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fardwader · 1 month ago

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you’re too good to me (and you know it, too) pt. 2

pairing: peter parker x fem reader

summary: For some unknown reason, Peter Parker cannot stop finding new, inventive ways to humiliate himself in front of you.

And for some reason, you keep helping him up anyway.

Or, the 5 times you save Peter— and the 1 time he saves you.

pt 1, pt 2, pt 3, pt 4, pt 5, pt 6

a/n: school is actually kicking my ass rn ahah but i'm finally done with finals hooray. pls enjoy this next chapter!!! wordcount: 2.1k

taglist: @ladylokilaufeyson5 @wlnut

tags: 5+1 fic, slow burn, friends to lovers, reader is annoyingly oblivious, peter is a sad dork, no use of y/n, sarcastic peter and an even more sarcastic reader, multi part, past gwen and peter, not canon compliant, gwen stacy is so beautiful...., crazu overuse of italics.

(two)

Peter Parker is a fucking idiot, a desperate one at that— the kind of idiot that gets himself stuck on fire escapes chasing down his ex.

In his defense, he hadn’t planned on following Gwen.

It just, sorta… happened.

He was grabbing coffee— minding his own business, when he saw her walking out of the conference center across the street.

Her platinum-blonde hair caught the light the same way it used to back when things still made sense. And suddenly, his feet were moving before his brain could say,

“Dude. No.”

Peter rationalizes this very stalker-ish behavior by saying he just wanted to see where she was staying, as much as he loves New York— it isn’t very safe.

He’s totally not trying to bump into her and have a totally normal, natural, totally not planned conversation that may— no, he fucking hopes— will lead to a reconnection like those cheesy rom-com movies they used to watch together.

Instead, he climbs up a rickety fire escape on the side of a brownstone she disappeared into, just hoping to catch a glimpse through a window.

Totally normal behavior.

But the window he had planned on crawling through was, surprise, surprise, locked– and no amount of budging, tugging, and honestly— praying– would get it open.

Now, he’s crouched down— hood pulled over his head, trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible while contemplating all of the life choices that led him here.

“Why am I like this?” he mutters, slumping forward, forehead thudding against the rusty railing.

He exhales a long, miserable sigh that sounds like it carries the weight of the world— glaring at the pigeon that landed smugly a few feet away.

“Don’t judge me,” Peter mumbles at it.

The pigeon ruffles its feathers and flies off, which somehow feels deeply personal.

“Peter?”

Oh God.

He knows that voice, your voice.

The voice of the person who somehow always seems to catch him at his lowest.

You’re looking up at him from the sidewalk pavement, coffee cup in hand, face contorted in unmistakable confusion.

“What! No–no, nah, nope. Who’s– who’s Peter?” He rambles, voice lowering a few octaves in a very failed attempt to mask his own identity.

You blink slowly. “Why are you hiding in my fire escape? Are you living up there now? Is this, like, your new thing?”

Of course, the one time he gets stuck in a fire escape trying to creepily follow his ex, it’s your fire escape, your apartment.

He should’ve recognized the apartment complex he had found himself in after that one horrible, unfortunate night where he drowned his sorrows in bad beer and whined about his ex to a stranger— before waking up in said stranger's apartment.

Peter sighs, long and theatrical. “No. Yes. Kind of. I was just— Gwen—uh, she walked in there and—”

“Gwen? The Gwen?” you ask, incredulous.

There’s a beat.

The wind rattles the old rotting frame of the window that is currently trapping him up there.

He can’t seem to form the words in his throat, his face flushing with embarrassment.

“Okay,” you say finally, “stay right there.”

“Not really a choice,” Peter mutters.

You disappear into the building. He assumes you’re either going to let him in or call security.

He’s not sure which he deserves more.

Two minutes later, the window behind him creaks open with a painful groan.

Peter whirls around and sees you crouched inside, sliding it up with effort. You reach out and wave him in.

“Come on, Romeo. Before someone sees and calls the cops.”

He grabs your arm for support, squeezing his body through the tiny wooden frame.

You cross your arms. “So. You gonna explain?”

He pulls his hood down and flops onto his back, hair sticking out in all directions.

“She didn’t— She didn’t call,” he says, practically deflating.

You pause. And damn it, the way you soften in that moment— face morphing into nothing but understanding— it makes his throat ache.

“I just thought, if she was gonna come back, she would call, y’know. Ask to meet up or something.” He focuses on the dizzying pattern of the carpet, looking anywhere but your face.

“That’s stupid,” you say gently.

“I know.”

“Kind of sweet. But still, so stupid.”

Peter groans and throws an arm over his face. “God, I’m the human equivalent of a spilled drink.”

“Yeah, but like… a fancy one. Maybe with a little umbrella.”

He huffs out a laugh, but it dies in his throat when the sound of heels clicking echoes down the hallway outside the apartment.

You both freeze, like two stupid deer caught in the middle of a highway.

No words— just wide eyes and a beat of silence that feels like it could shatter glass.

Peter slowly lifts his head, scrambling up and creeping up to your peephole.

He leans in, squints, then visibly recoils.

She’s there. In all her horrifying glory, her perfect blonde hair styled back in a slick ponytail— black headband perched atop her head.

She’s as beautiful as he remembers, maybe even more, actually.

“Oh my god,” he backs away from the door like it’s practically radioactive.

“What? What is it?”

He spins back to you, wide-eyed, shaking his head. “Oh my god,”

Peter’s already at least halfway out the window and onto the fire escape, his lanky arms getting stuck in the wooden frame.

“This is it. This is how I die. Gwen Stacy catches me mid-pathetic-spiral, and I just combust on the spot.”

You grab him by the hoodie and pull him back in before he can do something even dumber. “She’ll see you if you go back out there. Just— get in the closet.”

He blinks. “What— what closet?”

You point. “That one. Go.”

Peter scrambles toward the small utility closet in the corner and practically swan-dives into it, bumping into a mop, a Swiffer, and at least five cans of Raid. He barely manages to tug the door shut as—

knock knock knock

You spin, tug your face in a tight smile, and open the door.

And there she is. Gwen Stacy.

All effortless elegance, like she walked straight out of one of his better memories, wearing a badge that says “KEYNOTE SPEAKER” like a crown.

She's stunning— even more stunning than you expected. The kind of stunning that makes time stall for just a second. You think you get why he was absolutely floored in that bathtub.

“Oh, hi! I’m uh, Gwen,” Gwen says, blinking in surprise, “listen, this might be a little weird, but do you live here?”

“Yeah. I sure do!” you blurt out, way too loudly, voice an octave higher than normal.

From inside the closet, Peter visibly cringes, the volume physically hurting him.

Gwen’s brows knit together slightly. “Sorry, I just— thought. God, this sounds crazy. But I thought I recognized someone on the fire escape earlier.”

“Nope,” you say, popping the P forcefully— a little too forcefully, causing a speck of spit to fly out of your mouth and right onto her pristine black blazer.

It almost moves in slow motion, like a car crash you can’t tear your eyes away from.

It finally lands, painfully clear against the black of her— no doubt expensive-blazer.

“Oh shit, I’m so sorry,” you fluster, face warming in absolute mortification.

You frantically fumble your arms around, trying to wipe it off, but afraid of actually physically touching her.

She looks at the foam on her blazer, brows pinching together— before wiping it off with her sleeve, face stretching into a tight-lipped smile.

“It’s alright.”

A beat of unbearable silence passes between you two.

“So, it’s just you in here?”

“Uh, yeah. Just me in here, it’s just me,” you blurt.

Behind you, a muffled thud echoes from the closet.

Your eyes go wide.

Gwen tilts her head, curious. “Is everything okay?”

“Yep! Totally fine! That was just my, uh— cat!”

“Your cat?”

“My cat!” You’re fully sweating now. “Very big. Very... clumsy.”

Gwen gives a polite smile, clearly weirded out but too classy to say anything. “Well... sorry to bother you. I just wanted to make sure no one was in trouble.”

“No trouble here,” you say, physically blocking the crack of the door so she can’t see your closet. “Have a great conference!”

She lingers one more second, like she’s trying to place something, and then finally walks away, heels clicking smartly down the hall.

You sag in relief, peeking out the crack in the door just in time to catch her figure pulling out a tiny bottle of alcohol and spraying the spot with it.

“Oh my god,” you whisper, practically dissolving into the floor.

Peter swings the closet door, stumbling out, a little disheveled but absolutely horrified.

You tug your hoodie tighter around you as you and Peter step out onto the street, blending into the afternoon shuffle.

You’ve barely gone half a block before he groans again, dragging his hands down his face.

“I hid in a closet,” he mumbles.

“You dove into a closet.”

“In your defense, it was the best choice at the time,” you add helpfully. “Not that there were many.”

Peter shoots you a flat side-eye.

“At least you didn’t spit on her,” you mutter, rubbing your hands over your face.

“You spit on her?”

“No, like— uh, my mouth did that thing where like, when you talk, a little spit flies out–”

His cackle cuts you off; he’s laughing so hard he’s doubled over, almost stumbling on the sidewalk.

You feel your face warm. He’s never going to let you live this down.

“You spit on Gwen Stacy,” he says through a wheeze.

“Stop it! I just got really nervous. She’s just so beautiful. You didn’t mention that she was that beautiful.”

“This is why you shouldn’t fall in love with smart, successful women,” he says through another laugh, “They host conferences, catch you stuck on fire escapes, and make you spit on them.”

“You were not spying— okay, actually, you were. But not like… in a creepy way,” you protest.

Peter throws his hands in the air. “Is there a non-creepy way to stalk your ex and then get stuck outside on a fire escape because you wanted a glimpse at her?”

You think for a moment, but can’t seem to find an answer.

Peter groans. “I should’ve just stayed in the closet.”

You nudge him with your elbow. “You’re not staying in any closets. You’re dealing with your feelings like a semi-functional human being.”

He gives you a look that screams, Please.

“You followed Gwen because you’re sad,” you say more gently, “not because you’re an actual psycho-stalker. It just didn’t go the way you wanted. That’s okay.”

Peter doesn’t respond immediately. Just stares ahead, shoes scuffing the sidewalk.

“It’s like… there’s this version of me that existed when I was with her. And I don’t know how to be anyone else anymore.”

You bump his shoulder. “Maybe that version of you existed with her, but that doesn't mean it's the only version of you that exists.

You're still you, Peter.

The entirety of your being didn't just disappear when she walked away. You're allowed to grow past that chapter in your life. It doesn't mean you have to erase it though, or erase who you were. Just let it be one part of your story, one part of your past.

Not your whole life.”

Peter looks at you. And for a second— a breath, a heartbeat— something shifts behind his eyes. He doesn’t say anything, but the silence stretches between you like a held breath. Quiet. Fragile.

You hold it for a moment. Just long enough for it to settle.

Then he lets out a low exhale, scrubs a hand over his face, and murmurs, “I can’t believe I got stuck in a fire escape.”

You blink— then snort. “I can’t believe I spat on your ex-girlfriend.”

A laugh bubbles out of Peter, warm and soft— and a second later, you’re laughing too, the sound rising up your chest.

This entire situation is completely absurd, and you both know it, too.

“Dude, I’m pretty sure your neighbors thought I was, like, a burglar.”

You grin. “Oh, they know there’s literally nothing in my apartment worth robbing.”

“That’s not true,” he says, lop-sided grin etching itself onto his face, “your couch is pretty soft.”

“If anyone steals my couch, Peter— I swear I’ll burn this entire city down to ashes.”

You walk the next few blocks side by side. Still a little sad. But, somehow, a little lighter.

Something warm settles in his chest, something quiet and steady. It's new, and kind of terrifying.

It’s not Gwen.

But maybe, for the first time in his life, he’s okay with that.

previous part !! or next part !!

#peter parker x reader #tasm!peter x reader #x reader #spiderman x reader #peter parker fanfiction #fluff #tasm peter #tasm peter parker #peter parker x y/n #tasm peter parker x y/n

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pastelplastic · 18 days ago

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A fanfic

Once upon a time Bruce Wayne made dinner for all of his children.

"Kids come to dinner" he said. All the kids stopped beating up the various people of gotham who committed crimes like suggesting the BatFam wasn't perfect or not being 100% pure normal white human and rushed to the dinner table.

"What's for dinner, dad?" asked Nightwing, Bruceman's oldest son.

"It's money," said Batman, taking the cover off a big silver plate to reveal stacks of cash.

"Hooray!!!!" cried the mob of vigilantes. They were happy because being rich meant they were better than everyone. They also got along perfectly all the time. The only real conflict in their lives was when one of the evil dudes tried to do an evil thing but they were so weak an ineffective that it was always easy to defeat them because having conflict in storytelling is boring.

"what are everyones plans for tonight?" asked Batdad

"I am going to do a backflip," said Nightwing

"I am going to therapy," said Red Jason

"Coffee," said Tim. The studio audience laughed.

"I am going to make up badly written and OOC crap about how we're the best and post it on the internet," said Damian. "And i'm gonna tag every character i slander in them because their fans should get to see them too."

There was a silence where someone else probably should have said something but there were no other batkids and especially no girls.

"I am so proud of you all," said Bruce, who was a good dad and said things like this regularly and never ever ever canonically hit or tried to lobotomize his own children. "I have big news, too. Superman is moving here to Gotham to be my wief."

"Hello," said Superman, who was here now. Then Lex Luthor captured him somehow. Superman probably should have been able to escape all on his own but instead he just cried because he'd forgotten he's the second most powerful man in the universe, after bruce of course.

"I guess i should go deal with that," sighed Brucebat.

"indubitably," said Alfred, shooting the joker with a gun and killing him. it made a big mess on the floor. he mopped it up. all the batkids cheered again. then an alarm went off!

"a metahuman has entered gotham!" shouted bruce in horror. "come on, kids! we need to uphold the racial purity of our city!!!!"

everyone grabbed the weapons and ran for the door but they all reached it at the same time and fell over each other and fell down the stairs and died

the end

#batspam

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nox-in-a-box · 8 months ago

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Post reached target audience :3 Good morning!

Hi, so I mentioned a wizard OC? Well here he is. His name is Asher.

Sketches from my sketchbook compiled digitally.

Below is the first time I drew him digitally...

I coloured the drawing of his face.

Lastly, some phone doodles I did today.

#i enjoy fucking around a bit yeah #as for the eyeform #that was supposed to be a rough thing but he stuck like that now ig #hooray for cartoonish styles but now i have to make the rest of the characters match #omg you're gonna try to draw him! cool!#i—😳#also yes connor is very smol #and very mad about it (if you mention it)#i need to see the greylock sketch #anyways asher appreciates thr compliments on his boots and bag #gosh now i'm thinking about him just carrying around a big wheel of cheese...#when a character i like is drawn with this embarrassed+awkward expression #it's basically r34 for me #<-...#i get it tbh #XD #idk but if i made a humanization of corn i would give them the same exact hairstyle #<-i didn’t understand what you mean till i looked at the corn emoji #literally him #idk what else to say except thank you for the delicious tags #kisses 💋#edit to say i too wonder about the it feeling wrong to like him? yeah

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loulalover · 10 months ago

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sinful irony.

adam x fem! reader.

summary: Your forced into a Christian camp because of your mothers lies to her church friend. But after you see her son your sold. Only question is how do you seduce her Christian son or what if you already have?

cw/tw/tags: SMUT, porn with plot, camp counsellor au, m masterbation, oral f receiving, p in v, degrading, use of the word daddy, slight public sex, sort of dubious consent, mentions of pregnancy, virgin adam, adam is my own warning!! let me know if I've missed anything cause i'm SO tired!!

!a/n: i'm not liking this at all but i just want it done!! so i hope at least someone finds this enjoyable cause the formatting is killing me cause I tried to make all the text small and it kept crashing my tumblr so I’m done!! fuck being aesthetic I guess!! @sniigura

Eden camp where all teens went to learn how to be a better Christian’s and in all honesty there was no place better to go and as camp approached Adam was uncertain on what it would entail. He had perfected most if not all of the activities they did when he was a camper so now it was time to flex his skills to a bunch of teens and teach them what is right and what is wrong. Although his ideas of what right and wrong might be a bit misconstrued?

Maybe if his childhood was remotely normal he would have been a normal adult that goes out partying and drinks a shitload of alcohol during the summer but instead his pretentious mother had convinced him to be a youth leader at camp this year. Let’s give three big hoorays for Sera and her amazing ideas!

Adam was excited to an extent, but then there was Lucifer. The slimey son of a bitch who stole not one but two of his ex girlfriends. You can’t really come back from that and to top it all off he was the one that Adam was leading the boys Cabin with. The fact he’d even have to be in the vicinity of and share air with that fucker made his skin crawl with disgust l.

At least he had his best friend Lute would be there who was trying her best so keep her composure after being assigned a cabin with Lilith. Lucifers soon to be wife and Adam’s first ex girlfriend. If you could even call her that. The relationship was off? To say the least. And if it couldn’t get any worse Eve would be there. Of course she would, when this all started they were happily in love and talked about how going away and teaching at a camp for a couple weeks would be so beneficial to their relationship. But alas she would be there.

Sweet Eve, who wouldn’t love the ever loving, beautiful church girl? The girl who’d foster baby birds back to health after they fell from their nest and would go out of her way to help lost children in the supermarket find there parents. Adam. Adam did not love her. In fact he despised her in a way. Okay maybe not despised but it’s hard to love the girl who cheated on you with your ex best friend and ex girlfriend. Just because you never slept together!!

He kind of wished as the days approached that Eve would get into some horrific accident so he wouldn’t have to face her. As horrible as that sounds.

He just couldn’t imagine having to face them all after he walked into Eve’s apartment that day to them fucking like bunnies. It was a sight for sore eyes and as much as it hurt Adam to let go of Eve and all they’d been through together he couldn’t seem to make peace with the fact she’d sought out others and ended the relationship a week later. They still saw each other of course in places like University, church and most importantly the youth group they started running together in their senior year of high school for young teens wanting to learn about Jesus.

He should have just found a new youth group and started assisting there but Sera talked him out of it. She spewed nonsense about how the kids loved him and needed him and he was a great asset to their church. And with his ego boosted he continued as he was like nothing happened. But now camp was approaching where all he would see are these people and he couldn’t exactly ignore them.

Just then his phone pinged. The name read mom. Not that Adam ever called her that anyway.

[Mom]: Hello Adam, as camp is approaching I thought it would be a good idea for yous who are leading to set up a group chat. I have forwarded your number to the girl who is sharing a cabin with Eve and she’s going to set up a group. She looks forward to meeting you.

[Adam]: ok ma thanks for letting me know

That was all Adam sent. He didn’t want to start anything with her or further continue the conversation so he just let it be as it was. As he scrolled the through his socials he saw a couple messages pop up.

As he scrolled through the messages he picked up on the girls name. She seemed cool enough but no photos indicating what she looked like. There was her full name though. So without a second thought Adam searches your full name into instagram and only one account comes up. So he clicked and oh fuck.

She looked gorgeous. Her photos emanating how flawless she truly was. She surely didn’t look the part of a Christian camp leader though. How did she even get this gig? One of the requirements was being Christian.. He knew that for certain. Maybe he had her mistaken. Surely she was better than what she led on.. right? That’s at least what Adam hoped as he turned his phone off and threw it somewhere on his bed and did his best to fall asleep. It was in vain though, fuck were you pretty.

Adam ripped down his boxers and rubbed at his member. He massaged his fingers over his tip and groaned as he pushed his head back into his pillows.

How did you have such an effect on him? Some prostitute looking whore who looked like she’s flash her tits to anyone. Adam wanted nothing more than to knock some decency into you. No well respected girl dresses like that. Right?

As Adam groaned again moving his fingers up and down his dick before fixating on the base. It felt good in a way. The pleasure Adam felt was indescribable but it was only pleasure he got from himself. He had never actually had sex.

It’s not like it was that big of a deal. So what if he hadn’t fucked a bitch, who needs to do that anyway? Not him, that’s for sure.

He had come close though. Not with Lilith even kissing Lilith was a struggle for the both of them and quite frankly was something they did a handful of times but with Eve he delved further. It did take them a while. Adam didn’t want to give into his unholy urges so he held out, like any responsible Christian boy would do.

Eve seemed understanding though he could sense her disappointment when he pulled away before they even got the chance to make out. He could see the looks of despair and how distant she acted after he turned down her further advances. She never communicated this verbally to him but he could sense it. He knew she longed for more and in a way it made him feel like she had the right to cheat. He always reassured himself that her decision was selfish and he had no reason to feel bad for someone’s wrong actions but sometimes late at night when he’s alone with his thoughts he wonders what would have happened if he’d just given in. Maybe then he wouldn’t be alone and she’d be here with him.

He remembers when he did give in though. They were in his apartment and they were making out. An odd occasion that Adam didn’t often indulge in. Our he wanted to appease her so he went along and her carried away. They undressed and hadn’t do en thought twice of the consequences until Sera had barged in. How she’d gotten in was beyond Adam bjr he was lectured for weeks after it and was made to go to confession to confess his sinful actions. From then on him and Eve went back to stage 1 which consisted on an arm wrapped around her while they watched movies, band holding and little pecks ok the lips. He could tell she was unsatisfied with how things had to be though.

Adam felt his dick twitch and could feel he was close to climax as he kept massaging his cock. He wishes you were here with him to help him. Wait no he didn’t? He didn’t even know you. Bur still you were beautiful. At least to Adam and as he kept rubbing he felt climax reaching and he let it cumming all over his hand and sheets.

He let himself feel the pleasure for a .2 seconds before the guilt settled in. He felt it in his gut the overwhelming sense of dread. What did he just do?

He immediately got up and wakes to the bathroom running the tap and squirting 5 pumps of soap onto his hands and lathering it, rubbing his hands together and soaking them under water and repeating the ritual 2 more times. He calms himself who’re returning to the side of his bed and gets down on his knees at the side of the bed and bows his head.

Adam prays. He prays for forgiveness and to help him overcome his lust. He prays and prays until he finally doesn’t feel ridden with guilt and gets up and turns on his TV. He pots on whatever show he can find and turns down the volume. It drowns out his thoughts and puts him to sleep quicker.

And just like that the days flew past and Adam was now boarding a bus. It was loud and full of teens who seemingly had bundles of energy even though it was 7am. Adam was trying to hype himself up while sipping the coffee Lute and him bought on the way here. It was going to be a long ride full of attempts to sleep and failing because whoever the fuck on the back of the bus is playing 2000s white girl tunes and screaming them like a banshee. He wasn’t going to say anything he was happy enough. Especially that he didn’t even have to ask to be sat with Lute on the ride there. Usually you were made to sit with whoever you were sharing a cabin with but under the circumstances Adam was allowed to sit with Lute and Lucifer and Lilith sat together instead.

He was happy enough with the arrangement and stuck his headphones in. Lute was already sat by the window scrolling away on her phone. It was too early to expect her to socialise and in all honesty he didn’t want to socialise either. He needed sometime to recoup to even be able to physically live when he’d be sharing a room with Lucifer and a bunch of rowdy teenage boys for the next couple weeks.

It wouldn’t be terrible especially not when the pretty girl he masterbated too with sitting across the aisle from him. Though she was chatting up his ex girlfriend Eve and for a split second he wished he was her instead. What is he even thinking? He turns away from you and unlocks his phone scrolling through whatever he can to keep himself occupied as they set off.

You had noticed Adam. In fact you’d found yourself into him the moment you met his mother at your parents house.

You were visiting for the afternoon when you met Sera. She was a tall, elegant woman who held herself well, with dark skin and vitiligo on her cheeks and white almost luminescent eyes and lashes that made them stand out even more. She was slender and had the most beautiful grey ringlet curls you had ever seen. This is was Sera? You kind of assumed Sera was some blonde bitch who had several different baby daddies and lived off church’s money but this lady carries herself with dignity and was self assured.

She was delighted to meet you, said she’d heard so much about you. You were sure she hadn’t though. Your parents had a habit of lying when it came to you. You felt guilty that you weren’t the daughter they envisioned but they weren’t the parents they envisioned themselves to be either. So you sat there indulging in your parents lies. It was somewhat comical of how much they came up with. But what can you say it was funny. Key word was. When she started talking about how her sons Christian camp needed more leaders you felt your stomach drop.

You had half the mind to tell her your parents had been lying for years and you were in fact nor the perfect, church going daughter she had envisioned and having your parents be blackballed from the church community. But you played it off and said you would think about it and expressed pity. She looked delighted and told you her son has just broken up with his girlfriend a couple months ago. How he was perfect marriage material and how you two would make a lovely couple.

Your head was spinning. Okay first this ladies trying to convince you to go to some random camp and help out there and now she’s talking about marrying you into her family? She’s crazy especially when she brought up about her son being a virgin.

‘His names Adam and I think you too would get along great.’ She chimed and she sipped on some of the tea your mother had brewed a couple of minutes prior who stood by the counter sipping a cup of coffee looking on edge. Probably in case you slipped up on some heinous lie she told.

‘I’m sure he’s great.’ You smiled at her sipping away at your own coffee and internally trying to keep yourself sane.

‘Here look.’ She said momentarily pausing while flipping through her phone and pulling up a photo of her what you thought was going to be her dorky, repressed loser ass son who would probably live in his mothers basement till she died and he finally could have access to the whole house. But looking at the photo..

He was sexy and what can you say? You were easily bought. It helped you in other ways too!! Like you get extra credit from your university for working with kids. Totally justifiable. At least that’s what you told yourself. Damn you didn’t think you’d have a thing for conservative, Christian virgins but here you are on a bus to a Christian camp with one goal in mind. Fucking Sera’s son.

You sat down across the aisle from him and introduced yourself to Eve. You had spoken to her once or twice over text message and a couple times more in your camp counsellor group chat. But seeing her in person was a different experience.

She was etheral and you couldn’t help but feel inferior to a girl with such good looks and personality. She had dark skin and her hair was pulled into box braids. Her eyes were a deep chocolate coloured brown and looked soft. She had large breast and wide hips and stomach rolls.

She was beautiful and her smile radiated happiness as she introduced herself. She seemed happy and in her environment. She seemed the type of person who could be placed anywhere and just fit.

She told you all about her youth group and how she ran it with her now ex boyfriend. Adam.

Looking at her surely that couldn’t have been right? She was Adams ex girlfriend? She was gorgeous. The definition on beauty nobody could compare to what she looked like. It made sense though someone as gorgeous as her needed somebody to match her. And Adam and her fit like puzzle pieces intertwined they complimented each other insanely well. And he never had sex with her? If she even mentioned the word sex she would have been pinned to the bed immediately. You couldn’t understand why Adam would reject her sexual advances. Surely she’d made some, so why did he say no to her? She was the kind of woman who could make Victoria secret models feel inadequate. You wondered if that was why they had broken up. You tried not to make assumptions as you chatted to her. Maybe cracking Adam would be harder than you first assumed.

It was a long drive and felt even longer now that you had arrived. Your cabin was far and your case with heavy and your eyes practically drooped with exhaustion and your head hung low but you pulled through. You greeted the girls in your cabin warmly and expressed your excitement. You weren’t actually too happy to be here but you weren’t going to let anyone here know that.

‘Alright guys, lets get going! When we get to the cabin you’ll have fifteen minutes to get sorted and then you’ll have free time for the next two hours before dinner.’ She chimed cheerfully. That was getting old. How is she so cheerful after travelling six hours with one stop? Still you smiled as you pulled along your heavy ass suitcase.

‘Need help with that?’ Someone from behind you asked.

He sounded even hotter. Was this grounds for having children? Nope not even close. But it was him. Adam. And fuck was he sexy. Even sexier than the photos you’d seen of him.

‘Yeah.’ You stated smiling turning to face him. ‘You think you could help me with it?’ You questioned a tilt in your voice. You don’t exactly know what it is but men love to play the strong, dominant, I’m so great card a lot. Especially because they presume your helpless. You don’t necessarily like playing the ‘I’m so helpless’ princess card but if it’d stroke his ego enough..

‘Of course babe,’ he smirked smugly winking at you. ‘names Adam.’ He said picking up your case with ease and walking ahead up to your cabin.

Adam was a big guy, you knew that from the photo you say of him but seeing him in person was a different experience. Especially when he’s just picked up the case you could barely bring to your car and trug to the bus driver with ease did something to you. Maybe your just ovulating.

You followed him along with your easy carry on bag, smiling at him as he made it up the hill. ‘Thank you so much.’ You smiled at him looking up at him and slightly batting your eyes. Is that sexy? You hope it is.

He seems to think so as a grin plasters his face and he looks you up and down. ‘No problem gorgeous.’ He states looking back down the hill he sees a group of boys walking the same direction.

‘Look at that our cabin’s our right next to each other.’ He states smirking and winking at you.

‘What luck.’ You whisper loud enough for him to hear. ‘It’s been so nice to meet you Adam but I gotta go unpack.’ You state backing away smiling at him.

His face drops for a second then contorts and he looks angry and he looks like he’s going to say something but he doesn’t and just like that he’s back to smiling. ‘Yeah me too, but after orientation with our cabins the counsellors are going swimming down in the lough. You should come.’ He winks.

‘Yeah I will, see you then.’ You wink back retreating up the steps to your cabin and pulling your case into your assigned room.

The rooms are nice, cosy actually. The bed’s are made of wood with red bedsheets and white pillows and it reminds you of one of those winter cabins you’d find in the Christmas movies. They’re tiny to preserve space but you’d rather that than a bunk bed. You both have a wardrobe each and a mirror. The room isn’t terrible but you’d have to make do with the space at least for now. So unzipping your case you start to unpack your clothes and shoes into the wardrobe.

‘Hey, you nearly ready?’ Eve chimed while popping head round the corner of the door.

‘Yeah, practically all done.’ You replied.

‘Great, I forgot to tell you we’re all going swimming later, well the counsellors. You want to join? I totally want to get to know you better and everyone else would love to meet you.’ Eve said. She was so soft spoken and genuine it made you want to hug her.

‘Oh yeah, Adam mentioned that to me I’d love to.’ Her face contorted for a second into confusion but it’s almost like she realised what face she was making and went back to making her perky, happy face.

‘I’m SO excited, I can already tell we’re gonna have the BEST time together.’ She said walking towards you and taking your hand. Her hands were warm but not in a sweaty way but in a comforting way, it felt like taking a mother’s hand warm and soft.

‘Me too.’ You replied smiling at her as she kept your hand in hers dragging you to the living room for orientation.

Walking to the lough wasn’t long but Eve made it longer by pointing everything out and practically speaking to everyone she had any relation too or people she did not know. She’d been here every year since she was thirteen and now she was in her twenties. Doesn’t she get bored, apparently not.

Walking down the steps you took off your cover on and flip flops and placed your towel and phone on top of them. Scanning the lough your eyes fell on Adam who was sitting on a paddle board looking bored but as he looked up and locked eyes with you he smiled waving you over to him. So You pushed yourself down the ladder and into the water.

It was hell, the water was cold and any joy you had before this had been sucked out of you. Your face said it all as a little farther in the distance you could her Adam laughing at you. You glared at him as you made your way over.

‘You good down there?’ He asked still laughing slightly.

‘No.’ You quivered, teeth chattering. ‘Help me up I’m freezing.’ You practically yelped but Adam looked down at you with a shit-eating grin.

‘Uh-no, I’m good.’ He smirked chuckling to himself.

‘Fu- frick.’ You cursed changing your word mid sentences. Christians don’t curse. ‘I’ll do it myself.’ You stated repeating the ‘I can do it’ mantra in your head. You pulled yourself up slightly your hands clasped on the edge as you pulled yourself further but Adam just had to be an asshole. Of course he did as he pushed his foot towards you and pushed it against your chest causing you to plummet backwards under the water.

As you resurfaced choking on the water you’d just inhaled Adam cackled at you and your predicament. You clasped at the side of the paddle board and you rubbed under your eyes blinking the water out of them to help you see.

‘Here babe.’ Adam calls helping you up and sitting you beside him. You open your eyes fully looking at him.

‘You got a little makeup.’ He states rubbing the black mascara marks on your cheeks away with his thumb. You lean into his touch as he cups your cheek and squishes it slightly. You push away and smile as him bring your knees close to your face. He scrunches his nose and pushes you back off the paddle board and jumps in. You screech as he swims away and you try to catch him. You play around with him till the other counsellors announce they are going back to shower. You stay back with Adam. It’s not like you could use the shower if Eve was in it.

Adam sighs as he lays back on the paddle board you previously sat on. You lay beside him tired out yourself. ‘I fucking hat it here.’ He groans placing his hands over his face. Your surprised ro hear him curse but you turn to him before turning your head back to the sky.

‘Any particular reason?’ You question trying not to pry but what can you your a major gossip. And a slut but that’s besides the point.

‘That fucker Lucifer and his soon to be wife Lilith the fucking snakes.’ He hisses. ‘Stole my fucking girl and now I have to see her everyday and get reminded that she fucked them.’ He went silent.

‘That sucks.’ You sigh. You don’t really have anything else to say apart from that. You weren’t really sure if anything you said with help.

‘Yeah it really does, but fuck her she’s missing out.’ He puffs his chest with somewhat pride. Okay he bounces back quick.

‘From what exactly? A virgin?’ You sneer, not with malice but more jokingly.

‘Who said I was a virgin?’ He yells, sitting up and dramatically looking at you. You have half the mind to tell you his mother told you but you don’t.

‘I can tell.’ You state back to him as he glares at you before looking away embarrassed.

‘And your not?’ He queries.

‘A virgin? Hell no, lost that a LONG time ago.’ You laugh at his shocked expression before an idea pops into your head.

‘Hey Adam?’

‘What?’ He questions.

“Wanna see something?” You question lips curling into a tight smirk. Adam nods hesitantly unsure of what kind of surprise you’d pull in the middle of the lake.

You slowly and carefully lifted down the top piece of your bikini exposing your breast and hardened nipple.

The shock on Adam’s face was all you needed to see as you swiftly lifted your bikini back up to cover yourself again and giggled.

You placed your hands on his shoulders to keep yourself afloat and giggled “Do you like that?” You mused. He sputtered on water as he tries to recollect himself. Was Sera sure this girl was Christian?

You giggled at him as you swum back, he followed in toe grabbing his stuff.

‘You know if you wanna learn I’ll teach you.’ He looked away obviously flustered before flipping you off and cussing you out. You started to walk off but before you did you turned around and spoke.

‘Oh yeah and Adam? You might wanna fix that before the meeting, not very professional you know?” You smirk suggestively, attempting to make eye contact with the more than flustered man to no avail. Turning on your heels you walked off back to your cabin to unpack the rest of your shit you hadn’t got to before orientation and shower before your dreaded meeting. You heard him yelling in the distance. Something about how you could only dream of sucking his dick? Maybe coming here wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

The meeting went by fine but you could see Adam stare at you every so often and his boner was gone. At least he knew how to do something you thought. As you sat by the campfire roasting marshmallows with your cabin and conversing. You could feel Adam’s gaze on you but you ignored it choosing to leave him to make the first move, which may take a while. So as you packed up for the night as walked back to the cabin hearing Adam call you wasn’t what you expected. His cabin was all packed in for the night as he walked towards you.

‘You forgot something earlier, come on it’s on our balcony.’ He mumbled dragging you along inside. The cabin layout was basically the same as yours and you could hear boys chattering and moving around and room light’s under closed doors. You walked towards the balcony with Adam. Walking outside he closed the door behind him and walked you over to where you couldn’t be seen behind the curtain.

‘What’d I l forget?’ You questioned. You didn’t remembering leaving anything but to be fair you we’re forgetful and didn’t realise until the last possible moment that you forgot something so.

‘This.’ He said approaching you and pulling you into him. He met your lips and kissed you. He placed his hands on your hips and picked you up placing you on the nearby table. You clung your arms around his neck pulling at his hair and deepening the kiss. He groaned as your tongues clashed together. He leaned you back breaking away from the kiss and sucking at your neck. Fuck you we’re gonna have to cover that but you didn’t have the willpower to make him stop as he moved down to between your legs. He looked up at you like a lost puppy. He didn’t know how to proceed.

You sat back up and undid your pants pulling them off. Adam copied and watched as you pulled down your underwear and showed him your pussy. He looked in awe.

‘Wanna eat me out?’ You asked. He nodded moving his hands to your thighs as you leaned back down.

Adam was hesitant at first but quickly got the hang of it as he licked up your clit. A moan escaped your mouth your legs threatening to close around his head. Adam suddenly gained momentum as he sloppily started making out with your pussy, sucking away at you as if he was drunk.

You bit down on your hand to prevent your moans from becoming louder and risking getting caught as Adam kept his pace as he tongue fucked your cunt and you could feel the pleasure start to pool in your stomach and you could feel yourself getting close.

Adam mumbled against your pussy ‘You taste so good.’ He whispered before continuing to kiss as your hole.

Adam’s nose moved against your cunt and you felt yourself beginning to release and you came undone around him moaning his name. Adam wasted no time in licking up your cum.

As he moved away from your still wet pussy you could see his erection outlining his boxers. He moved to your lips sloppily against his. You could taste yourself on him but you didn’t seem to care as he pulled away and pulled off his boxers.

Looking down his dick was girthy and totally big. Fuck were you in for it if he could figure out how to use it. But he’d never used his tongue and was still one of the only guys to make you cum so he has to be doing something right.

‘I’m not using a fucking condom so let’s hope I knock some fucking decency into you slut.’ He groans as he slides his dick into your cunt.

It feels electric as you ride on the ecstasy as Adam pumps inside of you. He knows what he’s doing as he whispers curses and nasty words at you.

‘You like that whore? Tell me how much you like it?’ He grunts pulsing inside you still as you babble incoherent sentences totally high on his dick.

‘Use your words baby.’ He whispers into your ear. ‘Does daddy make you feel good?’ He questioned. The use of the term daddy in any other scenario would make you cringe but the way Adam said it made it sound sexy.

‘Yes.’ You hissed as he continued thrusting into you and hitting your G spot just right and just like that you came undone under Adam for the second time that night. He might be a virgin but he KNOWS how to fuck. That’s for sure.

Adam came soon after right inside you. Kind of made you wish you weren’t on the pill so you could have his baby.

Adam practically came in buckets to put it bluntly. His head was lying on your shoulder as he pulled out of you and you could feel the cum running down your legs. Hopefully nobody seems. But you couldn’t say you didn’t exactly wish that. You hoped someone would see in a way. Getting caught is thrilling and especially at a Christian camp.

Recollecting yourself you pulled up your undies and felt Adam’s cum mixed with your own squelch against them as it rubbed up against your already sensitive clit. You choked back a moan as you pulled your jeans back up buttoning them.

You sat at the edge of the table waiting for Adam to speak as he dressed himself. He walked towards you situating himself between you legs and lifting your chin up to softly kiss you. You were entranced in the kiss when you heard someone calling your name.

‘Fuck I gotta go.’ You whispered hearing Eve call your name. You pecked at Adam’s lips as you slid off the table and opened the door. ‘Goodnight Adam.’ You mumbled, winking at him and closing it behind you and running out the door to meet Eve and drag her back inside with you.

Adam leaned back against the table. Fuck was that was amazing. Just as he was about to get up to go back inside someone came out to meet him. It was one of his campers. The ones he was responsible.

‘Hey um Adam?’ Isaac called. He hummed as he moved next to him. ‘I have something to ask you but it’s kind of awkward.’ He trailed off looking to the ground.

Adam smiled at him. ‘Ask away, I’m here to teach you and guide you.’ The way he spoke differentiated between the kids and the way he spoke to you. It was kind of comedic how fast he could switch up from being a manwhore to a holy man. Vast difference between the two but Adam could be both.

‘You see I keep falling into lust..’ He mumbled. ‘And I’m really trying not too but I find it really hard. And I guess I was wondering how to deal with it? How you’d deal with it?.’ He questioned. He sounded exasperated of all options at this point and Adam was proud to guide him in the right direction. To tell him what he would do.

Suddenly Adam’s stomach dropped. Wait what did he do? Lust is a sin. But not only lust, sex. Sex before marriage is a sin. He just committed one of the most terrible sins and felt no remorse until a fucking child asked him? Is he being serious?

What had Adam done? He’d went against his beliefs and what he stood for. His morals something he swore to never do till marriage with a girl he JUST met. What had he done? How could he make up for this? No, no no. This can’t be happening it’s not real. Adam stumbled over his words and talked about prayer and reading the Bible and how it really helps and sent Isaac back to bed and he thanked him profusely as Adam smiled but inside he felt suffocated. How could he guide children and help them when he was going against everything he and they believed in? Adam knelt down on the floor and prayed. I mean what else could he do?

#hazbin hotel adam #adam x reader #adam x you #hazbin hotel #hazbin adam #adam x reader hazbin hotel #Camp counsellor au #loulalover

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infasotten · 6 months ago

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Hello once again! Im back with some lore and well the actual designs. I will post them and the head canons (or their characteristics I dunno?) today too

Also I was dumb enough not to put the tag of the au and the crossover fandom in the first post yo

Since it's an Au, it has almost the same plot except for a couple of moments. First of all, there is no basic rule of veto about the prohibition of touching between angels and demons, so that there would be no typical MarySue mc and I would not have to draw a human reference for every "forbidden" couple (thanks, but no). Instead, there is a new rule that also prohibits angels and demons from touching each other, but not because of the potential apocalypse, but because in this case the couple will be bound by an indestructible chain (hooray, a reference to contracts in hell) until the punishment is over. This can last for several years, decades, or a lifetime, depending on the nature of the act. For example, a kiss would be a much more terrible crime than an accidental midair collision.

Secondly, in this Au, Charlie is not Lucifer's daughter. She's still incredibly important and special, as in the original story of the Harbin Hotel and the animated series itself, but she's not his blood relative. At the same point, since we're talking about these characters, it's worth noting that in the name of RadioApple, Charlie's true father is Adam. He and Lilith are GOOD parents and a happy husband and wife in this story, the former became a villain only for the reason that he was deliberately driven crazy and literally enslaved, and the latter was abducted by Sarah and forcibly immersed in a magical coma. Both of them are ordinary people, but because of the magic of angels and demons, they became immortal. Lucifer and Alastor have been raising Charlie since she was 3 years old. They took turns spending time with her to make sure that she would choose her own path as a guardian angel or a tempting demon. In the end, Lucifer won! From all of the above, it follows that Charlie, although an angel, is first and foremost a human being.

Thirdly, the main villain is Sera, or what came out of combining her with the villains from the first and second seasons. She was sent to Limbo, just like Reina, because she hated demons and wanted to completely exterminate them from the face of the earth. To do this, she kidnapped Charlie's mother, blaming it on demons, and thus drove her father crazy, and then stole his portrait and made him her soulless, weak-willed servant. Of course, she did all of this with "good intentions" for the sake of her adopted daughter, Emily. In order to create a world without sinful deeds, evil and hatred, she decided to destroy the root of the problem, at the same time depriving humanity of their will and the ability to make choices. For this, she was stripped of her wings and forever locked in Limbo, chained with chains of the veto. Her followers were there too, as was her daughter. Emily grew up in isolation, so she doesn't understand what's really going on, and thanks to her innocence, she's kept her halo and wings, even though they've turned grayer due to incarceration. Vaggie, as a former henchman of Sarah and her entourage, was only able to leave Limbo for the reason that the angelic higher ups found her and protected her when she betrayed her former team. She didn't want to walk the path of death and kill demons for nothing, but because of her past at the university, many are still biased towards her. Due to her imprisonment, her wings and appearance turned gray, and she also lost an eye there.

Fourthly (yes, we continue), this Au includes HuskerDust, CharlieVaggie, CherryPentious, BaxterNiffty and RadioApple. I want to emphasize that the plot, although dark and quite interesting, most likely will not receive a hand-drawn version. There will be all sorts of gags about ordinary days at school, learning specifics of their work and, for the most part, the relationship between the characters. The main ship is RadioApple, because I'm a huge fan of old man yaoi or a couple of grumpy teachers. This will be unusual for some, but I wasn't watching for the sake of Sulfus or his relationship with Raf, but for the sake of the old baddies and their funny interactions. I also liked the ship of Mikki and Gas, I would even say that he is on second place after the teachers. That's how I feel, yes. In general, the plot is built around romance, and relies heavily on it.

Fifth, this story already has a happy ending. In it, Charlie reunites with her family and she already has 3 fathers (cool, right), her friends realize that the chains of veto are actually a blessing for those who really do not regret their forbidden feelings and hold no hatred in their heart. Emily becomes Charlie's close friend and also goes to study at the university for guardians and tempters, while Sarah is being sent back to her prison in Limbo. It all ends with Charlie convincing the angels and demons that, despite their ideality and categorical views, they can be both good and bad, and vice versa. To prove it, she makes Alastor incredibly happy and turns into a demon in front of everyone.

I tried to combine the designs as much as possible and leave the characters recognizable, and also, I'm sorry, but I drew on the original references in some moments and I don't regret it at all. I would never have been able to draw such skinny little things in the same style myself. I chose the colors myself, so they may not be canonical somewhere, and I came up with talismans for all the students.

The references for Alastor and Lucifer here are slightly outdated but they are still pretty accurate so I post them here with the pic of our top villains!

#hazbin hotel au #alastor #lucifer morningstar #sera hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel adam #hazbin hotel sera #angels friends #charliesfriendsau #my art #radioapple #fanart

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burnednotburied · 1 year ago

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Chapter 5: The Aquarium

AO3 Link | Masterlist

Pairing: Abby Anderson x fem!reader

Fic Synopsis: Abby goes looking for Owen and ends up on the wrong end of your knife.

Tags/CWs: angst; slowburn; enemies to friends to lovers; talks of purity culture/ideals and “sin”; internalized homophobia and some comp-het feelings (they’re both so gay but so dumb about it); animosity between WLF and Seraphites; blood/gore; descriptions of being hanged; religious/cult-like ideas; sorry (but not that sorry) to any Owen fans, but he’s kinda a huge asshole in this

Note: I added chapter titles and finally figured out exactly where I’m going with this story lol. Hooray for having a plan!!

(Sorry it took more than two weeks to get this chapter out! End-of-semester craziness, ya know? I hope this chapter being like twice as long as usual makes up for it!)

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Abby realized too late that she probably should’ve warned you about the life-sized whales on the ceiling.

By the look on your face, she could tell you’ve never seen anything like it.

Which made sense. She hadn’t either before she and Owen found this place three years ago.

She paused to watch you for just a second, taking in your amazed expression as you marveled at the enormous hanging sea creatures above you.

Abby could easily remember what her first time here was like. How incredible and other-worldly this place felt. She imagined it must be even more overwhelming for you, this fractured piece of a world you were not a part of and knew little about. A world where humans built a place where they could go to look at fish for no reason other than that it was entertaining. A world where people did things just for fun.

Of course, Abby had also never been a part of that world, but at least she knew about it. She’d caught glimpses of it, carefully and intentionally gathering bits and pieces. She watched films and documentaries. She read novels and history books, newspapers and magazines if she could find them.

Knowledge was power. And, to Abby, having power was important. Having power meant being able to keep the people she cared about safe.

And if you had enough power, no one could ever take it away from you.

So she dedicated herself to becoming powerful, both of mind and of body. It’s all she had known and cared about since she lost her dad.

It’s why she lost Owen.

She still wasn’t sure if that had been a good thing or a bad thing, but she knew she felt guilty about it.

Three years ago, Owen had quickly claimed the aquarium as his own. He cleaned it up, made it feel as homey as possible, and spent as much time here as he could get away with. Abby didn’t tell anyone, not even the rest of the Salt Lake crew. It was right around the time they were breaking up. She felt like she owed him her discretion at the very least. Not that it really made up for anything.

Yesterday morning, when Nora told Abby that Owen was missing, she assumed he’d come here.

God, she hoped she was right.

Abby shifted the injured Yara in her arms, her muscles burning from carrying the girl for so long.

It was early in the morning now. The sun had just begun to rise as the four of you had been making your way into the aquarium.

“Owen!” she shouted, leading the way down one of the hallways off the main entrance. Abby thought he would most likely be out on the boat, either sleeping or continuing in his never-ending attempts to get the thing in working order.

“Owen!” she called out again. “Owen! Are you here?”

She paused for a moment, listening. Nothing.

“Owen—”

“I’m here.” She heard his voice just before he rounded the corner, stopping short when he saw the whole group of you. “Are those Scars?” he asked, genuinely surprised and definitely confused as hell.

Abby ignored the question. “I need whatever medical supplies you have.”

Before Owen could respond, Alice came barreling around the corner, barking aggressively at the perceived enemies.

The next few seconds were chaotic to say the least.

You screamed and jumped back. Lev reacted quickly, his bow drawn and an arrow notched.

“Alice, no!” Abby yelled out.

Owen grabbed for the German Shepherd, holding her back as she continued to lunge forward, trying to attack.

“Put the bow down! It’s okay!” Abby shouted.

Owen gripped the dog’s harness tightly. “Put that down!”

“Alice, shut up! Lev, put the bow down!”

“Alice, stop—Abby, what the fuck?!”

“Lev, listen to them! Put it down!” you insisted, putting a hand on his shoulder as you tried to push him behind you.

All of this happened simultaneously, muffled by the sound of deafening, echoing barking.

“Alice!” a new voice, one that Abby knew belonged to Mel, shouted. To her, the dog listened, sitting down obediently with one final bark.

Mel stood next to Owen and Alice, staring.

There was a moment of silence.

Abby turned to the young boy. “Lev, lower the bow. It’s okay.”

Reluctantly, he listened.

“Abby, who are these people?” Mel asked.

“They saved my life,” she said, hoping that would be enough of an answer for now. “Can you take a look at her?” Abby looked down at Yara, who seemed to be barely conscious in her arms.

Mel dropped a hand on Alice’s head, instructing her to stay, as she slowly stepped closer, eyeing you and Lev cautiously.

“This is Yara,” Abby said before nodding over to the kid at her right, “That’s Lev. And that’s—” She stopped short. She wasn’t about to introduce you to them as Prophet.

Behind her, you spoke, offering up your name. Abby and Lev’s eyes both swung to you, widening for two entirely different reasons.

Abby’s because she was hearing your name for the first time. It was your name. It was like she discovered a brand new piece to this puzzle she had been frantically trying to assemble since the moment she saw you.

She wasn’t sure why Lev looked shocked, but it seemed like a big deal, for you to use your name in place of the title that had been forced upon you by the other Scars.

Abby quietly repeated the name, committing it to memory.

Mel gave a small nod, unaware of the mini revelation that was happening right in front of her, instead focusing on Yara with a concerned look on her face.

“What did this?” she asked, looking down at the girl’s mangled arm.

“A hammer,” you said, stepping forward until you were standing right next to Abby.

“It wasn’t me,” Abby quickly added. Guilty, despite her innocence. She was ashamed that she needed to make that clarification. Worried about what you would think about it.

Mel hesitated, regarding each of the Scars one by one again before sighing. “Alright. Let’s lay her down.”

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The pregnant woman—clearly someone Abby knew but wasn’t exactly friendly with—decided that Yara had compartment syndrome, which apparently meant they would have to cut her arm off.

While everyone else argued about the best way to accomplish that task, you stood off to the side, feeling sick. If you had been able to stop Emily’s men last night, this wouldn’t be happening.

It shouldn’t be happening.

Yara was going to lose her arm or die because you failed her.

You were trying not to spiral. Trying to be helpful now. (Too little, too late.) Trying to pay attention to the Wolves’ conversation.

They didn’t have the supplies they needed to perform the amputation safely. Yara didn’t have time to wait the couple days it would take Abby to travel all the way to the hospital and back.

“What if we could get you there in two hours?” Lev asked, hands grasping the metal table where Yara laid in the center of the room. “The Wolf hospital, right? On the west side?”

The man—Owen—stood, interested. “How?”

“The bridges,” you said, realizing what Lev was getting at. All eyes turned to you. “Our people built them. High up.”

Lev nodded. “It’s how we get around the flooding. And… you people.”

After a quiet moment, Abby stepped forward. “Can she handle two hours?”

The woman considered this, her hand comfortingly placed on Yara’s shoulder. “Probably, yeah.”

Abby nodded. “Then make a list of what you need.”

Owen stepped closer, joining the circle the rest of you had formed around Yara. “Wait. Are you serious? Abby, these bridges are used by Scars.”

The fact that he was arguing against the plan frustrated you. Yara didn’t have time for this.

“They only send in small groups at a time,” Lev said.

“You heard that? Small groups.” Abby said, watching as the other woman jotted down the supplies on a loose piece of paper and handed it over.

“This isn’t a joke.” Owen looked only at Abby, trying to catch her eyes. She seemed to be actively avoiding making contact.

Instead, she turned to you and said your name, followed by, “Let’s go.”

You looked up at her, at a loss for words. It was sad that something as simple as hearing your name could have this effect on you, but it had been eight years since you’d heard it… And this was already the second time Abby had said it.

You wanted to turn and walk right out the door with her, happy to follow her anywhere, but reality set it.

“I can’t,” you said. “I don’t know where the hospital is. And I don’t know our bridges well enough to guide you. It will have to be Lev.” It looked like Abby might argue with you, or at least tell you to come with them.

You wanted to. The idea of letting Lev go back out into danger without you made you sick with worry. But, foolish as it may seem, you trusted Abby to look out for him. And you didn’t understand these other Wolves and the strange dynamic at play here. You certainly didn’t trust them to be alone with Yara.

“Someone needs to stay with her,” you said, holding Abby’s gaze.

She nodded, grabbing her backpack off the floor. “Alright. Lev.”

He looked to you, taking your hand in his. The group splitting up must’ve felt wrong to him, too.

Almost on instinct, you did what you had been trained to do. You offered a bit of comfort.

“May She guide you,” you said quietly, giving him a small, encouraging smile as you squeezed his one hand between both of yours.

The words were familiar to you both, a common Seraphite mantra. He reciprocated your tight grasp and finished the line, “May She protect you.”

When you released his hand, he placed it on Yara’s shoulder, as if to tell her goodbye as well. She was unresponsive.

You felt a hand fall on your own shoulder and looked up to find that it was Abby. She nodded her head to the opposite end of the room, impatiently taking your wrist in her hand and leading you over there when you didn’t immediately catch her meaning.

She didn’t let go.

Abby stood close, speaking quietly so that no one else could hear. “We’ll be back as soon as possible. Yara’s going to be fine, okay. And I’ll keep Lev safe.”

You couldn’t help the slight upward curve of your lips. “I know,” you said. “I trust you.”

She blinked, caught off guard, but continued. “I wouldn’t mention the whole you-being-the-Prophet thing to Owen and Mel if I were you.”

“I’m not a prophet,” you deadpanned.

She let out an exasperated breath. “Okay, sure. Well I wouldn’t tell them that the Scars think—”

“Seraphites,” you interjected.

“—Seraphites—Just… you get the point. Don’t mention it, okay?”

“What if they ask questions?”

“Dodge them. Be vague.”

“You don’t trust your friends?” you asked, more serious now.

“No,” Abby said. “Not with you.”

You couldn’t begin to guess what she meant by that.

“I trust them… for the most part.” She glanced at them over your shoulder before meeting your eyes again. “I just don’t know how they would react to that information. It’s not exactly a small thing. I don’t know what they would do with it.”

You looked at her for while longer, then nodded your head. “Okay. I won’t say anything.”

“Abby?” the man’s voice came from behind you.

She let go of your wrist immediately, as if she had been caught doing something she wasn’t supposed to.

You turned around to find the woman—Mel—and Owen both looking at you like they were witnessing something truly insane, instead of just two people having a conversation.

Lev stood on his own by the door, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, eager to get moving.

From behind you, you felt Abby’s hand wrap around your wrist again, squeezing lightly and then letting go.

“We’ll be back,” she said, this time at a normal volume. She joined Lev by the door, opening it and leading the way out.

“Abby!” Owen said again, moving to follow them out.

Mel groaned, frustrated. “God! Owen, just let them go.” When he ignored her, she went after him, the door slamming loudly behind her.

You stayed behind with Yara.

She was blinking slowly, barely awake, her shallow breaths too few and far between for your liking. You felt helpless, knowing there wasn’t much you could do other than sit and wait.

You pulled up a chair.

Just outside the door, the two Wolves were arguing. Although, you only caught bits and pieces of it.

Something about Abby and Scars and a cloak… Something about someone who looked like she just stepped out of The Lord of the Rings. You didn’t know what that meant, but it was clear they were talking about you.

Again, you unfastened the cloak and freed yourself of your top layer. Whether that was due to embarrassment or a sudden recognition of the uncomfortable warmth of the room, you couldn’t tell.

“Did you see how she was looking at her?” “Owen, why do you care? Why does it matter to you?” you heard through the door.

The dynamic here was becoming more and more confusing.

You’d assumed that Owen was the father of Mel’s child, just because they seemed to live here together. But that didn’t explain Mel’s rather apparent unfavorable opinion of Abby. And it definitely didn’t explain Owen’s preoccupation with Abby.

Their conversation continued for several minutes, volume rising and falling periodically. There wasn’t much you understood and even less of it seemed important or interesting to you.

Eventually, the door swung open again, making you jump in your seat. Mel reentered the room, offering you a strained smile as she checked on Yara. You quietly watched her work.

“There’s not much we can do for her until Abby and your friend get back,” she said to you, eyes still focused on Yara. “If you want, I can get you set up with a place to sleep while we wait.”

“No,” you said, too quickly to be polite. “…Thank you. I’ll stay with Yara.”

Mel pulled her lips into a tight line and nodded, leaving the room again. She came back a few minutes later with water and a shiny red apple, offering them up for you to take.

“Sorry. I know it’s not much. Owen isn’t well-stocked on food right now,” she said after you’d accepted the snack.

You smiled. “Thank you. You’re very kind to be helping us at all.”

Mel didn’t really answer, instead gesturing to the door as she walked toward it. “Well, we’ll… be around. If you need anything. And I’ll come in and check on her periodically.”

You nodded, quietly thanking her again. The discarded cloak that you’d left on a table by the door caught your eye. “Oh. Wait.”

She turned to face you again, eyebrows raised in question.

“What is The Lord of the Rings?” you asked.

----------------------------------------------------------------

An excursion that was supposed to take two hours ended up taking nearly all day.

But hey, Abby had done the best she could.

She faced her deeply-rooted fear of heights on that sorry excuse for a bridge. She fought off Infected and Scars. She was, let’s say, detained by her fellow WLF soldiers at the hospital. And then she had to fight and kill what must’ve been the biggest, gnarliest, freakiest blob of cordyceps infection to ever exist.

She barely got out of there alive, but she managed to leave with the medical supplies in hand. Plus tons of new material for her future nightmares.

Mel had started operating as soon as they got back to the aquarium, with Owen assisting her.

You and Lev sat just outside the door the entire time.

The surgery had gone well. Yara was doing okay, all things considered.

After, Owen handed Abby a pile of sleeping bags and blankets and walked off without saying a word.

Abby handed them off to you and carefully lifted Yara again, this time to move her to a more comfortable spot to rest. She led the way to the next room, you and Lev trailing behind.

There was a long couch in the new room. You motioned for Lev to lay down on one end while Abby set Yara down on the other.

She stepped back and watched, amused, as you fussed over the two of them for a few minutes, using most of the blankets on your young friends.

When you were sure they were both as comfortable as possible, you left them to rest and walked back over to Abby. In your arms, you held the two sleeping bags that you hadn’t used on the kids.

You offered one of them to her.

She shook her head, motioning to the space on the floor in front of the couch where there was an old, worn-out rug.

“Lay mine out for me? I have to go do something before I go to sleep.”

“You’re leaving?” you asked, looking concerned.

“I just need to talk to Owen. I’ll be right back.”

You studied her face, like you were trying to figure out whether or not she was being truthful.

Abby doubled down, pointing again. “Go. Get some sleep. I’ll be back.”

You sighed but went where she had pointed and began laying out the two sleeping bags.

One for you. One for her. Right next to each other on the floor.

You had been doing a good job of hiding it, but Abby could tell you were exhausted. She couldn’t blame you. Hell, she was exhausted. And the sooner she touched base with Owen, the sooner she could come back.

She turned and went out to track him down.

----------------------------------------------------------------

You didn’t know what was wrong with you.

You had been awake for almost forty-eight hours, but you couldn’t fall asleep. Your mind was racing. Filled with worry for Yara, concern about her condition, guilt for having been unable to prevent the injury from happening in the first place. Thoughts of your own people hunting your friends with the intent to kill them. Fear that, despite your desire to keep them safe, your lack of knowledge and experience in the world outside of Haven would make that impossible.

You thought about the woman you killed yesterday. How she’d so tenderly and earnestly called you her Prophet just moments before you snuck up behind her and ended her life.

You wondered if you too were now an apostate. If the Seraphites had found the bodies of Emily and her men and assumed you were dead, or if they somehow knew that you betrayed them all the very moment you were given the chance.

You wondered if your mother knew what you had done. If she would be punished for your sins.

You thought about Abby, hoping that your faith in her was not misplaced. Hoping that your attraction to her hadn’t clouded your judgment.

This was crazy. All of it. It was too much.

You had tossed everything and everyone you’ve ever known aside, thrown the first twenty years of your life to the wind like it meant nothing at all, and run off into the forest with a Wolf without a second thought. And now that you, Yara, and Lev were finally (seemingly) not in immediate danger, you had time to think things through. Contemplate what you’d done and try to figure out where it left you.

By your own hand, your life had been irreparably changed forever. It was done. There was no undoing it. No going back.

You would stay with Lev and Yara. You would stay with Abby if that’s what she wanted.

But where would you go? It wasn’t safe for any of you to stay here.

That wasn’t a question you could answer. You didn’t know of anywhere else. You wouldn’t know how to find a place that was safe.

All of these thoughts bombarded your mind at once, taking turns at the forefront. Contradicting emotions swirled, adding to the chaos.

There was a sadness, a sense of loss for the people you had always belonged to.

Guilt and shame. Two feelings that were not at all foreign to you, but you had never felt as strongly as you did now.

A lightness. A happiness. Almost a thrill. A hopeful nervousness for the freedom you had claimed for yourself, the agency you had uncovered, and the possibility of what was to come.

Sadness, again, for the mother you would miss, and the realization that you had already been missing her for a very long time.

Frustration—simmering anger—for your childhood that was stolen and the shame that did not originate within yourself. The unrelenting voices that lived in your head, weighing in on every thought and critiquing every action. But those voices were not your own. You would take your dagger and cut their presence from your mind, carefully carving them out of your head and disposing of them yourself if you could.

And, amongst everything else taking up space inside of you, demanding your attention, it felt stupid and frivolous and wasteful, but you couldn’t keep Abby from your thoughts. She kept appearing, in the middle of it all. This was something that you truly did not have time for and should not be putting energy toward.

But you had never felt intrinsically drawn to someone in the way you were drawn to her…

Behind you, you could hear slow, heavy breaths coming from either end of the couch. You were glad that Lev and Yara were getting some rest. You’d do your best to make sure they got their fill of it this time.

You got up quietly, trying not to disturb them but feeling like you needed to move. You shook out your arms, rolled your neck around, wiggled your fingers, stretched your legs.

Honestly, you wanted run. Or hit something. Or scream. Loudly and for a long time. Until you ran out of air and your voice was ragged.

But you didn’t do any of those things.

Instead, you went to look for Abby.

----------------------------------------------------------------

“Seriously? You’re telling me Isaac’s top Scar killer just… turned over a new leaf? Decided to befriend and help three Scars?” Mel was staring into Abby’s soul, her words dripping in disbelief.

Abby had found her and Owen upstairs, in the same room that had once housed the boat man’s skeleton and the couple’s Christmas stockings (not at the same time, of course).

Owen was angry. Exactly what she had done to earn his anger, she couldn’t say. He held a jar of his homemade moonshine. A jar that was somewhere between three-quarters and one half full. Abby assumed it had been filled to the top just a few minutes ago.

He had apparently decided to be a silent, brooding drunk tonight, so Mel had been the one to interrogate her.

Abby tried to explain everything, albeit keeping things pretty vague. She didn’t want to give them too much information about you specifically, and she didn’t want them to get the wrong idea about you, so she made sure to omit the part where you nearly gutted her. And the part where you were the new Scar Prophet that Isaac was after.

Mel wasn’t buying the part where Abby simply had a change of heart.

She shot Owen a cautious look before she said, “Abby, do you—I thought you might—Is it possible that you’re…” Mel stopped, gathering her thoughts, trying to find the best way to word it. “It’s not… like… a problem that she’s a woman. It’s just… it is kind of a big deal that she’s a Scar—”

“Abby isn’t into a fucking Scar,” Owen interjected, his knuckles white around the mouth of the jar. “And she’s not fucking gay.”

Then he started chugging the jar’s contents, forcing down swallow after painful swallow.

The women were both silent for a second, surprised by the anger in his words.

Abby didn’t know what to say. She knew she was into you—and she’d be lying if she said that wasn’t at least part of the reason why she was helping you and your friends—but she had never considered if that made her gay.

She honestly didn’t really care to label herself as anything either way. It felt stupid—in the honest-to-god post-apocalyptic hellscape that they lived in, where they had been engaged in a never-ending war since they were kids—to care about that kind of thing.

Why should it matter—when her family was dead, her friends were constantly in danger, and there were enemies closing in from every angle—if she was romantically or sexually interested in men or women or both? Wasn’t that almost guaranteed to be the least important detail at any given moment? And why should she waste any of her time or energy trying to define herself in that way?

This was all really new to her. She hadn’t really let herself be interested in anyone since Owen, and she honestly wasn’t sure if she had ever been into him for the right reasons. Again, she remembered how uncomfortable it made her feel to kiss him, to be touched by him…

She couldn’t imagine that it would feel like that if you touched her. And just the fact that she hoped one day she’d find out was probably telling enough.

So maybe, in the Old World, people would’ve called Abby a lesbian. Maybe she would’ve identified with that title if things were different, if her life was lower stakes, and if she’d had more time to explore herself and her interests.

What-ifs didn’t matter. What mattered was that she was here now. You were with her—and she needed to figure out a plan of how to proceed from here—so she could make sure to keep it that way. She could figure out the rest later.

Mel was the first to speak, annoyed, but addressing him calmly, like she was talking to a rabid animal. “Owen—”

He didn’t even let her get a word in.

“No. This is bullshit! Abby—” He looked past Mel to meet Abby’s gaze, insistent. “I’m going to Santa Barbara to find the Fireflies. If you’re smart, you’ll ditch the Scars and come with me.”

Mel slammed her hands on the table, causing both Abby and Owen to jump. “What the hell do you mean, you’re going to Santa Barbara?! We are going to Santa Barbara!” They weren’t used to seeing violent outbursts from Mel. She was the queen of passive aggression, but she rarely lost her cool. “What is wrong with you, Owen? Seriously, what the hell is wrong with you? This is all so seriously fucked up.” She turned away from them, clenching her fists at her sides, looking like she might cry. Or hit something. Or both.

But for the first time in years, Abby wasn’t on the receiving end of her disdain.

Guess all she had to do for her old friend to stop seeing her as a threat was get entangled with the Scar Prophet. No big deal.

Owen, in a moment of clarity, seemed to realize how huge of an asshole he was being to the mother of his child. He set down his jar, stood, and walked over to Mel, putting his hands on her hips and pulling her into him, her back pressed against his front. He was swaying on his feet, his cheeks flushed, hands clumsy. If he hadn’t been drunk before, he definitely was now. “Hey, I didn’t mean it like that. We are going to Santa Barbara. Of course it’s we. Hell, the Scars can come too for all I care. We’ll make it a party.”

Abby rolled her eyes at his quick switch-up and turned to go. Clearly this conversation wasn’t going anywhere productive tonight, with Owen drunk, Mel upset, and all of them exhausted beyond belief.

There was a creak by the door, and all three of them turned to look, Owen’s reaction far more delayed than Abby and Mel’s.

You stood there in your long white dress, hesitant to come in. Shy, having clearly interrupted a tense conversation.

Abby wondered how long you’d been standing there unnoticed. Her instinct was to meet you in the doorway and take you back to bed, away from Owen’s rude drunkenness and Mel’s inquisitive eyes.

“Hey! Scar! How the hell are ya? Come join us! We were just talking about sunny California. Ever been?” Owen pulled away from Mel and plopped back down on the couch, finding his jar again.

“Umm…” You looked to Abby for guidance, but she was just as unsettled as you. “No. I haven’t… Sorry, I was just looking for Abby.”

“Yeah, I bet you were,” he mumbled under his breath. Abby wasn’t sure if you caught that, but she wasn’t interested in having you hear any more of this.

“Let’s just go,” she said to you, moving toward where you still stood in the doorway.

“No! Come! Sit! Let’s talk,” Owen insisted, slapping the spot next to him on the couch.

You gave Abby another hesitant look before walking past her to join Owen. Mel sighed and lowered herself into a nearby chair. When it became clear to her that retreating with you wasn’t an option right now, Abby walked back over. She stood right across from the couch so she could see you, leaned against the wall behind her with her arms crossed over her chest.

You sat next to Owen, although not so close, putting as much distance between you as possible.

“Atta girl,” he chuckled. Abby wanted to punch him.

All of this was out of character for Owen, but she knew that he was always kind of unpredictable when he got drunk. With everything that had happened and emotions running so high, everyone really should just be going to sleep.

With that in mind, Abby would continue to stand nearby until you were ready to leave. She wouldn’t let things get out of hand.

“So… Scar—”

“Seraphite,” Abby corrected him. He scoffed and took another swig.

You smiled softly at her, looking grateful.

“Scar,” he said again. “Can I perhaps interest you in some hooch? Made it myself.” He offered up the jar for you to take, tilting it towards you with unsteady hands.

“No,” Abby immediately answered on your behalf. “She does not want any of your hooch.”

“Well give the girl a chance to answer,” he slurred. “What? Your little girlfriend can’t speak for herself? She can’t make her own decisions?”

You glanced back and forth between him and her, reaching for the open jar of clear liquid, properly baited by his taunting words.

Abby tried to remember that Owen was her friend—her best friend—and that he wasn’t usually like this.

“What is… hooch?” you asked, staring down into the glass jar suspiciously.

“It’s moonshine,” Abby said. When that didn’t clear things up for you, she added, “Alcohol.”

“Like wine?” you asked, tentatively sniffing it.

Owen laughed. Abby nodded, “Kind of, but it’s much stronger. Seriously, you won’t like it.”

There was a flash of something that looked like defiance in your eyes, offense taken at the idea that you wouldn’t be able to handle something that others could.

You put the jar to your lips and tilted it back enough to take in a generous mouthful.

Abby watched as your eyes went wide and you struggled to swallow it. Honestly, she was impressed that you didn’t immediately spit it out. You managed to choke it down before breaking out in a harsh coughing fit.

Owen laughed, accepting the jar as you shoved it back into his hands. Your eyes watered as you tapped on your sternum, taking a second to regain the ability to speak.

“You made that?” you wheezed in disbelief.

“Yep!”

“On purpose?”

Abby laughed at that, leaning back against the wall again once she was convinced that you weren’t dying.

“Hey, that’s prime hooch! You should be thanking me right now.” Owen took his own swig of it, lounging back against the couch with his arm resting along the back.

“Thank you?” You squinted your eyes but tried to be polite.

“I was kidding, princess. You don’t have to thank me.”

Abby, again, resisted the urge to punch him in the face.

“So,” Owen began, “tell me. How is it that you’re a Scar… but you’re not scarred?” He chuckled to himself, as if he had made a joke.

Your eyes shot to meet Abby’s, clearly unprepared to answer that question.

“Not every Seraphite has facial scars,” you said, keeping things vague.

“Every Scar I’ve ever seen does.”

“You’ve seen me, haven’t you?” you shot back.

Abby let out a surprised laugh. Owen clenched his jaw.

“Every Scar has face scars. It’s like your defining thing. It’s why we call you Scars.” He was adamant, unyielding. And the playful mask was starting to slip back into anger. Abby could tell this wasn’t going to end well.

“Well I guess you don’t know as much about Seraphites as you thought you did.” You were frustrated now, pressing yourself further into the far end of the couch to put more distance between the two of you.

Owen opened his mouth with a rebuttal, but Abby jumped in. “Lay off, Owen.”

He threw his hands up in surrender, leaning back against the brown cushions. “Fine, fine. Whatever. Forgive me for having questions. Fuck me, I guess. I’ve just never seen a hot Scar befo—”

Before he could finish the sentence, Mel was on her feet. “Alright. That’s it. You’re done.” She had been sitting silently up until then, ready to intervene if things got out of hand, just as Abby had been. Apparently, Owen calling you hot was where she drew the line.

Abby was glad Mel was saying something. Because if things had gone much further, she really might’ve hit him.

“Get up,” Mel instructed firmly, standing over him. “You’re going to bed.” He let her take the jar out of his hands and, with much effort, pushed himself up off the couch and started walking toward the door. Mel was right behind him, hands hovering on either of his sides in case he lost his balance. He was grumbling under his breath the whole way, like a toddler whose bedtime was being enforced.

Abby watched them go.

Once they were out of sight, she looked down at you, only to find that you were already looking at her.

“Sorry,” she spat out. “About him. He’s not usually like that.”

You nodded, but you didn’t seem sure that you believed her.

“So you guys are… friends?”

Abby cleared her throat. “Uh, yeah. We’ve known each other for years. Joined the WLF together. Me, Owen, Mel, and a few others.”

You considered this for a second before responding. “Where were you before?”

“Salt Lake City,” she said, looking down at her feet. “Utah.” Abby didn’t know if that would mean anything to you.

“Mel doesn’t seem to like you very much,” you said, observant, not trying to offend. Abby smiled, despite the meaning behind your words. You added, “And Owen doesn’t seem to like me.” You stated it like it was a fact, like it was neither good nor bad, just true.

“He’ll get over it. He’s just drunk.” Abby didn’t know if that was true, but she wanted to comfort you in that moment, not that you actually seemed to care all that much about Owen’s opinion of you.

“Can I ask you a question?” You were looking up at her, eyes wide and vulnerable.

Anything, Abby thought. Out loud, she said, “Sure.”

She pushed away from the wall and came to sit next to you on the couch, filling the spot where Owen had been.

“Why do you people keep calling me princess?” you asked. Abby laughed quietly under her breath, turning her body to face you.

“I don’t know. There’s something about you that’s very princess-like I guess.”

You made a face at her. She smiled wider.

“It’s not a bad thing. You just come across as soft. Delicate. I don’t know… Graceful.”

“I am not delicate,” you said, defensive.

“I know.”

“I’ve killed.”

“I saw.” Abby was being serious, although she did find the conversation amusing. “You’re very skilled with a knife.”

You nodded, satisfied with her response, and fully turned to face Abby. “And what does hot mean? Why did he call me hot?”

“Oh—” Abby stuttered, “Uh—He meant… He was saying that you’re very pretty.”

“Oh.” You considered this, eyes wandering away. “Earlier he said I look like The Lord of the Rings.”

Abby smiled again. There was something about you that felt like it might’ve been taken straight from the high fantasy genre.

“Do you know what that is?” she asked.

“Yes. Sort of. I asked Mel. She said it was a film about a magical land. With fairies and stuff.”

“They were books first.”

“Have you read them?”

“Yeah.”

“Have you read a lot of books?” you asked, genuinely curious.

“I try to read as much as I can. Whatever’s available.”

You nodded, thinking, letting the conversation die down.

After a moment, “Abby?”

“Hmm?” she hummed. She liked the way you said her name. Just the sound of it made her heart beat a little bit faster.

“Owen also called me your girlfriend.” You were studying her face, trying to read her reaction.

“Yeah. He did.” Abby said, looking into your inquisitive eyes.

“Does that just mean friend? Or is it something else?”

“He was just trying to piss me off.”

“So it does mean something else?” Your eyes were on her lips now, and you were ever so slightly leaned forward. Almost subconsciously.

“It doesn’t matter,” Abby said. “It doesn’t mean anything.”

She was pushing you away, and she didn’t know why. She could’ve answered that question so differently. Maybe she should’ve.

Abby wanted you. And she was almost certain that you felt the same way. At the very least, there was a curiosity. A hesitant attraction.

But she couldn’t shake the feeling that it was wrong. That anything with you would be something she wasn’t good enough for.

Something she didn’t deserve.

Something she would ruin if given the chance.

So tonight, she didn’t give herself that chance.

Was that noble or cowardly? She wasn’t sure.

You pulled away, turning to face forward as you let out a long breath, puffing out your cheeks.

“I’m tired,” you said, standing. “And I should check on Yara and Lev.”

“Yeah.” Abby nodded. “Okay.”

She remained in place, ready to mentally beat herself up some more and stew in her thoughts alone for a while.

You cleared your throat lightly, swaying on your feet. “Umm… I’m not sure that I can find my way back to the room. Can you… please—?”

“Oh.” Abby hopped to her feet. “Okay, yeah. I’ll… I guess I’ll go with you.”

She avoided eye contact, leading the way into the dark hallway.

#the wolf and the prophet #my writing #abby anderson #abby anderson x fem!reader #abby anderson x reader #abby x fem!reader #abby x reader #abby tlou #tlou2 #abby anderson fanfic #abby anderson fic #abby anderson x seraphite

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nailbatss · 4 months ago

Text

A Cup of Love - Harringrove

Hooray! My first official post for @harringrovewinterbingo ! I've had a lot of stuff come up, but I hope you enjoy this Harringrove fluff!

Square & Prompt: A1 - Hot Chocolate and Warm Hugs

Rating: SFW, hella fluff

Word Count: 880+

Major Tags: Mention of Billy’s past, Harringrove, soft Billy, slightly ooc Billy

Additional Tags (If any): Billy Hargrove needs a hug, Steve Harrington needs a hug

Summary (for fan fiction): After all the drama in his life, Billy finally feels safe and secure in this little life he’s built with the right person.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Snow sucks. It’s too cold, unpredictable, and sticks to every-damn-thing. At least back in California, they’d rarely ever see snow. While he missed the sunny days and surfing, this was exactly where he needed to be.

Years ago, he would have disagreed. He would have done everything he possibly could to turn tail and head back to those same sunny days. He wouldn’t have thought he could be as happy now as he was back then.

Turns out, fate has a funny way of showing things.

After all the monster hunting, wounds to the chest, and the years beaten into him of how imperfect he was, he knew that was all the past. He knew monsters were really real nowadays. Long nights of nightmares, hospitals, and all the healing he had to do were the roughest part. It was also dealing with a lot of ugly feelings brought up in said situation. He didn’t think peace would be part of his life.

Right now, that wasn’t something he thought about.

Dusting off his jacket, Billy huffed and headed back towards the cabin. Warmth would be waiting for him as well as a hot shower. Maybe, with some luck and convincing, he could get some homemade soup out of the deal. Stepping inside the foyer, Billy shrugged off his heavy winter jacket, slipped off his boots, and he hung up his jacket with care. He immediately sighed in satisfaction from feeling the warm air brushing against his frozen skin. He was not used to the cold nights or snowy days, but at least he was happy.

“Baby, is that you?” A voice called distantly, likely in the living room area, he’d guess.

“Who else would it be?” He called back over his shoulder.

A soft chuckle followed that question.

“I suppose you’re right. Come on in.” The voice answered.

Stepping out of the front area, he flicked off the unnecessary lights as he passed through the wooded cabin. He smiled warmly while taking in the sight before him. Sitting on the floor was a very cozy, warm appearing boyfriend of his tending to the fire in the fireplace. He had on one of Billy’s oversized sweaters, a pair of sweatpants, fluffy socks, and he was poking the wood around with the poker.

“There you are, did you get some more wood?” Steve asked as he set down the firepoker, smiling at the blonde.

“Mhm. Probably not enough for the time I spent cutting.” He answered as he made his way over to the fire itself, instantly embraced by the warmth given off by the flames. He took a seat beside Steve as the brunette wrapped a blanket around them.

There was a mug placed in his hands and he sighed in content, smelling the fresh cocoa that was likely brewed over said fire. He lifted the cup to his lips, taking a swig of the hot liquid. A delighted hum leaving his throat before he settled his gaze on Steve’s face, obviously awaiting a response.

“Best cup yet, thanks baby.” He leaned over, pressing a soft kiss to his temple. “I think you did a damn good job.”

A soft giggle escaped the brunette’s lips as he shakes his head. “You say that all the time.”

“And I mean it all the time.”

Billy’s free arm wrapped around Steve’s waist, pulling him closer as he leaned his head into the gap of his neck. “Mm, you’re so warm.” He placed a soft kiss to the skin.

A shocked gasp left Steve’s body.

“Shit, babe, you’re so cold!” He said while he felt Billy wrapping around him like a cobra.

“Can you blame me? You’re warm.” He set down his mug, slipping his hands under his sweater.

“Oh my god! Stop!” Steve complained and he tried to nudge his hands away.

“Make me.” The former Californian challenged in his deep, raspy voice he loved so much.

“You need to bundle up more, I swear to god, you don’t listen to me.”

“Again, make me, pretty boy.”

Steve didn’t have a response for that one. He was too busy trying not to choke on the words from his boyfriend. He lightly shoved his shoulder. “Asshole.” He murmured.

Billy’s deep chuckle resounded in his ear, reminding him that this was his true self, his safe, warm, protected self. He was happy, he was safe, he was loved. Love… Though they’ve been together for a few years now, it still made his heart skip a beat whenever he thought about being in love with him.

“I love you, California.”

“I love you more, Indiana.” The reply came easily, almost as easily as breathing.

“Do I get a kiss now? I almost froze my ass off for you.”

Steve laughed, “Yeah, yeah, come here, handsome.” He put a hand on the back of the blonde’s head, gently guiding him up for a kiss.

“Mmm, chocolatey.” He purred like a cat who caught his prey.

“You’re a dork.”

“Only yours.” He said as he wrapped his arms around him, hugging him in a loving embrace.

Steve nuzzled against him, pressing a kiss to his head. “I like the sound of that.”

“Then you’re gonna like the sound of being mine forever someday.”

“Yeah, that too.” He blushed. "That too."

Life was better now. He had warm cuddles, hot chocolate, and a cup of love to go with it.

#hwb2025 #harringrove #billy x steve #steve x billy #fluff

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finniestoncrane · 1 year ago

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I'm here with my boyfriend, Nick Valentine. Romantic Comedy. Front row.

I'll have salted popcorn, banana ice cream, and a cup of ranch.

Thank you so much

(God lord I'm sorry the order sounds stupid. Also I'm sorry for my stupid message about really old monster movies. I gave you like... 12 messages on just that)

HOORAY!! my first nick valentine fic!! i love this old man so much ;-; (also don't worry all the orders sound a bit nuts, there's only so much cinema food i could add before i had to start putting in condiments lmao) 💚🩷 cw: just pure fluff here 🔞minors dni🔞 send a request • masterlist • kofi link • tag: finnie2k (to follow or to block)

"I think I've got this thing working. Took a lot though. It's a bit of an antique, and a rusty one at that."

"Takes one to know one, huh?"

Nick looked up from the projector, his degloved hand still fiddling with the dials, his eyes narrowing as your playful teasing registered with him.

"You're lucky I put up with you, kid."

He shot a quick smile in your direction before he heaved himself up, walking towards the pile of film reels to take a look through them. You crouched down by the second pile, searching for a horror, as if there wasn't enough of that in your day to day life.

"Well, well... what have we here?"

You turned to Nick who was as giddy as you'd ever seen him, presenting you with one of the reels.

"A noir detective movie? Really?"

"Don't knock it before you've tried it. This one was my favourite."

"I don't know... I'm more in it for a horror movie."

"You don't think we live through enough horror movies as it is?"

Scoffing, you folded your arms.

"You don't think I live through enough noir detective movies as it is?"

Nick tossed his film to you, catching you off guard and causing you to drop the one you held in your hands.

"You got a piss-poor negotiation style, kid, you know that?"

That was it. Argument over. But given how excited he had seemed, you couldn't help but go along with it. And once you had the film in the projector and made sure it was showing on the decrepit screen, you followed him back outside to a rusted car. He opened the door for you and then walked around to the other side, sitting on the bench seating beside you and lighting up a cigarette.

The seat creaked below him, a spring bursting out and pressing into him. You giggled a little, standing up and pulling him over to your side before sitting down in his lap.

"Is this really comfortable? We could try another car."

"I like being close to you, Nick. Makes me feel safe."

He smiled, just a quick expression before he coughed and distracted you both from that sweet sentiment.

"This is a great way to waste an afternoon. I promise, you'll love it this movie."

And you did, if only because it reminded you so much of Nick. If only because as you sat in his lap you could feel his excitement. It was soothing, to watch him experience some joy, some relaxation. Soothing enough that you hadn't quite realised that you were falling asleep until Nick shifted you awake.

"Hey, you're going to miss the ending."

"It's ok, I think I figured it out. The detective saves the day and the world feels better for having him around."

"How did you know?"

The sarcasm in his voice was evident, but you chose to ignore it as you buried your head back into his chest and tried to go back to sleep.

"Just a hunch."

#finnie2k #finnie writes #x reader #nick valentine

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willtheweaver · 25 days ago

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Writecamp day 7

Hooray for reaching the 1 week mark! And as always a big round of applause to @agirlandherquill for the event. Plus a cheers to @theeccentricraven @inseasofgreen for the tag

today's prompts: An echoing cave, The shock of seawater

“I got it!”

Six years of searching had finally led to this moment. Deven was holding in his hands a vial of what appeared to be seawater. It was more than simple water. It was the essence of his wife’s true form. Eveline was a daughter of the sea god, and one who had been captured, stripped of her powers, and left for dead.

But she didn’t die. Ethan found her and nursed her back to health. The two fell in love and eventually married. For a while they were happy, but Eveline seemed distant. Eventually, she revealed everything. To her surprise, Deven was not only supportive, he actively helped her tracked down the ones responsible. Years of chasing rumors led to them to a sea cave that was the base of a notorious pirate gang.

The pair waited for night to sneak in. They swam in the shadows, using any and all cover. At the rear of the cave was an old beached hulk that was being used as the treasury. Thinking this was where the stolen essence was, Deven and Eveline climbed up a tilted dock and made their way inside.

The interior was dimly lit by a few candles. Piles of crates and chests cloaked large areas in shadow. Lying on top of a pedestal was a teardrop shaped vial. The pair ran over, barely believing their luck.

“Yes… this is it!” Eveline’s voice was cracking from joy.

“Let’s get out of here.”

Deven took a step. A gunshot sent him scuttling back. From out of the shadows jumped pirates armed to the teeth. Their cackling reverberated all throughout the cave.

“You thought you were sneaky. The captain thought different. Expected someone to try to take what we stole. So he had us let you in, then trap you like fish in a net.”

“An ambush.” Deven growled.

“We’ve got a score of guns pointed at you two.” Another pirate growled. “Try anything and we’ll fill both of you with lead.

“Hand it over. Before we get rough.”

“Too late!”

Ethan let the vial drop. The glass shattered against the ground. The water did not spill but instead rush into Eveline, drop by drop.

It felt weird at first. Hot and cold at the same time, the salt at first felt abrasive. But then it felt soothing, familiar. Her eyes shimmered with the light of the tropic seas which then shifted to the dark cold waters of the poles.

“Now you will feel the wrath of the oceans.” She raised a hand.

From inside the grotto came a sea calamity unlike any other. Describing it as a 360 tsunami combined with a waterspout would fail to do it justice. It lasted the entire night and devastated the entire coast.

When dawn came, the rising sun illuminated a shoreline strewn with an assortment of debris mixed with the dead. Evelin walked the length of the coast, going over every last body. At long last she found Deven. He lay facedown, his skin was pale, and seaweed was tangled in his hair. He appeared dead, but as Evelin turned him over, he let out a sputter and cough.

“I knew you would find me.” He said weakly. “Even if I were at death’s door, you would not give up.”

“I’m sorry.” Eveline sobbed. “I lost control. Didn’t think about what I was doing. It all came out…horrible destruction.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Deven smiled. “You are free. And nothing you could do would ever hurt me.”

Tagging @leahnardo-da-veggie @daisywords @oh-no-another-idea @keeping-writing-frosty @autism-purgatory

@diabolical-blue @ace-malarky @charlesjosephwrites @justabigoldnerd @illarian-rambling and all who want to join in!

#writecamp #writing #creative writing #writer #writers #writers and poets #writing community #writer on tumblr #writeblr

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curi0uscreature · 4 days ago

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i wanna know more about your vehnshun, if there is more

same flavor of mental illness as me i think

* HOORAY 🎉

Audhd + OCD ridden beast

This thing has no problem putting his mental state, health, or physical health on the line if he’s adamant on an escape route. Sleep? That shit has to be EARNED until they get out. This is basically confirmed by the mech islet trailer so I imagine he was very withered down in terms of appearance when he was on a madness descend. Sure Mech Islet fixes him up automatically but if he never got out he was overdue for a LOT of repairs

( ^ ) At the same time, even if it’s not fixated on an escape route he can just be forgetful. Keeping himself going may not be his top priority at times. Just following routine and go with the grind.

Given the Workshop outskirts in the Mech trailer, I feel like he goes to them as often as possible just to feel something. Anything for god sake

This thing has so many messy and negatively affected relationships because of that god damn escaping mindset it’s actually crazy. There’s Auglur who was done with him as soon as he mentioned leaving as a hypothetical, Meebkin being mad at him for like a week and a half because he damaged a perfectly good Meeb branch (they made up. eventually), Flasque being mad at him for a few days because he used her bestie as a source of power instead of just tag teaming with her to make something, NiteBear who feels insanely conflicted about him because he used him as power source but in general tries to give him the benefit of the doubt, and Whaill who slowly drifted away from him after he got too in his head about it and she got more concerned.

( ^ ) That being said he’s not doing any of this intentionally. He’s going through the motions himself and gets in his head so often that she doesn’t know the impact (<- woah reference word) of it until after the fact. Plus it takes a lot for him to apologize because it feels awkward in a way. I think mech islet puts him in a state where he can actually realize this later on because now that he’s finally escaped and off that adrenaline high—how is everyone else doing?

Contrary to popular belief, his perception of Zarroë is more mellowed out than anything after Mech. Like a “well I guess they aren’t TOO bad so I can admit I was a little wrong”. He thinks they’re still a bit weird for watching him go insane on live (which is FAIRahem). But he was so adamant on them being straight up evil before that this is a major step up.

#I get so ill abt these guys. this man has serious mental problems then you look and it’s the msm equivalent of a crafting table #ANYWAY im normal abt him. post-mech islet is the actual start of redemption arc i think #plus reminder that I use any prns for all members + any msm monster in general so except switch here and there #ethereal workshop #vhenshun #HCs #oatmeal thoughts #trevor.txt

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selfproclaimedunicorn · 1 month ago

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Show and Tell Tuesday/WIP Wednesday

Thanks for the tag @ewanmitchellcrumbs & @queen--kenobi. Enjoy some Ella POV for the upcoming chapter of Sins Of The Father

“A letter came while you were out.” Lady Danielle motioned towards the basket on the table. “Osrick told me,” Ella popped one of the small marchpane triangles into her mouth, “did you look at where it came from?” Her good-mother let out an inelegant snort as Ella spoke around her mouthful of marchpane, but her smile didn’t falter. Ringed with thorns and clawed like any respectable lioness she may be, but Lady Danielle wasn’t entirely without good humor. She was less high strung when she was not having to play hostess to half the realm…or when Ella wasn’t implicating her whole family in treason. “It came from Runestone.” The reply was simple enough, but it made Ella pause anyway. She worked her jaw, fingers dancing along the edges of the scrolls sticking out of the basket. She’d long since calmed after her fight with Yorick, although she still wasn’t going home until she was told he had stopped brooding in seclusion, but no one had bothered to tell her if he had calmed. “I’ll pour you some tea while you read.” Lady Melaney’s gentle voice spurred Ella on again, and she offered the older woman a crooked smile as thanks before she took the letter with House Royce’s sigil stamped into the sealing wax. She was being silly. Shireen would not let Yorick send her a letter that would make things worse. Neither would Alyssa or their boy cousins. Or Laenor for that matter, assuming he was still at Runestone. Ella, As I write this, I have only just recently returned to Runestone. You can write to Rhaenys or Lord Boremund and have this confirmed if you don’t believe me. What was that about me only hiding myself away and brooding? Teasing and gloating aside, I apologize for how I acted when you returned from Pentos. You were right, I stepped out of line. I treated you like one of my children and threw around accusations as hurtful as yours. I know a letter isn’t sufficient for us making up, but it lets you know that I would like to. I would also like for you to tell Laena she can come to Aemon’s tourney like you wanted. I don’t know if I can write to her myself, but I do want to see her. I miss her. Although not as much as I miss you. Idañus, please come home. I want us to make up properly. And I have things I should talk about with you, things I've neglected to share for some time. Your (not at all favorite right now) brother A lopsided grin split across Ella’s face, relief flooding through her. She let out a pleased little squeal, clutching the letter until it crumpled in her fist. “Hooray!” Griffith didn’t know what they were celebrating, but he was happy that his mother was happy. Smiling even brighter now, Ella crouched in front of him where he sat in his grandmother’s lap and took his face in her hands, squishing his cheeks and pressing a loud kiss to his forehead.

Tagging (if y'all want): @emilykaldwen, @darkwolf76, @rottengrowls, @sikudastoner, @alicent-archive, @rainwingmarvel7, & @kate-mccannon

#tag game #my writing #fic: sins of the father #oc: ella royce

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amybabyssims2 · 11 months ago

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I have been obsessed with my character Myles who happens to wear this hair so I just stuck the info on one of the pictures I have of him. (hooray for past me helping presently lazy me lol) I promise I'll go back to better previews come December. Until then, the colors are the standard ones I love and this is made by @esotheria-sims @ts2male for the tag. Preview and credits in the file. Compressed.

DOWNLOAD I SFS

#sims2 #sims 2 #s2cc #simmer #sims 2 simblr #sims2cc #simblr #dl: default replacement #sims 2 download #dl: hair #sims 2 male hair #s2malehair #s2download #s2hair #sims 2 cc #ts2 custom content #ts2 hair #ts2 simblr #sims 2 pictures

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nothingeverchangeswoy · 4 months ago

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Has anyone tried to unionize against having to wear the ugly (I say that with love, because the image of Wander in an oversized shirt is pulling at my heartstrings) grey uniforms yet, or have they just accepted their fate? Also, why are they wearing them, since most characters never wore anything?

(from the fanfiction titled "Nothing Ever Changes" - a Wander x Reader story, post canon.)

Did anyone try to unionize against them? Something like that, but not exactly, close though. First off however:

WHY IS EVERYONE WEARING THESE UGLY GREY THINGS?

Simple. Laundry. This entire ship is stuffed with over four thousand beings of all shapes, sizes, and hygiene levels. The only way to keep the entire Yonder Galaxy from becoming a giant, stinky pit of despair was to enforce one uniform. One color, one fabric, one easily washable, stain-resistant, rip-proof outfit for everyone. People like Wander just wore them to make others feel better about the situation (or in other cases, just so everyone knew each other with the help of the nametags that were on them.)

But at first? Wander had a vision. A dream.

He wanted rainbow uniforms. Matching color-coded outfits based on personality because "wearing what makes you feel special makes you BE special!" . . .there was a musical number.

Hater was not okay.

He screamed. He begged. He clutched his chest like an old man seeing his medical bill. "I REFUSE TO LOOK LIKE A WALKING FRUIT SALAD!!" Peepers was seconds away from passing out. The Watchdogs? Sobbing, because they feared being assigned pastel pink. You thrived on the chaos, of course. But the argument escalated into a five-hour debate that ended with Hater throwing a chair so hard that it broke physics and disappeared into another dimension. (Nobody talks about The Lost Chair.)

Thus, a compromise was reached: Grey. Bland, inoffensive, neutral grey. The universal color of "fine, I give up."

And as an extra slap to the face, Wander still wrote a jingle about it.

WANDER'S OFFICIAL–okay, not really–"GREY SUIT JAM" (Feat. Hater)

(Verse 1 – Cheerful, Banjo-Powered)

"When life gets messy, and ya got no flair, Don’t stress about fashion, don’t pull your hair! Just grab your suit, the best you’ll see, ‘Cause matching outfits build unity!"

(Hater, screaming in the background: "IT BUILDS OPPRESSION, WANDER!")

(Verse 2 – Increasingly Peppy)

"Grey’s the color of the sky before rain, It’s simple, it’s sleek, it’ll keep ya sane! No stains, no fuss, just zip and go, Now nobody has to worry ‘bout fashion—WOAH!"

(Hater, shrieking: "WHY AM I BEING PUNISHED FOR HAVING A PERSONALITY?!")

(Verse 3 – Wander why?)

"So wear your grey with pride today! A uniform ship, hip-hip hooray! No chaos, no clashing, just laundry that’s dashing, So smile in grey—it’s here to STAY!"

(Hater, in the distance, broken and exhausted: "…this is worse than Dominator.")

And now. . .

THE GIUSEPPE INCIDENT (a.k.a. The Great Nametag Fiasco)

Listen. Tailoring for four thousand people is hard. Giuseppe, the Watchdog tailor of the Star Nomad (formerly the tailor of the Skullship), was under immense pressure to produce thousands of uniforms as quickly as possible. And it would have gone fine—if not for one tiny, glitter-coated, muscular distraction.

Enter Emperor Awesome.

Who, upon hearing about the uniforms, demanded a glittery version. But he didn’t just ask—oh no. He monologued. He posed dramatically. He flexed mid-sentence. And every time Giuseppe tried to concentrate, there was another bicep flex accompanied by a completely unnecessary hair flip (that he did not have). And so? Mistakes were made.

Instead of writing names normally, Giuseppe—half-distracted, half-furious—just wrote down whatever came to mind based on who annoyed him most that day. The result? Pure chaos.

🚨 HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE NAMETAG DISASTER: 🚨

> Sylvia’s tag: "Zbornak Extra Large" (Implying that she is, in fact, built like a refrigerator. So she squinted at the tag, then at Giuseppe. He shrugged. "What? You are big. Not Giuseppe’s fault.")

> Peepers’ tag: "Little Angry Dot" (He was SO mad about it. Tried to argue, but Giuseppe just said, “If da Watchdogs don’t look good, Giuseppe no look good, but you? You ALWAYS look mad. So.”)

> Dominator’s tag: “Scary Emo Bitch” ("She wanna rip da sleeves off? Fine. Giuseppe let her. But she no wanna pick up a mop? Now she’s Scary Emo Bitch forever.")

> Lil’ Bits’ tag: “Evil Meow Meow” ("Dis tiny little menace, dis furry demon? She no need name. She need warning label.")

> Hater’s tag: “The Drama Queen” ("Ohhh, boss man is da ‘Greatest in da Galaxy’? He screams over every little thing, Giuseppe sees only da galaxy’s biggest diva. A skeleton soap opera.”)

> Wander’s tag: "Hugs With Legs" ("I look at his face, I see dis name. I do not change it. He too happy. Suspiciously happy. He give too many hugs. It make my eye twitch." Wander loved it.)

> The Reader’s tag: “Menace to Society” (You framed it. Like an award. "Giuseppe sees da chaos in your eyes. You think Giuseppe don’t know what you did? Giuseppe knows. Oh, Giuseppe knows.")

> Ripov’s tag: "One-Woman Death Wish" ("She look like she tryin’ to fight da entire galaxy at once. Even her lunch. I just call it how I see it.")

> Ryder’s tag: “Divorced Energy” (Ryder: "Hey, I'm not even married!" Giuseppe: "Exactly.")

> Screwball Jones’ tag: “The Seven Of Swords” ("Da worst kind of clown.” No one knows what Giuseppe meant by that. Not even Screwball.)

> Neckbeard’s tag: “Reddit Mod” (Neckbeard read it. Adjusted his robes. Then just... nodded solemnly.)

> The Watchdogs’ collective tags: “Crybaby #1”, “Crybaby #2”, “Crybaby #578” (Peepers had to physically stop them from unionizing over it.)

> Westley the Watchdog’s tag: "Pure, Gentle, Baby Boy" ("I look at him. I see innocence. He not like da others. He too good for dis ship." Westley teared up.)

> Brad Starlight’s tag: "Discount Prince Charming" ("He look like a bootleg fairytale. I expect him to break out in song and be annoying. He did. I was correct." Brad was horrified.)

> Something the So-And-So’s tag: "Nervous Wreck" ("I never see a man say sorry so much. I am tailor, not therapist." Something took it personally… so he just apologized.)

> Kragthar’s tag: "Fire Hazard" ("He got flames. He got rage. He pronounce his name 12 different ways. He a problem." Kragthar was insulted.)

At the end of that day, Hater stared at his tag for a full five minutes, twitching violently. Then he turned to Giuseppe and screamed, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘DRAMA QUEEN’?! I’M STILL YOUR SUPERIOR!!!”

Giuseppe, already lighting a cigarette despite the fact that smoking was strictly prohibited on the ship, just shrugged. “Eh. You break a chair. You cry about da fashion. You got da cloak like you in a soap opera. You a whole theater production, boss.”

It took Peepers and five Watchdogs to hold Hater back from electrocuting him.

Giuseppe did not care.

And so, if anyone wanted to change their tag, they had to do it themselves the next day.

(I'm sorry, I had too much fun with this. I'm sick and I can't focus while writing the next chapter so I'm happy that you sent me this question! It made me really happy <3)

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starwriterulia · 8 months ago

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Perversity and Loathing - Chapter 2

CONTAINS HEAVY SUBJECT MATERIAL THAT MAY TRIGGER READERS WITH ANXIETY, DEPRESSION AND PTSD. SOME CHAPTERS CONTAIN 18+ CONTENT.

This is a reboot of Tomb of the Goshenite Stargazer Dragon. (Masterlist)

Fandoms: DC Comics, Batfamily, Thalassic Space (OC)

Characters (In order of appearance): Bruce Wayne (Batman), Barbara Gordon (Batgirl), Dick Grayson (Nightwing), Urania (the Boeotian muse) Faith Lawson (self-insert)

Word Count: 7243

TW: None, I think? Please correct me if I'm wrong. Thank you!

A/N: This only took over nine hours over the course of today to write, hooray! Also, if you read the previous chapter, you should read it again, as its ending has been changed, and other details have been added. Tag list in the replies of people who liked/reblogged any part of the previous version of this story, or the previous chapter(s). You’re not obliged to read or leave a comment. Thank you for reading! ^w^

Dividers by @cafekitsune

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3

The Batplane touched down, and when the elevator lowered to the metal platform, Batman carried Faith, Nightwing and Batgirl behind him. They walked to a stair that dipped into the shallows of the stream. Nightwing and Batgirl stayed on the platform. Nightwing's left arm wrapped around Batgirl's back, and Batgirl leaned into him.

As Batman's knees settled into the water, Faith's feet dipped into the stream. He took a few steps and was hip-deep, while Faith's lower body and back were in the water. He lowered his arms, submerging the young woman's upper body, keeping her head above the surface. A white-blue orb shone through the scallop seashell, casting a celestial globe onto the ceiling. Two seconds later, a beam of light cast into the water, just in front of Batman. A black, curly haired, dark eyed and fair skinned woman in a toga and sandals, appeared.

Urania spoke Greek, of course. "Thank you for not leaving her there."

Batman replied in Greek. "It would have been cruel."

"Do you know who I am?"

"You came through the light of a celestial globe. You are Urania." The muse of astronomy and astrology nodded, a small smile on her lips. "Faith is important to you?"

"I have watched her journey as a writer. She chose me as her patron. I was her teacher in her third life, at least in her book."

"This is her first life, out of her book?"

"Yes. On Earth, there is only Faith. In Thalassic Space, there was Myth Claus, then Eafla Volen. Last, she was Ønske Ulia Lost."

"Were her lives long?"

Urania shook her head. "In her first two lives, she was murdered at two days old. The two eldest children of the high vampires of Thalassic Space were especially awful. The galaxy she made is great. She is good at combining ideas that she likes." Urania chuckled once. "She loves to talk for hours about her stories."

"So she will be happy to tell us what we need to know to help her."

Urania bobbed her head. "It should not be hard. The Domain will be pleased to make things right again." Batman nodded. "My sisters did not want me to come here. They told me it was acceptable for her to be dead."

"But I do not want my student's passion to die. She is also very kind. Yes, she will be unable to work with you the way most of your wards do. But I know you will think of something for her to do, without magic." Batman nodded again.

Batgirl said, in Greek, "There was a time I couldn't use my legs, either." Urania looked at her and gave a gentle smile. Batgirl mimicked the muse.

Batman asked, "Will she be a mermaid now?"

"She will be able to become one, if her knees are submerged. She could not swim. This, along with the return of her life, is my gift to her. It is her most basic wish. It was her first wish, as a child, not including the wish to ride the back of her first imaginary friend, the unicorn named Bella."

Batman said, "This is why she brought out the seashell necklace."

"Yes. If you warm her body and pat her legs with a towel like a fish on a plate, her legs will return." Batman nodded more.

Nightwing asked, in Greek, "Does she have a magical voice, now?"

Urania giggled. "Yes." Nightwing nodded with a little smile. "Have I answered your most urgent questions?"

Batman replied, "Yes, thank you." Urania nodded. She placed her right hand over Faith's left breast, and her left on Faith's pelvis.

"This song is written in English, and so I must sing it in that language." Batman gave a small nod.

"I ascend under the autumn sun while you cry for me.

Thinking of the smile I had as a child.

You will have me in your heart, even when I have left you.

And so winter comes, but the sun is still warm and kind.

Oh please, let the Double Eight rise!

Connect my life to yours, again!"

Faith gasped, her eyes blinking open, and in her first pant for air, she saw Batman, and her eyes moved a little to see Urania. She sighed, and her cheeks turned a little red and rose in a smile. "Hi! Wow, you actually came! Thank you!"

Urania replied in English. "Of course I came, Faith. And, you're welcome." Urania kissed Faith's forehead. "I hope you are able to find happiness, here."

"Thank you." Said Batman, in Greek. Urania nodded once.

Urania said, in English, "I must return to Pierian Spring, now. Be good, and be safe, Faith."

"I will." Urania nodded again. She looked upwards, and returned to the celestial globe, which faded away. Batman turned and walked to the stairs and onto the platform, letting Faith down.

"Br!" Faith hugged her arms, clutching the damp towel.

Nightwing said, "Yeah, that stream is cold."

Batgirl said, "And your towel is wet! Come on. Let's go upstairs and get you dry." Faith nodded and followed Batgirl, Nightwing and Batman casually trailing behind. "I brought you some clothes."

"Aw! Yeah, I saw 'em in your arms! Thank you!"

"You're welcome."

"You still have the Clicker, right?" Faith asked, as they began climbing the stairs.

"Yep. It's in my pocket."

"OK, we're gonna need that. I can take away what Ra's stole easily, with it."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah! I just have to change the spell associated with its usage."

"So, if I had accidentally used it again, would I have sent you and Ra's back to the dream world?"

"No, because an artificial Clicker, like the one you have, turns off after one spell, or one rotation. You can destroy it by crushing it or burning it, by the way."

"Oh, OK." They entered and exited the study, ascended the closest stair, on the right side, and went into the first guest bedroom. Batgirl led Faith into the bathroom, Batgirl flicking on the light and closing the door. Nightwing and Batman loitering on the far side of the bed. Faith shivered as she unwrapped the towel and stood on the balls of her feet to hang it on the towel radiator above the toilet. "Oh, nice! She healed you right up, too."

"Yeah!" Faith replied, accepting a dry towel Batgirl obtained from under the sink. She began using it on herself. "Only thing is, now I can't use Ra's' sperm as a bargaining chip."

"For the Hallway?" Said Nightwing.

"Yeah. I could have offered it to the entity as payment for taking my magic from Ra's."

Batman asked, "Are you going to use it, when you get it back?"

"Nope! It's gonna go back to the altar, in my dungeon." Faith went on the balls of her feet again.

"No no, wait," Said Batgirl. Faith relaxed her feet. "Let me dry your hair."

"Oh! Thanks." Faith gave the towel to Batgirl.

"You're welcome, hon."

Nightwing said, "You have a dungeon?"

"Yeah, it's where my Animus, Argophael, and I were buried, when my third incarnation and Argophael were murdered by his father, who tracked Argophael down because, in Thalassic Space, Bartholomew Roberts is a transphobic blizzard warlock pirate."

Batgirl laughed, "So Blackbeard is a wizard, now?"

"Warlock."

"Warlock, sorry."

"Wizards and witches are chaotic neutral or chaotic good, sorcerers are chaotic good or lawful good or lawful neutral, and warlocks and viragos are chaotic evil or lawful evil."

"Ah, OK."

"Anyway, um, y'all are probably wondering about the Navidson Hallway."

"Yeah. All done. You can get dressed, now." Batgirl said, hanging the towel on the radiator. Faith swiftly dressed in the clothes Batgirl provided her.

"OK, I need to explain the three Magical Occupancies of Thalassic Space, first."

"Ooh, that sounds cool."

"I'm pretty good at naming things. Anyway, there are Domains, Realms and Plains." Faith, now dressed, opened the door. Batgirl followed her out, turning off the light. Faith sat at the centre the bed, and Batgirl sat on its right side. "A Plain is a magic island that has shores in multiple planets and is inhabited by magical peoples who govern themselves. For example, the 28 Mansions of the Four Symbols of Chinese astrology. The Mansions are the constellations that make up each beast, but were classified as magic islands when first explored by the Oracles, the most powerful and only immortal Dreamer mages of Thalassic Space. The Mansions are lived in by the deceased atheists of Thalassic Space, allowing them a good variety of different places to live in whenever they want. The Mansions are also a key part of how the Dream World on Paper takes form, using the Mansions and their assets as inspiration for many of the possible common events in the Dream World on Paper."

"Oh, so you weren't just in the dream world, you were in your own dream world."

"Yeah! As a child, I drew a desert with a sinkhole and mountains, a snowy mountain overlooking an ocean, and a city surrounded by a forest on three pieces of paper that I glued to different coloured construction paper. I saw those papers in a dream in the past six months. Hence the name."

"Wow, that's kind of amazing." Said Nightwing.

"Do you remember most of your dreams?" Asked Batgirl.

Faith shook her head. "Nah. Only some of them. Lots of times, I'll be sitting at my computer, and go, 'What was that dream, again?', 'cause some of the ideas are directly taken from media I've seen and liked, or have been scared by."

"Oh yeah."

"Uh, a Realm is a moon planet inhabited by magical people and governed by an entity that can be accessed by portals. The two most infamous examples are the Lightless Realm and the Lightful Realm, the original homes of the Astral Elves and Snow Elves. Krampus was the mayor of the Astral Elves, and Santa was, and still is, the mayor of the Snow Elves. They and Bartholomew are the sons of Nerobzal, the great evil Fallen Angel of Thalassic Space. Bartholomew is eldest, then Krampus, and Santa is the youngest, and the only one of the brothers who isn't evil."

"Right, OK."

"Nerobzal used to be Erophael."

"E-ro." Batman mimicked.

"Yeah, if you look up 'ero meaning' and read the Wikitonary article, and all of the different etymologies, I happened to pick a perfect name for this character! 'Cause it was originally Argophael, but I realised I liked it better for my Animus, so I typed out the first closest sounding three letters I thought of, and boom! Magic."

"Magic." Batgirl imitated. She, Nightwing and Faith giggled.

Batman said, "So, under Creek, it refers to how people in Oklahoma say squirrel."

"Oh yeah, 'cause of their southern accent."

"In Esperanto, it is the back-formation of element. Its accusative singular is eron, plural eroj, and accusative plural erojn." Batman said. Batgirl hummed. "Oh, there's plenty more. In Finnish, it belongs to erä, meaning apart, plus o to make eräo. It means difference, distinction, is an Ellipsis of avioero, 'divorce', and means resignation, discharge or dismissal, and separation or parting. Ido has also era, and Ingrian has difference. There is also the Rōmaji transcription of エロ, while the Jarawa definition is angry. In Kari'na, ero means 'this', in Ladino it belongs to hero, in Latin, as a verb, it is sum, and as a noun it is erus," He made eye contact with Faith. "Meaning 'master of the house' or 'merchandise'." Faith nodded. Batman returned his gaze to Batgirl. "Old High German, in which it means earth, and, lastly, Teanu, in which it means water, fresh water, stream, or river."

"Wow!" Said Nightwing.

"Yeah, I got lucky!" Faith replied. "Erophael was made from the first white ebony tree by Uriel, and brought into Paradiso, where Uriel taught Erophael arts and science. Erophael favoured literature and theatre, and so he wrote poems, songs and plays about the early times of Man to Yahweh, and he was loved for this. Then, Emperor Nero died of suicide, and Erophael laughed at this. For two seconds, all life on Earth had violent thoughts, but only Yahweh sensed this."

"Yahweh removed Erophael's holiness and renamed him as Nerobzal, telling him that he would understand 'bzal' soon. Yahweh gripped Nerobzal's wings and tore them off as he threw Nerobzal down to the Ninth Circle of Inferno, which froze his wings upright. Lucifer had been expecting him. A white door had appeared on Lucifer's pelvis, and Lucifer knew that Nerobzal was fated to open it. The only catch was that Nerobzal would have to kill 16, 777, 216 humans within its halls, which Lucifer would use to free himself and the 200 Fallen Angels from Dudael, and they would go to Earth from the Most Hidden Realm and begin Armaggedon."

"So Hell is considered a Realm, in Thalassic Space." Said Batman.

"Yes. Its portal is the selva obscura, of course, which can extend to any dense forest or savannah where a leopard, lion or wolf can be naturally found." Faith raised her hands in front of her chest. "I know what you're thinking: can this happen, and is Earth in danger? The answer is, yes, but it wouldn't be dangerous. Ra's might think it's dangerous, if he were to find out about it. It's actually a Special Event using the assets of the 28 Mansions. It's a divine spectacle controlled by the Four Symbols. After forty-eight hours, all of the living or dead Fallen Angels, plus Lucifer, participate in a Curtain Call, and return the lives and bodies of any person or animal taken, and rebuild any buildings and all of nature that were likely damaged."

"A divine spectacle."

"If you were to ask Zeus, Odin, Ra, Vishnu or the Four Symbols, they would say this is fair and isn't breaking the rules of Thalassic Space. You can't ask Yahweh because he's not a Bay God. He was sent home by the voice of Qinglong because he wanted to destroy the O-type star of Thalassic Space, believing it was unnatural for humans to live under such a hot sun, much less a magic sun. He was the only god who thought this way." Batman hummed.

"So, Lucifer pulled Nerobzal out of the ice, and Nerobzal skated on his bare feet towards the door. Eight greater humanoid demons chased him, but Nerobzal made it to the door. Upon touching it, Nerobzal knew how to open it. He knocked upon it five times. As the demons closed in, the door knocked back twice. The demons were gripping Nerobzal's arms, legs and torso as Nerobzal opened the door and fell on the floor of the stone hallway. The demons turned into pale grey jumpscare people with neon orange eyes, the first Nero Spirits, called Ghouls, and just laid there. Nerobzal pulled himself from beneath them. When he stood, an angel of the lowest caste, so, uh, just an angel, looked at him from the doorway. Nerobzal pivoted and ran into the hallway. The angel roared and leapt into the hallway, the wing of his wings closing the door. As the angel soared over the Ghouls, he lost his voice and transformed into the Umbrella Man, and stopped where his feet landed as Nerobzal found the dead end and came back, the way ahead having opened, and a window showing them the planets, O-type star and Sagittarius A* of Thalassic Space, confirming to Nerobzal that he had escaped. Nerobzal led the Ghouls and Umbrella Man further until they found the Grandest Room, and there they made a series of stairs and platforms to live in. They spied upon its people, chose the most cruel among them to form the cult of Kaleido, for you cannot understand or hear the word of Yahweh from the outside of a chapel, but you can comprehend and obey the whispers of Nero Spirits in the darkness of high noon, or the light of the midnight." Faith snapped her fingers, actually using the nail of her thumbs and the underside of her middle finger, making a muffled sound. Batgirl and Nightwing softly laughed, and snapped their fingers for her, Batman snapping his fingers too. "Thank you. I-It's all just supposed to be art, y-you get that by now, right?"

"Yeah, we get it." Said Nightwing.

"Um, and Nerobzal waited for the O-type star to be incarnated for the first time in response to the people of Thalassic Space being in peril from the actions of Kaleido. Human trafficking, enslavement, the usual things, but all done under the influence of the Nero Spirits whisperings in the dreams of manipulatable people who were already a little cruel."

Batman said, "You mentioned the angel become the Umbrella Man. Anything special about him?"

"Oh, I stole him from the Team Fortress 2 ARG "Project Skybox"." Faith cackled. Batman discreetly interacted with his gauntlet. "But I gave him new lore!" She compressed her voice to sound like Toad from the Mario franchise. She raised her arms and altered her voice again when hollering, "Woo!" Batgirl and Nightwing chuckled.

"This guy?" Batman said, showing Faith an image projected from his glove.

"Yeah!"

"Ooh, he's kinda creepy." Said Nightwing.

"So what does he do?" Batgirl asked.

"In the ARG, he crashes the game of players who use the Interlope console command, in certain maps. It's a sentient AI. But in Thalassic Space, he was an angel who was unlucky enough to follow Nerobzal into the Domain of Platonia."

"Ah, OK."

"The Domain of Platonia?" Batman repeated with a tone of intrigue. "Now, where did that come from?"

"Oh, shit, right." Faith laughed. "That's why I was telling you the story of Nerobzal!"

"The Navidson Hallway is the Domain of Platonia."

"Yes." Faith shook her hands happily. "So, originally, I was looking for a word that was like 'Platonic', and the first letter I tried subtituting c was a. I clicked on Wikipedia's 'Platonia (disambiguation)', and the second bulletin read: Platonia (philosophy), a hypothetical timeless realm by Julian Barbour containing every possible momentary configuration of the universe. And I was like," Faith raised her right index finger. "Oh." Batgirl chuckled. "Oh yeah, I can work with that! So I combined "Project Skybox" with Julian Barbour's Platonia, and adjusted Nerobzal's story so that he would find it."

"Ooh. Well, it works really well!"

"Yeah, it all flows together nicely." Said Nightwing.

"Thank you! OK, um, a Domain is a fortress, sailing ship or space ship created by an entity to etiher imprison, torture or observe whoever or whatever is inside. The Domain of Platonia is, of course, a hostile liminal space stone fortress entity. There was also Palette, a man o'war owned by the wealthy humans and high elves who were members of Kaleido on planet Bafsina, meaning basin. They forced merfolk, harpies and poor humans, elves and other anthropomorph people into labour on ship and land, raping many men, women and children. This happened during the actual eighty years of the Golden Age of Piracy, and at its end, the protagonists of the story I've been mulling over for Bafsina have their victory, and the ship is sunk, and the members of Kaleido associated with it are executed."

Faith chuckled thrice with a grin, resting her chin in her hands, fingers spread across her little cheeks, fidgeting her small feet. "So, uh, you three are all really smart. What do you think is the spaceship Domain?" Faith looked at Batgirl, saw her brows furrowed, and heard Nightwing hum in thought, saw his lips puckered to the side. Faith looked at Batman, who had a little smile.

Nightwing guessed, "Platonia? Spaceships have windows and bays, and maybe the Greatest Room is a cargo bay, of sorts?"

"Nope!"

Batgirl guessed, "The 28 Mansions?"

"Nope, those are Plains."

"Oh, right."

"Can we have a hint?" Nightwing asked.

Batgirl said, "Yeah, give us a hint, please."

"It is the biggest spoiler for my book that Ashanti, my cat anthro Wish Child, ends up finding out while trying to figure out if I'm really going to birth the Anti-Christ or not after I return to Thalassic Space without her parents or I knowing who summoned me, or why."

"Wow, you like to make bold choices in your writing, huh?" Said Batman.

Faith shrugged. "What can I say? A fantasy-horror author has to be bold, sometimes."

"OK, now I'm lost." Said Nightwing.

"Yeah, now I'm confused." Batgirl added.

Faith said, "Batman, if you would like to reveal?"

"Gladly."

Nightwing said, "Not surprised you already know, Bruce."

"Not at all." Batgirl replied.

"It's Thalassic Space." Batman said. Nightwing and Batgirl looked even more perplexed. "Platonia is an immeasurably large Domain. The 28 Mansions are constellation Plains. And Realms are moon planets. If they all exist in the same galaxy, we need the biggest possible Magical Occupancy to contain all of this, plus the planets. How many planets are there, by the way, Faith?"

"It's our solar system, but behind Mercury is a .75 times bigger twin planet, and that planet is Bafsina, in front of Venus is planet Grace, which is the size of Uranus, Earth is replaced by Yotutrnaeyl, meaing 'journey, and is 1.75 times bigger, and planet Judge, Little Path and Sia are non-visible, share the same orbits and sizes as the visible planets in the listed order, but are only accessible via spaceships and portals, such as Doors to Platonia or traditional chalk door portals."

"Wow, that's cool." Said Nightwing.

"Thank you!"

Batman said, "The existence of Platonia suggests that there can be an even bigger Domain."

"Ohhh, and that bigger Domain is Thalassic Space!" Said Batgirl.

"Yes. Isn't that right, Faith?"

"Yep!" Faith giggled and cheerfully shook her arms. "And now I need to draw the Double Eight to finish explaining all of this, and why we don't have to worry about Ra's or any other villain taking advantage of Thalassic Space after I use the Clicker to return my dark magic to the altar!"

"I'll come back with paper and a pencil." Batman said. "Or do you prefer a pen?"

"A pencil, since I probably won't draw the loops and inner leaves big enough on the first try because I drew it digitally, and also pencil crayons!"

"OK." Batman exited the bedroom.

"You certainly look alive, Faith." Said Nightwing. "You feeling OK?" Faith nodded, cheeks smiling. "Good."

"I'm glad that my basic wish worked. If it didn't, you guys would have no idea how to properly stop Ra's from proceeding."

"I was going to ask:" Batgirl said. "What are you going to offer Platonia, now that you can't offer Ra's' sperm?"

"Yeah, and what would it have done with it?" Nightwing added.

"It would have just eaten it." Faith shrugged. "And now, I will have to give it a cup of blood and a quarter of a cup of hair."

"That's it?"

"Yep! It's only hostile if you enter without being prepared and willing to give offerings like that."

"Should we maybe go down to the kitchen and get you those measuring cups?"

"Sure, if you'd like to. A Ghoul can measure it, too."

"Let's maybe do it ourselves." Batgirl said, rising from the bed.

"Yeah." Said Nightwing. "You're gonna get it, Babs?"

"Yep." Batgirl paused in the doorway. "You just stand there and make sure nothing pops out and grabs her, yeah?"

"Yeah, OK." Nightwing replied. Batgirl continued. A few seconds passed. "Do you mind if I ask a personal question? Sorry, I actually have two questions. Been wondering since you've been handling this, uh, differently than most people would."

"Sure, I don't mind."

"What's your orientation? And, um, have you been raped before?"

"Oh, aceflux pansexual demiromantic. And no, I've never been raped before. I was a virgin, actually."

"Oh! So it's, uh,"

"Complicated." Faith glanced to the left, and her voice warbled. "And it hurt a lot."

Nightwing sighed. "Yeah. I'm sorry you had to go through that, too."

Faith nodded. "Thanks. I know you've been there." Nightwing nodded. "It's like, most of the time, my brain squints at sex, and I'm like, 'OK, are these people doing it for leisure, or procreation, and why are they doing it this way?', and other times it's blowing an airhorn at itself, and I'm down bad."

Nightwing chuckled. "OK then!" Batman entered the room, a notepad, pencil and pencilcase in hand. He put the items on the bed, at Faith's left.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"I love genders. They're just so interesting and authentic, and I get so happy whenever I meet someone or talk to my Homestuck friends who are gender-queer."

"Aw, that's nice."

"And then, since I spent so long trying to understand friendship, and then all of the sudden I had puberty, I got really confused about how monogamy works, since everyone writes different stories about all the different ways it can go, both good and bad, and I've tried," Faith sighed. "I've tried, and I just... I dunno if I really get it like everyone who's happy with monogamy does."

"What do you mean?"

"It feels so restrictive. Like, what do you mean, I belong to you and you belong to me, and nobody else, and if there's any side-stepping, it's a huge problem? Why is it so easy for people to be sneaky instead of just be honest and tell the person they established a bond with that they prefer to be free, sexually? Wouldn't it be easier if everyone just, like, was unbound by, eugh, marriage? I don't even know how it actually works, I just heard that some things are shared, and I don't know if I want to share everything!" Batgirl cautiously entered the room, two measuring cups and a bottle of water in hand.

"I want to own me, I want my partner to own themselves, and I want to be open to helping people I trust with their needs, and not hide it from my partner. And, if I'm lucky, I'll have more than one partner, and we all just are honest in our actions, and we tell each other if we think the person one of us is interested in is dangerous or parasitic, and we protect each other from those people, and our community from them! 'Cause everyone who's smart and has a good heart knows that gay people like me aren't dangerous, and we're not corrupting anyone. We've been around since God made us, or since we evolved from mammals into humans. The only thing that's changed is language, and it needs to keep changing so that we can continue to understand each other, and accept and nurture each other."

"No one should be left behind or raped or killed just because they don't want A-B-C, and want X-Y-Z instead! They're all logical, and they're helpful, and they're part of the same alphabet, the same order. You just have to remember the rest of the letters, and it will all make sense and feel natural, and then hopefully you will confirm not just to society but to yourself and whatever deity or demon you worship, if that applies to you, that you are worthy of people's time, love and the planet's resources." Faith panted. She swallowed. "Ugh, I'm parched from all of this talking." Batgirl appraoched the bed and gave Faith the bottle of water. "Oh, thank you."

"You're welcome." Batgirl responded, while Faith twisted the cap off and drank.

Nightwing said, "Wow. Um. I don't even know what to say. No offense."

Batman said, "You want to be in love, but you don't want to be tied down to marriage, and you want to be honest with who you've been with or are interested in so your partner can help you see if they can be trusted or not." Faith nodded. "You want to return to someone or a small group of people and be welcomed, not shunned or abandoned for your views on how you want to love and be loved." Faith nodded more. "You want your partner or partners to share this idea, but you know that most of society doesn't think this way and blames this on homosexuals, but you know it's a matter of poor communication and coupling, hence why you were garrulous while describing this feeling to us."

"Yes." Faith sighed.

"You feel more comfortable having friends and having sexual and romantic freedom." Faith nodded. "You're afraid of love because it hurt you."

"I just... haven't had good experiences, especially with men. And my foster parents sucked, and my adoptive parents tried to help but couldn't do much."

"Oh, you're adopted!" Said Batgirl.

"Yeah. My brother is biological, we were just put in different foster homes 'cause my dwarfism meant I was considered special needs."

"You still are." Said Batman. Faith bobbed her head.

Batgirl asked, "Have you ever dated a woman?"

"No." Faith sighed heavily. "They only ever want to be my friend."

Batgirl sat on the bed side facing the door and softly said, "I'm sorry."

"I'm missing something that I've felt since I saw Ariel," Faith's voice became stifled. "And how free and happy she was, curious about the world, collecting things she likes, lucky enough to find someone who truly loved her, and I loved her too, and I just..." She sniffled and shook her head, wiping moisture from her left eye. "All of my life, I've wanted to be normal, but I can't be because of my dwarfism and how I think." Batgirl gently placed her left hand on Faith's thigh.

"I've been autistic this entire time, but I'm only diagnosed as having Reactive Attachment Disorder,"

"Ah."

"And that makes sense, but everyone who knows me knows there's more. And I just," Faith swallowed. "I just have had to help myself, had to teach myself why incest is wrong when my mom wouldn't explain why after I almost did it with my little brother." Batgirl batted her lashes, and looked at Nightwing, who also looked stunned, and at Batman, who was unreadable. "She heard us and stopped us, and I told her where I got the idea from, it was character shipping in the Vocaloid fandom,"

"Rin and Len?"

"Yeah! And someone said it was taboo, and I looked the word up, but I didn't trust my mom enough to ask her because I knew I'd get yelled at just for trying to understand why it was bad, and my dreams won't leave it alone. I see my teenage brother in his bedroom at the trailer house, I come in with my adult brain, then he suggests it, and I force myself to sit up and end the dream. I had to do all of my thinking myself 'cause I was 'impossible to teach'." Faith quoted with her fingers. "I wasn't!"

"I had to use words and words, and pictures and videos, and I understood very well. But I can't talk about what I've learned, 'cause then people will think, 'Wow, she needs to be medicated', which I am, by the way! Regular Quetiapine and Quetiapine XR, a small dosage of both. Have since 2021, and I even got an upgrade last year, the anti-depressant form of it that I mentioned!" Faith panted. She licked her lips and swallowed.

"I'm so angry at myself, and all I'm allowed to do is put on my work-face and work-voice, and I just want to be with friends who know that I've got mood swings, and I'm tired of trying to belong to a man, and I'm sad because no one else wants me." She sobbed. "'Cause, 'cause I know the definition of happiness, but I'm only ever OK. I have very few good days. And I've scarcely known a great day, and I don't think I've ever felt fantastic."

Her breathing was heavy as she stared into Batgirl's eyes. Batgirl looked back with sympathy, and rubbed Faith's right arm with her right hand. Faith calmed her breathing and spread her fingers across her forehead, hiding her eyes. "I just want to be free, like the women and people who died before me. So I made a galaxy, I gave myself a cat family, and, and I have all of my toys in my head so Mom can't take them away."

"And I live by myself and try to be single so I can be free, and I'm genuinely happy and fortunate to have my job, it's, it's great, for retail. I just... what Ra's did to me, not to my body, even though, yes, that was a literal nightmare, it's what he's done to my toys. He's taken what isn't his, and it needs to go home." Faith sobbed, wiped her eyes. "Sorry, all of this is supposed to stay in my head for a reason."

Batgirl said, "Thank you for sharing all of that with us. That was very brave and honest of you, Faith."

"Thank you for not interrupting me."

"You're welcome."

Batman said, "You shouldn't give Platonia your blood. You likely don't have enough to spare, right now."

"Yeah. It will accept other people's blood, if the ritual leader can't offer their own. No strings attached, just a different option."

"I'll give it mine, then. Should we get this over with, then?" Batman asked. Faith nodded, and climbed out of bed. "Let's go down to the kitchen." Faith, followed by Batgirl and Nightwing, followed Batman down the stairs. "I bet you're hungry, too."

"Yeah." After descending they passed the stair down to the Great Hall, at the corner entered and exited the servery, then entered the first room in the next corridor. They stopped at the pantry door. Batman stepped aside.

"Would you like to do the honours?" Batman asked. Faith nodded. She knocked five times. The door knocked back twice. Faith opened the door, and the Hallway returned.

"Hello-o? Platonia? I've come to make an offering." Faith stepped towards Batgirl, who spread her hand to offer the measuring cups, which Faith took, pocketing the smaller cup in her borrowed pants. Faith hovered the full cup under Batman's left hand. He made a cut on his forearm, and the cup steadily filled with blood. Once it was full, Batman produced a small pouch from his belt, and Faith carefully walked into the Hallway with her left hand under the cup to catch the little splashes, although droplets fell onto the stone floor. A path opened on the left, and pair of neon orange eyes on a pale grey head poked from the nearest, lower edge of the doorway. Faith proceeded and slowly knelt on both knees, left knee down first, and put the cup in the opening, inches away from the hand of the Ghoul. Faith brought out the other measuring cup. "Uh, I need something to cut my hair with. You can just slide it on the floor, or toss it over." Batman tossed a Batarang that lodged itself into the wall. "Thank you." Faith positioned her hand to pry it loose. "Oh, wait."

"She'll cut herself." Said Nightwing.

"Yep." Batman found a grey hand cloth from his belt. He entered the mouth of the Hallway. "Catch." He threw the cloth, and Faith sort of caught it, fumbling as it collided with her neck and upper chest. Faith used the cloth to free the Batarang with her left hand, transferred it to her right hand, collected an inch of her hair in her left hand over her left shoulder, and cut her hair into the measuring cup.

The Ghoul grumbled like a lizard in warning. "Wzhzazt doz yabozuz wzisrhz phzozr, Srtazrwzriter?"

"I know what he's saying." Batman quietly said to his wards.

"You know the language?" Replied Nightwing.

"No, but it's a letter-swap. It said, 'What do you wish for, Starwriter?'."

"The man who stabbed me and raped me took the dark magic I'm guaranteed to have when forcibly summoned. Take it back without killing him so that he may never use Thalassic Space, and return the magic the altar in the Dungeon of the Goshenite Stargazer Dragon and the Obsidian Moondancer Dragon. Do you see him?"

"It isr diphz'icuzlabt toz sree hzimam. Yabozuzr vazginanaz dozesr nanozt srmamelab' labike hzimam, aznanyabmamozre."

"It is difficult to see him. Your vagina does not smell like him, anymore." Translated Batman.

"Eugh." Said Batgirl.

"I know. Urania removed his sperm, when she resurrected me."

"Wze azre azwzare ozphz thzazt."

"We are aware of that."

"You know what a Lazarus Pit smells like, though."

"Yabesr."

"Yes."

"The oldest man from Earth Prime who smells like that is who you are looking for. The younger man is not your target."

The Ghoul scoffed and growled. "Thzisr ozphz'erinang isr nanozt enanozuzghz."

"This is not enough."

"Oh, of course it's not." Batgirl scoffed.

"But it is protocol." The Ghoul growled deeper. "I am not your master, and I know that my status as your Author means little to you. But the order of Thalassic Space, and of Earth Prime, will not be correct until you do this." Faith sighed, her eyes darting on the floor before finding the Ghoul's face. "Your... your master, the Greatest of Sagittarius... he may visit my dreams tonight."

"Hze isr azlabwzazyabsr thzere." The Ghoul laughed for a few seconds, first low and demented, then shrieking and rigid.

"He is always there."

"What does your master wish of me, then?"

The Ghoul said nothing for four long seconds. "Yabozuz azlabreazdyab knanozwz, phzoz'labisrhz girlab." Faith looked at the floor as the Ghoul laughed for several seconds.

"You already know, foolish girl."

"Hze wzilab' azccept thzisr mamozrtazlab mamaznan'sr bzlaboz'd azsr az labighzt bzeverazge, oznane ozphz phzazr labesr' richznanesr' aznand renanozwznan azsr yabozuzrsr,"

"He will accept this mortal man's blood as a light beverage, one of far less richness and renown as yours,"

"Aznand hze wzilab' azccept yabozuzr hzazir, aznand chzerisrhz it azsr oznane ozphz hzisr giphztsr phzrozmam yabozuz."

"And he will accept your hair, and cherish it as one of his gifts from you."

"Bzuzt nanozwz thzazt yabozuzr wzozmamb isr clabeaznaned," The Ghoul said. Faith gasped and shook her head with a shocked expression.

"But now that your womb is cleaned,"

"No!" Said Batgirl.

"We need to get her out of there, Batman." Nightwing rapidly said.

"Wait." Batman answered.

"Thze mamazsrter wzozuzlabd labike toz ozph'er yabozuz hzisr chzilabd."

"The master would like to offer you his child."

"Batman!" Batgirl shouted, drawing Faith's attention to her.

"We have to trust her." Batman answered. "If any of us enter, this negotiation will be nullified, and then Faith will be in peril, and we may be unable to save her."

Faith turned her eyes back to the Ghoul. "And if I refuse?"

"Tzhzenan yabozuz srtazyab hzere inan thze dazrk wzithz yabozuzr phzeazr ozphz it, aznand ozphz his penis,"

"Then you stay here in the dark with your fear of it, and of his penis,"

"UGH!" Nightwing's upper body trembled in anger, and he clenched his bangs, wrists pressed against his temple.

"Aznand thze srmamelab' ozphz it wzilab' tazuznant yabozuz uznantilab thze dazrk mamazgic thzazt wzazsr srtozlabenan hzazsr bzeenan retuzrnaned, regazrdlabesr' iphz yabozuz sruzbzmamit toz yabozuzr labuzsrt."

"And the smell of it will taunt you until the dark magic that was stolen has been returned, regardless you submit to your lust." Batman translated. Batgirl scoffed, changed her posture, couldn't stand still and tried approaching the doorway. Batman caught her wrist and pulled her back.

"Stop." Said Batgirl, freeing her hand.

"How long will that take?" Faith asked. Batgirl entered the Hallway, and took three strides to stand behind Faith.

"Enough of this! Time to go, Faith. He won't let you go, if you stay any longer."

"Doz yabozuz nabozt uznandersrtaznand, mamozrtazlab wzozmamaznan?"

"Do you not understand, mortal woman?"

"I understand just fine." Batgirl said, taking hold of Faith's left arm and making her stand behind Batgirl. "Do as you were asked with the gifts you were presented. Your master considers Faith sacred, right?"

"Ozhz, srhze isr mamozre thzaznan srazcred toz Hzimambz'azlab."

"Oh, she is more than sacred to Himbzal."

"What about me? What if he used me, instead?" The Ghoul sat on its haunches, tilting its head over its left shoulder.

"Babs." Nightwing said with urgency.

"Barbara." Faith said with awe, meetin the taller woman's eyes.

"Am I valued less to your master because I'm not magic? Because I'm not your Author? Am I just food to him, to this Hallway, like all the other mortals? Do you know why she dyed her hair red?"

"Toz mamirrozr yabozuz."

"To mirror you."

"Yes, to mirror me. She has the most beautiful hazel green eyes, you know that?" Warmth came to Faith's cheeks, and Batgirl glanced at her. Faith bat her lashes as their eyes met. "Wouldn't you know, from the mind of your Author, that she is worth more than her body? And that I am the same? That all people are the same?"

The Ghoul sighed. "Thze mamazsrter isr tired ozphz hzeazrinang yabozuz."

"The master is tired of hearing you."

"I will not be ignored."

"You are not being ignored. You are being honoured. Leave. Both of you. It will be done."

"Yabozuz azre nanozt bzeinang ignanozred. Yabozuz azre bzeinang hzoznanozuzred. Labeazve. Bzozthz ozphz yabozuz. It wzilab' bze doznane."

"You better leave us alone."

"Wze wzilab'. Azt laneazsrt, toz thze extenant it wzazsr bzephzozre thzazt mamaznan bzrozuzghzt thzisr plabazce toz yabozuzr exisrtenance."

"We will. At least, to the extent it was before that man brought this place to your existence."

"Fine."

"Enter again, Faith, and you will answer for your trickery."

"This isn't trickery! This is fair. What your master wants is cruel, and Faith has had enough of that. Not just today, but in her life. If you really won't leave her be, the next time she comes in here, asking for your master's help, she'll be with me, or one of her new friends. And there's plenty of us to go around and kick your master's ass."

The Ghoul growled like a lizard and backed away. "Bze czazrephzuzlab wzhzazt yabozuz wzisrhz phzozr, Bzazrbzazraz Gozrdoznan."

"Be careful what you wish for, Barbara Gordon."

"We need to go." Faith said, rapidly.

"Yep!" Batgirl picked Faith up princess style,

Causing Faith to say, "Whoop!" And ran out of the Hallway, stopping in front of Nightwing and letting Faith down while Batman stepped forward and slammed the door, leaning on it and knocking five times, the door hammering back ceaselessly.

"Faith!" Batman shouted.

"The Clicker!" Faith answered.

"Time to use it?" Batgirl replied, quickly taking it out of her pocket and holding it in her left hand.

Faith rapidly said, "Don't look out the window, be still, breathe quietly, imagine any hallucination caused by neon coloured eyes, scary faces with lots of teeth or impossible figures as the face of a loved one, or their voice, whatever reminds you of life, and wait until the lights come back on and it's quiet for eight seconds! Batman, you'll have to move away from the door as soon you hear the click. You probably know this, but it's best to stand with your hands relaxed at your sides and your head looking forward with a relaxed neck and face." Faith did this herself, and Batgirl and Nightwing quickly nodded and stood as suggested. "NOW!"

Click.

A/N: Sorry for the cliffhanger lasdkjflasdfjsladkf

Proceed to Chapter 3

#perversity and loathing #starwriterulia writes #dc comics fanfiction #batfamily fanfiction #dick grayson #nightwing #barbara gordon #batgirl #bruce wayne #batman

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