’s pipboy. They had already made some good distance when leaving so it took longer for them to reach the area again and Danse felt horrible when he saw they where to late, super mutants had already razed the settlement and were gathering up the leftover spoils and munching on a few unlucky settlers. Danse felt his blood run hot as he glared down the mutants with disgust, he was going to make them pay for this! He began firing at them with Sole following close behind covering his back, the mutants didn’t stand a chance against the rage that was fueling Danse in his attack.

Also yes I left Dogmeat out on purpose

#F04 comapnions #Fallout 4 companions react #Fallout 4 request #settlements #Paladin Danse #Deacon #Curie #synth #Nick valentine #Codsworth #Sole #sosu #sfw #part 2 of 2

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bat-losers-inc · 5 years

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Kintsugi: Chapter 7

Summary: Final Crisis/Red Robin AU. Dick admits Tim to a psychiatric facility after Bruce is lost in time. Jason finds him suffering at the hands of a Scarecrow-copycat and breaks him out. While safe in Jason’s apartment, Tim still struggles with panic attacks and drug withdrawal. At a loss for what to do, Jason calls Roy Harper.

Pairings: Jason Todd & Tim Drake, Jason Todd & Dick Grayson, Roy Harper & Jason Todd.

“I think it’s time that you go,” said Roy, placing a firm hand on Dick’s shoulder in a way that made it clear Dick would find himself on the other side of that door soon, whether he walked there on his own accord or not.

Still, Dick continued to plead his case. “All I want to do is help.”

Jason shook his head. “It’s a little late for that now, don’t you think?”

He didn’t know when his previous show of angry bravado had faded to a weariness for this constant in-fighting. Maybe it was when he’d had a good long look at Dick’s stricken expression after he’d delivered the news about the emancipation papers. An indescribable look had flickered across his features as the knowledge settled into his bones… the knowledge that Tim might amputate his entire relationship with him— like Dick was a diseased limb that could kill him if left to fester and spread. Jason knew the feeling intimately and it felt like a special kind of death.

Suddenly, he felt torn in two. Where did his loyalty lie?

With Tim? Dick? Himself? There was his survival instinct kicking in again; telling him to fuck them all and run for the hills.

Jason hung back and watched on as Dick took a reluctant step backwards as Roy crowded him, forcing him step by step towards the exit. Dick didn’t even waste his energy trying to change Roy’s mind, his whole attention was focused on Jason as if he knew that he was the only real person in the room with the power to stop his ejection. It was true, he could stop this if he wanted— sit down with Dick and talk it out, but Jason felt powerless to force his own body into movement, stuck fast where he stood unable to make up his mind whether to help or hinder his brother.

Would hearing him out betray Tim?

“Just let me explain my side of things before you shut me out, please?”

For all the shitty things that Dick had done to him in the past, Jason knew that, even when wrong, those deeds were done with good intentions. Maybe it was because of that that Jason never had the heart to watch Dick beg.

He found his voice. “Roy, wait.”

Roy looked over his shoulder, hand still pushing against Dick’s upper body. “You sure you want to do this?”

Jason would only be leading himself into the possibility of future manipulation if he took Tim’s side on every issue without question. Tim had already shown them that he knew how to play on their concerns for his well-being in order to get drugs from them. It hadn’t worked, and Tim had been quick to back off and save face, but just the fact that he’d done it with such guile on his first try had hit Jason like a blow to the head.

“Yeah.”

Roy dropped his hand away and Dick stood patiently as he waited for Roy to back up and give him some breathing room.

“Can we go inside and talk about this?” asked Dick.

“No. Not while Tim’s in there. I don’t want him to have to hear this.”

Dick’s brow creased. “You don’t want him to hear my side of the story?”

Jason knuckled his temple in an attempt to ease the tension building up there.

“Honestly, hearing it won’t mean shit to him. All of the apologies you have to give won’t mean shit to him. Because they won’t change what happened as a result of your actions. Stop apologizing. Learn from your mistakes. Live with it.”

“You say that like it’s so easy.”

Jason shrugged and said nothing, choosing instead to stub the toe of his boot against the grease splattered floor. It wasn’t an easy thing to do and Dick knew that, so there was really nothing more he could say. He wasn’t going to lie.

“You weren’t there…” Dick trailed off just as quickly as he’d started.

He threw his arms out at his side, limbs heavy with such a visible weariness that it made Jason feel like he’d just watched him walk into Gotham River until his head disappeared under it’s dark water. Dick was drowning, that much was clear.

He waited patiently for Dick to gathering himself and continue, stewing with his own uneasy thoughts as the silence dragged on.

“You weren’t there to see what is was like after Bruce’s funeral. I had to take over being Batman and it was clear that Damian needed the mentorship that came with being Robin. I felt horrible for taking that away from Tim. Horrible! But… Damian didn’t just lose Batman. He also lost his father… I figured Tim would understand that and come around to creating a new persona with time.”

“It seemed like he’d started to with Red Robin. So why didn’t you leave him be?”

“Because he came back to the manor with some crazy theory that Bruce wasn’t actually dead but lost.”

“Lost? Like, what,” asked Jason, “in the woods?”

“Washed up on a desert island like Green Arrow?” asked Roy clearly happy for the change in conversation.

“No, like lost in space and time.” Dick threw up his hands. “I mean, it was absolutely insane! We buried his bones in the family plot. There was physical evidence— forensic reports for Tim to read— and still he kept going on about it. He’d practically barricaded himself inside his apartment. He wouldn’t come back to the manor—”

“So you thought committing him to a psych ward was the next best step?” asked Jason.

“Yes! I made the choice to give him the psychological care he needed.”

“Maybe he didn’t need psychological help! Maybe he just needed someone to listen to him.”

Dick blinked at him. “Are you saying you believe him?”

“We live in a world of aliens, metahumans, and lazarus pits. Does Tim’s theory have some very large, adult male body-size holes in it? Yeah, one hundred percent. Is it impossible?” He racked a hand through his hair. “Honestly, I don’t know. But, I would have at least listened to him and it was shitty of you to not even call me and ask for help.”

“That guilt trip works both ways, Jason.” said Dick. “You could have reached out just as easily as I could.”

“He’s got a point there, Jaybird.”

“Yeah. Now look where it’s gotten us.”

Dick nodded and cast his gaze about the room, but whatever he was looking for his eyes never settled on it. Finally, he looked between Jason and Roy and extended his hand to Jason. “Truce? For Tim’s sake.”

Jason stared at his hand for a long moment, weighing out the options in his head. He’d settled on his answer and was ready to state it— whether it was the right decision or not— when he was blinded by a blur of denim fabric and curly hair as a woman fell into him. He caught her by the shoulders and righted her, hands lingering for a minute to allow her to totter back on her chunky heels.

She straightened up and took a step back.

“Daisy?” said Jason.

Daisy adjusted the tight dress she wore beneath her oversized denim jacket so that it rested to mid thigh. She pushed her blonde curls out of her eyes and flashed him a smile. “Hey, Jay. Sorry for running into you, literally, but it’s a bit of an emergency. Well, I think it is, anyway.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m sorry—” Dick shouldered his way in between them. “Who is this and why is she in your safehouse?”

“Weren’t you listening?” said Roy. “This is Daisy.”

“Hey there, Daise,” Roy flashed her a smile and jutted a finger in Dick’s direction. “this is our friend, Dick. Don’t worry he’s in the night business too.”

Daisy gave Dick an appreciative once over. “My kind or yours?”

Roy crowed with laughter. “Ours. But you hear that, Dickie? If this line of work doesn’t pan out for you, you always have something to fall back on.”

Dick looked less than amused. “Yeah, hilarious. What is she doing here?”

“Daisy and I have a mutually beneficial business arrangement.”

“How’s that?”

“Well,” said Jason. “I make a habit of keeping an eye on Daisy and the other girls who work this neighborhood. You know, run off any troublemakers. In exchange for my services, Daisy reports any suspicious activity she sees in the area.”

Daisy gave Jason’s shoulder a playful shove. “Yeah and sometimes he climbs into my place through the window at four in the morning and asks me to cauterize his bullet wounds with a bottle of vodka and my best curling iron.”

“Oh, real professional, Jason!”

“Yeah we’ve gotta be, don’t we? ‘Cause I mean this boy’s got thighs that make me wanna…” She trailed off with a giggle. “Well... let’s just say I’ve seen more of this boy’s skin than half of my clients combined.”

Jason ducked his head with a smile. He thought he heard Daisy offering her specialty medical services to Dick (no curling iron service fee included) in an sly undertone to Dick but couldn’t be sure. For all at once Daisy turned back and punched him hard in the shoulder.

“Wait! What am I even doing right now? I totally forgot what I came here to tell you!”

“Ow. Well what is it?” asked Jason, with slightly less warmth than before as he rubbed his sore shoulder.

“That kid that’s staying with you? Saw him climb down your fire escape and head off towards the nearest subway. I could tell even from a distance that he didn’t look in a good way— kinda sweaty and wrung out. ”

Jason’s heart jumped to his throat, all humor dashed in an instant. He spun at once to find Roy, who was already halfway off the stool he’d been sitting on. “Go check the rooms now.”

Roy flew around the railing and up the steps into the safehouse, the door flying open under his hand. Jason tried to gather his thoughts but it was hard to concentrate when the door banged against its frame like a drum playing the offbeat to the rhythmic pound of blood pumping through his ears. He tried to think of the last time he remembered Tim being in the room with them, but he’d been so focused on yelling at Dick in that moment that he’d barely noticed the kid slip out behind him.

“How long ago was this?”

Daisy tossed her hair out of her face. “Uh, maybe five minutes ago now?”

Roy came whipping around the corner, catching himself hurriedly against the stairway rail. “Gone.”

“I’m going out after him.” said Dick.

“Wait— What?” Jason shouted at his retreating back. “You don’t even know where he’s going!”

He was already gone. Behind him Roy was questioning Daisy further.

“You sure it was towards the bridge?”

Daisy nodded.

“Ok. If he’s heading downtown on the subway where’s the nearest place he could score?”

“How do we even know he’s taking the subway? He could be looking for a dealer on the street for all we know! God, this is a fucking mess!”

Roy shook his head. “Unlikely. He doesn’t know the area and who deals nearby. More likely that he’s going to an established dealing ground.”

“I don’t know what he knows or doesn’t know,” snapped Jason. “Truth is; I don’t know that kid half as well as I like to think I do.”

“Hey,” Roy snapped his fingers sharply in Jason’s face. “Stop losing your shit. If I’m wrong and he’s on the streets there’s a chance Dick will find him. If I’m right, then we go and stop him before he makes a big mistake. So, think Jason! I know you’ve got feelers out on every shady dealer and scoring ground south of the Bowery. He’s a minor who’s strapped for cash and sick from withdrawal. Where’s he heading?”

Jason pressed his palm to his eyes and thought hard. “The Iceberg Lounge. Penguin’s club brings in a large crowd of criminals from all backgrounds. He’s got the best chance of scoring there.”

Roy ruffled Jason’s hair. “Let’s go bring him home, Jaybird.”

#kintsugi #jason todd #dick grayson #roy harper #Tim Drake #angst #batman #red hood #nightwing #arsenal #Red Robin #fanfiction #batman fanfic

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