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periwinklemoonlight · 4 months

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desperate for a minute in the light ⋆ boatem knights au

my third short story set in bee @applestruda 's boatem knights au and canon to the plot written by zera @hopepetal !! this is a big one!

cw: death, graphic injury, body horror

if you prefer, you can read it on ao3!

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It all was a bit of a blur. Pearl wasn’t sure if she could recount how exactly she had stumbled across the ancient temple in her journey, if she was honest. She had just been wandering around the forest on the outskirts of camp, and maybe travelled a bit too far in when she’d broken off from the others. She was sure that she would’ve seen a structure as big as this one earlier, though. Or that someone else had seen it, at least. The thing practically towered over the treetops around it.

Pearl tiptoed around fallen tree branches, fluttering her wings curiously. The structure sat in the middle of a small clearing, lush with tall grass and decorated with small, vibrant purple flowers. They were in sharp contrast to their surroundings, a stark colour among greens and yellows. She made a mental note to remember to pick a few from their stems when she was on her way back. There was a slightly older girl in her flock that she knew had garnered a great interest in botany recently, and Pearl had thought it a good idea to ask her to identify the flora. She’d also found herself rather interested in plants as of late, though she was always most enamoured with those that matched the lustrous gold colour of her wings.

There was a small path of scattered rocks leading up to the entrance of the temple, barely visible between the blades of grass that hiked up to her waist. The Sun was high in the sky, and at just the right angle for the building to now be casting an ominous shadow over her as she approached ever closer. Its intimidating stature did not deter her; Pearl stepped deeper into the darkness.

It was extraordinarily odd, she had decided, that something like this had been here for what she presumed had to be centuries, if not millennia, and not a single person had ever mentioned it. It was a tall thing, to be sure, although as she looked closer she saw it did not seem to actually be very large beyond its generous entrance. It appeared to Pearl as more of a facade, as if the idea of a structure was all that remained. She wondered what the need for such a building may once have been before time and disrepair had taken hold of it and its architects.

Speculation aside, it was in a terrible state to be sure, with massive chunks of rock missing and an assortment of unidentifiable vines and mosses nearly entirely encompassing what was left. They seemed to crawl in between the cracks of stone and twist into each other like knots. Frail-looking columns teeming with fractures were all that remained to hold it all in place among crumbling walls, though evidently not without much difficulty. All things considered, it was a miracle it was still standing.

The absolute disarray the structure was in made it all the more intriguing that a crescent moon symbol at its forefront was still completely intact, and subsequently, all the more imperative for Pearl to investigate. Or at least, that was how she had reasoned it out in her mind.

Pearl crossed the threshold inside.

She wasn’t expecting to find anything of value inside the old temple when she had entered, much less the prettiest thing she had ever laid eyes upon. There, resting on a crumbling pedestal at the other end of the temple was a beautiful silver crown, adorned with twinkling jewels and iridescent pearls. All her other curiosities were instantly thrown away the moment she saw it. It was magnetic: how she was instantly drawn to the item, and utterly sure that her finding it was no mistake.

Sweet sunlight poured into the temple through half shattered stained glass windows, coating the crown in an alluringly bright glint that made Pearl’s heart swell with excitement. It was perfect. Her flock mates would come back from their search and see her wearing the gorgeous object, shinier than anything any of them had ever seen before, and be unable to resist showering her with praise for her expert find. It wasn’t as though she wasn’t already deeply accustomed to it, though. Being her flock’s golden girl had its perks, undoubtedly, especially in terms of popularity among the other children. The meticulously woven crown of sunflowers in her hair said as much.

Something dark began to build in her as she approached it, however. The closer she got to the object, the more she could swear she smelled something rotting. Every eager step she took was soon punctuated by a feeling of dread that was quickly overtaking the initial exhilaration. Still, she persisted. She couldn’t give up the opportunity of retrieving the crown, couldn't shake off the feeling that something about it was just so right. Something so meant for her, and her alone.

Pearl held her breath as she reached the final steps, though at that point she couldn’t tell whether it was in anticipation or to momentarily relieve herself of the nauseating smell that exuded from every crack in the stone and permeated all her senses. It was wholeheartedly disgusting, but Pearl had never been one to flinch at a little muck. The crown was just as beautiful up close, every jewel shining in a vibrant technicolour that by all accounts should have been impossible. She wanted nothing more than to take it for herself, place it upon her head and declare her rightful place as queen of this old dilapidated structure.

She reached out to grab it, and gasped in shock at the intense burning sensation that instantly spread from the metal’s surface to her fingertips. Then, it all went dark. Though it was midday, the light that had been streaming into the temple vanished at once, as if someone had forcefully put the Sun to rest and brought upon night. The only light now was a faint, ghoulish glow emitting from the crown as it continued to singe her fingers.

Pearl screamed in pain, though it only fell on the deaf ears of the dark. The sound reverberated around the temple walls, surrounding her in a claustrophobic cacophony of her own agony as the smell of flesh burning filled the air.

She watched in frozen horror as the skin on her fingers began to melt and rot before her eyes. Flesh bubbled and sloughed off as the burning spread down her palm, then her arm, until it creeped into her shoulder and threatened to seep into her wings. Pearl cried out again, bony fingers trembling uncontrollably as the rot began to trace her spine. Chills wracked exposed bone as warm blood ran down her back. Her feathers withered into ash as quickly as hair catching flame. As the pain began to paralyze her body entirely, Pearl thought, while she still had the capacity to think, anyone, anything, please, help me.

Her vision began to fizzle out entirely, and what was left of her collapsed on the temple floor as she finally let go of the wretched item, fingers fully limp. It was far too late, though. Seconds, maybe minutes, maybe years of agony seared through her body as she lay helpless, the crown fallen somewhere just out of reach. And then, it all stopped.

Pearl wasn’t anywhere, and she was everywhere.

A new type of darkness encapsulated her, this one deeper, more primordial than the first. No, not the absence of light as it had once been, but rather the essence of darkness itself. Although she knew it was dark, she could not see. No senses passed through her as she drifted meaninglessly, unsure if she was falling or rising or even moving at all.

It was peaceful, yes. It couldn’t be anything but. Nothing around her, nothing against her, nothing for her, she was nothing just the same. All that was left was a deep, insurmountable emptiness. The emptiness that held the fabric of the universe together, the negative space to fill the gaps to keep it all from falling apart at the seams. Pearl might have felt fear, being surrounded by nothing and everything, if she had still been capable of anything at all.

Pearl spent forever in the silent nothingness, and no time at all had passed when she first heard it. A faint single tone, low but not deep, floated around her. Pearl clung onto the sensation desperately, trying to grasp at it, take it for herself and hold it tight to her chest. Instead, she followed it as it slowly became louder, more solid. The pitch increased, then dropped and mellowed out in the middle once more. The melody was the brightest thing she had ever seen in a long, long time.

She followed its lead, doing something akin to opening her mouth to sing along, wanting to join this light in its song. She did not, of course. She had no mouth to sing with, and no voice to produce noise. She was just Pearl. Still, she chased the tone, which had since then evolved into a simple melody, repeating itself patiently, taking care to never get ahead of itself or change its pace. The melody had all the time in the world. It knew Pearl did, too.

She felt herself be guided by the song, mirroring its tones with her movements. When it dipped, she dived down with it. When it rose, she soared. The vocalisations carried her like a current, weaving Pearl through its highs and lows.

And then, all at once, nothing was dark or ever had been dark. A brightness enveloped her, so purely light that darkness would never dare step close to it, lest it cease to exist entirely. It knew better. The melody had evolved too, the chiming tones teetering on the edge of resembling words. Pearl could not make them out.

Instead, she allowed the song to engulf her as well, feeling two blankets of light drape across something that could have been her back. Gently, the song washed over her and flowed like a lullaby, rendering her into something akin to sleep. Suddenly, after spending eternity in absence, she was something again. The light became brighter, heavier, thicker, until it was no longer encasing her. It was her.

The light was as bright as it ever could be, and suddenly it was dark again.

And cold. And wet. And sticky. And gross. Pearl opened her eyes, and found herself exactly where she’d ought to have been. Collapsed before the pedestal, yet bathed in the same warm light of midday. Except, something was very, very wrong. She lifted herself weakly off the temple floor onto her elbows, finding her hands covered in a black sludgy substance. Brown, wilted petals and leaves lay where her head had been. Pearl’s vision blurred and spun, and she blinked it away as best as she could, trying to orient herself to having a body again.

She wiped the sludge off her hand on something white and soft, a fuzzy substance resting gently underneath her as if it had broken her fall all this time. Its edges appeared torn and frayed. She attempted to raise herself up further, and was met with an intense ache in her back that caused her to double over again in pain. She inhaled sharply — she was breathing, she could breathe— and tried again, this time successfully balancing onto her knees.

She made a half hearted attempt to flutter her wings, feeling panic start to surge through her when they felt wrong. Lighter. The familiar weight of hollow bones and strong muscle on Pearl’s back was replaced with something featherlight and delicate, though she would bet that whatever was there wasn’t feathers at all.

With trembling hands, Pearl reached up over her ear to feel the texture of the small wings that resided there, the panic bubbling inside her as she felt nothing but smooth skin and clumps of wet hair where soft feathers should be. No, no, no.

Her hand traveled higher, threading through her hair and stopping at her forehead. No, that wasn’t right. Her hand was stopped. By an antenna, sticking out of her head just where her bangs began. She grasped it, and promptly cried out in pain at just how sensitive it was, her nerves on fire. And then it hit her. She was feeling what it felt. It was a part of her.

There, sitting covered in sludge-like black goo and on top of a silk cocoon, at the crest of a worn down temple in the middle of nowhere, Pearl screamed. And this time, it was heard.

She had only just managed to get herself to stand on her own two feet again when she heard twigs snapping and familiar voices chattering nervously, getting closer. Pearl balanced herself with great difficulty, the lightness on her back still disorienting. Slowly, achingly, she stepped forwards off of the silk and onto the cold, gritty temple floor once more.

“Pearl?” an approaching voice called out, stretching out her name. “Where are you? Are you okay?” Pearl opened her mouth to speak and screamed again as black sludge poured out and trailed down her chin, evidently not yet all spilled on the floor behind her. The noise alerted her flockmates, though, and the footsteps drawing near increased in speed tenfold as she spat out the rest of the sludge, feeling utterly disgusted.

“Pearl!” they called again. “Are you in here?” A flurry of voices accompanied the cry, getting closer and closer until Pearl could finally see them approaching her. The leader of the search party, a girl with dandelion coloured wings, was the first to enter the temple, and the first to see her. The others quickly appeared at her sides as the girl cried out in shock, clasping her hands over her mouth and stumbling backwards. The rest of the search party followed suit similarly, gasping and yelling as they laid eyes on her.

Panic quickly returned to light Pearl’s nerves ablaze and replace the small shred of hope that had been building when she’d first heard them approach. She tried to speak again once more and found that her throat, terribly dry despite being choked with sludge moments ago, could only produce a croak that tore into her vocal cords like shards of glass. Tears formed in her eyes as another drop of sludge fell to the floor in front of her. She could see on their terrified faces and through their hushed whispers to each other that she had only moments to plead her case.

Desperately, Pearl gestured behind her where she knew the silver crown had dropped from her hand, unsure what she expected to happen but hoping they would notice it nonetheless. Something, anything. Instead, what she said was a conveniently placed pile of ash that just so happened to create a perfect ring shape. Pearl wailed in frustration, the sensation ripping through her throat.

“Oh my void, she’s a monster!” one of her flockmates, a girl about her age with pretty amber wings, shrieked through tears as she clung to her friend. As soon as Pearl took a single step forward, she knew it was over. The other girls all screamed and ran as fast as their feet could take them out of the temple, each clamouring to be the first to escape.

On wobbly legs, Pearl followed them, chasing just as desperately she did that melody in the darkness. She couldn’t let her hope run away from her.

One of the slower girls dared to look back and screeched to the others, “She’s following us!” Those who had exited the temple now scrambled to take flight, pausing only to pull the last of their flockmates along with them into the sky. They had already risen high into the sky by the time Pearl made it out, the tall grass beneath them entirely trampled in their haste. Purple flowers lay pathetically: half-lodged in dirt, disregarded. Pearl’s eyes darted upwards at her fair-weather friends and she grit her teeth, determined to fly after them despite her badly aching body.

Pearl jumped and flapped her thin wings uselessly, embarrassingly unacquainted with the new protrusions on her back. She managed to hover in the air for only a moment before she came crashing down onto herself, her already bruised limbs now meeting solid ground. She didn’t try to get up again.

Instead, Pearl lay there in the dirt, shivering and crying unabashedly into her arms as her flitty wings twitched, unable to do anything as her flockmates abandoned her as quickly as they’d found her. When she’d finally mustered up the resolve to lift her head up, she was greeted with a single amber feather that had fallen just inches away from her.

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Pearl had gone silent in front of Grian, her words now replaced with shaky breaths and sniffles. He finally let go of her hair and let it fall against her back, having finished braiding it long ago.

“Pearl?” He asked gently. “Are you okay?” She didn’t say anything for a moment, and he used the opportunity to slide himself beside her. Soft blankets crumpled around him. A simple glance revealed what he already knew: quiet tears were streaming down her face. She turned her head away from him to wipe them, suddenly aware he could see them now.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m alright,” Pearl breathed. She faced him again, unable to hide the smile that creeped up into her cheeks when she saw his silly worried expression. “Honest.”

“Are you sure? We can stop now if you want-”

“Griba,” Pearl interrupted. “I want to tell you. I don’t think there’s anyone on this planet who deserves to know more than you. Will you let me do that?” Grian’s shoulders relaxed.

“Of course, yeah.” He looked sheepish. “Sorry.” Pearl elbowed him playfully.

“It’s alright, mate. Really. It’s been on my mind for a while now.”

“So… what happened next?” Grian asked. Pearl took a breath before continuing.

“Well, for starters, I had to get all that muck off me. So I took a little dip in the nearest river. I don’t blame them for not recognizing me at first, now. It stained my hair and clothes black for a while. I still looked like a completely different person by the time I went back to camp.”

“You went back?”

Pearl laughed. “What choice did I have? There was no place for me there anymore, I knew that, but there wasn’t exactly a place for me anywhere else, either. So I went back. They… I’m not quite sure they knew what to do with me. They tolerated me, which was all I could have ever asked for at that point. Well. Pretended to tolerate me. But that was all I needed. I could tell as soon as I got there that everyone already knew everything they needed to. How the other kids had found me, that I was a… moth.” She paused for a moment, sniffling again.

“Everyone was gathering up to leave camp. By the time I got there, they’d already begun to pack their things, so I did the same. We always travelled light, of course, but I can’t tell you how happy I was to finally get myself a change of clothes. I was wearing my favourite dress that day, you know? Green, with lovely droopy shoulders and little bits of gold to match my wings. And it was ruined, covered in nasty muck and drenched in river water, just like the rest of me. I think I burned it. The night they all left.”

Grian tilted his head to the side, trying not to intrude on her space but wanting to be closer nonetheless. He thought of the choice he had made all those years ago, the look on his little brother’s face when it happened. A hand grasped tightly in his own, wings wrapped even tighter. He imagined Pearl in his place. To be loved one minute and left behind all the same. “You didn’t have any family in your flock?” As soon as the question left his lips, he regretted it.

Pearl winced, her face scrunching up. Another tear dropped down her cheek. “I did.”

Grian looked as though he was about to give her a million apologies, but instead, he silently wrapped his wing around her, brushing his feathers against her shoulder as if to say, I’m here now. And I’m not leaving.

Pearl continued. “I did try to leave with them, don’t get me wrong. By then, I had actually figured out how to fly a little with these things.” She spread her wings out for a moment before flattening them out again.

“But it wasn’t enough. I couldn’t keep up with them normally, not by a long shot, and especially not in the middle of a storm like the one that was raging that night. I would have never admitted it to myself back then, but I’m certain now that they left when they did very much on purpose. They wanted to make sure there was no way I could follow. And they were right, I couldn’t. I did make it farther than I thought I would’ve, higher too actually, but void, was the wind strong. I was tumblin’ around like a leaf in the air trying to keep up. I tried for a good long while until I just couldn’t anymore. And then I fell.” Grian pressed his lips together, his mind suddenly conjuring up another familiar image. Yellow feathers stained red, caught on tree branches and littered in the grass below. He knew all too well the consequences of an avian falling.

“I was one of the lucky ones, I guess you could say. My wings, flimsy as they were, — are —, were okay for the most part. It was my leg that took the blow the hardest. The break was pretty bad, I won’t lie to you. It was only another stroke of luck that saved me. There was a village nearby, barely visible from wherever I’d landed. But it was there. So, one more time, I chased it. I propped myself up on my good leg as best I could, and I was going to drag myself over to that darn village if it was the last thing I did.” Inexplicably to Grian, she giggled after she spoke. His expression said it all, and Pearl laughed again.

“Sorry, sorry. I’m just thinking about it. I must’ve been quite a sight to those poor village folk! Covered in mud, leg twisted all the wrong way, soaking wet in the storm! I think that was the beginning of my whole ‘wet cat’ shtick, honestly.”

“Pearl, you could’ve died, I don’t think-” Grian began.

“I know I could’ve died!” she squawked, throwing her hands up. “But it just, I don’t know, it didn’t really scare me anymore. I didn’t want to die, mind you, but I had just kinda thought, well, I was going to live, or I wasn’t. Simple as that. And hey! Look at me now! I’m still kickin’, aren’t I?”

Grian couldn’t imagine it. All his life, above all else, he had been determined to survive. There wasn’t any other option. He'd tell himself he would live to see the Sun rise another day, and somehow, he would. Death was not something to come to terms with, shake hands with, tell I’ll see you later. It was something to fend off, teeth and soul bared, and triumph against despite all odds. There was simply too much life had to offer to him, and he would be a fool to refuse it.

“That you are, Pearl,” he smiled, poking her with his knee. Pearl returned the favour with an exaggerated kick to his shin with the leg she’d been swinging back and forth off the edge of her bed. Grian yelped dramatically.

“And don’t you forget it! Where was I? Oh, yes yes, the village. Well, I did make it over there in the end.” Pearl looked wistful. Grian waited patiently for her to continue again, but the moment never came. After a good long while, he spoke.

“...And then?” He asked.

“And then?” Pearl slinked her braid over her shoulder. It really was nicely done, each strand placed with clear care. “And then I met you, doofus. And Jimmy. And it was the best darn thing to ever happen to me.”

#boatem knights au #bkau #pearlescentmoon #my writing #grian #cw death #cw injury #cw body horror #skyblings

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theunaestheticstudyblr · 4 months

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Some fresh advice for y'all in college to start off the new semester!

Sleep. Sleep will let you function better, be in a better mood, get sick less often, etc

Eat. Fuel your body and mind. Eating helps with your brain fog and focus. Calories are just the energy you are putting into your body and the more you do, the more energy you need.

Find a why for every class. Why are you taking this class? And no just to graduate isn't always a good enough why to keep you motivated. Will you use that physics class? Maybe not, but it can help explain how the world works around you, makes your brain work out, all that stuff.

Take time for you. You are the most important aspect of your life. Great yourself as a priority.

Listen to your body. Please

Take a little time every day to study. Even an hour is a good amount of time. 1% better every day is still better than before.

Don't buy textbooks until after the first week or two of class. You won't need the textbooks for most classes, they just have to say they have a required text book.

Be social. Join a club. Go to events. Be a college student!

Make a schedule. Having a schedule with flexibility built in will make things less stressful in the long run.

Move your body every day if you can. Stretch. Go for a walk. Do yoga. Whatever you like. Taking time to just be present with your body and no distractions or pressures, you can reduce stress and recollect yourself. It's essentially moving meditation when done in depth and without any distractions.

Try out several study methods. Different topics may require different study tools. Flashcards probably won't work for every topic.

Make a budget. Try to save when you can, even if it's $1 every 2 weeks.

You will probably be in a new area. Take time to explore. Find some dive bars. Hiking trails. A cute cafe.

Brush and floss. Teeth are so expensive to fix later on. Take care of them now please. Don't wait for that $10,000 dentist bill for a tooth replacement.

Start hobbies. Let them fall off if they no longer interest you. A lot of times, you have temporary needs that a hobby will fulfill during that time. Your hobbies aren't your identity. And you are fluid. It's ok to change.

Explore your style, interests, food tastes, social structures, etc. This is a time of limbo basically. Have fun and figure yourself out.

Talk to your teachers. You'll probably need reference letters later on. Go to office hours. Ask questions in class. Make sure your teachers know who you are.

#study blog #student #student life #studyblr #productivity #school #study hard #studying #school advice #college studyblr #college student #college life #college #college tips #uni student #university student #uni life #uni #university

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gatorbites-imagines · 10 months

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I'm so sorry if you were not mental prepared for this info during your spiderman brainrot..

But, fun fact with a lot of spiders their mating rituals have the male lay down a "spermweb" to attract mates. As well as fear is a big part of what turns them on, female spiders being 2x the size of males, tending to have the dominant role. Pinning is also a big part of it as well. (Male spiders actually tend to be much more skishes.)

So imagine your spiderman of choice being in mating season, with a mix of these feelings due to them being half spider. Them making a den like structure with every blanket in their apartment, being very timid wanting to hide, because of how embrassing these feelings and thoughts are to them. But getting so unbelievably horny at the thought of you pinning them down in their den and fucking them until they see stars. You being extremely rough with them, them wanting you to mark up their entire body.

Them trying to get themselves off, and trying not to give into the urge to text/call you begging for you to comeover.

Ben Reilly x male reader

Headcanons

Hallo everynyan. I am not dead, I just have felt the worst case of writers block I’ve had in a while. Trying to get myself out of this funk, so here’s something about Ben Reilly, as I haven’t seen a single x male reader about him.

You and Ben would have been dating for a while before his heat hits him, leaving him scrambling through his apartment to start gathering blankets and other materials he can use to make a structure.

It’s not fully a nest, its more like a pillow and blanket fort, closed off from the outside world. There’s webs all over it too, almost like Ben was marking his territory, or some animalistic part of himself was saying “hey, this is mine, back off”-

Ben would shoot off a text to his earths Peter, since they most likely work side by side, that he needs his patrol covered for personal reasons. Seeing as peter has heats as well, he understands and wishes Ben luck, offering to bring him stuff he needs.

After calling around with his job and getting his shifts covered, Ben would settle down into the structure, antsy and oh so uncomfortable in his skin. He would feel almost naked without you there, without your weight holding him down and your hands touching him.

Ben would never have told you about his heats if you weren’t another spider as they embarrass him so greatly, because they reduce him to a limp submissive mess. Normally he can just ride it out, but now that you two are dating his thoughts are filled with images of you, what he wants you to do to him, and how he wants you to do it.

He would wrap himself in the clothes you left at his apartment, his heightened senses letting him inhale your scent as he touches himself almost desperately.

It’s nowhere near enough without you there, but Ben is too proud to contact you. So it would end up with Ben laying there curled up in a ball, his fingers pumping in and out of himself as he listens to recording of you on his phone, be it voicemails or videos you two have taken.

If he has any pictures of you that show off your strength in any way, you bet he’s looking at those two. Think gym selfies, you hiking, you fixing a car, anything along those lines. It gets so bad that he busts just looking at a picture of you carrying 4 bags of heavy groceries on one arm.

After that shameful orgasm Ben realizes he probably won’t be able to do this without you, as the soul deep urge to be held and used by you grows by the day. In one of his less lucid and weaker moments he would send you a fumbled text before passing out.

When he wakes up you are there with him and taking care of him. Ben would try to play it off and stay cool, but he feels more submissive and meeker than usual, struggling to meet your eyes and lowering his head when you look at him.

You most likely contacted Peter for help, fearing Ben was dying or had been poisoned or something like that. When you learn it’s a spider heat, you are surprised but you would never leave Ben for something as small as that, you just wished he’d have told you before.

Ben would hesitate to let you help in the beginning, but soon the need for you, your power, your dominance, would break down his walls. He would follow orders so well, wanting nothing more than for you to tell him what to do.

He would burst immediately the first time you pin him down by the neck, his entire body locking up as he wails in pleasure, twitching and gasping. After that you’d take care of him, cleaning him up, and lay down on top of him as he slept.

Having you lay on top of him like a blanket help settle that deep urge inside him that he needs you there, and it tells his animal brain that you are watching out for him and protecting him as he sleeps.

After the heat is over you can expect Ben to be more open about his wants and needs, though he is still a little flustered about him. He’s still an overconfident guy, showing off and flexing his muscles at you, but he also wants to please you, and he melts under any and all praise you give him.

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justagalwhowrites · 11 months

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Lavender - Ch. 36

You, Joel and Ellie become reluctant guests. A continuation of Lavender Ch. 1-35 found on Tumblr here.

Pairing: Joel Miller x Female Reader

Warnings: Canon-typical violence. No use of Y/N. Minors DNI, 18+ only.

Length: 4.5k

You were fairly certain they weren’t raiders.

Not that you were positive about it. The way Joel’s whole body tensed told you that you might be wrong but they’d approached you very differently than the raiders in Boston had. You shivered at that memory, at the thought of their hands on you, at Joel shooting and killing one just to make a point.

“Not going to let them separate us,” Joel said quietly, not looking at you. Ellie was squeezed between you, armed men all around. You tugged her sleeve down, making sure her arm was fully covered. “Stay close.”

You nodded. You hoped you didn’t look as scared as you felt, both because you didn’t want to seem weak but because you didn’t want Ellie to pick up on it.

The men led you more than a mile into the forest, the brush thick. You had to watch where you stepped, no clear path through it. Ellie tripped at one point and Joel caught her out of the air before she hit the ground, setting her back on her feet. You’d been walking almost half an hour when you saw the light shift ahead of you. Things seemed a bit brighter, like the sun was splitting through the dense canopy. You looked at Joel, his jaw set firm, his hand in a fist.

They’d taken his gun. It was strange, seeing him outside without it now. It had become an extension of him since you’d left the QZ. It was like seeing a dog with a broken leg, exposed and vulnerable and wrong. He looked back at you, something dark in his eyes. Like he was about to do something reckless. You shook your head once, barely moving it. He gave you a minuscule, single nod in return.

“Don’t do anythin’ stupid,” the man on Joel’s other side said.

“Wasn’t plannin’ on it,” Joel glared at him. You ground your teeth. This could go sideways so easily.

Your group approached a clearing, bigger than you’d have expected to find this far in the woods. It was peppered with makeshift shacks, built with tarps and tree branches. There was one building that looked to be more permanent that some of the people were working on, the walls looking to be about shoulder high. The group was mostly men but there was a cluster of women and children off to one side. The women were watching you - or rather, watching Joel - eyes narrowed.

“Well well,” a man who had been standing at the corner of the half built structure strode over, hiking his pants up as he went. He looked Joel up and down, sizing him up. “Been a while since we got anybody through here. What brings you by?”

“Just passing through,” Joel said, his shoulders squared. You held Ellie to your side and you could feel just how tense she was.”Would have been well and through here if your men hadn’t stopped us.”

“Where you headed?” The man asked. He wasn’t as tall or broad as Joel but he wasn’t small and you really fucking hoped that Joel wasn’t about to pick a fight with the man.

“Wyoming,” Joel said. “My brother’s out that way, meetin’ him.”

Man nodded slowly, kicking at some of the brush on the ground, watching his feet as he did before looking back at Joel.

“And who’re you traveling with?” He asked, glancing at you and Ellie. “Haven’t seen anyone come through here in weeks, been even longer since any women or kids made it this far.”

Joel glanced at you quickly.

“My wife,” he said. “Our niece. Right Baby?”

Both men looked at you.

“Right,” you nodded, still holding onto Ellie. “We’re going to stay with my brother-in-law, hoping it’s better out that way.”

The man nodded again, frowning a little.

“Looked like you were comin’ from Kansas City,” he said. “Not much down that road beyond that.”

“Why?” Joel asked, voice getting heated. “What’s it matter where we’re coming from?”

“Because we had some information coming over radio from Kansas City until just over a week ago,” the man said. “About as long it’d take to walk this far.”

“Good for you,” Joel said.

“We got the fuck outta dodge just before FEDRA fell,” the man ignored Joel. “But can’t say FEDRA was much too happy with that. Neither was Kathleen.”

“Aren’t you just making friends everywhere you go,” Joel replied.

“One of the last things we heard out of KC was real interesting,” the man said. “At least, as far as you’re concerned.”

You tensed, trying to look around without being suspicious about it, ascertain where shots might start coming from so you could put yourself between there and Ellie. But you were pretty damn well surrounded.

“Why’s that?” Joel growled, straightening his spine just enough that the man had to look up at him.

“Because Kathleen was awful interested in a man, a woman and a girl,” he said. “Was damn near ready to burn the city down looking for them. A man, a woman and a girl who sure fit your description. Wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

Joel’s jaw twitched.

“We dodged Kansas City best we could when passin’ through,” Joel said. “Heard it went to shit, didn’t want to get mixed up in it.”

“Well how about we just keep you here until we find out,” the man said. “I can’t risk FEDRA coming down on us and I’m hard pressed to think of much that would piss off Kathleen that much short of fucking FEDRA.”

He jerked his head and two men came forward.

“Why don’t you take the girls…”

The man closest to you put his hand on your shoulder and Joel moved so quickly it made you jump. He punched the man closest tho him and grabbed his gun as he stumbled back. He grabbed the leader, pulling his back against him and pressing the gun to his head.

“Not takin’ the girls anywhere,” he snapped. The guns all around you snapped to Joel. Ellie gasped and you tried to put yourself between her and Joel. “They fuckin’ stay with me!”

“Don’t think you’ve got much room to make deal, friend,” the leader’s voice was strained, Joel’s arm around his throat.

“You think I won’t fuckin’ kill you right here?” Joel snapped. “They stay with me or I blow your fuckin’ head off.”

The men with their guns drawn moved closer.

“Joel, it’ll be fine,” you said quickly.

“Yeah, if I stay with you, it’ll be fuckin’ fine,” he snapped.

There was a man on Joel’s other side, where you thought Joel might not be able to see him, who started moving again, gun up.

“I’m a doctor!” You said quickly. Suddenly, people were more interested in you than they were in Joel. “I”m a doctor, I have medications with me, I can check over your people here. There’s a man, one who met us on the road, he’s limping. It looked like it might be an ankle injury, I can check it, set it properly… anyone here sick? I can treat them. But I won’t do shit for you if you hurt Joel or separate us.

“You put the guns down and let us stay together and I’ll treat your people while you confirm that we’re not FEDRA or whatever else you’re worried about,” you said.

“Don’t know that your husband would agree with you,” the leader said.

“Joel,” you looked at him, eyes pleading.

“Let me stay with the girls,” Joel said after a second. “Not just lettin’ you do whatever the fuck you want with ‘em.”

“Stay with them,” the leader said. “We can make that work. We wouldn’t hurt them but you can stay with them.”

Joel looked around once more at the gathered men before he released the leader and gave the man whose gun he’d stolen his weapon back. He watched them, almost daring them to try to stop him and he came and stood by you and Ellie.

“You OK?” He asked, his voice low.

“Better now that you’re probably not going to get fucking shot,” Ellie muttered.

“Take the three of them to a place they can set up for the night,” the leader ordered the man Joel hadn’t punched. “We’ll try radio contact in the morning.”

The man kept his eyes on Joel the whole way, like Joel was an animal he was worried as about to try to snap off a hand. You kept Ellie against you and Joel put his arm around your shoulders. The man led you to a part of the clearing that had relatively flat ground but was still open.

“Assuming you have your own gear,” he said flatly. “Don’t fuckin’ try anything.”

Joel kept an eye on him as he walked away before he turned his attention back to you and Ellie.

“They didn’t touch you, did they?” Joel asked, taking your face in his hand.

“No,” you shook your head. “No, we’re fine.”

He kissed your forehead before he stepped back from you.

“Don’t like this,” he kept his voice low. “Don’t think there’s anyone left in fuckin’ Kansas City that they can contact.”

“Think their radio can reach Boston?” You asked quietly. “Abe knows me, if they talk to Abe, Abe can confirm that we’re from Boston, that we’re not FEDRA… well, that you’re not, anyway…”

“You’re not FEDRA either,” Joel frowned. “Not the kind they care about, anyway.”

“Regardless,” you said. “I think we need to tell them we came from the Boston QZ and tell them to radio Boston if they can. Maybe they’ll just let us go, if they really are just worried about FEDRA coming down on them, they’d have no reason to keep us.”

“You just gave ‘em one,” he muttered.

“It was the only thing I could think to do to keep them from fucking shooting you,” you snapped. “Figured we could deal with the fallout once everyone was alive!”

“Guys!” Ellie interrupted you. “If we want to keep them from fucking killing us this probably isn’t the way to do it.”

You and Joel looked at each other for a moment before you just nodded at her.

“Let’s do our best to stay in one piece tonight,” you said, looking between the two of them. “Lay low.”

You watched the rest of the camp from your little corner as you pulled food out of your bags, down to the last of the cans you’d brought with you from the cabin. Ellie staked a claim to the Spaghetti-Os.

“People from before made some pretty decent food,” she scraped the inside of the can. “QZ food was so shitty.”

“And that’s not even the good food,” Joel said. “But even that’s not bad. Especially not by comparison.”

“Know what I would kill for now?” You asked, eating a soggy green bean from your vegetable soup. “A Big Mac.”

“Fucking hell,” Joel groaned a little. “Who knew I’d ever miss fuckin’ McDonalds but damn, their French fries…”

“Ugh, when they were hot right out of the grease?” You sighed. “Kill me. So good.”

Ellie looked between you.

“Old people are weird,” she muttered, finishing her food.

As it got dark, the camp got quiet, not much in the way of light. Joel didn’t pull out the lantern, apparently not wanting to risk it if no one else here was.

“I’ll keep watch,” he said after Ellie had already gone to sleep, her rhythmic breathing quiet and close. “You sleep.”

“We can trade,” you replied. “Don’t need you to be so sleep deprived you can’t function.”

“I’ll wake you up halfway through,” he said.

You moved closer to him, putting your head on his shoulder.

“Really ready to never see a gun pointed at you again,” you said quietly.

He kissed the top of your head.

“Need you to stop offering yourself up every time we’re in a tough spot, Baby,” he said. “You’re not some fuckin’ bargaining chip, need you to stop actin’ like you are.”

“I couldn’t just stand there while someone tried to hurt you,” you replied. “I know you’re stronger than me and more capable than me but there’s stuff I can do, too. I can help get us out of tight spots.”

“Not gettin’ us out of a tight spot if it gets you captured, hurt or killed,” he pressed his nose into your hair and breathed you in. Even though you hadn’t washed it since the cabin. He didn’t seem to mind. “It’s not worth you, Baby. Nothin’s worth you.”

“Nothing’s worth you, either,” you replied. “So stop getting guns pulled on you and I’ll stop trying to get you out of it. Deal?”

He laughed once.

“I’ll do my best.”

You stretched out on the ground beside Joel, his back against a tree trunk. You rested your head in his lap and he stroked your hair as you drifted off, listening to him breathe.

***

Joel kept his hands on you while you slept. It was comforting, feeling you close, feeling your ribs rise and fall with your breath, feeling the little twitches you made as you dreamed. Solid evidence that you were alive and with him. As long as you and Ellie were alive and with him, he could figure the rest out. He had to figure the rest out.

You were right about contacting Boston. The people here seemed reasonable - even if they were edging in on desperate. They’d left the three of you alone that evening, minus guards watching you from a reasonable distance. But he was worried about the desperate side of them. Desperate people would justify a lot of things. He knew how that worked. Desperate people would do anything to survive. He’d just need to make sure what they needed to survive didn’t involve the three of you.

He didn’t wake you up halfway through the night. He wasn’t the most alert guard, drifting in and out of consciousness but staying awake enough that he knew that no one was going to be sneaking up on you.

You glared at him about it in the morning but didn’t push him on it. It didn’t take him long to figure out why.

“No,” he snapped.

“You can just stay here,” you replied, grabbing your pack. “Keep an eye on Ellie. Maybe nap. It’s fine.”

“Not going to just let you do whatever these people say…”

“Wasn’t planning to,” you replied. “I was just planning to treat people who were sick and hurt. And check on the kids especially. It’s better if you’re over here, your bedside manner is… Look, Joel, you’re good at a lot of shit but putting people at ease isn’t one of them.”

He ground his teeth as he watched you head toward the center of the camp, your pack over one shoulder, as you went to talk to the man Joel had put at gunpoint the day before.

“Gin?” Ellie asked. He frowned down at her. She held up the cards. “I meant the game.”

He watched from afar, barely paying attention to the game, as you went from person to person, checking injuries, asking questions. You pulled out medications a few times, distributing them as necessary. You’d been working for a few hours when the leader of the camp walked over to Joel.

“Your wife said you’re from Boston,” he said, sitting next to Joel.

“We are,” he said. “Left the QZ a few weeks back. Making our way west, like I said. Trying to get to my brother in Wyoming.”

“She suggested I call the radio tower in Boston if I couldn’t get anyone up in KC,” he said. “But she seemed damn sure I wouldn’t get anyone in KC.”

Joel just shrugged.

“We’ll see if we can get a line out to Boston this afternoon,” the man said. “See if you folks are telling the truth.”

“And if we are?” Joel asked.

“Then we’ve got nothin’ to worry about with you, do we?” The man shrugged. “Look, I’m not wanting to keep you here if you don’t want to be here. And we already have enough trouble feeding our own, we don’t need two more mouths. But I can’t risk the safety of the people here. If there’s even a chance that you’re FEDRA, I can’t let you go and inform on us. We risked a lot to get the fuck away from them, not about to go back.”

You didn’t come back to your corner of camp until early evening. You’d worked the entire day and all but collapsed next to Joel and Ellie.

“That felt like a really rough day at the clinic,” you said, arching and stretching your back out as you settled into the ground. “They have almost no resources here…”

“I know FEDRA’s bad,” Ellie said. “But this can’t be better than that.”

“It was better where we were,” you said, going into your bag for jerky. “Which says a lot because they were executing people for breaking curfew too many times…”

Ellie frowned and ate some jerky.

“If there was a cure,” she said, looking at the two of you hesitantly. “It would go back, right? To the way it was before?”

Joel looked at you for a moment and you looked back at him.

How was he supposed to answer that? Tell her that who knows what would become of this fucking mission the three of you were risking your lives for right now? That sometimes people are just too damn mean and too damn stupid and too damn power hungry? That it doesn’t even take cordyceps to make the world go to hell? Give the right asshole too much fucking power and they’ll invent problems so they can take the rest of it.

“Don’t know,” Joel said eventually. “Never had to cure something like this before. Never had the whole world collapse like this before. No fucking clue how it would go.”

“We won’t know unless we try,” you said, your voice low. “It’s all we can really do.”

One of the men who’d led the three of you to the camp the day before came over, his eyes on Joel.

“We got a line through to Boston,” the man said. “Who’s going to verify your identity?”

“I can,” you got up, dusting yourself off.

“We all will,” Joel narrowed his eyes at the man. He didn’t trust him. Something was setting his teeth on edge. He could feel it, something shifting.

The three of you followed him over to the battery operated radio. The signal was faint and fuzzy but you took the mouthpiece.

“Abe?” You asked. “You there?”

“Sweets?” His voice crackled and popped. You smiled a little. “Jesus Christ, I thought you were dead! Good to hear your voice. The fuck are you doing way out there?”

“Meeting up with Tommy, Joel’s brother,” you said. “We left in a hurry but we’ve hit a bit of a snag here, can you just confirm that we’re from Boston and don’t have anything to do with FEDRA in Kansas City?”

“Course you don’t have anything to do with the shit show in Kansas City,” Abe scoffed. “You’ve been in Boston since 03. They listening?”

“Yeah,” you said, glancing over at the leader, his hands on his hips.

“That girl was in my damn office twice a week every week for five years after the outbreak, searching for that man,” Abe said. “Then he found her. They’re from Boston.”

The leader took the mouthpiece from you.

“Thank you for confirming,” he said. “Over and out.”

He put the mouthpiece down and nodded.

“Sounds like you are who you say,” the leader said. “In that case, you’re free to go. You can go in the morning…”

“Few hours of daylight left,” Joel said. “We’ll go now.”

He put his arm around you and started steering you back to where your packs were.

“Joel,” you said quietly. He cut you off.

“Need to put some distance between us and these people,” he said. “Somethin’s not right.”

You didn’t fight him on it. Which was good because he was damn near ready to put you over his shoulder and carry you out of here if you did.

Ellie was ready first, backpack on, her eyes narrowed at the leader of the group talking closely with a few of his other men. He watched them, too, staying close to Ellie and you. Something wasn’t right.

“There are some medications I want to leave…” you said as you put your pack on, Joel shook his head.

“No,” he said. “Somethin’s not right, we have to go.”

“But…”

“Baby,” he looked at you, all but begging for you to listen to him. “It’s not worth the risk. We have to get Ellie west, we have to go.”

You looked to the girl who, for a change, was sticking closer to Joel than she was to you.

“OK,” you said.

He led you toward the edge of the camp, where he knew the road was waiting for you just a mile out, watching as the men of the camp closed ranks.

They still had his fucking gun.

“Sorry to have held you folks up,” the leader said, flanked by a few men. Joel ground his teeth. “We just can’t afford to be too careful, not with what we got away from.”

“We understand,” you smiled. It didn’t reach your eyes. “We appreciate you letting us get on our way.”

“Sure, sure,” he nodded slowly, stepping closer. “The man and the girl are free to go. But I’m afraid that I can’t, in good conscious, let a doctor leave. You’ll have to stay.”

Two of the men came forward and grabbed you under your arms, pulling you back and two more grabbed Joel before he had a chance to react.

“Joel!” You screamed, reaching for him but they yanked you back. More men surrounded you, your eyes wide and desperate.

“Leave her alone!” Ellie shrieked before a guard grabbed her, too.

Joel felt the action before he’d decided to do it. The rage and the fear and the heat of it all taking over the second one of those men touched you. It was a drumbeat in his body: get to you get to you get to you.

He was not going to let anyone take you from him.

He moved quickly, throwing one of the men who had him to the ground and shoving the other one back before going for you. The leader pulled his gun and pointed it at Ellie. Joel froze, his heart in his throat.

“Now, I’d hate to harm a child,” he said. “So how about I let you take the girl on out of here and we keep your wife. I promise we won’t hurt her, won’t let anything bad happen to her. She’ll be treated well, better than she would be in a QZ.”

“Joel,” your face was wet. “Joel, get Ellie out of here…”

“No,” he shook his head. “No! I’m not leaving you…”

“Get Ellie to Tommy,” your voice was wet. “Take care of her…”

He looked at the man with a gun to Ellie’s head. It was like his chest was cracking open with the heat of rage, the desperation of it.

“Listen to your wife,” the man said. “Don’t make me do something I don’t want to do.”

Joel tried to force himself to breathe for a moment, looking at the girl you’d both been tasked with protecting. There was rage in her eyes, too. She wanted someone to hurt for this. She hated them, too.

“OK,” he said, looking back to you. “I’ll get her there…”

The man started to lower the gun and Joel struck the second it was pointed more at the ground than at the girl. He grabbed his arm and wrenched it back, twisting until he dropped the gun. He pulled the man to him and, for the second time in as many days, pressed his own gun to his head.

“She comes with me and so do you,” he snarled. Everyone froze. “Let her go! Fucking move!”

The men holding you released you and you stumbled forward, ducking behind Joel and grabbing Ellie toward you.

“I’ll let you go when we get to the road,” he said. “Anyone fucking follows us and I kill him!”

He looked around, waiting for someone to challenge him. No one did.

Joel looked at you. Your eyes were wide and your face was still wet but you seemed to understand. You grabbed Ellie’s hand and pulled her into the woods, all but running for them, as Joel backed away from the camp, the gun to the man’s head.

“I will fucking kill every person here,” he said. “Don’t follow us.”

He started after you, keeping the gun pressed against the leader.

“We can work something out…”

“Shut the fuck up,” Joel snapped. He glanced down at you.

“They hurt you?” He asked. You shook your head. He looked back to the man. “Better count your fucking blessings that she said no.”

The walk back to the road was faster than the walk to camp, even hauling an unwilling man along side him. Joel kept an eye out for any signs they were being followed but none came.

“Look,” the man said as they neared the road. “I hope you understand, I was just trying to do the best thing for my people…”

“By kidnapping someone?” Ellie rolled her eyes. “OK sure.”

“You’re a child, you don’t understand what it means to have people relying on you…” he replied.

They made it to the road and Joel released the man. The rage was still hot in him, the drive to punish the person who had been a threat to you and the girl strong.

“Get behind me,” he said, his voice eerily calm.

“Joel,” you said quietly, but he cut you off.

“You and Ellie,” he said. “Behind me.”

He raised the gun.

“Wait…” The man put his hands up.

Joel didn’t care.

He shot him in the head and watched him drop like a bag of sand, the blood vibrant on the earth. You gasped, like you were surprised even though you clearly had known what was coming.

“We’ll have to move fast,” he said, going to the man’s body and pulling the rifle from his back and gathering the spare ammo he had on his person. “They’re going to come looking for us when he’s not back in time, and that’s assuming no one heard the shot.”

“Joel,” you said his name quietly, looking up at him.

“He threatened Ellie,” he said. “Tried to take you from me. I couldn’t let him live. Not after that.”

He pulled you into a quick hug, Ellie leaning around the two of you to look at the body.

“Come on,” he said. “We have to move.”

The three of you ran across the street and into the forest, the trees swallowing you up as the sun started to get low, the pooling blood reflecting the twilight sky.

A/N: Look I will write feral Joel at the slightest provocation, don't test me.

There's a bit more travel time to come before our trio makes it all the way to Jackson and lots of country to cover between now and then. I hope you're enjoying it!

I have a taglist! Please let me know if you'd like to be added to it. I keep having more and more people crop up who I can't tag (Tumblr won't let me?? It's very odd) so I'm so sorry if it's not going through, I promise I'm trying!

Thank you, as always, for reading and for commenting. It's so amazing to see how people are reacting to this story in real time and makes it such a joy to write. Thank you thank you thank you for being here :)

Taglist: @paleidiot @ayamenimthiriel @ginger-swag-rapunzel @drewharrisonwriter @flugazi @pedropascalsbbg @taoyuji @starstruckmusiciansartghost @splendsay @bigboiseason123 @jpbplvr @ashleyandring @mrsyixingunicorn10 @sloanexx @ninaminaromina @lady-bellyn @hufflepuffriver @sarap-77 @storyarcscribe @mellymbee @jasminedragoon @lemonmeli @reds-ramblings @arizonadaydreamer @mumma-moonchild @blackroseguzzi @candypeaches16 @kittenlittle24 @wrappedinfiction @oatmeaiboy @pedritosdarling @winchestergypsy90 @imnotdatboii @lalalalemonade11 @maknimuk1 @mrsdarcyinlovewithbuckybarnes @pedrosaidsheispunk @commanderawkward @n7cje @elliesgirlll @tsunamistorm123. @spookyxsam @leeeesahhh @anoverwhelmingdin @untamedheart81

#joel miller x female reader #fanfic #joel miller x reader #joel miller x you

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rosethornewrites · 1 year

Text

When I was a kid, my mom was dealing with mental illness and fibromyalgia when people didn’t believe it existed, and my dad was something of a workaholic.

She quickly realized that summers would be hell unless she packed them with activities she had to do little to nothing to prepare for.

Sure, we did the summer camps and sports and 4H that most kids do, but I think my favorite thing she found for us was archaeology. She managed to find it advertised in our small town newspaper, and I’m so glad she did.

A professor of archaeology at a state university was concerned about planned development along a local river that was known to have held native villages. There really wasn’t enough manpower or money to do “official” digs.

So he found a fun solution: he organized an archaeological summer day camp for kids above like age 6 or so.

Each day we were dropped off at a school about 40 minutes from home with anything we could need in the field (literally) in those 1980s fanny packs and bagged lunches. He and his crew of summer interns had already sectioned off the spaces and started the process, preparing the site with official labeling methods and such. And we were split into teams, usually by age, with younger teams more closely supervised by interns. (Thankfully I was on a team without my siblings and with a close friend.)

Every day, one team stayed at the school with 1-2 interns to learn to catalog the artifacts already uncovered by different teams, carefully sorted by team and space. (If it was raining we all stayed and worked.)

Everyone else would bus to the field, hike through some undergrowth, and learn to gently trowel the layers of earth away, letting him take photos of each layer as we went, and sifted the dirt through screens for anything that was so small it may have been missed. We excavated fire pits and also found the remnants of wood poles that had once been the skeletons of structures. The sediment of the former was always bagged for further analysis by experts.

During every stage we were very carefully monitored and sometimes the professor would call for a halt and show us something cool another team had uncovered.

After being cataloged, the pieces were ultimately sent to the state museum for display or storage, always with the names of the team that found them.

My team found a tiny artifact through sifting that proved that the local native village had to have trade contacts in another state due to the material it was made of, and I remember this professor being super excited about it. We were even in the local paper over it—I have the article, which had my picture accompanying it.

At the end of each of the camp the 2 years I went, we were allowed to walk through a freshly planted farmer’s field and see if we spotted arrowheads or other artifacts that we were permitted to take home with us. (Since the ground was already disturbed and the cataloging would be difficult to impossible, I’d guess.)

I’ve never been to the museum to see if that tiny piece of history I helped uncover is on display, but I will always remember how much I learned from this camp.

In some other universe, one that branched off somewhere from this one, a version of me surely pursued archaeology as a career.

#archaeology

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love-toxin · 1 year

Note

I am verrryyy interested in that horny hellcheer vampire AU, Ellie.

GIMME THE DEETS!!!!

>:)

(cws: vampire!hellcheer, f!angelface, post-s4, kidnapping, kinda yandere, friends to lovers, facesitting, f on f oral, size kink, breeding, tribbing, heavy blood kink and injury imagery, blood drinking, messy sex, tit sucking/lactation mention, threesomes.)

For one, both Eddie and Chrissy are still....kind of....alive in the Upside Down. It's been awhile since Vecna's been subdued so he doesn't pose much of a problem, and in fact, after the two of them had reunited they'd scoped out a home nearby--a big, sprawling mansion that they've carefully plucked through and cleaned up to make their own. It's three stories with slanted, black roofs and plenty of ornate rooms, with tall windows and a gothic structure that just tickles Eddie's fancy to the max. It's more intact than others they've come across too, and it's got dark-coloured furniture in soft blacks and vibrant wine red that just pull the whole place together, plus a fireplace in the living room! Those awful, root-like tendrils are dragged out or snipped away, the doors are fixed, the windows painstakingly replaced, and they even get lights working and candles so it seems a little less dark and dreary. Before long, they take up in it long enough that it provides some kind of warmth, and serves as a bubble protected from the danger and chilling duskiness of this other world.

But even though they can call it home, and they can cozy up next to each other as much as they want, there's something missing. There's some kind of void they wish to fill. They just can't put their pale fingers on it until they enter into the Right Side Up to do a little hunting for the cool season, since food is fairly scarce on the other side. It's hard to tell how much time has passed in the Upside Down, but when they stumble across you trudging through the snow in the woods, you don't look any different than when they knew you in life--just tired, but still beautiful. It's not even a question then, there's no debate; Chrissy and Eddie grab you and take you back to their world, too busy with gleefully snuggling you and kissing your face to be bothered by your kicking and frightened screaming. It's only until you punch Eddie and send him flying that they realize they're still in bat form, as it makes it easier for them to traverse Hawkins undetected, and they both transform to their normal selves before you can go running and crying back through the portal.

Yes, it's technically kidnapping, but once they have you sat in their living room next to the fire, a blanket wrapped round your shoulders, you're so happy to see them in the flesh. You seem so shocked when they casually mention their love for you, that they want you to stay with them from now on. But you find yourself agreeing, willing to do anything so long as you don't lose them again, and they just love that unquestionable devotion. But they would never take advantage of that, oh no--they hold each other to that promise secretly, that they won't use your sweet, people-pleaser attitude for their own satisfaction, not at all! No matter how easy you make it, or how much you want it....

That lasts for about a couple days into you living with them. Without much else to do, you've taken the task of cleaning up, even donning the cutesy dress Eddie had brought home pseudo-jokingly to fill your part as the maid. Even then, Eddie had seriously questioned whether or not you were teasing him intentionally--hiking up your skirt and wearing those thigh-highs when you know he's standing right behind you, and you never seem surprised when he makes himself known. Quite interesting indeed.

Unsurprisingly, Chrissy's the one that breaks first. Eddie finds out when he comes back from a perimeter check, and stumbles upon his partner riding your face on the living room floor. He's caught her before with her hand down her skirt as she watches you dust, but that's been relatively secret and easy to hide from you. He does it too, anyways, so it's not such a big deal. But Eddie's surprised not by Chrissy's wine-red face as she humps your mouth, but the sight of your nails dug into her milky thighs as you yank her back down and bury your face between them even deeper. Neither of them had wanted to rush you into something serious and scare you away, but when that happens, it seems to dawn on Eddie that maybe they were the ones missing all the signs themselves.

And that's how your relationship really started. Now, it's much more....intense. With free time aplenty and few responsibilities aside from getting blood and food and other mortal necessities for you, all three of you have plenty of opportunities to make the most of your quality time together. With their vampire traits, it makes it even better; Eddie can just keep going and going and going, breeding you over and over again until you're the one tapping out, because one more orgasm will have you passing out. And Chrissy's so strong, she can lift you even with that tiny frame and pin you down like you weigh absolutely nothing against her. Throw you around on the couches and the bed and the floor, whenever and wherever she feels like biting into her little maid and rewarding you for letting her suck a little bit out of you.

That happens quite frequently, too. Those times are more performative, they don't drink as much as they would from you since they want you to last--but they just make those little punctures on your neck and your wrist, and when the sting has subsided, they smear your delicious blood over your skin and let it drip all over their bodies. Chrissy usually latches herself to your tits, rubbing them with soft hands and letting them slide with the slickness of your own blood, just making the whole process messy and sticky and delectable. You'd think she's trying to get milk out of you with how hard she sucks on them, soothing those sore nipples with gentle laps of her tongue when she makes it hurt. And Eddie loves the show of watching you get covered with a sheen of your own blood, when he's too hard not to just be a voyeur any longer, he just goes animalistic once he's inside you. He absolutely has his way with you, your poor, precious human cunt stretched to the limit by how swollen you never realized Eddie could get when he's aroused--it feels like he might tear you apart with how stiff and how huge he feels against your walls. He batters your poor womb with thrusts like a madman, pulling your legs round his waist and daring you to give up and tell him to breed you. While she's still on top, Chrissy pulls your wrist down and coaxes more blood to drip on to his cock as he pulls out, lubing it up for him and sharing a coppery-tasting kiss before he starts fucking you ruthlessly again.

Only then does he get the idea to make it even messier, to nuzzle Chrissy's head aside and sink his teeth into the softest part of her neck, knowing full well how wet it makes her and that her cunt's drooling all over your stomach as she straddles you. He grabs her hair and guides her to bite him back, the deep indent of her fangs in his throat feeling like a drug as he throws his head back and cums right then and there. It's magical, glorious--and Eddie doesn't stop, of course he doesn't stop. He doesn't have to and doesn't even have to slow down for that matter, he just keeps hammering into you even when you're cumming and squealing and clenching around him as the blood loss and the ecstasy start making you dizzy. There's blood pouring down Eddie's chest and spilling out of Chrissy's mouth, the two of them absolutely high and drunk on bloodlust as they both keep humping you--Chrissy in a much more aimless manner, she just keeps dragging her puffy, slick-soaked folds up and down your belly until Eddie yanks her hips back, and settles her down to grind her clit right up against yours. And she can feel the vibrations from Eddie's thrusts as well as his belly as it slaps into her from behind, quickly gathering up a sticky patch of her arousal as he unintentionally helps get her off too. It's a bloody, sweaty, cum-sticky mess when their hunger turns to lust, and it solidifies that possession over you that they feel getting stronger day by day.

You're theirs, only theirs--theirs to kiss, to fuck, to breed, to feed from, and to mate with for life. You're theirs forever, and no force on heaven, earth, or whatever hellscape they live in could tear you from their undead grasp.

#hellcheer #hellcheer x reader #eddie munson #chrissy cunningham #eddie munson x reader #chrissy cunningham x reader #eddie's angelface #vampire!eddie munson #vampire!chrissy cunningham #vampire au #spicy writing #st 4 #stranger things #ellie writes #anons

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foxbirdy · 1 year

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can you talk a bit about what you do as conservation work? i’ve seen a couple of your posts float around (the seasonal worker comic and the one about the remote island) and have looked into conservation stuff a bit myself and it all looks super cool!! i was just looking for a bit of a more personable take that what job sites describe

Of course! :) A lot of the work I've done has been in either trail maintenance, habitat restoration, or biological fieldwork, with a little bit of outdoor recreation stuff mixed in. Pretty much all of those things (barring the outdoor rec) have been in partnership with or working directly for government agencies (DNR, USFS, BLM, NPS, USFWS, etc.)

Trail work is very trades oriented - you are using tools (generally handtools - especially if you are working in designated wilderness, which prohibits any kind of mechanization) and your body to build effective infrastructure that will last a good, long time. Project work covers a huge range - brushing trail, digging tread, building structures, fence repair, rock work/wall building, etc. Often you have to work with natural materials on the project site, because hauling in lumber or stone is not feasible. It's hands-on & technical work, and it needs a lot of creativity! Your end goal is that no one knows you were there at all, because your work blends seamlessly into the landscape. A lot of people who hike or mountain bike don't realize how much effort and complexity it takes to maintain a trail! It's a very secret service, & I think there's something really beautiful in that. It's dirty, hard work, and you'll very likely go long periods without access to service or utilities (lots of treating/filtering your own water, camp-cooking your meals, showering in the creek, and sleeping on the ground).

The habitat restoration I've done has generally involved the removal of invasive plants & the planting/seeding of natives. This is also pretty intense physical work! You might have to get certified/trained in working with herbicides, which are sometimes a necessary tool in fighting invasive plants. Hack-splash or drill-fill are the most commonly used herbicide techniques in restoration, because broadcast dispersion is considered a last resort. That involves individually treating each invasive plant with herbicide, using minimal amounts and concentrations to limit the effect on the surrounding ecosystem. The two biggest restoration projects I've worked on are the re-planting of disturbed alpine meadows (50K plants in about six weeks) and the removal of invasive coconut monocultures from native rainforest (hacking down palms with a machete, and spraying/injecting the cut stump with a small amount of herbicide to prevent it from coming back).

My biological fieldwork has been mostly marine-oriented - I've done a lot of work with seabirds, as well as coral reef survey & tagging sharks, mantas, tuna, and dolphins. My seabird work involved monitoring nesting colonies (counting babies, tracking growth) with some tagging, banding, and sample collection as well. The seabirds I worked most with were several different booby species, Greater Frigatebirds, Red & White-tailed Tropicbirds, noddies (both black and brown), & terns (white & sooty). Most of the marine tagging I did was using handline fishing techniques, and required me to have a lot familiarity with/certifications for boat operation & seamanship. Biological fieldwork has definitely been lower labor-intensive than trail work or restoration, but still requires a lot of hiking & hauling gear around remote (& sometimes treacherous) terrain! You will also have really intimate exposure to animal bodies and death, and will probably (definitely) get pooped on/thrown up on/bled on at some point.

A big common theme throughout these kinds of jobs is the ability to work in small groups, in isolated places, for long periods at a time. I hope this was the kind of information you were looking for in terms of what the actual work is! Feel free to reach out/message me if this didn't actually answer your questions <3

#sorry this got so long!#beckett.txt #asks #conservation #conservation work #anonymous #id is in alt text!#beckett.jpg #faq #dirtbag tag

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1moreoffkeyanthem · 2 months

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can we have some style oneshot recs :3

Why of course you can!!! I definitely have more than this but at the moment here’s what springs to mind, we know I’m a oneshot girlie at heart!

advil and apple juice by kuchi- YALL this is probably one of my favorite style oneshots, I can’t tell u how many times I’ve read it these sweet boys taking care of each other growing up, from super best friends to super best boyfriends!

Spring Cleaning by autumnpark YOU GUYS WANT OLD MAN YAOI?!? STAN IN A NURSE OUTFIT? THEM BEING ADORABLE BUT ALSO GETTIN DOWN AND DIRTY?!? Bruhhhhh I loved this one

Room For More by Tikatan this one is sooooo sweet omg STAN WORKING AT AN ANIMAL SHELTER KYLE ADOPTING CATS need I say more?

Show Me How by emdarsh ok we all know I love a sickfic and the sleepy cuddles are so cute oh my godddddd precious boys caretaker Kyle is always so slay also it’s hilarious like c’mon “does being sick turn you gay?” Is one of the funniest lines lmao

but i want you by fishybowl HOW BOUT SOME KYLE WEARING STANS JACKET lmao this one’s EXTREMELY spicy but it’s cuteeeee

Can You Bury Me In Your Backyard by monkeybox Stan angst Stan angst but he’s got Kyle there for him!

Non Starter-Starter, Matches Included by monkeybox MUTUAL PINING SHENANIGANS! The tension in this is delightful like y’all just talk it out c’mon lmfao

A walk in the wilderness to clear your mind (orphan account) ok this is a longer oneshot and it is PHENOMENAL!!! Miscommunication, reconnection, Stan the nature king lmao. Deadass such a good one, like these two WOULD get into trouble just going on a hike smh

Mud (orphan account) WHEN I TELL YOU THIS IS FUCKING ADORABLE AND WHOLESOME AND ASKGDSHL COLOR THEORY JUST READ IT OK like "Without orange, all blue does is sit around and mope and write songs about hybrid cars." BRUH

Seven days of alien summer by applecrumbledore mannnn there’s a reason this is a classic among style fans, and the premise and structure is SO kickass!!!

Alright that’s what the stylibrarian got for ya today, hope you enjoy these!!!

#style #south park #fic recs #asks #sorry this took a min I got distracted #them #one shots #ao3

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lastoneout · 2 months

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@dittolicous I'm slapping these tags into a new post bcs it made me realize I might be weird and wanted to know of anyone else is weird in the same way.

Because like my fear of heights only seems to manifest on man-made structures? Before my disabilities got bad enough that I couldn't hike I used to climb up on top of really tall stuff all the time, like I would hang out on the Devil's Bridge in Sedona and not feel even a little bit scared, but like climbing up say the stairs to go down a water slide is enough to make me shake and have to not look down/get too close to the railing at the edge. The idea of going to the top of a skyscraper—and I mean like just the top floor inside, not like an observation deck or anything—makes my hands sweat(did you know they SWAY in the wind?????) but I've hung out right at the very edge of the Grand Canyon several times and I've never felt more at peace.

The only man-made structures that don't bother me are roller coasters(kinda), airplanes, and weirdly some playground equipment? Roller coasters are only fine if we stay moving tho, if the thing broke when we were really high up and we had to get rescued I would be a complete mess, but like, as long as we stay moving I love them. Carnival rides are a mixed bag, I enjoy going on ferris wheels but they do scare the shit out of me, and I just won't get on most other rides that go super high up in the air. Airplanes are okay because I understand the science behind it?? It makes sense(and when you take off you can feel the air catch the plane) so I just don't get scared, though if I was in like a skydiving plane that's open I would probably freak out. The logic behind playground equipment is a mystery to me, maybe bcs it's literally made for climbing?? No clue.

And like, I watch a lot of videos of people climbing cellphone towers and skyscrapers specifically bcs they scare me SO much that it works to get rid of my anxiety if I'm freaking out about something. All of my problems seem so small because at least I'm not on top of one of those fucking things. But I do actually really like watching The Walk, idk it makes me scared so bad but I love it.

The only natural structure that scares me is trees. Idk what it is about trees, especially bcs I do like climbing them, but I usually struggle to get down without help.

This also made me remember I used to have vhs tapes with episodes of the Madeline cartoon and in one episode she and her friend get stuck at the top of the Eiffel Tower and despite the fact that I have actually BEEN TO PARIS and WENT UP TO THE TOP OF THAT VERY STRUCTURE and it didn't bother me so much, that episode made me so scared I couldn't watch it. Like wtf is that about??

I've also always wanted to be able to fly or be a witch like in Kiki's Delivery Service. Idk how my brain would react to that tho since it's impossible, but I assume it would land in the "it makes sense so it doesn't bother me" category.

So yeah idk man-made structures are bad and scary because I guess I just don't trust humans to make sturdy things that won't fall down(aside from airplanes and playground equipment bcs those make sense)?? But mountains and cliffs and stuff have been there for like millions of years so I trust that they will stay under my feet and thus I don't get scared by them at all.

And like I know it's weird that I'm like this because my fiancé is ALSO scared of heights(which I find hilarious because he's 6'3" and when he picks me up so my head is level with his it makes me scared because "the ground is too far away") but he doesn't like going up on top of anything. Airplanes, rollercoasters that go upside down, tall buildings, mountains and other rock structures, it ALL triggers his phobia. He won't even let me open the window shade when we fly together, it's that bad. Idk why I'm not like that.

Anyway @ anyone else who's scared of heights:

#long post #sorry I find this incredibly interesting

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ineffable-rohese · 1 month

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I really hate being a fat person in a time of societal, structural fatphobia. Because instead of spending the one hour of free, functional brain time I had today writing, I spent it researching rain pants, which I need to do my job. Because the two (!) pairs I ordered previously that should have fit by measurements only go halfway up my ass. And now I'm spending more than twice as much as either of those and hopefully maybe this other pair will fit. Which is the largest size I can find in a women's style. (I am all hips and butt. Men's cuts do not fit my body without a 10 inch gap at the waist, which is not ideal for rain pants.)

I am a US 24 in pants. There are lots of people my size and larger who would like to participate in outdoor activities. Technical gear to allow larger people to do so safely and comfortably is either extremely expensive or does not exist at all.

It honestly keeps me from doing some of the things I'd like to do. I can't go snowshoeing because I can't rent/borrow snow pants in my size. I don't hike when it's really rainy because the rain pants I can get are tight enough through the thighs that it makes hiking uncomfortable. I have to make do with rain coats that are too tight in the arms (for women's cuts) or way too big everywhere except the hips (men's cuts). I can't get good base layers at all.

It's been a battle since I started working mainly outdoors over a decade ago. The plus size outdoors market has only marginally gotten better, and mostly in terms of better options for sizes 16-20. And I'm just. So. Tired.

#fatphobia #being fat outdoors #this one's personal #i just wanna write my silly stories about my lil guys (gn)#but no. it's painful online shopping time #apparently i'm crabby and whiny today #and i don't care for wine

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gumnut-logic · 1 year

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John Tracy hated taking public transport.

He hated the cramped seats, the invasion of his personal space, the fact the bus stopped every few minutes to pick up more passengers and the noise.

It was stressful, annoying and far too full of people.

But the astrolabs were too far from the dorm to hike it or bike it, so bus it was.

He mapped out the most direct route, left early to avoid the crowds and handled it the best he could. Earphones helped and he never travelled without his tablet and a network connection.

He made do.

He made do for over a year. Every morning and every night.

The work was fascinating and he thoroughly enjoyed it. He considered getting a car, but it wasn’t practical and parking was non-existent, so he stuck with the bus.

Despite the fact he hated it.

Every trip he buried himself in his own world whether it be his work, research, a good book or even a movie. He shut the world out and more importantly anyone who sat next to him.

Sometimes this was not possible.

Because sometimes they spoke to him.

John had been brought up polite. His grandmother would have slapped his wrist if she found out he was ignoring people. So, he always replied. Often concisely, but always watching his manners.

That often opened the floodgates. Because if there was anything common between big cities it was the people who were lost in them, desperately alone in a sea of faces.

John liked being alone to a certain extent, but he was blessed with a close and large family.

Some people had no one.

So, ever so reluctantly, he found himself answering their call for help.

The first was Mrs Bucklin. She was a tiny woman, well dressed, but slightly scented with mothballs as if her clothes hadn’t been out of the closet in a long time.

She sat right beside him and immediately enquired as to what he was doing.

At the time he was coding a new game and her sharp voice startled him enough for his fingers to slip and enter a chain of commands he had not intended. He would have sworn if he was alone, but the program righted itself and the new commands, instead of corrupting and crashing the function, actually appeared to improve it. He frowned and hastily input some bridging structures so the code wouldn’t fragment, idly wondering if the error would improve the game, ruin it, have him need to rewrite the whole section or be the spark that would initiate sentience.

Great, his tablet would rise up and eat him while he was distracted by a random bus passenger.

She did apologise and he did reassure her that it was all okay in the hope she would let him be.

She didn’t.

He learnt she had three cats, a niece in another country (he didn’t gather which because the woman’s pronunciation defied translation), that she had lost her son in the Global Conflict, she liked his hair (that was a first) and that he looked like an intelligent young man.

He acknowledged her quietly and politely as he eyed his code and the results of an initial compile test. How did it do that?

Her cats were named Scottie, Gordy and Allie.

He did blink at that, but didn’t comment.

Eventually, she said goodbye and got off the bus at her stop.

He would have forgotten about her, except she sat next to him the next day and the day after that.

Apparently, this was her route to work, and he was such a polite young man.

Three weeks later she admitted he made her feel safe just by being there. She had been mugged three times in her life and public transport was as much a bane for her as it was for him.

He actively kept an eye out for her after that.

Gus was a different matter.

Gus didn’t have a home and he often rode the bus just for the air conditioning and comfort.

He sat on the other side of the walkway to John. He didn’t say much and would likely have never said anything if it hadn’t been for the gang of boys who decided to throw verbal potshots at him one day.

John had had an all-nighter with exams coming up, so he was cranky. His latest project had stalled – the same game he had been tackling when Mrs Bucklin had startled him. The core of the program had become a little unpredictable and he couldn’t work out why.

So, when a group of teenagers crawled to the back of the bus and started needling a fellow passenger, it was not only a situation where the innocent man appeared to need a bit of a rescue, but it also pissed John off.

There were four of them. Teenagers flocked in groups apparently. He’d never been one for that formation himself, but he knew of them, had encountered them and Virgil had kicked a few of their asses for him.

John was in college now.

He could kick his own fair share of ass quite happily.

“Leave the man alone, or I will call the police.” He raised his voice, but not his head, transmitting all the body language of how beneath his notice they were and how he might respond if they didn’t comply.

“Mind your own business, kook!”

There was always a brave one amongst the group, usually the ringleader, the head dickhead.

At least they were only teenagers.

This time he did look up and put all that communication theory into the coldest stare possible. “Excuse me?”

All four of them froze. Hell, they couldn’t be older than fifteen, somewhere between Gordy and Alan. If either of his brothers acted like this, there were three older brothers who would quite firmly re-educate them on proper conduct.

Not that he thought either of his younger brothers would do such a thing.

In any case, all four of them stared at him wide-eyed. The eldest swore and climbed out of his seat just as the bus pulled up at the next stop. He snarled at John as he stalked past, spitting profanities. His cohorts followed and they climbed off the bus.

It was lovely and quiet after that and John went back to tackling his misbehaving program.

“Thank you, sir.”

John blinked up at the unkempt man who had been the centre of the teenagers’ torment.

A small smile. “You’re welcome.”

Was this variable being changed by the program itself? How the hell could it do that?

He didn’t fail to notice after that incident that Gus, as he introduced himself the next time they met, always sat near John on his rides, morning or evening.

John met other people. Mrs Magarey and her three young children always needed a hand with her pram. John sometimes took advantage of this and stuck the pram in the footwell of the seat next to him so no-one could sit there.

That made Mrs Bucklin sit behind him and whisper her stories in his ear.

He wasn’t sure if he was comfortable with that either.

Two other students from his faculty took the same bus as well. Ridley was in the year behind him and always had a friend on the phone. She chattered a lot and he learnt to tune her out.

Well, until the day he boarded the bus and found her crying into her tablet.

She had lost her entire thesis in a computer crash. He was polite. He enquired and she answered, staring up at him as if she had never seen him before. Which was entirely possible. John didn’t like to draw attention to himself.

He accompanied her off the bus that day and delved into her damaged computer. He dug up her thesis and she gushed all over him, even crying into his sweater.

He hugged her awkwardly and wished her all the best.

After that, she always said hello and had a smile for him.

John smiled back, but his program was still not behaving. It acted as if it had a mind of its own and it was very distracting.

Mrs Bucklin said it sounded like cat number two, Gordy. Never behaving, but always loveable.

John stared at her when she said that, and wondered if she knew more than she was letting on.

The day Virgil landed in the seat beside him on the way to the labs startled him enough to drop his tablet.

“Hey, Johnny.”

He fumbled between the seats for the device. “Don’t call me Johnny.”

“Sorry.” But he could tell Virgil was anything but.

His fingers touched the cool metal of his tablet and he scrabbled for it. “What are you doing here?”

“Can’t a brother drop in on his brother to see how he is doing?”

John eyed him. If it was Scott sitting next to him or Gordon, he might have been suspicious of any double meaning his brother might be communicating. But this was Virgil and although the engineer had a sense of humour that could cut when necessary, this wasn’t his style.

“I guess he can. But why the bus?”

Virgil shrugged. “Didn’t catch you early enough. Barely caught the bus behind you. I thought your classes didn’t start until later.”

“They don’t.”

“Then why are you up so early?”

It was John’s turn to shrug. “Just avoiding the crowds, I guess.”

Virgil eyed him with a slightly worried frown.

“And who is this lovely young man who has taken my seat?”

Oh god.

Virgil stared up at Mrs Bucklin as she bustled in to sit behind them.

An internal sigh. “Mrs Bucklin, this is my brother Virgil.”

“Your brother?” She eyed Virgil as if inspecting him for sale. “Doesn’t look like you at all. Where’s the red hair?”

Virgil arched a dark eyebrow.

“Nevertheless, Mrs Bucklin, Virgil is my older brother.”

“Then how come we haven’t met before? You’ve been travelling this route for a year now and we haven’t seen hide or hair of him.” She continued to glare at Virgil as if he was a threat.

Virgil was shifting in his seat, his expression decidedly wary.

“Virgil has been assisting my father on a project. He’s an engineer. I’m unsure what he is doing here right now.”

“Hmph, well, in my opinion, he should have been here earlier.” She addressed Virgil directly. “Did you know your sweet little brother has been a bastion of this bus route, defending and assisting all?”

What?

John’s head shot up. “Mrs Bucklin-“

“Don’t you go all humble pie on me, young man. I saw what you did to those teenagers and how you help young Mollie every week. That girl is going to work herself into an early grave. And poor Gus, you’ve given him a new reason to try. Did you know he has enrolled himself in a course? Got himself a grant from the government and everything. Got help from that employment assistance group. Not to mention that doe-eyed young student who stares at you with love hearts floating about her head. I don’t know what you did for her, but I have no doubt she would do anything for you if you asked.” She turned back to Virgil, accusation in her eyes. “Why haven’t you been looking after your brother?”

Virgil’s wide eyes darted between John and the older woman.

John had no idea what to say.

“Well?” Mrs Bucklin’s glare was determined.

“Ah-“

“Is this man harassing you?”

John looked up to see Gus looming over Virgil.

You know, the Virgil who lifted weights that weighed more than his brothers on a daily basis.

John frowned. Gus had a new coat on and was looking much healthier than the last time he paid attention. “No, Gus. This is my older brother Virgil.”

And Virgil was subjected to another staring glare. “Doesn’t look like your brother.”

What?!

“I can assure you that he is indeed my caring older brother and he is not neglecting me in any way.”

Gus grunted, still glaring at Virgil. He nodded in John’s direction. “Make sure he eats more. He’s too skinny.”

That started Mrs Bucklin off again. “My goodness, yes. John you do not eat enough. Have you tried any of those recipes I recommended?”

Gus was still eyeing Virgil.

Virgil appeared to be regretting several recent life choices.

“I’m fine, Mrs Bucklin.” He raised his hands. “And both of you, Virgil is not responsible for my wellbeing.”

His tablet beeped. A glance and he found a text message from Ridley. You okay over there?

He looked up and found her at the other end of the bus staring back at him worriedly.

A sigh.

A flick of his fingers. I’m fine.

He turned back to Virgil who was literally cornered, only for his tablet to chime again.

You free tonight?

Oh, for the love of-

“Guys, Virgil is my big brother. He looks after me. He cares. I’m fine. He’s here for a visit. I don’t know why yet. Stop glaring at him.”

Gus grunted again and wandered off to his seat. He didn’t stop eyeing John’s brother for a second.

Mrs Bucklin let off a slightly miffed sound before leaning back in her seat. “He better. Or I have a mind to bring Scottie with me next time. Or maybe Gordy. To teach him a lesson.”

What the hell?

“No need, Mrs Bucklin. I assure you.”

Virgil was staring at John as if he wasn’t sure what planet he was on.

John sighed.

Yeah, he hated public transport.

It was stressful, annoying and far too full of people.

His tablet pinged again. This time it was the program he was working on. It was claiming it was dawn despite the fact the sun had risen an hour ago. He let out an exasperated hiss.

Virgil was still staring at him.

Damn public transport.

-o-o-o-

#thunderbirds are go #thunderbirds #thunderbirds fanfiction #John Tracy #Virgil Tracy #nuttyfic reblog #I hope to do some actual writing tomorrow #who knows #might actually happen

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mandowifey · 1 year

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Helloo if i may, i'd like to request the ethan char assigning 👉🏻👈🏻 People usually calls me Alvin and i goes by any pronouns, but i mainly use She/Her. Im an Androgyne who is significantly short ( less than 5 feet lol). I p much love to explore new places and nature especially mountain and beach. My love language is basically teasing and being mischief JABDAJJAJAJ. I think that's all 💖💖

(THIS TOOK ME AGES I AM SO SORRY AND HOPE YOU'RE AROUND...)

But seriously, thank you for waiting so long for your piece. I cheated a little and checked out your profile. (Oops) So that being said, I assign you...

Arthur Harrow.

Arthur Harrow x GN!Reader

Warnings: Fully SFW, Implications of manipulation, heights, reader has amnesia. This was also not proof-read!

• • •

Amidst the town tucked inside the Austrian Alps, you had found your home.

The people had welcomed you with open arms, and you had quickly adapted to this new life. It was difficult for you to discern how you ended up here to begin with, as your memories grew fuzzy whenever you attempted to recall your life outside of the compound. Regardless you trusted them, and Arthur especially, as your new family. Anything that existed before coming there no longer mattered to you as you had let it go some time ago.

A series of gasps tugged you out of your thoughts.

At some point you had decided to scale the bell tower in the middle of town and situate yourself at the top. This spot was one of your favorites as it was the highest platform in the little community which granted you a 360 degree view of the mountains and planes surrounding you. The problem with this location wasn't the fact it was over 30 feet off the ground, but in fact that it was so old. With a sinking foundation and old wooden support beams, this tower was overdue for repair. Arthur had scolded you the first time you'd been caught climbing it, warning you that one wrong move could collapse the entire structure with you under it.

This was why you couldn't understand how you found yourself perched at the top once again.

"Y/N," Came Arthur's firm voice from down below.

Looking down amidst the crowd of concerned faces, you spot the leader of the flock staring up at you. His expression from this height was difficult to read, though you knew he was displeased. Arthur stood at the front with his hands resting on the cane in front of him, his brows vexed. He knew you had a penchant for exploring and roaming where you could, but he had warned you about this particular place.

"Can you come down? It's quite dangerous up there." He called again, though his voice never reached the intensity of a shout. Arthur had been handling business when a few concerned followers had come to him, alarmed that you were back on the tower and in danger of falling. Seeing you there once again irked him, though he figured with your amnesia from the accident you couldn't be faulted. Your spirit lasted even while your memories did not.

Embarrassment lights your cheeks in reds and pinks. You had caused a scene without ever intending to. Carefully, you descend the tower and mind your footing, even more aware of yourself than before. As you ease down to the ground, a sigh of relief washes amongst the crowd. You feel a hand on your shoulder and turn instinctively into Arthur's chest, your small arms winding around him and holding tight.

"I'm sorry."

Warmth encompasses you as Arthur holds you into his broad chest. He's warm and smells of tea, a scent that has been a comfort to you for some time now. As you sink into his chest and breathe him in, he rumbles like thunder. "We are going to have to find a safer way to satiate that explorer's appetite of yours, little one." A smile tugs your lips, and you press more into him.

"Perhaps we can take you for hikes along the trails, hmm?" His hand drifts from your back to pet along your neck, then up into your hair. He caresses you, squeezing gently and reassuringly. Arthur was not angry, and you knew, though you always felt uncomfortable at the notion of disappointing him. "What about your feet?" You look up towards him, eyes round and doe like. The man smiled down at you and breathed out a soft chuckle.

"I would not offer if I could not handle it." He promised, leaning down to press his lips to the center of your forehead. Warmth blooms under your skin, and you tilt, wanting to catch his mouth with your own - but he pulls back before you two can connect. "Let's head back." His hand pulls from your scalp, and he begins to limp towards the trail that leads to your shared home.

Arthur had a habit of leaving you hungry. Hungry for his affection and hungrier for his approval. He was good at leaving you on the edge, baited, and ready to spring. You smile and jog a few steps to close the widening gap between you. "Maybe we can go tomorrow?" You offer, eyes twinkling in the late day sun. The wind rustles the tall grass, lining the ascending hills towards your building.

"Tomorrow it is." The older man chuckled softly. "So long as I do not need to coax you down from anymore towers," There was a playful lilt to his words as he tossed you an amused glance. Your heart skips a beat, and your smile broadens. "No more towers, pinky promise!"

You lift your hand and offer your pinky towards him. Arthur comes to a stop to look, and his smile stiffens. It was something you did often and upheld with the highest of regards. He couldn't wrap his head around the notion that pinkies meant anything more than digits on a hand, but he knew what it meant to you. Offering his own, the two of you curl your fingers together, and your head nods affirmatively.

"No more towers." He reiterates, breaking the connection finally and putting his free arm around you. You smile and lean into his side, taking in the view that you never grew tired of and noticing a large tree in the distance. You wonder briefly how difficult it would be to climb.

#arthur harrow headcannon #arthur harrow headcannons #arthur harrow x you #arthur harrow x reader #arthur harrow #moonknight headcanons #moon knight #arthur harrow headcanon #arthur harrow headcanons #match up

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malum-forev · 1 year

Text

Game On: Chapter Eight

Chapter Seven

She rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands until she saw purple and yellow stars cover her already blurry vision. It seemed the stark contrast of the white chalk against the once emerald green board wasn’t enough of an eyesore for Mrs. Patterson, one of (Y/N)’s teachers, she was insistent on writing everything in her infamous script handwriting. Sometimes, when she closed her eyes, the red ink on last semester’s paper that read: ‘Your closing argument is not only structurally incorrect but factually inaccurate.’ Still haunted (Y/N).

Mrs. Patterson looked down at her polished silver watch, nine forty-five. “Judging by your empty eyes, I think now would be a good place to stop.”

Scattered chuckles could be heard around the room but what was most noticeable was the sighs of relief. The 7:30 pm double lecture was hard to handle but having one of the most decorated teachers in that time slot became almost unbearable. (Y/N) got up to stretch her back and pick up her things as people started shuffling out of the classroom.

“Law students sure know how to enjoy a Friday night.” She instantly recognized his voice.

‘Deep breath, one, two, three.’ She counted in her head before turning around.

“What can I say, they don’t call us the life of the party for nothing.” She smiled. “I thought you had practice tonight, you know to get ready for the big game next week.”

Bucky clutched the left side of his chest. “You know my schedule? Don’t make me blush.”

(Y/N) hiked her tote bag up and walked past him towards the door and peeked her head out, looking both ways. Once she turned around, she bumped into his chest.

She pushed him away from her and from any potential witnesses. “What are you doing here?”

Bucky leaned on the wall closest to the door and started shuffling through his backpack. “You’ve been avoiding me.”

“That statement didn’t answer my question.” She crossed her arms. “Someone could see you here.”

“Why?” Bucky asked, his furrowed eyebrows cast a dark shadow on his celeste eyes.

“Your eyes look like marbles when you make that face.” She stated.

His features softened and a deep dimple appeared next to his newly revealed pearly whites. “That statement didn’t answer my question.”

“Your argument becomes invalid once you’ve repeated my structure.”

“The class that just ended was legal argumentation right?” He chuckled.

It was her turn to mimic his act. “You know my schedule? Don’t make me blush.”

He rolled his eyes and threw his head back. “I came to give you this.”

Dangled in front of her eyes, (Y/N) immediately recognized the thin gold bracelet. She gasped and took it out of Bucky’s hands. “Where did you find it!”

“I do believe people usually say ‘thank you’.” Bucky chuckled. “That’s why I’d been calling.”

Although this made (Y/N) feel even more guilty about avoiding him, she could never tell him the truth. “This week has been kind of crazy.”

Bucky laced his hand in hers and brought (Y/N) into a hug. He said “Alright.” Without believing a word she spoke.

He placed a kiss on the top of her head. “You’re coming to the game next Thursday right?”

“I think won’t be able-“

“Please?” He interrupted, his voice barely above a whisper.

She looked up to meet his eyes, their noses touching. “Okay.”

Again, a smile creeped on to his lips and he turned his head to bring them closer to hers but (Y/N) turned and took a step back.

Bucky sighed and closed his eyes. “Sorry, I forgot.”

(Y/N) cleared her throat and turned towards the door. “So, I’ll see you on Thursday?”

“I was actually thinking we could see each other on Sunday. Steve is leaving and I have the apartment to myself.” Bucky rubbed the back of his neck, a crimson tint adorning his cheeks.

“Sure, just text me.” She smiled.

“Promise you’ll answer?”

“I promise.” She nodded before leaving the classroom. The winter air of January helped her cool down. She brought her hand up to her lips, her heartbeat more present there than inside of her chest, but they only made her remember what had happened a week ago.

The sound of glasses clinking and her friends’ laughter brought (Y/N) joy. It had been a few hours since they had all celebrated the new year. The scene before her eyes made her feel like she was a little kid again, no worries no deadlines just now.

“Are you coming or not?!” Natasha laughed from the front door, kicking her shoes off on her way out.

“I’ll keep your clothes safe.” (Y/N) smiled and headed out.

The previous day had been unusually sunny, the deep ray of warmth cast over the snow had made some of the water at the lake in front of Steve’s cabin melt. So, the obvious conclusion the group had come to (during the final sips of the fourth champagne bottle and the start of the second tequila shot) was to skinny dip.

“In some cultures, it brings luck into the new year.” Sam tried to justify as he unzipped his pants.

“Please!” (Y/N) let out a loud laugh. “There has to be at least one of us that doesn’t get pneumonia!”

“Anything bad that happens to you this semester, I’m blaming it on not jumping in!” Wanda yelled as she jumped in. One by one they all shrieked from the cold and erupted in laughter from the alcohol.

(Y/N) was starting to pile all of her friends’ belongings when she felt someone throw her over their shoulder.

“Can’t let you have bad luck this year, doll.” Bucky laughed as he brought her closer to the edge of the dock. “You have two options: take off your clothes and jump with us or I’ll throw you in with everything you’ve got on.”

Wanda, Steve, Sam, and Natasha cheered from their position inside of the lake.

“Okay, okay! I’ll jump in! Just turn around!” (Y/N) said through laughs.

As everyone turned around, (Y/N) quickly discarded her clothes. Bucky peeked through his fingers, that covered his eyes. He double checked that no one was looking, although judging from his friends’ alcohol intake it was possible that even if someone saw them, none would remember. He brought her close to him, their chests touching.

“Three.” He whispered.

“What are you doing?” She questioned, worried.

“Two.”

“James, let’s just jump.” (Y/N) turned to look at her friends but they weren’t even paying attention, the group was too preoccupied with the freezing water to even care.

“One.”

(Y/N) grabbed his hand and took him to the border of the dock, but Bucky brought her back to him.

“Happy New Year, doll.” He smiled before bringing his lips to hers. The passionate kiss took her by surprise. It wasn’t like before, it wasn’t filled with deep breaths and hunger, a desire. It was soft and deep, something (Y/N) had never experienced before. But suddenly the pleasure turned into warmth, a burning feeling that covered her skin. A feeling of all too much consumption. (Y/N) pulled away, breathless. Her widened eyes met his and in a moment of desperation and before she could even conceptualize what was happening, she jumped.

The cheers of her friends, drowned her thoughts and as she rose back to the top the clattering of her teeth and the drop of her body temperature numbed anything and everything.

Sometime later, once they couldn’t feel their toes anymore, all of them started filing into the cabin. But before (Y/N) could enter, Bucky pulled her aside hidden from anyone’s view.

“What was that about?” His eyes spoke millions of words, those his lips couldn’t pronounce. “I don’t even get a ‘Happy New Year Buck?’.”

“Happy New Year Buck.” She repeated, her eyes focused on the ground.

He took his index finger to her chin and lifted it up. “Tell me, tell me what’s going on in that head of yours.”

(Y/N) debated telling him, bearing her naked soul to him. Putting herself in an even more vulnerable position than she had been with him some night before. But Bucky noticed immediately, her eyes changed and it was as if the walls had built up again.

“If we want this to work, we cannot kiss.” She stated sternly.

“What-“

“Friends with benefits, no kissing. Ever.” She interrupted.

Bucky sighed and rolled his eyes. He took her hand and placed it on his, rubbing circles on her wrist. “One of these days, you’re going to wind yourself up a little bit too much. And you’re going to fall apart. Everything is more complicated whenever your head gets in front of your heart.”

“Those are the terms, take it or leave it.” Her blank stare challenged him, (Y/N) pulled her hand back and crossed her arms. “I’m going inside.”

In a matter of seconds, Bucky was left alone with the winter breeze and in his hand he held the snapped gold bracelet that was wrapped around (Y/N)’s wrist.

Sunday rolled around faster than (Y/N) had anticipated. Before she knew it, she had already avoided her roommates’ questions, grabbed some coffee and was laying on Bucky’s bed with only a thin bedsheet covering her, his comforter had been long gone.

Bucky walked in with both of the coffees in his hand. “This kid Peter really has the hots for you.”

“Why are you talking like a transatlantic news broadcaster?” She smiled as he handed over the coffee.

“In case you lost my number.” Bucky read out loud the ten digits that Peter had written on the side of the cup.

“Oh god, I seriously don’t have time to let him down easy.” She closed her eyes and rested her head on Bucky’s headboard.

“If you don’t watch out, you’ll get a heartbreaker reputation.” Bucky chuckled as he traced his fingers up and down her arm.

(Y/N) opened her mouth but quickly closed it, she couldn’t think of anything to say. Anything that wouldn’t come out as a lie, and in this moment she could only lie.

“So, this friends with benefits thing. It comes with the ‘friends’ part right?” Bucky asked and (Y/N) nodded. “So, can I ask you something?”

She chuckled. “Sure.”

“No ox two.” Bucky looked at her as serious as ever.

(Y/N) couldn’t help but erupt in laughter. “What are you on about?”

“So when my sister and I were younger, my ma wanted to create like a secret phrase. Something with which we had to tell the truth but she promised that we wouldn’t be in trouble. And since we weren’t allowed to say ‘bullshit’ she came up with ox two. Ox as in similar to bull and Two as in number two, shit.” Bucky explained.

Her laughter did not seize but instead intensified.

“When you promise no ox two, you have to tell the truth.”

“I promise, no ox two.” (Y/N) smiled.

“Why are you insistent on not dating?” Bucky asked her.

(Y/N) took another deep breath. “Look, you wouldn’t understand.”

“Great way to start.” Bucky chuckled.

“All my life, I’ve had to work double at everything just to prove that I’m capable. I constantly have to jump through an insane amount of hoops to end up with a great result, even better than anyone around me, especially any of my male classmates. But even when I show that I can deliver better, they say I am just not enough.”

“I don’t doubt Peter is a great guy but, I am not willing to sacrifice everything I’ve done for someone. One single comment from Peter could ruin everything I’ve worked for. Now, instead of being hard working, I try too hard. Because I put my studies in front of my love life, I’m a prude. If I ever decide things don’t work out, I’m a bitch.”

“Instead of opening yourself up, you live in this shell. Only hyper focusing on your goal.” Bucky uttered.

(Y/N) scoffed. “Of course you would judge me.”

Bucky turned to face her. “I’m not judging, I just think sometimes you should stop and enjoy the ride. I wouldn’t want you to get to where you want to be, only to realize the journey was part of the reward.”

(Y/N) let out a small smile. “This thing between you and me, that’s the most adventurous I’ve ever been.”

“Well, don’t worry about me. My lips are sealed, no one will ever know what goes on.” Bucky closed the gap between the two of them and started leaving a trail of kisses from her collarbone to the edge of her lips, but never once touching them.

...---...

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@charmedbysarge @rabbitrabbit12321

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neotriobrainrot-reborn · 3 months

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Guess who's here again holding up Mushroom Girl like my blorbo? Yep, IT WAS ALWAYS ME

(If you saw this posted early on the 11th, no it wasn't)

Also note: I might change her first name. I’m satisfied with her last name since it’s a reference to a fungus (not directly by name, but as a hint, it’s a combination of two words of 1 fungus). Her first name I feel like does need work though

This post has gotten a little long. Not so long that it's massive, but too long for me to comfortably post it without a readmore

So here yee here yee:

KEY:

STAR — ⭐️

ORBIT — 💫

NOVA — ✨️

Mosary Amaniphall (V4)

AGE: 12

HEIGHT: 4’5

BORN: DEC 12TH

STAMINA: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

PROFICIENCY: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

CREATIVITY: ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

TENACITY: ⭐️ M A X ⭐️

CLEVERNESS: ✨️ ✨️ ✨️ ✨️ 💫

WISDOM: ⭐️

These are her stats at the start of the series (Museum Arc)

ANIMAL: BEAVER

FAV FOOD: SWEET POTATO

LIKES… STARING AT RANDOM INSECTS, CAMPFIRES, HIKING, PUTTING RANDOM TOYS IN BOILING WATER, EATING CANDY WRAPPERS

EPITHET: BURGEON

The user can rapidly grow anything, from her own capabilities, to even growing plants, fungi, combining the two, and making fungi/plant summons with various effects

Passives

Warmer

Mosary's body temperature is a lot warmer and more resistant to heat than the average person, though the inside of her body is more resistant than the surface. This isn’t a drastic increase, but it’s enough to save her a few seconds of reaching over for covers on a cold night.

Sweet Toxin:

Due to the nature of how Mosary's epithet effects her body, she's immune to most forms of poison. In fact, her body will translate any poison that goes into her body into passive healing and painkillers. This combination slowly heals her and makes her take slightly less damage.

MOVESET

A huff and puff of Bark and Burning Frostbite

The user grows/summons tree bark on the area their hands make contact with (this can include their body). Half of the bark is inhibited by a fungus called “Exidiopsis Effusa”, and the other half by a Puffball Mushroom. The user can grow bark that only inhibits one fungus, but the main feature of the bark is the fungi living in it.

The bark can emit Hair Ice (Sort of) and Puff spores (sort of again)

By creating spores of the Icy hair-like strands emerge from the growing bark that the user can control telekinetically. She can control the temperature of the frost and strengthen it so much that they'll leave burn marks. From being able to control how sharp the strands are (from soft as a pillow to as sharp as blades), to how flexible and malleable they are along with how many strands come out, this is an extremely powerful move Offensive wise that also offers a great amount of utility.

As for the Puff spores, they have a special function — she can ignite the puffball spores for explosions. They are relatively weak explosions, but due to the amount of spores the bark can spit out, the user can spam small explosions, or even combine most of the spores for one large explosion.

These moves are relatively simple, but the user can get extremely creative with its applications

She can:

Use it to slash at opponents for large damage

Can tie the hair ice around herself for mobility

Can use the bark on both of her legs to anchor herself or a target

Can harden and condense the strands of hair ice to make a small durable structure to either use offensively or defensively

Grow the Puffball bark on her shoes and ignite it at any point while she's going in any direction for a dash

Grow the Puffball Bark on her hands and feet to use as a way to amp up her physical attacks

Place the puffball spores on the hair ice for a long range explosion attack

Grow the puffball bark on her hands and concentrate the spore release for a bullet like explosion decent in strength

Grow the Hair-ice bark on her hands and have the ice form and sharpen around them to act as bladed brace knuckles.

Etc.

While the move itself is inherently simple, the user is clever enough to see the sheer utility options of the move.

Legion of Cordyceps

The user manifests a crown shaped fungi on. The crowd itself has 3 long fungi sprouting on top of the crown, acting as its spikes: one on the left, one on the right, and one in the center. Two of these spikes have green gems, with the center spike having a hot-pink gem

The summon has a name/title, which is “Princess Legion”.

The crown itself slowly steadily generates pink spores that the user can telekinetically control for their use. When these spores get onto a summoned creature or construct, it'll take control of that summon and absorb it into the crowned selection. Assuming the user is in a situation where they can fill all the gems, the left spike is filled first, then the right spike, with the center spike being the last one. Each gem can only hold 1 summon, and one of each type. Once a summon is absorbed, the user has to pick a different one to progress through the next gem.

At will, the user can throw the summon off her head, and transform her into one of four states depending on how many gems have summons. When summoned, each absorbed summon/epithet construct incorporated into Prince Cordycep is stronger depending on what form she transforms into

Ex: The summon benefits is non existent in form 1, weak in form 2, average in strength in form 3, and at its strongest in form 4

Form 1: Lonely wannabe (0 summons absorbed)

Stamina – ⭐️; Proficiency – ⭐️⭐️; Creativity – ⭐️

The first, and weakest form, is what happens if the user transforms it with no summons absorbed. A small 4ft tall humanoid figure with multiple tiny strands of pink Cordyceps growing out. Princess Legion possess tiny, but sharp claws to use. The warrior is fast and nimble, allowing them to get off slashes quickly, but it’s fairly weak and is about as dangerous as a child with dull box cutters: a little dangerous, but anyone decently competent can deal with this with one good kick no problem.

Because of this being Princess Legion's weakest form, Mosary uses almost no stamina summoning her. They can summon multiple Princess Legion's, so this is good for overwhelming opponents with a small army of weak summons.

Mosary can summon 8 of these to fight in her defense

Form 2: Grounded Company (1 summon absorbed)

Stamina: ⭐️⭐️; Proficiency: ⭐️⭐️⭐️; Creativity: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Princess Legion is 5'2 feet tall in this form and has longer and sharper claws in this form. Depending on what summon was absorbed, she'll have an extra aspect about herself or even effect the design and appearance of the summon, but the height and the number of gems attached to it never changes.

Ex: If one of Sylvies's sheep are absorbed into legion before she's summoned, she might have her claws coated with sleep dust

She's noticeably tougher than her form 1 counterpart, but still weak. Someone competent may have more trouble, but competent people should still be able to deal with these.

Mosary can summon four of these

Form 3: Hovering Crowd (2 summons/Epitheg constructs absorbed)

Stamina: ⭐️⭐️; Proficiency: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️; Creativity: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This form of Princess Legion, while only slightly tougher in durability, makes up for it with strength and versatility. This form comes in a pair with two summons. Their wooden hands are practically razor-sharp claws, with them both being 6ft tall and appearing more beast like. Even someone extremely skilled will have trouble dealing with this.

This form has two gems applied to both summons, and depending on what summon was absorbed before this form us summoned, Princess Legion will have different features

If Mosary absorbs One of Indus' barriers and Sylvie's sheep, both summons may have a coat of Sleep dust, and have their body made out of barriers, making them more durable

The user can only summon 2 of these.

Form 4: True Legion (3 epithet summons/constructs absorbed)

Stamina ⭐️⭐️⭐️; Proficiency: 💫💫⭐️⭐️⭐️; Creativity: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Princess Legion's true form. 8ft tall, and appears mostly as a fog, yet solid. This appears as one summon, but in nature, Princess Cordyceps is the combined forced of 3 summons and itself into 1 body. This summom is extremely strong, and acts as the user’s final gambit. Summoning this will leave Mosary with closeto zero stamina. This summon functions like the others kicked to 11.

Ex: If Mosary used Princess Cordycep to absorb one of Sylvies's sheep, a barrier from Indus, and a tower construct from Percy, she may have a massive coat of Sleep dust, be capable of hardening her body to endure even the strongest of attacks, and shoot lighting from it's heart

Devil's Lollipop

This summon takes the form of a Devil Cigar Fungus, although it has a large devil-like grin in the center. It's about as small as a flower and doesn't appear to be much, but appearances can be misleading.

This summon can release, minic, and manipulate any kind of sound that it hears. Multiple of these can be summoned, and each one has a small simple on it that's unique for each person it's attached to, making it easy to tell apart which summon is attached to which person. It can also manipulate people into hysteria and lost of control over their actions by laughing with its true voice

The user can apply this sound-based manipulation in an various amount of ways that can help the user in various of situations:

Mosary can tie the flower vines of the summon around their neck with the front of the summon facing the same direction of herself (like a flower bowtie). This would change her voice into anything of her whim

Mosary can have the Flower shoot out pressurized and concentrated sound waves, effectively acting as a powerful invisible ranged attack that can pack a punch if used correctly, though the beam of sound is unfocused. This would hurt her if she doesn't attach this to an instrument (she chooses a clarinet more often than not)

By attaching a Devil Lollipop to someone's body, she can create hyper-focused sounds that only the target can hear. They, in turn , can send hyper-focused messages to Mosary that only she can hear. This allows for effective communication that the opponent cannot hear. This can also be useful against targets to trick them into hearing sounds that aren't there

Despite all the various sounds the summon can make, it does actually have a voice of its own. By laughing with its original voice, it can make those who hear it stir crazy, give them immense hysteria, and create a strong urge inside their subconscious to dance and sing

Sunspot

A small mushroom-Flower fusion grows on Mosary's head, appearing to look like a Death Cap fungus with small sun symbols all over it, and a sunflower sprouting from the top of the fungus. Upon Sunspot (the fungus-Plant) glowing a bright light mimicking that of the sun, Mosary will gain a large growth in strength & speed, with her getting a tremendous boost in all five of her senses. She could see through walls, hear whispers as if it was shouting, and so on. This is a relatively simple move but gives Mosary an array of options.

A benefit of this summon is that if this is used in the day, there's no stamina cost for using it since the flower part of the fungi-plant amalgamation will use the sunlight as an energy source. This only applies to the day, so Mosary will have to be careful about reserving her stamina when trying to use this during the night

Ghostly Sights

Mosary summons what appears to be a Ghost Fungus glowing purple. She can manipulate, absorb, and control the light in the fungus, allowing her to create visual light illusions. They aren’t physical, but they’re made purely out of light, so anyone who decides to try and touch the light will quickly find out that it’s merely an illusion. This move is completely useless as a physical attack, but it's great for throwing your opponent off in an infinite array of situations.

Fun Facts

She has a habit of staring at insects, and if not interrupted, will sit and stare at them until she passes out from need of sleep (This has happened more times then she'd like to admit)

Her “Bounty” was just something she doodled. She's just good enough at art to make it look real (she also immediately crossed out the “dead” part of “dead or alive” since she didn't want someone trying to kill her)

Speaking of, whenever she starts to get overwhelmed (whether that be mentally, physically, or primarily by overusing her epithet), her epithet will start to overheat her body. She'll experience symptoms like nausea, dizziness, weakness, rapid breathing, etc.

Because of her passive “Sweet Toxins”, she didn't know what poison even was for a good portion of her life until her parents rushed her to an ER after getting stung by a scorpion (All she told the Doctor was that she felt like she just woke up)

With her current trajectory, she'll reach orbit Proficiency in high school between the middle of her Freshman year, and the end of her sophomore year. (When she’s 15-16 years old). By the time she graduates high school, she'll have all of her stats in orbit

SHE'S A GOOFY GOOBER—

While she may appear stotic at first glance to others, She has genuine anger problems and also has trouble controlling her reactions to her own emotions. Luckily, she does try visit Sylvie for weekly therapy appointments (Emphasis on try due to her being a 12 year old with barely any money

Graham and Princess Cordyceps would immediately become best friends if they ever met

While Mosary is dumb in terms of academic and book smarts, she’s practically a genius in when it comes to improvisation. She can make simple epithet moves that don’t require much creativity, but gives her immense utility options

She chews Jolly ranchers & Jaw breakers

Miscellaneous:

No promises, but I'm extremely satisfied with this move-set. I didn't want to make her epithet Fungus/Mushroom because that didn't feel too creative, and going “She Mushroom Girl, her epithet is Mushroom/Fungus” felt like a lazy route to go, and Efflorescence didn't feel like it fit her alias enough.

I went with “Burgeon” since it means “Growing Rapidly”, giving me a lot of options while still fitting her Fungus vibe. Plus, it fits more organically

I know it’s a massive stretch to get “Sharp flexible ice blades with exploding spore”, “A Princess Cordycep capitalizing on absorbing summons”, and so on out of “Burgeon”, but I thought it was a fun direction to go with, so I just went with it, and I honestly had a lot of fun thinking through this moveset. I'm mainly going with a nature aesthetic.

Like I said, might change her first name, just tryna think of a better fit

I gave her “Ghostly Sights” so that she would be forced to get creative with a move that does no damage. It's a stretch, but so is literally everything else here, so I don't mind much

She's meant to be leaning much more towards goofy and stupid(ish) than anything else.

And yeah, yeah. That's about it. Bya—

#epithet erased #epithet erased mushroom girl #ee mushroom girl #fungireborn.post

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like-rain-or-confetti · 1 year

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The Hole in the Ceiling (House Dimitrescu x Reader)

"Oh shit." You deadpanned. A swarm of flies buzzed behind you. "Don't let mother hear you speak like that." Daniela teased as she sauntered up to you. "Now, what's the problem?" You grimaced. "There's a hole in the floor." "Huh?" Daniela looked over your shoulder, easily done as you were the smallest of the bunch. "Ohh! How long has that been there?" She asked and you shrugged. It was a pretty decent sized hole. One your leg could go through without issue. "Is it a weakness in the floor? Is the ceiling going to cave in outside my library?" Daniela grew irate. "I...I mean..." You took a step closer. "What are you doing!?" Daniela demanded. "I'm not sure if it will because it seems pretty- woah!" "(Y/N)!" Daniela shrieked as the floor under your feet gave way, creating an even bigger hole that you slipped through.

You thought you were done for until you realised you landed much quicker than you anticipated. Then it dawned how you landed...on your feet...balancing perfectly on the banister, knees bent, hands outstretched. "How...how are you doing that!?" Daniela had morphed mostly into flies but her faint outline could be made within the swarm. "I have no idea." You said. You were frozen on the spot, simply refusing to move. Two swarms of flies glided up towards the banister, ignoring the stairs all together. "What on earth are you doing?" Bella asked as her newly formed face morphed into confusion. Cassandra formed beside her, crossing her arms and tilting her head. Clearly she was as confused as her sister. "(Y/N) fell through the floor!" Daniela called down before swarming through the hole and landing beside Cassandra. Bela gasped at the newly revealed hole in the ceiling. "What happened!?" "I found a hole in the ceiling." You began stiffly. "I tried to get a better look from upstairs-." Daniela brushed herself off. "It's disgusting up there. So much dust!" "Of course, there is Daniela. That isn't a room, that is the structure of the house!" Cassandra replied. You continued your explanation. "Daniela found me, I went to see if there was a weakness in the actual ceiling and fell through. Now I'm here, on the banister and somehow not falling to my death." "Okay the death part is dramatic. You have the cadou." Cassandra said flatly. You sent Cassandra an irritated gaze and she smiled wryly. "I wanna try that." Daniela said quietly. "Are you serious?" Bela looked at her quizzically. "What!? Maybe we can do it!" Daniela replied. Without waiting for further protest, Daniela moved towards the banister. She lifted her self off of her feet before dropping back down. "Wait, how would I get up to my..." Daniela murmured. "Cassandra! Come help me!" Daniela reached for her sister who sighed but complied.

Daniela hiked a leg up. Cassandra turned to Bela. "Get over here and help!" She chided and Bela warily complied. The two helped their sister to a stand but the second she was upright, Daniela toppled over the other side with a cry. Before she could hit the ground she dispersed into flies, buzzing filling the room. The swarm travelled back up to the balcony. Daniela formed back into her form, a hand holding the banister as she leaned against it. She pursed her lips momentarily. "So that's more difficult than it looks." Cassandra scoffed in response. "Let me try." Cassandra didn't even manage to stand even with help from her sisters. She huffed, jumping off of the banister. "How are they doing it then!?" "Well-!" Bela was cut off by the sound of the door opening.

Lady Dimitrescu, bent at the waist pushed her way through. "What on earth is all the commotion?" She demanded. She straightened, fixing her hat to find her children all looking down at her with wide panicked eyes. A large man-sized hole in her ceiling and her youngest balanced on a banister with terror etched across their face. Her brow creased, nostrils flaring as anger crossed her features. She stormed upstairs. "Explain yourselves. Now." "Mother!" Bela stammered. "(Y/N) and Daniela found a hole in the ceiling!" Cassandra explained quickly. "Found or made!?" Alcina demanded. "Found!" Daniela squeaked. "(Y/N) wanted to check if the ceiling would cave in and I followed them but they got too close and fell through! Now the hole is bigger but (Y/N) landed like this and we don't really understand how they haven't toppled over the banister!" Cassandra turned to you. "Does that hurt?" Cassandra asked. "No, I'm just terrified because I don't like heights." You answered. "The fall won't hurt you." Bela muttered. "Are any of you prepared to catch me whilst testing that theory!?" You demanded. "Wouldn't do you any good." Cassandra shrugged. "Enough! That doesn't explain what I have walked into!" Alcina glared at her children. "Well...mother, we wanted to see if we could do that too." Daniela admitted. "(Y/N) hasn't so much as wobbled!" Cassandra sounded almost annoyed. "We couldn't even stand!" "I fell immediately!" Daniela said quickly. "I told them not to." Bela said quietly, averting her eyes. "The cadou bound to (Y/N) has not had the same effects it did you three." Alcina pinched the bridge of her nose. "So what does it do exactly!?" Cassandra huffed. "Well it's the strength, right mother?" Bela asked. "(Y/N) shattered that glass with their hand." You remembered that well.

The four of you were sat for dinner. As the staff filled Lady Dimitrescu's wine as well as your glasses, you had reached for your glass to hold it for the maiden. It would have saved her reaching over you and the poor girl was terrified as it is. Although things went badly when you grabbed the glass and it shattered in your hand. The maiden stifled her scream with her hand, her whole body shaking away. You stared at your hand, eyes wide. Daniela was the first to giggle through her shock. The other two daughters staring and waiting for what might have been impending doom. Alcina rose to a stand, walking around the table. The staff quickly stumbled out of her way. Alcina bent over, taking your stiff hand and inspecting it. "Are you alright, my dear?" "I...I don't know what happened." You stammered. "I just- it just-" "Don't fret. It's just glass. Replacable. I'm more concerned about you." Alcina reassured you. "I'm fine, I just...it just broke." You couldn't wrap your mind around it.

"That was an accident!" You whined. "We know, darling." Alcina sighed. "Wait, what if this was something else?" Daniela asked. "You've been saying you aren't certain what changes were made, what if this is one of them?" "Super strength and super balance?" Cassandra scoffed with an eyeroll. "That's lame, is it not?" "Cassandra, you were angry you can't do what they're doing right now." Bela deadpanned. "Because why do they get that!? Do you realise how helpful that'd be for a hunt!?" Cassandra argued back. "Ladies...!" Alcina raised her hands. Daniela spoke again. "Well, why don't we test it?" She suggested. "I mean this was when (Y/N) was caught off guard but, mother could catch them if they were to fall." "I don't like where this is going." You said quickly. "I'm not saying we push them over but if we say nudge them a little and they try not to fall over, maybe we could figure out how far this really goes." Daniela finished. Alcina looked intrigued by the idea. "It would be research worthy. (Y/N) should have more abilities than altered strength." She mused. You groaned. "Alright." Alcina nodded before she turned on her heel towards the stairs. "Uh...Wait a second..." You trailed off. "Don't worry! If you fall, mother will catch you!" Daniela smiled brightly. "It won't be a very long fall given mother's height." Bela nodded in reassurance. "This is crazy." You grumbled. "Just try not to fall!" Cassandra smirked as the three girls moved closer to you. You groaned again, wanting to squeeze your eyes shut but didn't dare to lose any sight. Daniela lightly nudged your arm. You didn't move. Cassandra scoffed. "If you're going to do it, at least do it right." You tensed as Cassandra put a bit more force into it and lightly shoved. Your body twisted away from her hand, leaning further over the edge but still, you didn't fall. Despite the angle making you fairly certain that you should have. Alcina hummed underneath you. "A regular human would have fallen, most of your weight went over the edge." Alcina hummed. "Can we stop now?" You began to panic. "Yes. That's enough, girls. Help them down." Cassandra grinned as she moved to push you. "Up there, Cassandra." Lady Dimitrescu added crisply and Cassandra sighed. "Yes, mother." The three chorused quietly. The three reached for you.

Daniela took one arm, Bela took the one furthest away and Cassandra's hands moved to your waist as the three pulled you off the banister. You sighed in relief, muttering a thanks. "I'll be seeing to it that gets fixed." Alcina crinkled her nose at the hole. "In the meantime, occupy yourselves elsewhere. I don't like you three being so close to the cold..." Alcina turned to you. "...and I don't know how you react to the cold so please put your mother at ease and don't come here until it is fixed.” "Yes, mother." She received a chorus from her four children. "And (Y/N)?" Alcina added, a thought coming to mind. "Yes?" You asked quietly. "When you come across such things, let me know. Don't investigate them yourself. You could hurt yourself." Alcina spoke. You nodded. "Now off with you all." Alcina flickered her wrist and moved towards the door, bending at the waist once again as she made her exit.

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