#for my piece of lore today something short and simple | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

myrskytuuli · 4 months ago

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that 1920s Mika Waltari short story that gives Billford energy

well, well, well!

For context you might want to check out this and this post.

For more context:

Mika Waltari is one of Finland's most renoved writers, who wrote long, historical epics, which changed Finland's literary landscape forever. However, before all that, Mika was once 17 years old, and wrote horror-fantasy short stories under a pseudonym Kristian Korppi. Later in life, Mika personally asked Finnish publishers to make sure that the anthology he wrote when he was 17 would never be re-published, nor talked about again. (I get it. I have an FF.net account where are stories I wrote when I was 17, and I would rather die than link them here). It's just that. Uh. One of those stories happens to give HUGE energies which coincidence with TBOB. Which is VERY very funny.

So. You know. After couple peeps showed interest, @boiling-with-rage @qiisevil @artandtalk @whyismangososour @moneyisthebestlawyerinh3ll @sadcabbages @orionskittles @serendark @karikoolzer @urfavouritemistake

I have now decided to piss of Waltari's ghost forever and translated one of the stories into English. No. I have not changed anything to make it more Bill-Cipher-lore compliant. The story... is just...like that.

I think I will also link a translitteration of the original Finnish text here later, just for funsies.

Even if you're not in GF fandom, you might enjoy this as a piece of horror fiction. because...you know... that's what it is.

The Red Triangle

(An excerpt from the diary of law student Sven Hjalmarsson, which was found in a drawer of his writing desk on the day of his untimely demise.)

November 15th

Today, I ended up buying an old, moulding skull, and a Persian dagger. It was a result of a foolish whim, like usual. This morning, I saw an add on the newspaper about an auction, held at the behest of some dead antiques-dealer. They were advertising a large collection of old books, and I decided that I could try and to buy some textbooks they no longer sold at the bookstore.

Instead, I ended up buying a skull. There have been moments I have thought about having one on my desk. During a melancholic mood, I’ve thought how one could deepen my feelings of existentialism. The auction did not have a lot of attendees, so I ended up buying the skull for a bargain. Then I found out that the antiques-dealer had died by his own hand, cutting his own throat open with a Persian dagger, which was also on sale.

Some strange yearning for the fantastic and horrific made me also buy the dagger. Some collector of curiosities tried to out-bid me for it, so the dagger ended up eating up quite a bit of my savings. A foolish whim, as I just said!

Now the skull rests on my writing-desk. Its colour is of a yellowish-grey, in some places a bit greenish, and the empty eye-sockets keep staring at me. My landlady got a good scare when she saw it, but personally I find its presence to be comforting.

The dagger is resting next to the skull. It is quite old. On its handle, there are two smudged topazes embedded in, and the blade is littered with some brownish stains. Might be blood. The blade has been cleaned, but it is dull. I use it as a letter-opener.

I should be studying. For two months now, I’ve done nothing but walk around the town and procrastinate. There are couple lectures which I could attend, but I just do not feel motivated to go.

November 27th

How intolerably shallow and empty life is. Lately, my mind has been plagued by strange, unprecedented thoughts. I wonder, if they are caused by the skull on my desk, or if I am finally succumbing to simple pessimism.

What worth has life, really? What am I? A poor student, with no friends, and no family, aside from couple of distant aunts. I spend my time reading – if I can even manage that – and if I manage to graduate, I will become a judge, or something like that. I will live – for a time; I will exist – for a time; I will spend my time at gentlemen’s clubs or sitting alone in my house with a glass of whisky and a cigar. Eventually I will die and be buried, with couple lines in the newspaper and some acquaintance’s passing though: “Well, seems that now he’s finally died.” Then, nothing. I can’t bring myself to believe in the immortal soul. It simply doesn’t fit into scientific mindset.

Maybe I should get married, have children and continue my family legacy. I just feel put off by the thought. I can’t stand women, least of all my landlady, who wouldn’t be too old, and who has been watching me with those particular eyes. But, oh, how women repulse me when I try to think of them as sexual creatures! Maybe it is some type of hereditary nervous mental affliction.

I believe that our family line will end with me, as old and tired as that line is. Maybe that is where my melancholy originates from. I am pale and weak and get sick often. There must be something wrong with my blood.

I’ve gotten uncommonly fond of the skull. In its hollow eye-sockets, and grim grin, there is something which resonates with my sensibilities. Couple of the molars are still perfectly preserved, and their surfaces are clean and white.

December 1st

Today, one of my friends, the pharmacist, gave me cocaine. We enjoyed it together in his small apartment. For me, it was a first time.

Strange feeling. At first, my entire body and all of its muscles started shaking and my speech started slurring. Pleasure – extraordinary pleasure – was purely spiritual, without anything bodily.

It felt like all of my intelligence had gathered into one concentrated spot. I knew that I was a genius and that I could easily solve equations which had been bothering me for a while.

We enjoyed it as long as it lasted. It is better than alcohol.

December 5th

Last night I was visiting a “woman”.

She was very well put together, dark, passionate, and all her shapes were sensual. Nevertheless, I started feeling put off in the middle of things. As I was helping her undress, I watched my hands perfectly coldly and objectively. That type of dissociation has to be caused by some kind of mental affliction? I’ve never felt anything like that.

As I returned home, all I could feel was numbness. I’ve spent the whole day laying on my bed, smoking cigarettes. My ashtray is full of stumps, and some are already spilling out, but I cannot get myself to get up and empty it out.

The skull is watching me, and it looks like it is mocking me. I wonder if it belonged to a man or a woman? I try to read Baudelaire, but can’t be bothered to focus for even that.

No words in any book will focus.

December 8th

Today it snowed, enough that it will probably stay. Winter has come. I think, that it might have been the damp and dull days of fall, which were making me so paralysed. I have read and written the whole day. The cold air is energizing me. Even if the course books are so very thick.

December 11th

My nose is constantly running, and it feels like it’s burning from the inside. Unpleasant feeling. It’s probably caused by the cocaine. I’ve had to take it often. It vitalises me up and makes me feel alive. When I’m tired and lethargic, I feel like it’s all I want. They do say that it can become dangerous.

Last night I took some, and I couldn’t sleep the whole night. Half-awake-half-asleep, I saw some type of a vision. The skull turned into a head of a living woman. I had never seen her before, even if there was something familiar in her features. The face was smiling at me. It wasn’t a particularly symmetrical face, as there was something wrong with her smile, like it was weirdly crooked and inflexible. Still, I thought that she was very beautiful. Soon, I saw an entire woman forming to sit on my chair at my work-desk. She was wearing a thin, brown-spotted, dress, which showed off her shape clearly. I’ve never seen such comely and well-shaped woman’s body before.

Then, it was as if I was in some unfamiliar room. On the floor lay the body of an elderly, grey-haired man. In his stiffened hand was a dagger, and his throat had been slit open. I saw the opening of his wind-pipe, from which blood was lazily running out. I felt no fear nor had no sense of dread, just a weird tightening feeling around my chest. On the floor, next to the body, the skull laid upside down.

Both dreams were incredibly clear. I’ve never before experienced dreams with such clarity, even if I am a frequent dreamer. In the morning, I thought that I must be thinking of the skull too much, and that it is now invading my imagination and bothering my efforts at studying. I put it inside the desk-drawer, amongst all my old papers. Somehow, doing it made me feel lighter. I’m trying to do my work, but it just won’t take. I’m now laying on my bed, smoking cigarettes.

December 16th

Cocaine is wonderful. I have changed a lot. My soul is full of strange imaginaries. I dream of black flowers and intoxicating, alien, fragrances. It might also because of all the Baudelaire that I’m reading. I have bought a small and narrow table, covered it with a black cloth, and placed the skull on it. I also have metallic ashtray, for burning incenses at evenings in front of the skull: musk, and some other substance, which name I do not know. I got packets of it from a couple of small, stale-smelling, oriental stores. The smell of it is sweet and very intoxicating.

For holidays, I have decided to stay in the city. What would I do in the lonely countryside? Even though, I guess I’m even lonelier here.

Someone new has moved in the apartment on top of me. I have heard her footsteps: They are light, but firm. I feel like I’ve heard them before. I haven’t seen her yet. Some lady – they were talking of her around the dinner table, today.

My landlady was looking at me strangely today. I wonder if there was something off with my looks, or if she has finally noticed my games?

For yes – it is a game. A childish game I play, but it gives me odd satisfaction when I sit in the corner of my sofa, and the alien scents make colourful, oriental pictures bloom in my mind.

I had the sudden thought that the dead man from my dream must have been the antiques-dealer, who committed suicide. Some kind of thought association. After all, the skull is always in front of me.

December 18th

Today, she was at the dinner table. She was wearing a simple, brown-spotted, dress. Her face wasn’t particularly beautiful, but her eyes were dark and set deep in her face. Other side of her mouth was somehow crooked, and didn’t move as she talked.

When she saw me, she twitched unnaturally and stared me straight in the eyes. Then I was sure that I must know her from somewhere. At the table, I was absentminded and did not partake in the conversation.

Only by night did I realise that it was the same woman from my dream. This thought filled me with inexplicable sense of dread. My thoughts continuously return back to her. It might just be because I could hear her footsteps on top of me. As I heard her steps, I could not settle down until I had walked across the floor few times myself too.

The skull looks eerie in the dark. At times, I feel like I’m afraid of it.

December 20th

My pharmacist friend gave me a pretty large amount of cocaine. Now I feel good, but I wish I had some company.

I wonder if that brown-splattered woman would come into my room, if I asked her. It’s not like I know her, or have even talked with her.

But I have had sinful dreams about her.

December 24th

Christmas Eve. My landlady has acquired a Christmas tree. We few, who have nowhere else to go, sat together. Conversation was stiff. Everyone seemed miserable. I had taken a hit of cocaine and was chatting more than the others. Very uncharacteristic for me.

The brown-splattered woman was also there. She was wearing a different dress this time, but it also had brown spots.

Her body truly is spectacular.

I still did not talk with her, but I could feel her thoughts surround me like a rubbery net.

December 29th

Every night, I hear her footsteps above me. I cannot find rest, before from the sounds which her bedframe makes, I know that she too has settled to rest.

On the brick wall opposite from our building, I see the shadow of her window. Yesterday night, I stood by the window, and watched her silhouette. She is wearing a nightgown. Even if I only saw her shadow, I know it’s made of silk and that it has brown spots on it. Strange play of imagination!

When I went to bed and shut out the light, I saw her light also going out the same exact moment. Coincidence?

January 1st

Today, after dinner, we spent a moment together, talking about literature. Her smile is pretty, but the way the other corner stays fixed still, makes it look somehow unnatural.

She came to my room, to borrow one book or another, but after stepping through the doorway, neither of us could anymore remember what it had been. She knew, and I knew, that it had been just an excuse.

As a matter of fact, we did not talk at all, but still I feel like we exchanged many thoughts.

She saw the skull, and said that she likes mystical things.

At that moment, I somehow became convinced that the skull belonged to a woman.

January 10th

She has been to my room often. I have yet to see her rooms. We don’t speak much, as we know each other’s thoughts by instinct.

We have made no agreement, but every night we both stand in front of our respective windows at the same time. I look at her shadow, and I know that she is looking at mine. Usually, our lights shut down simultaneously.

Once, I asked if her nightgown also had brown spots. She admitted that it had. Even if she did not say it, I got the sense that she would like to show me one day.

Today, she examined the skull closely, took from the table the topaz-hilted, Persian dagger. Like she was playing around, she pressed the blade of the dagger against my throat. At that moment, I was reminded of the old antiques-dealer, and I got a strange feeling, but I said nothing about it to her.

I also took hold of the dagger, and placed it against my throat. It was then that I noticed how dull its blade was.

January 12th

She hasn’t visited, but I can still see her shadow from her window every night. Her thoughts fill my life. It’s no longer meaningless. Cocaine has also been energizing me. She knows that I use it. I can feel it, even if she hasn’t said anything. I wonder if it’s noticeable from my outward looks? I have been staring at myself in the mirror, but haven’t noticed anything different. Only my normal paleness, with maybe just a little bit of an odd sheen to it.

I caught myself thinking about the old antiques-dealer. Unnoticed, I had taken his dagger in my hand. I poked at its edge, and wondered what it would feel like to slit my throat with it.

When I realised where my train of thought was going, I shuddered.

If I were to take my own life – and I never will – now I love life, as it has meaning again – I surely would not pick that method. It is gruesome and horrible. I would rather drink poison. Poison would be painless and beautiful. But why even think of such things?

But wouldn’t it be fascinating if I could cut off my own head and put it on the table next to the skull. It would look so amusing. I can almost picture it…

I wonder where these thoughts keep coming from?

January 16th

Today she came again, but she was different from before. Her face was reddish and her eyes were gleaming. Still, I thought I saw something misty in them. We had fun. We laughed and we talked.

I notice myself thinking of her sensually. She knows it too.

January 19th

There was a knife-sharpener at the yard, today. His fingers were blue with cold, and from charity, I allowed him to sharpen my Persian dagger. He deserved those few coins, as now the blade is shiny and sharp. I can just stare at it. It’s like it draws your gaze to it.

I’ve noticed that the skull’s eye-sockets are deep, and I think that it once had dark eyes. On the left corner of its jaw, there is a tiny bump of cartilage.

January 20th

She has spent the whole day playing with the dagger. She asked me, if it wouldn’t look fantastic if her head was resting next to the skull on the table.

I think I will kiss her soon. I cannot hold myself back for long. She could sense my thoughts and gave me an odd smile.

January 24th

I don’t know what to think. Last evening, I took larger than usual dose of cocaine and burned incenses for the skull. Last night, I could not sleep, and instead succumbed to a now already familiar daze. I woke up to moonbeams, and to an impression that all the shadows in my room were quietly moving.

Then she walked in, stepping inside with soundless steps. The moonlight illuminated her slight, well-maintained, bare feet. the sight of those rosy heels woke up all of my senses.

She was wearing a black, silken, shift, which had few brown spots on it. But as she got closer, I realised that those were not normal brown-coloured spots. They shifted between purplish-red and at one time even greenish colours.

She bent over me. I could feel the warmth and scent of her body. The scent was familiar from the black flowers of my delirious dreams. From the opening of her neckline, I could see the shapes of her lovely breasts. Underneath her thin shift, she was entirely naked.

I didn’t know what to think. All the thoughts in my brain condensed into few, scattered points and then melted together. I could not finish a single line of thought. All I could remember from the whole experience were few, scant, sensations.

I could feel the firm roundness of her breasts on my lips, and her blazing body against mine. There was not a single imperfection in her, she was perfect.

I have spent the whole day lounging on my sofa, wondering if last night was real? At least it was an uncommonly lively and clear dream.

I saw her this morning; she looked tired, but didn’t say anything about last night, and made no reference to it with any of her gestures or demeanour. I also said nothing.

--- Now I know it was real. My landlady just popped her head in, and asked if I had banged the doors last night. Her face looked hostile and disapproving. She muttered something unclear…

I came to think that I don’t even know her name yet. The house log-book must have some name, but I’ve become convinced that it is not her real one.

I don’t want to ask, if she doesn’t tell me herself. This mystery satisfies me and engages my imagination.

February 1st

My studies have fallen completely on the wayside. She fills my life entirely. For many days, she has not visited me at all, but for hours and days I can still sit in the corner of the sofa, staring at the skull, and I do not feel lonely, for her thoughts surround me.

I have started to study geometry on my own way. My desire is to be able to draw a certain kind of triangle. I don’t know exactly how it should be, but my mind is restless as long as I cannot do it. I have filled stacks of papers with doodles, but none have been what I wanted. Most probably the idea has come to me from the occultic book of some old alchemists, which I once leafed through. Triangle was a holy shape for them, which embodied magical powers.

When she comes, she comes always exactly at 12 o’clock. I can hear the great clock of the main hall calling, and then she steps into my room. Any later, and I know she won’t come.

Once, she mentioned the date of March 4th. I can’t remember if she said it was her birthday, or something else. It must be a date of some significance, in any case. I am waiting for it with some excitement.

Fourth day of the third month… three times four makes twelve…

February 5th

Together, we have spent the whole day playing around with triangles, and wasted a lot of paper. Before she left, she took a red crayon from her pocket and drew a triangle into the black cloth over the skull-table.

There it is, exactly the triangle I have been struggling with for days. All my senses are excited, as I watch it. The essence of my soul is also a triangle, and exactly like that particular triangle. In some inexplicable way, I know it. It shackles and binds me in some manner. I have examined it. It isn’t even, and one of the angles is rather wide, maybe 110 degrees. Unconsciously, I’ve set the skull right on top of that point.

I wish I had three heads, which I could all set on the points of the triangle. The backs of their heads would touch each other, and the image would be perfect.

in any case, the triangle is wondrous.

February 12th

Last night she came to me again. How wonderful. Even if I was shuddering with sensual pleasure, it was all spiritual hedonism.

She told me to watch the skull. I watched it for a long time. The room was very dark, but I was still filled with strange, but very realistic, vision.

It looked like the red edges of the triangle started glowing in the dark. The skull was still at the point of the triangle and suddenly it looked like she didn’t have a head. It was on the furthest point of the triangle, facing backwards from me. But the point closest to me was empty, and this emptiness made my whole being feel miserable and yearning. Then, that vision disappeared and she kissed me wonderfully. It felt like my whole soul was being poured into her. It was a mysterious feeling, but very lovely.

My landlady is very angry at me and her. At the dinner table, she keeps whispering something I couldn’t hear. Everyone else was watching us strangely.

February 17th

If I focus all my powers, I can achieve that vision again. The skull is sideways to me on the top point of the triangle and her head is on the point closest to the wall. On the third point, there is nothing, and as I look at her black hair, I feel immeasurably empty.

I try to imagine my own head at the third point of the triangle, but it doesn’t work. I can’t see it like that. Once, I went and touched the back of her head and hair. I saw my fingers carding through them, but felt nothing. My fingers felt dead.

Could all this be caused by the cocaine?

I would like to know how old she is. Sometimes, it feels like she is much more older than I am.

Her body has no imperfections, expect for the bump of cartilage at the edge of her mouth. It makes her mouth oddly unmoving.

February 24th

The triangle has stayed on the black cloth surprisingly well. Its red lines are still perfectly bright and clear. I shall let no one touch that table. The triangle must not be lost. Dust won’t touch it. At times, it looks even brighter than before.

Three times four is twelve! This thought circles around my mind constantly. I’ve even caught myself muttering it out loud.

February 28th

She has moved out. I think my landlady forced her to move. At night, I no longer hear her footsteps, nor see her shadow on the wall. I miss her, but I am not restless, for I know that on March 4th she will come back to me.

Fourth day of the third month!

I wonder if I could have been content if…? I don’t remember where that thought was going.

The Persian dagger is on my desk and its blade shines with eerily brown spots.

March 2nd

The skull and two heads. Or three heads. Three times four is twelve. Three times four is twelve. Three times four is twelve.

My thoughts are scattered and I feel dizzy. I might have taken more cocaine than is healthy.

The snow outside looks weirdly coloured. It feels cold just to look at. I’m shuddering. I don’t think they are heating up my room properly.

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On March 4th, as the clock struck twelve, the landlady heard strange noises coming from law student Sven Hjalmarson’s room.

She paid it no mind then. When Hjalmarson failed to appear at the dinner table, she went to look for him, and found him dead.

He had cut his own throat with a Persian dagger, which was found next to him, where he laid on the floor, bloody.

In his death-throes, he had used the last of his strength trying to pull off his own head.

After studying his diary left behind, it became clear that there was no drawing of a triangle on the table where he kept the skull. On the apartment above him had lived a small, elderly governess for a year now, who always wore a grey frock. She had exchanged words with Hjalmarson few times, but never entered his room

#mika waltari #billford #what a great combination of tags

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pauking5 · 2 years ago

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Seeking comfort from an idiot

enishi yukishiro x fem reader

A/N: This is a quick wip on pair with the Addicting Taste lore but can be a standalone (if you squint). Here's a little comfort fic with my favorite idiot to soothe my monthly torture. Hope it helps yours a little too. Enjoy!

Part 2 😉

"Let me get this straight."

"Yes, Enishi," you say exasperated, a hand held to your forehead.

You were sat on the couch in his office, explaining the suffering ovary owners go through every month to him. He seemed utterly confused at every new piece of information you were telling him. He made a great effort in understanding your current predicament, despite asking the stupidest questions known to mankind.

"You just randomly bleed out every month?"

"Yes," you sighed a little annoyed.

"Willingly?"

"Oh my god, you're an idiot."

"What do you mean I'm an idiot? It's not my fault I don't know anything about these things."

The migraine brewing in your head was mostly because of your period, partly due to his stupid questions. There was no way this man was raised by a woman.

"I just explained it to you!" you yelled as he lifted his hands up in surrender.

You felt a wave of discomfort slowly crawl up your abdomen and sunk back into the couch hoping to alleviate it. The stiff cushions did little to help, making you more uncomfortable than they should have. Everything was making you sensitive and the only thing that would help was your bed.

"Enishi?" you called his name in a tiny voice only to get a hum in response.

"Bed," you say, making grabby hands at him. The simple word should have been enough of a hint about what you wanted but his brain didn't seem to catch the obvious.

"What about the bed?" he asked earning a groan from you. Your hormones were getting the best of you as you struggled to keep the murderous intentions inside.

"I want to go to bed," you say through gritted teeth as you repeated the grabby hands, adding a smile at the end. If you didn't hit the bed soon your insides would turn into a torture chamber.

"Then go-"

"You idiot, CAN YOU PLEASE TAKE ME TO BED-" you yelled but stopped as a big cramp wrecked your middle, making you crumple into a ball on the couch. You shut your eyes tight and gripped your abdomen trying to ride out the waves of pain.

He mumbled a few curses under his breath as he moved to your spot. Sliding his strong arms under your legs and securing your back, he lifted you up carefully trying to not make your pain worse.

He made a move towards your room as you leaned your head on his shoulder, curling yourself into him as much as you could. He felt weirdly warm today, a comforting heat radiating off his body. The sweet relief was short lived as another wave of cramps wrecked your body making you whine.

You hated feeling this helpless every single month, unable to do anything about it, except suffer in silence until the pain would subside by itself. Showing your weakness to Enishi of all people made you feel even shittier about yourself. He was the kind of person to brave through an injury no matter how painful it felt, so it was normal to feel a little mad about it as you asked him to carry you to your room.

He gently let you down on the bed and you turned on your side, gripping his hand as you sat him on the edge next to you. The pain was only getting worse and you needed immediate relief before you would pass out, freaking out a clueless Enishi even more.

"What can I do to help?"

"Nothing," you choked as a violent cramp was trying to dismantle your uterus.

He racked his brain for a solution until he settled on a forgotten memory of his sister. He was wandering aimlessly around the woods until he stumbled and fell, scraping his knee on a rock. As Tomoe patched him up, he recalled her saying something about warmth being the cure for almost all pain.

He wasn't sure if she meant it rhetorically or if it was actually a remedy he could use. Hell, he would try anything to put you out of your misery right now even if it sounded like a fable.

Doubtful if it would work, he took to rubbing your lower back in slow circles to create some warmth, waiting for your reaction. The action relieved some of your pain and you sighed in content, giving Enishi the confirmation that he was doing something useful. The more heat his palm generated, the more your cramps were decreasing in intensity. Maybe he wasn't that useless when it came to comfort as you thought.

The consistent rhythm of his hand lulled you and you were fast asleep before you knew it. Enishi smiled softly at your pouty face, puffing up against the pillow as a few light snores escaped you. He brushed a few stray hairs away from your face and hooked them up behind your ear. Grabbing a hold of your blanket he draped it over you so you would stay warm.

He wished he could do more for you. Seeing you in this much pain was driving him mad. He couldn't believe the fact that you were going through this every month. It made him admire your strength even more than he already did. He was sure as hell that if he was the one bleeding out every month he wouldn't be able to handle it.

A battle wound could heal within a few days. But this was a constant pain lasting for more than a few days, making normal everyday tasks become a struggle. No one should go through this kind of pain, especially you.

You whimpered in your sleep as his hand stopped rubbing your back. He chuckled as he turned back to his job, a small smile pulling at your lips in your sleep. You wriggled closer to him seeking the warmth of his hand rather than the blanket.

It seemed so easy to comfort you without doing too much but just being there for you. He was willing to do anything to help you during this time, no matter what you asked of him. If rubbing your back was what you needed he would gladly comply with it for as long as you needed him to.

Thank you for reading! As always, comments, notes and reblogs are welcome :)

#enishi yukishiro #enishi yukishiro x reader #enishi yukishiro comfort #enishi yukishiro x you #enishi yukishiro fluff #where do i get me an enishi too #i feel lonely now smh #kinda did it to myself

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sentientgolfball · 2 years ago

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Origin

I was supposed to be having shower thoughts about a short story I have to write for one of my classes. Instead, I came up with lore about the Pits, ghouls, and how the Ministry came to be.

I blame this on Zenith being released...anyways have fun with this :3

Tags: religious imagery, small themes of religious guilt, small descriptions of Hell and ghouls as literal demons

Ghouls are unique.

The ghouls we know today are nothing like how they started. They were once simple nature spirits, drifting through every plane of existence providing all with the gift of their element.

The ghouls we know now came about after The Fall. When Lucifer filled the void he had been cast into with an explosive amount of energy to create Hell and Pandemonium. Some of these nature spirits got caught. Their essence changed, filled with the infernal magick Lucifer and the other Lords exuded. They became creatures of Hell.

They were the first beings that existed in the Pits other than the Fallen. The Morning Star took an immediate interest in them. He had created life without even intending to, a feat that only God Himself had been capable of doing. This gave Him an idea. He observed the ghouls, learned who and what they were.

He took what the knowledge he gained and decided He would create His own version of man. If God had creations in His image then so shall the Morning Star. He created something entirely new from what he learned from watching the ghouls in the wilds of Hell. He created multi-ghouls. He would give them the ability to harness each element to give them true free will. He even gave them an element yet to be truly discovered. The element that came from man. Spirit. Soul. Quintessence. He took the souls of man and threaded stardust into them before giving it to His multi-ghouls. A piece of Him in each one of them.

Hell began to fill. Human souls began to arrive, given to Him as a form of punishment. At first, when He looked upon these creatures he agreed. The acts He saw in their lives were heinous, worse than anything the Devil Himself ever did. But as more began to arrive he started to notice the ones who looked like Him. Abandoned by their god because they used the gift of free will. Because they lived how they wanted, loved how they wanted. Because they couldn't handle the cards they had been dealt by their own creator. The Morning Star cried for these souls. In His anguish, He decided He would give them a gift. He took those who died young, with guilt, with shame, with the idea that they deserved damnation and gave them another chance to truly live. He took the mold He used to make the multi-ghouls and refreshed it. He created quintessence ghouls.

He eventually became distracted, though. Hell was now filled with humans, The Fallen, demons, and other creatures of the void. He became caught up in trying to be the Lord these beings never had, the one they deserved. The ghouls wandered in packs in the Wilds. But as eternity went on they became different. Multi-ghouls were no longer revered for being His first creation, they were now chased out. Seen as more of a burden without magick strong enough to properly survive in the Wilds. Quintessence ghouls became things of myth, but also a great source of fear. Their innate human desire to survive bled through. A ghoul knew you would never be seen again if one decided to hunt you. They used their magic to bring their victim's nightmares to life. They used their magic to control the mind and body.

Ghouls began to appear at Pandemonium begging to join the legions of Hell. Searching for a life outside of the Wilds. Lucifer was consumed by guilt at the sight of the creation He loved. Of the creation He forgot. He gave ghouls status. He made them the guards of Pandemonium, of His throne. But at this point, the population was too massive to give to all. This is how ghouls became the first demons, besides the Lords themselves, to leave Hell. Lucifer appeared before His most loyal followers on Earth and taught them about ghouls. Taught them how to summon each kind. If He could not give them a life worth living, then He would provide them with the opportunity.

At first, ghouls would be summoned and then returned to the Pits when their task was complete. Stories of life Topside spread through ghoul culture like fire. Everyone wanted the chance to be chosen by the magick. Then something strange began to happen. Ghouls would be summoned but never returned. Eventually, it got to the point The Morning Star Himself noticed. When He searched the Earth for the missing ghouls he discovered a group of humans calling themself The Clergy. He discovered these humans were creating a ministry in His honor to worship and to provide refuge for those who had already been cast out but had yet to cross into the next life. But that's not what caught the Morning Star's eye. No, what caught His attention was the way these humans treated His ghouls, His creations. They honored them as blessings from the Dark One, but what really caught Him was how these humans treated the ghouls as equals. As humans. He found the one who had been tasked with the summoning of the ghouls. A man with the name Emeritus. He gave this man His infernal blessing and dubbed him and his bloodline the leaders of this ministry these humans were creating.

He still watches the Ministry in the present day. He sends his infernal support when they need it most. He sends His gifts when they grow, spreading His word. The ghouls known as Alpha, Delta, and Omega were gifts from Lucifer Himself to show his approval of their so-called Ghost Project. The Hellhounds that guard the land where the Ministry stands are His blessing to keep His followers protected. He is satisfied knowing His creations found their purpose.

#the band ghost #nameless ghouls #ghost bc #ghost headcanons #ghoul headcanons #golfball thoughts #golfball writes

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an-epic-complex-deep-existence · 1 year ago

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You've existed today. Congrats.

Sup guys, gals and nonbinary pals! Feel free to call me KogetaiKid, Kogetai or Kiddo!!!

MAIN BLOG

MY DEVIANTART MY YOUTUBE

-she/her; possibly a celibate pansexual

-Time Zone: PST/PDT

-minor.

-Diagnosed Neurodivergent (Got that autism ✨D R I P ✨)

-Interacial

-Nihilist

-Psychology nerd

-Very cynical

-No DNI, but will block anyone who makes me feel uncomfortable.

-I post exclusively original art

-Self taught artist/writer (currently working (and possibly failing) on multiple projects)

SOME OC REFERENCES

(Not like anyone will care, but good to have them anyways)

D!0X!D3: TR!0X!D3 and X3’3N (Prologue-Chapter 3) Web Hell: Enera (Modern Utopia) IMLS Chronicles: Darla My Snowy Orphanage: Main Characters

WEBCOMIC STAND

D!0X!D3: Prologue 1 D!0X!D3: Prologue 2 D!0X!D3: Prologue 3 D!0X!D3: Prolouge 4 D!0X!D3: Prologue 5 D!0X!D3: Abandonment; Part 1 D!0X!D3: Abandonment; Part 2 ILMS: Just Like Mel; Part 1 ILMS: Just Like Mel; Part 2

Epiccc Storiez!!

ILMS Chronicles: Yahaira's story ILMS Chronicles: 4/22/** ILMS Chronicles: Out In Nature Accidental ILMS Lore ILMS Chronicles: Watching the Sunset

WRITING (Also EPICCC!!!!)

Sunrise Heights An Insect Before Its Death Contemplation Compilation

epicness gaLORE

Epicland Studies #1: Universal Ketakomian Beliefs

*Y don’t ‘cha see what ur gonna see in the future? (READ PROJECT DESC)*

EPIC CLUB (Main Project)

(TLDR: Some alien lore shit that involves goofy ahh aliens, goofy ahh adventures and trying to avoid nihilism)

No one knows how they've got here, but they have. In the middle of the universe in the andromeda galaxy, in a planet called Epicland. exist the color spirits to fight evil and bring colors to the world. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, purple and gray. (Andris, Lorgzee, Kedmile, Yodion, Imimika, Sotti, Zaxregea, and Enieu) One day, the red spirit wanted to become human-like. What happens next

…

Gray skin, red eyes, what the hell am I...?

Andris, now a nine year old girl named Melody Conway, nothing much to say about her. Unless she was able to meet up again with someone, who might've been, a secret true sister...

DIOX!D3 (On hiatus; pronounced "Dioxide”):

D!0X!D3 (pronounced “Dioxide”): ANARCHY AGAINST CONTROL. On an alien planet called Epicland, and abandoned child called Melanie gets adopted into an anarchist society called Syr-Ko’s Children Anarchist Society! (SKCAS for short). No adults allowed, you get kicked out when you’re 30. In this society, children run the game, with a plan to eliminate the ones who control us and make their world r0b0t!c. You’d wonder to yourself:

WH0’S THAT L!TTL3 R0B0T FR3!ND 0F Y0URS, K!DS?!

I Love My Sister Chronicles (Secondary Project)

(This is honestly more like a saga...)

Dreams are weird, especially when two simple hours could sometimes feel like an entire lifetime. April 22, 20**: A girl named Yahaira falls victim to this unfortunate phenomenon, thus creating me, us, everyone. In my early years, I always wanted a sister, but the never happened. My mom always says she wanted two girls. I tell her she ended up with me instead; an amalgamate of what could've been her two girls.

As I entered my teenage years I noticed something very off about the world, so very unreal, and I start to become lucid in this dream world.

I remember that I'm someone's little sister. Melody's little sister, Yahaira. I'm now piecing together the complicated puzzle of who I was, who Melody was, and what happened before I entered this dream. The first and most important thing I keep in mind:

I LOVE MY SISTER

(Coming "Soon")

WEB HELL (TW: Dark humor)

8/5/2255 - The World Covered in Screens.

“WELCOME TO MODERN UTOPIA! THE MOST GYATT OHIO MEGATRONIC THEY/THEM UWU PLACE IN DA WORLD!!!!!!!! MY NAME IS FINLEY (they/them, if u m!$g3ñd3r u a h8 cr!mer)”

“T0DAY, HERE ARE [[10!]] REASONS Y U LOVE MORDEN UTOPIA!!!! :):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)(( “

…

In this world, you only have an illusion of humanity. You only have an illusion of decision, an illusion of freedom, an illusion of bargaining, an illusion of friends, an illusion of creativity, diluted by algorithm. You can’t escape, there’s no need to escape. YOU LOVE IT HERE…

VQ895

Welcome to LABORATORY! Here, many fusions of multiple organisms for all over galaxies called hybrids live. To these hybrids, Laboratory is the entire world for them, but to a hybrid named Vertā Quantin (half Artificially Made Human, half Wolfcat) unveils this lie. But it could it be…

SHE WAS NOT THE ONLY ONE?!

One-off projects (coming soon):

My Snowy Orphanage: A VHS horror about a group of cartoon kids teaching children to kill.

A Very Necessary Story On A Very Lonely Kid: Born 4/23/1999. A young boy named Brayden Mendez. No friends, no sibling, Brayden hasn’t meet anyone besides his parents until kindergarten. Isolated from humanity, he’s left to rot in his loneliness until he finally breaks.

And even his afterlife doesn’t spark a friend.

The Last Feeling Child: In present day time, a young teenage girl named Esme Adler, mourns over the past she’s never experienced. A past before phones, IPads and immorality.

There's a few more in the making, but this is how far I'll take you for now...

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teememdee · 2 years ago

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thoughts on new lol narrative direction

Okay so today’s dev update basically confirmed my suspicions that the narrative team has deliberately moved away from short stories as a medium for lore. Which… if they have the evidence that people don’t engage with them as much as they’d like then I can understand why they made that decision but I’m still a little sad about it. Out of the way sure, but short stories are really effective on giving a character voice and personality along with a deeper insight to their thoughts and feelings about the world in a way that is shown and not told through a written biography or out of universe voicelines. I would hope they still return to written narrative for parts of bigger things (like the big Star Guardian ‘22 story) or just small gaps to be filled, like the random Yorick and Illaoi post-Ruined King story they dropped months ago.

Naturally it’s hard to have a full opinion on this as they’ve just said they’ll be exploring other mediums without specifying what those mediums will be. Short stories (while still requiring great care and effort from a writer) are definitely an easy and very accessible way to get information across quickly. Comics like the Katarina comic from earlier this year I really enjoyed, I’d definitely love more of those. My fear is that they’ll put a lot of hope into Riot Forge games. I love Ruined King and I know others have enjoyed Mageseeker, but games both cost money to experience and as of right now, all RF games are different genres, which appeal to some and don’t appeal to others. I haven’t played Mageseeker because it doesn’t exactly look like my kind of game but I might find the story really interesting. The thing that I like about League Lore is that it’s so detached from the actual video game you can consume and understand and be invested in it without ever playing a single round of it. Yes gameplay videos and everything get uploaded to the internet anyway, but I personally generally prefer going to an official website that I know would contain everything. So I don’t know. I hope these mediums they’re going to explore can still somehow provide the depth that short stories can, as well as be generally accessible to all who might be interested.

And maybe this is just the art student in me currently taking a class about artist books, but part of being easily accessible is how easy these short stories are to share. If you’re talking with a friend about the lore and they want to see for themselves, you can just send a link to the short story. You don’t have to be all like “well 15 hours into this one spin-off game there’s this cutscene and hidden piece of paper on the floor that says—” like that’s. Annoying. Additionally just for going back to check references the short stories are really easy to pop in and check on. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone back to one to check a detail or characterization moment. Much easier than having to remember some gameplay moment or scroll through a wiki to find something that hopefully someone has uploaded. You know where everything is if it’s plain and simple on the Universe site.

As for Arcane being canon now I don’t particularly care? Like I’ve never minded the non-canonness of it but also because I’m not deeply knowledgeable about Piltover / Zaun champs and lore it might as well canon for me personally, and given the ratio of people who know everything about P/Z lore and the number of people who have watched Arcane I can understand why they made this decision, it’s easier to make the popular thing actually canon instead of having like 10 people on twitter scream at others for how it isn’t. I don’t know exactly how far the ripple effect of lore changes this makes will go. But basically I don’t mind. Those 10 people are going to be mad and I can understand to an extent but I’m not one of them.

Hextech and Skarner stuff, as the video says, has probably the largest ripple effect. Again I don’t super care and perhaps it’s too early to judge and cry “booo they’ve ruined Camille!” or “they’re retconning the whole lore!!!” before we even see what these changes are. Maybe I’m too much of an optimist. I like Seraphine and they’ve already mostly adjusted her to this non-Brackern Hextech lore situation so. I think she’s fine as is now. Again we’ll see. How we’ll see though??? Would love to know. I really don’t quite understand how they’re going to do things without short stories or without a big focus on them. Like not even champion color stories? Weird.

I think there is hope for me for the Kassadin and Kai’Sa reunion to actually happen now. If they play it out in a full cinematic in any way I think I might actually die. But that’s a pretty big thread that’s just been hanging over these two characters I love so much and Kai’Sa is a true It Girl at this point so. I think it’s coming. Please go poorly. Please give Kassadin’s wife a name.

One of the devs said they’re going to focus on actually getting the narratives up before focusing on how they’re presented on the Universe site, which… these seem like things that should happen pretty much at the same time but okay. Does this mean the map will get updated ever?

Lastly, of course as a Music Universe Lover I can’t help but wonder how these changes to the base lore could reach over into the AU. Riot Games Music used to post just a simple picture / illustration of what the music-verse characters were up to maybe every two to three months and I’ve really missed those. It’s really felt like they’re leaving that kind of immersive world/narrative behind, but maybe they were just focusing on preparing for this boy band to drop. Still wish it was K/DA or even better, True Damage getting another song? Why did we need another group. Pentakill has three full albums. Anyway.

tl;dr - I’m genuinely bummed about them moving away from short stories and can’t truly get excited for more without knowing exactly how they plan on telling stories in the future.

#will be ruminating about this for the rest of the day #league of legends #tanner talks

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gardensandtaverns · 2 years ago

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Telling a Story Through Gaming: Making an Immersive Experience

I know it’s been a couple days since I updated on Bookwyrm’s Vault, and if I’m being entirely honest it’s because my other job wiped me out and then I spent all day today traveling, so there’s been no movement on that front over the last three days. However, I did say that I would hopefully be sharing some more general-use advice and other projects along the way, so for today I will be tapping into the reasons and people that drove my ambition to do this - hopefully to the benefit of others with similar interests.

I believe I’ve said before that I’ve spent the last 5 years of my life as a perma-DM - in fact it’s how I made friends in college and I was a board member of my college’s tabletop games club. With 5 years of running games, I tended to have no fewer than 2 games I was running at any given time, with each campaign being hosted weekly for anywhere between 4 months and 2 years. Some games went well, others fell apart, and some were just meant to be short, it was as much a creative outlet as it was a social event for me. I suppose that brings me to my first and largest piece of advice for anyone interested in making more than just a game, but an experience: Forget yourself.

Now this doesn’t mean disregard yourself, after all it is your creativity, passion, and drive that will ultimately make your game - it’s your product and you should be proud of it. But when you make a truly immersive experience, like a D&D campaign or a sandbox game, you need to realize that your players, who are given nearly unlimited ability to interact with your world, will inadvertently act in a way you don’t consider, intend, or sympathize with. Similarly, there may be things that they simply don’t care or think about as much as you do. To this second point, I encourage anyone who loves internet lore videos to interact with Polygon’s Skyrim Book Report (link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVdTZhmsGsU) hosted by the marvelous Brian David Gilbert.

What I mean to say in this is that you are creating a product that you are passionate about. So many people will make their first game as something they would want to play. This is true of other creative fields as well: animation, music, fiction... and the truth that you will have to accept is that what you wish to experience may be too niche, or complex, or tailored to your personal experience to gain traction or interest. In the case of me drawing from experience as a Game Master, I will call this player buy-in.

Buy-in makes or breaks an experience for your consumer. If your magic system is endlessly complex, a player looking for a simple power fantasy to escape the stress of a desk job may quickly discard it to collect dust. If your zombie game turns out to be a settlement managing game with an external and seldom-addressed threat of zombies, you’ll likely lose the interest of the Walking Dead crowd who are interested in the nomadic wasteland survival aspect of the genre. What’s worse is falsely advertising, or poorly portraying, your product to people potentially interested can cause lasting harm in the trust they have in your later products.

Not only this, but buy-in will impact the feedback you get from your consumers. The makers of Until Dawn no doubt put a lot of effort and energy into the photorealistic environments and occult horror of their wendigo models, but a comment praising the “good graphics” will not mean nearly as much as the feedback from a player who plays horror games to be scared, who “spent the last four hours on the edge of my seat, looking over my shoulder in my dark game room”. It’s the feedback that appreciates the spirit of your product that not only tells you what you did right, instead of just well, but also gives you the energy, motivation, and validation to keep doing it.

Tomorrow I will talk about my favorite experiences from TTRPGs as an invested player versus as a Game Master with invested players, and the world of difference it makes. If people like these little advice posts, I’ll be happy to continue them. It makes for a good fallback when I hit roadblock or am taking breaks for work-heavy periods. Hopefully on Tuesday I will have some progress to report on the Bookwyrm’s Vault, one way or another.

#game development #ttrpgs #game master #dungeon master #storytelling #advice

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dashboarddiaries · 2 years ago

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Dashboard Diaries is a production of Atypical Artists, hosted by Lauren Shippen (@thelaurenshippen) and Cher McAnelly (@overchers). Our theme was composed by Lauren Shippen and mixed by Brandon Grugle. Art by Shae McMullin. Transcription by Laudable.

For bonus clips, ad-free episodes, and more, become a patron at patreon.com/dashboarddiaries

Transcript under the cut!

[intro music]

Cher: Hello, Truthers! I’m Cher McAnelly, Head of Entertainment at Tumblr. And gullible human.

Lauren: And I’m Lauren Shippen, professional writer and Tumblr Detective.

Cher: And this is Dashboard Diaries, a podcast for you – the folks who are in this internet bunker with us. We talk about what’s going on in our favorite hell site, get into what we like to call “tumbl-lore,” do fandom deep dives, and share the times when we’ve gone feral over a new ship.

So, we have quite a big episode today.

Lauren: We do.

Cher: I think ... actually, I think it aligns very well with the name of our first segment, “Dashboard Confessionals.”

Lauren: That’s true!

Cher: Because we’ll be talking about some Tumblr conspiracies and scandals today. So, before we dive in, do you have a Dashboard Confessional for us, Lauren?

[guitar riff]

Lauren: I do. I have another one from 2015, because now we’re into the first year that I had my current blog. And it is a post of the astrological signs as fan fiction clichés. So, Cher, what’s your sign?

Cher: I am a Taurus.

Lauren: I’m an Aries. We’re very close together. Yours is “Fake Pretend Relationship Turns Real.” Do you feel like that vibes with your Taurus energy?

Cher: Yes, 1000% it does. (laughs)

Lauren: Mine is “Misunderstanding Leading to Angst,” which I feel like is actually just my life. So, I feel very-

Cher: On brand.

Lauren: ... called out.

Cher: Why are these signs posts always so accurate? I just don’t ... they know us. I can’t ... yeah.

Lauren: I’m not really a horoscope or an astrology person, but it’s one of those things that anytime you see a “Look at what your sign is” in this particular meme, it’s like you have to check. You have to see if it’s accurate.

Cher: Yeah, 100%. I know nothing of the other signs. Actually, I know that Aries is a fire sign. And that’s pretty much all I know about ... and the Gemini is the twins. And I think that’s pretty much ... Taurus are stubborn, which I think I am.

Lauren: I think Aries share that with Taurus.

Cher: Well, we have that in common. (laughs)

Lauren: Yeah. I do want to say, we will of course re-blog this to DashboardDiaries.Tumblr.com so you can see what fan fiction cliché you are. I do want to say my favorite is for Pieces which is, “A Character Eats Something Sexily.” Which is just such a specific fan fiction cliché.

Cher: It is truly so specific. Yeah, I was reading through trying to see which one my favorite one is and/or if there is anything that has actually happened to me.

Lauren: Oh yeah? And what did you find?

Cher: Ooh, you know, “Meddling Friends Playing Matchmaker,” because I am absolutely a meddling friend who plays matchmaker. And you know what, Lauren? Two separate couples can thank me for their marriages. So ...

Lauren: That’s pretty good.

Cher: [crosstalk 00:03:19] but ...

Lauren: A pretty good count.

Cher: Right!? I think so as well. What about you? What’s your favorite?

Lauren: I think “Mutual Pining.” It’s so simple, it’s so effective. I love a mutual pining.

Cher: Yep.

Lauren: Especially if it’s a slow burn, it’s just delicious. And that is a Sagittarius and the “Meddling Friends Play Matchmaker” is Virgo. So yeah, check out what your sign is and if it-

Cher: Oh yeah [crosstalk 00:03:41]

Lauren: ... matches with your favorite fan fiction cliché. Cher, what do you have from the archives this week?

Cher: I have a very fun little post that feels super on brand. I re-blogged it in 2018. And it’s a short but sweet text post. And I also thought again that the username fit really well for the theme today.

Lauren: Absolutely.

Cher: So, it’s from user: qonspiracytheorist who posted a confused florist and then they re-blogged themselves and replied, “What in carnation?”

Lauren: (laughs) So good. This is a very Cher McAnelly post. (laughs)

Cher: Honestly, wish I’d come up with it myself. My favorite one that ... there’s this joke that I always thought I came up with and as it turns out it’s just a really common one that many people see as very obvious.

Lauren: Incredible.

Cher: So, I will of course tell you right now Lauren ...

Lauren: Please.

Cher: What did the parents say to the melons that couldn’t get married?

Lauren: Hmm. I have no idea.

Cher: You can’t elope.

Lauren: (laughs) How could I not see it, it was right there?

Cher: (laughs)

Lauren: That’s pretty good. I like that a lot.

Cher: Thank you very much. I will be here all week.

Lauren: I also really like this post because it shows ... I mean, we’ve talked about this so much, just the unique quality of Tumblr as a posting style.

Cher: Yeah.

Lauren: And this is just set up and punch line, being able to do that with your own blog in a way that creates the rhythm of a set up and punch line, but the viewer is still sort of consuming it as one thing. Because obviously you could do this on Twitter as a tweet and a reply to the tweet, but-

Cher: Yeah.

Lauren: ... a tweet on a timeline you’re only going to see the first one, not the reply. I mean, this was back when Twitter worked. And you can have fun with that, too, but I love the set-up punch line of someone re-blogging their own post to tell a joke. It’s very good. (laughs)

Cher: It’s one of my favorite Tumblr things. Or when someone will post something about, I don’t know, a potato or whatever it is, and then user: potato responds ...

Lauren: Yes.

(laughter)

The thing I’ve been seeing a lot recently ... and this I guess is we haven’t been doing our last week on Tumblr segment because of the SAG strike and we can’t talk about TV and Film. But something I have been seeing on Tumblr a lot recently is sort of the resurgence of gimmick blogs.

So, like yeah, potato would be like ... or there’s potato and then there’s small potato. And it’s like those blogs have fun responding to posts about potatoes and small potatoes. And there’s a blog out there now counting the number of letters from the alphabet that you use in a post and rating it out of 26. You know? So, it’s like 24/26 ... used 24 letters of the alphabet.

One that’s been really popular, that’s been on so many posts that is run by some sort of wizard is identifying cars in posts. Have you seen this blog?

Cher: No.

Lauren: So, people will re-blog or sometimes this user I think just finds these posts and if there is a car in the post anywhere, as in if it’s in the way background of a picture that somebody posts, this blog correctly identifies it. It’s wild.

Cher: What!? That is so wildly specific.

Lauren: It’s so specific.

Cher: I love that.

Lauren: And it doesn’t seem to be decade dependent. They seem to have a hundred year knowledge of every car that’s ever been made. It’s incredible.

Cher: You know? I love a good hyper fixation. You know what I mean?

Lauren: Absolutely.

Cher: Never stop fixating.

Lauren: Never stop fixating.

Cher: If there was ... Okay, Lauren, if there was a similar type of blog that you had to create, what is something that you think you ... based on the knowledge you have ... could identify or talk about in that level of detail?

Lauren: Ooh, that’s very interesting. I don’t know. I really don’t know. So, one of the hyper fixation blogs that I used to have on Tumblr was a blog that was just dedicated to different words that P G Wodehouse, the author, uses in his books. (laughs) I have a whole spreadsheet of it.

Cher: I love that. Oh my gosh. (laughs)

Lauren: He didn’t necessarily invent words, but he created Jeeves and Wooster, which is probably his most famous work and he used really funny language in his books, including a million different ways of referring to someone being drunk. Like “tight as an owl” is one phrase that he would use to mean “drunk.” And I don’t know if he came up with that or if it was just a thing that they said in the thirties in England. But I feel like I could have a blog that was like identifying the origin or first usage of words.

Cher: Yeah.

Lauren: If you used this word and it was first used in this Shakespeare play in 15-whatever. I feel like I could get very into that, even if I don’t necessarily have all of that knowledge now.

Cher: Oh, I love that.

Lauren: What about you?

Cher: Oh yeah, first off, that blog should absolutely exist. And I’m trying to think ... I actually think mine would be word related, too. But it would be ... I would reply to any post with a pun about the post.

Lauren: That’s very good. I feel like that is within your grasp.

Cher: Always finding the PUNch line, you know?

Lauren: Yes, yes!

Cher: (laughs)

Lauren: The PUNch line.

Cher: (laughs) Exactly. Oh my gosh. Fantastic. Well, speaking of Tumblr things ... I think it’s time to dive into some Tumblr conspiracy theories and scandals. Let’s really get deep into the diary of the Tumblr dashboard.

Lauren: Yes.

Cher: Dive into the archives ... anyway ... Let’s talk about conspiracy theories and scandals on Tumblr, Lauren! Which one have you decided to talk about today?

Lauren: So, yeah, this topic came from our conversation in the last episode just about sort of, yeah, Tumblr conspiracies and the wildness of conspiracies and scandal on Tumblr. And there were so many to choose from and there are some that definitely I think I want to do a longer segment on. So, I was trying to find something that was uniquely Tumblr ... weird and a mystery, and this one actually has a solution, which is exciting. But also like not that complicated. And so I am bringing to the table today Constable Frozen.

(laughs) Are you familiar? Are you also bringing Constable Frozen?

Cher: I am not bringing Constable Frozen. But I am familiar with Constable Frozen.

Lauren: Yep, that was the chuckle of somebody who knows where this is going. (laughter)

Cher: Today, I am bringing the Toe Necklace.

Lauren: Oh, good.

Cher: Or what I have decided to call TOEmblr.

Lauren: TOEmblr ... (laughs) Excellent.

Cher: I think we have a wide range of things we’re going to chat about today. Yeah, TOEmblr has not only a solution but also an update, which I think is especially interesting.

Lauren: Woo!

Cher: Yeah.

Lauren: Thrilling.

Cher: Yeah. (laughs) For those listeners who are not chronically online, Lauren, what is Constable Frozen?

Lauren: So, Constable Frozen is a blog that began many, many years ago. I’m not entirely sure the exact year, but sometime between the release of the movie Frozen (laughs) and 2016, 2017. It’s a blog that is hard to describe. But basically it is an entirely photo set, gif set blog of the characters from Frozen Photoshopped into various scenarios, sometimes with Marvel characters, sometimes with other Disney characters, sometimes with just each other in new scenarios with no context or text.

So, these posts are deeply strange. And Constable Frozen first became a known entity on Tumblr because the posts are deeply strange. They are ... I saw a post that was ... we do know two things about who Constable Frozen is, we know that they love the movie Frozen and that they’re very good at Photoshop.

Because a lot of these Photoshop’s are very elaborate. A lot of the time the posts are quite similar to the gif sets that we’ve talked about in the past that were very popular in SuperWhoLock days where people would put together gif sets or photo sets of different scenes from SuperWhoLock and sort of mix them together and put text on top of them to kind of create a scene as a crossover with those three shows: Supernatural, Dr. Who, and Sherlock (for those of you who are unfamiliar with SuperWhoLock). Which then my question for you is how did you find this podcast!?

(laughter)

Cher: Yes.

Lauren: And yeah, so a lot of the Constable Frozen posts are kind of like that. It’s Elsa and Anna as the Avengers or hanging out with other Disney princesses. Sort of like that scene from Wreck It Ralph where all the princesses are hanging out. A lot of it just sort of pretty standard crossover fandom stuff. Except there’s no text over the photo. So, it’s sort of like this purely visual thing that you are consuming.

And then Constable Frozen sort of got more and more popular because a lot of the posts are just like ... they’re just weird. They’re just very weird. A lot of them involve like eating ice cream, the characters eating ice cream, including one where Olaf the Snowman is making ice cream in his body and then sort of shooting it into Elsa and Anna’s mouth.

And then another one Merida from the movie Brave with her curly red hair, they’re eating her hair as spaghetti. There’s a lot of weird eating stuff. There’s one where Elsa is in a Pringles can and then she pops up and eats a large Pringle. (laughs)

(laughter)

And so this was sort of like an oddity on Tumblr for a long time. Cher, do you remember the first time that you sort of encountered Constable Frozen as a concept?

Cher: I actually encountered Constable Frozen as I was researching for this episode, Lauren.

Lauren: Oh my god!

Cher: I had no idea about it. I fully missed it.

Lauren: That’s incredible. Okay. What a delightful thing to be unaware of. (laughs)

Cher: But I also just am deeply obsessed with it. I cannot believe that I missed it, because I absolutely would have been following along and participating in some way. I mean, it’s so chaotic, it makes ... it’s one of those things where it makes you wonder if you live in a simulation. You know?

Lauren: Yes! That is the perfect way to describe the energy of these posts. It does make you feel ... I think that’s why they first started to cross my dash, because everyone was like, “Is everybody seeing the thing that I’m seeing?” I think especially because Constable Frozen never posted any other kind of post. They I don’t think ever re-blogged anything. They didn’t seem to really interact with anybody. And again sometimes there would be a caption, like the Olaf ice cream one that I was describing, the caption was just “ice cream.” But that was the most context that there was. Whereas usually I think with blog scandals or conspiracies, so much of it is about the fact that like people kind of come up with elaborate personas that they present on Tumblr and then eventually they’re unmasked.

I mentioned to you, Cher, after we’d stopped recording last week, the Hamilton Cannibal Mermaids Fake AIDS scandal??

Cher: Yes, of course.

Lauren: Which I do want to do a whole episode on. (laughter) And that’s I think a greater example of a typical sort of Tumblr blog scandal like where everybody is confused about the identity, but it’s because somebody is trying to create a fake identity, basically.

Cher: Yeah.

Lauren: But for this, it was just like there’s just no context for who this person might be. So, the blog started in 2014. Eventually they posted a post that I believe has now been removed that was like sort of almost like bondage adjacent. It sort of got into even weirder territory and it sort of made everybody on Tumblr reflect that ... wait a second, is Constable Frozen a fetish blog? (laughs)

And this eventually turned into, “Oh, Constable Frozen is specifically a vore fetish blog. Have we talked about vore before?

Cher: I don’t ... okay, I don’t know if we’ve talked about vore on this podcast before, but I un-VOREtunately know what vore is. (laughter)

Lauren: So, I would love to hear how you first came to know what vore is. Because I have a funny story about how I first came to know what vore is.

Cher: Well, I cannot wait to hear it. I’m struggling to remember how I found out about vore but it was in a conversation similar to this where we were talking about the internet and fandom’s. I think I was at Tumblr. I think I was ... you know what? I just hit my microphone because I realized something. I learned about vore and mpreg on the same day.

Lauren: (laughs) Incredible.

Cher: Early in working at Tumblr. (laughs) They really threw me in the deep end.

Lauren: Where else would you learn these things?

Cher: Of course. Okay ...

Lauren: You learned about these things at work. Not many people can say that. (laughs)

Cher: It is, I mean, the list of things that I’ll just say casually in a meeting or we’re talking about at work and you really think about the shit that you’re saying, just so seriously, in an important meeting and/or presentation. Like, “We’ve decided to really lean into shitposting as a strategy this quarter.”

(laughter)

Lauren: That’s so good.

Cher: So, how did you learn about vore, Lauren?

Lauren: So, I learned about it ... this is I think a fun fandom story that I think says a lot about my particular fandom identity. So, early in my time in LA this is probably three or four ish years ... I guess not that early but halfway through my time in LA, I joined this Facebook group that was for people in fandom. And this is actually where I met almost all of my best friends in LA. And we would have meet-ups and we would go to events together and things like that. It’s just been a really great community throughout the years. We’re now kind of all scattered to the winds, but we still hang out on Facebook and talk to each other.

And one of the very first events that I went to, I joined the group and then I went to a couple of events, and then the Facebook group was like, “Let’s have a galantine’s day party,” right? Let’s have a valentine’s day party the day before valentine’s day. I offered to host it. And because I’m me, I went very extra and I printed out a bunch of those Tumblr fandom valentines. And I pasted them on my door so people could find my apartment; and put them all around the apartment and everything. We had a very good time.

And one of the things that we did at this fandom party, which was like maybe 15 people who were deep, deep in fandom, was play Fan Fic Never Have I Ever.

Cher: Oh gosh.

Lauren: And this is a favorite game of mine now. Because, wow, what a way to learn about a bunch of people that you only sort of know. (laughs) And also what a way to learn about things that you have never encountered before. And so we played Fan Fiction Never Have I Ever and somebody says, “Never have I ever read vore.” And a bunch of us were like, “What the fuck is vore?” (laughs)

And then the person explained that it’s a fetish of consuming or being consumed and it often sort of is related to just eating in general. I’m not entirely sure. I still have not read any vore fic. But I said I had never heard of this term before. And everybody in the room ... a good example of what my reputation has been in fandom ... looked at me and was like, “How is that possible [BEEP 00:20:09] one?”

Cher: Oh my gosh.

Lauren: I’m the [BEEP 00:20:14] one!

Cher: Is vore also ... like being eaten but from the inside? Like you’re inside of the mouth and watching the eating happen, I feel like, is an aspect of it?

Lauren: I think that’s a version of it.

Cher: A version of it, but it’s not the whole thing.

Lauren: Vore is in the eye of the beholder.

Cher: (laughter) The mouth of the beholder.

Lauren: Exactly. But yeah, I mean, listen ... actually at that point I had not read very many ... Okay, so I’m now talking about a TV show but I’d not read very many fics for this show that I was really really into and still am very into about cannibalism. (laughs) But to this day, I now have gotten-

Cher: It’s a comfort show.

Lauren: It’s a comfort show. It genuinely is. And it’s been now ten years since the show first aired and so obviously it only has three seasons. I have missed it. So, I have gotten very into fan fic since it aired. But I didn’t read really any fan fic while it was airing and this was ... this part took place in-between seasons two and three of this show, I think.

And I have to say, there’s not a lot of stuff in [BEEP 00:21:24] that’s tagged vore that I have encountered. I tend to sort by kudos and so maybe if people are just not reading and kudo’ing those fics, but I do think that vore and cannibalism are a little bit different. And so anyway, that was a very, very long side journey there. But that’s what vore is. And people started to think that Constable Frozen was a vore blog.

And Constable Frozen is still posting. Their last post was in June of this year. So, they’re still around. But in sort of researching Constable Frozen for this episode, I found something that I had missed in 2017 which is that New York Magazine tracked down Constable Frozen.

Cher: What!?

Lauren: YES. (laughter) So, there’s this great article that I’ll be sure to put on our Tumblr that sort of outlines a lot of what I’ve outlined for you here and links to some of the posts that we talk about. And the journalist, Brian Feldman, thank you Brian Feldman for doing the important work.

Cher: The hero we need.

Lauren: The hero we need. (laughter) Maybe not the hero we deserve but the hero that we need. (laughter) And so he went and did a deep dive on the internet, basically, to find this person. And was able to through servers and I don’t know a bunch of stuff that I don’t understand, they tracked the earliest post on Tumblr to a South Korean forum. And then through Google Translate they were able to find a YouTube Channel that also had these Elsa / Iron Man mash-ups. And then also an Instagram account.

And then they went through the Who Is records, which are like the internet’s public records that you can find. And they were able to find an email address. And so they found this guy [SHIN SHOUL 00:23:16]. And they spoke through Google Translate. And SHIN says, “it’s not a fetish thing.”

Cher: Huh.

Lauren: Yeah. He just said it was sort of a mash-up of he loved Frozen, Japanese comics, Hollywood movies, and just stuff that was in his brain. And he just I guess was expressing his fandom in this particular way. And the journalist did ask him about the sort of bondage post and SHIN just responded with, “Hmm, well ... “ he did not give any more information.

Cher: Honestly, very Tumblr. I love it. Yes.

Lauren: Yeah, so but that’s a mystery solved. I did not expect ... and this happened now six years ago. This was back in 2017 and somehow I guess we didn’t talk about this on Tumblr that we found the identity of Constable Frozen, maybe because we want to keep the mystery alive. But thank you for your service SHIN SHOUL. This is a great service you’ve done us this weird blog. And yeah, apparently it’s not a fetish thing. So, mystery solved.

Cher: What a great art project. I mean-

Lauren: Seriously!

Cher: ... I want to go to the Constable Frozen museum experience. It’s so bizarre and creative. I love that. See, oh, that’s just so Tumblr. You know what I mean? That’s what Tumblr is all about. Just creating something unique and so bizarre and specific to your interests and that resonating with everyone else in some way or another just because you’re so into it.

Lauren: Yes, and also being wildly misinterpreted.

Cher: I mean, of course. Of course! You can’t interpret something correctly on Tumblr, Lauren.

Lauren: No.

Cher: I’m looking at the archive right now. So, it looks like he stopped posting in May 2022, but then he posted again once in June 2023.

Lauren: Oh, so it’s only been one post this year? Wow.

Cher: Yeah, so from like March till May ’22 he was posting once a month. In February he posted three times. In January he posted four. In December 2021 he posted five. He was really ... it’s really interesting. There’s almost like a cadence to the way that he posts, if you look at his archive.

Lauren: They look pretty labor intensive as posts.

Cher: Yeah.

Lauren: I’m terrible at Photoshop. I know the very rudimentary basics.

Cher: Same.

Lauren: Even knowing that, I think there’s real skill and artistry that’s going into these. So, yeah, five to six posts a year and sort of the height makes sense to me.

Cher: Yeah, absolutely.

Lauren: And the impact that he had. The post impact ratio is enormous.

Cher: Yeah. I like ... the most recent one he posted on June 15th of this year is two frames of Elsa. One, she’s looking down. And the other one she’s looking forward. And the caption is just the shrimp tempura emoji with an X next to it.

Lauren: What does it mean?

Cher: What does it mean?

Lauren: Constable Frozen, what does it mean?

Cher: Does anyone out there know what this means? I think we have another mystery on our hands. Constable Frozen has been trying to communicate with us through the caption.

Lauren: As a final closing note on this epic ... I do want to say that this New York Magazine article, they have tags at the bottom so you can go and read more articles about these particular things, this is tagged with vore and this is the only article in the New York Magazine that’s tagged with vore. And I just think that’s perfect.

Cher: [crosstalk 00:26:38] does it again.

Lauren: This is an interesting segue now to the toe necklace. Tell us about TOEmblr. (laughs)

Cher: TOEtally. Did I pick this topic because of the pun potential? POEtentially! I maybe did. Anyway ... so, yes. The toe necklace. So, first off Lauren, before I begin with the TLDR, the “Too Long Didn’t Read.” How familiar are YOU with the toe necklace?

Lauren: You know what? I am familiar with it in the sense that if someone said to me, “Tumblr toe necklace” three weeks ago even I would have been like, “Yeah, I know what you’re talking about.” But I think I do get it confused with the bone stealing witch. And so I’m curious to sort of learn more in-depth where the toe necklace exactly came from.

Just give us a very quick primer on bone stealing witch so that our listeners aren’t like, “Wait, I wanna hear about that also.” This was somebody who was a practicing, I don’t know if they were a Wiccan, but they sort of referred to themselves as needing bones for magic witch stuff.

And they lived in New Orleans or somewhere in Louisiana and when there was a lot of rain or maybe even like a hurricane they went through the graveyard and picked up stray bones and brought them home for their own purposes. And they described this in a post, if I remember correctly, as if it was like a perfectly normal thing to do for somebody who needs human bones. And everybody was like-

Cher: Yeah, as one does!

Lauren: “What the fuck are you doing? Those are people’s like ... people are buried – like what are you doing!?” “How are you taking bones from a graveyard?” And their defense was sort of like, “Well, they came up from the ground because of the rain.” And it’s like, “That doesn’t make it okay. Leave the bones alone.”

Cher: (laughs)

Lauren: That was kind of the broad overview of bone stealing witch. So, that’s where my mind went. But I’m curious where TOEmblr begins and how it leads into even more bone stealing.

Cher: Yes. Absolutely. And I’m so excited to tell you, to take you on the journey, Lauren, and listeners. So, the toe saga began in November 2016 with a Tumblr post from user: cumi-eyelids ...

Lauren: Okay. (laughs)

Cher: Because of course it did.

Lauren: Excellent.

Cher: Who shared a photo of a medical jar that had some liquid and a severed toe in it. The caption is “A few days ago I received a very special package in the mail. It contained this amputated human toe belonging to the lovely Royally Oily. Literally this is a toe off her foot. I’ll be changing the solution, putting it in a pretty new jar, and potentially making it into a wearable pendant. Taking on this project is so super meaningful to me. More so than any other jewelry project I’ve taken on, including the engagement ring. I’m so appreciative of her trust in me and I’m so excited-“ TOE excited - I added that in ... “to work on this.”

So, that is ... and then Royally Oily-

Lauren: Which is another Tumblr user, just to be clear.

Cher: Which is the other Tumblr user. This is Royally ... so Cumi-Eyelids is the toe receivee and Royally Oily is the toe owner.

Lauren: Sure.

Cher: Of course. And so Royally Oily re-blogs the post and says, “Literally brought tears to my eyes. I am so grateful and excited myself. Not only do I absolutely trust your artistic expertise, Cumi-Eyelids, but I also feel my body part, yes, an actual piece of me, could not be in more capable hands. I know you will respect and care for my little piggy. I appreciate this more than you’re ever know.” (laughs)

And then another Tumblr user: corallevicks re-blogged and said, “Hey guys, just a quick question – what the fuck is going on over here?” Which obviously the most valid response, right?

Lauren: The only response.

Cher: (laughter) And so obviously immediately this post goes viral and everybody is talking about the toe necklace and the theory is, or everyone has kind of assumed that this person, user: Royally Oily, has cut off her toe and sent it to Cumi-eyelids to make into a piece of jewelry.

What actually happened, after much back and forth and a ton of very funny takes, was that user: Royally Oily had that toe amputated and it was really important to them to maintain, to have every part of their body with them up until their death. So, they wanted to essentially get this toe made into a necklace so that they could keep it with them forever and then be eventually buried with it when their time came.

Lauren: Gotcha. So, Cumi-Eyelids was not going to keep the toe necklace for themselves.

Cher: No, yeah. the Cumi-Eyelids was just the artist and really giving this toe some new legs.

Lauren: So wait ... but it was real. Like somebody really sent their amputated toe to somebody?

Cher: It was really ... someone really sent their amputated toe to somebody. This user: Cumi-Eyelids is an artist and works a lot with mostly animal parts, like scavenged animal parts. In doing my research I found out that Cumi-Eyelids is part of what’s called vulture culture which is kind of exactly what it sounds like. People kind of collecting and preserving remains that they find.

And so that is kind of the whole saga there. And, Lauren, I don’t even ... I mean, you would think it ends there and you’re like, wow, that wrapped up quite neatly.

Lauren: But I don’t know that I’m satisfied.

Cher: Oh no, but Lauren ... there’s so much more.

Lauren: Oh my god. I’m so unprepared.

Cher: This all happened in 2016, right? And then so the toe gate happened, it died down. And then a couple of years later, user: Cumi-Eyelids posted a photo of herself with a human skull, a selfie with a human skull.

Obviously, immediately, Tumblr was like, “Excuse me? What the hell?”

Lauren: Is that a real human skull!?

Cher: Is that a real human skull? And it came out that people were thinking that it was like a child’s skull and that she’d stolen it. And she posted and said, “I assure you that this was an ethically obtained skull.”

Lauren: What does that mean!?

Cher: What does that mean? There is no way there’s an ethically obtained skull. And she’s like, “No, I got it from my bone person.” You know?

Lauren: Why do all of these people have “bone people?” (laughs)

Cher: Right? So, there were people who thought she was robbing it, some people said that she got it at a flea market, and I think she said that she got it from like, yeah, a “bone person.” And there’s just so much discourse. I have a lot of posts that I liked that I’ll re-blog or share to Dashboard Diaries just talking about this saga.

Lauren: Yes, please.

Cher: And I don’t really know kind of what the resolution is, or if there really is a resolution. There’s I think the post, the biggest post about it and the one that I think wraps it up the best is a text post from user: MPDQueer who said, “Me logging onto Tumblr.com: What’s the tea today? Tumblr: User: Cumi-Eyelids has purchased a child’s skeleton for $30 at a flea market and refuses to admit how massively unethical this is. Me: logging off Tumblr.” (laughs)

Lauren: Yep, that sums up the experience.

Cher: Yes. And so the other thing is ... so there’s a couple of other additional things here. First off, I am not sure because I’ve seen a differing report, if Cumi-Eyelids ... we are at work right now and I have said “Cumi-eyelids” dozens of times ... (laughs) I don’t know if she got the skull at a flea market or from her “ethical” bone person or from her “ethical” bone person at a flea market, and “ethical” is obviously in very sarcastic quotations marks.

Lauren: Yeah, huge scare quotes. (laughter)

Cher: People are saying it’s a child’s skull and that it’s from the Victorian era. It’s a whole thing. But here’s the other thing. I looked up Cumi-Eyelids.Tumblr.com and it doesn’t exist. But Cumi—Eyelids.Tumblr.com does exist. And the thing is the initial toe post ... toe post number one was from Cumi-Eyelids, singular dash, however, a lot of users did the double dash when they are talking about the skeleton situation.

Lauren: Interesting.

Cher: So, the toe post has since been deleted. My thought is that user: Cumi-Eyelids updated her URL to Cumi—Eyelids, which would have been helpful but then there was just a whole other scandal. So, (laughs).

Lauren: Oh my god.

Cher: Then user: Royally Oily also has since deleted their Tumblr and in just a really bizarre, bizarre ... I don’t even know what ... turn of events, whatever you could call it, is now a blog that was active from September to October 2017, just featuring photos of babies.

Lauren: WHAT.

Cher: Like, dozens ... dozens, Lauren, of babies.

Lauren: What!?

Cher: Yes.

Lauren: Wait ... okay. Wait.

Cher: I’m going to drop these in our docs so you can just take a quick gander.

Lauren: So, as in Royally Oily activated again to post pictures of babies, or somebody used that URL after they’d given it up and made a new blog where they posted pictures of babies.

Cher: That is what I think happened. I’m pretty sure that-

Lauren: Fascinating.

Cher: ... user Royally ... but it’s really interesting because all of this happened in 2016. In 2017, Royally Oily returned or someone else to also it’s a very specific user name, too, so I just ... it doesn’t feel like someone would be like, “Oh, potato is free,” or whatever. This is so specific. And so the fact that, yeah, there are ... it’s just dozens of photos of babies. I’m very confused. And one photo of someone holding up a positive pregnancy test. And again, these all look ... and some of the babies look really weirdly AI generated.

Lauren: Weird.

Cher: Or most of them. They look like babies when you put two people together-

Lauren: Yeah, yeah.

Cher: ... like in one of those generators on one of those websites – like “What Would Our Baby Look Like?” It’s so bizarre.

Lauren: That is deeply strange.

Cher: So, yeah. The TOEmblr conspiracy, at first we thought it was wrapped up and then bone gate part three happened and then now there’s these two very strange Tumblr accounts. I’m pretty sure Cumi—Eyelids is the original Cumi-eyelids just given the content on the Tumblr, right? Which is just very aesthetically similar to ... and even looking at the profile photo and everything I’m pretty positive it’s the same person.

So, yeah, that is the toe conspiracy. (laughs)

Lauren: I’m speechless. That took so many more turns. Because I think ... the moment you said “Toe in the jar” and someone making jewelry from a toe I was like, oh, I do think I remember this, and I think I remember seeing it and sort of assuming that it was some sort of weird hoax/joke thing.

Cher: Yeah.

Lauren: And so the fact ... Did they ever post a picture of the final necklace?

Cher: I don’t think so, actually.

Lauren: I would be so curious. Because the original toe is like in formaldehyde, right?

Cher: Yeah.

Lauren: And it was a full toe.

Cher: Indeed it was.

Lauren: So, my question was did they somehow preserve the full toe or did they get it just down to bones? I have to think they got it just down to bones. Right?

Cher: They would have to get it down to bones, because even in the post itself she said that she was switching out the jar and putting it in a prettier jar and putting it in new liquid because the liquid is going to expire. I think it only lasts a few years.

Lauren: Okay.

Cher: So, definitely I think she was, yeah, going to get it down to bones and then cast it in resin. I’m really interested-

Lauren: Okay.

Cher: ... to see the final-

Lauren: That’s kinda cool.

Cher: ... necklace. If anyone knows or ever saw the final result, please send it our way.

Lauren: Yeah. And Royally Oily, if you’re still out there and you happened to hear this, I’d be very curious to hear if you wear this necklace every day or if it’s just something that you want to be buried with. Because I think that’s ... I get the impulse behind it. I really do. And that is a cool way to preserve your own body part for future laying to rest, I guess.

Cher: Yeah.

Lauren: You know? And it’s cool that there’s an artist for everything. (laughs)

Cher: And that is ... yeah, there is an artist for everything. You can find, if you want, to make your toe into a necklace you can find someone who would be beyond excited to do that. And that is the beauty of the internet. And I also ... my mom definitely has all the teeth I lost growing up, which ...

Lauren: Oh sure.

Cher: Which having a jar of teeth in your home ... creepy ... I would say equally as creepy as ... I don’t know, a little macabre as a toe necklace.

Lauren: It’s one of those-

Cher: I mean ... and that’s way more socially accepted because that’s what everyone does, right? So, what really is the difference?

Lauren: Well, because we understand, too, that you can lose teeth. We recognize what baby teeth look like and we understand if we see a jar of baby teeth that it’s like, “These teeth came out harmlessly.”

Cher: Yeah.

Lauren: Right? I actually saw this post going around Tumblr the other day ... it was a post of a video that someone screen-shotted and put on Twitter and then somebody screen-shotted the Twitter post and put it on Tumblr. (laughs) But it was a post of someone making a Christmas tree out of deer antlers. And in the video it was like, “No deer were harmed in the making of this tree.” And then the person tweeting was like, “No deer were harmed, what the fuck are you talking about?” And then in the community note on the tweet was ... oh, the tweet user was like, “What the fuck are you talking about? Are you saying that the antlers just fell off painlessly?” They were being sarcastic. And the community note is like, “Deer shed their antlers painlessly every year.”

(laughter)

I do feel like the teeth, baby teeth, we shed them painlessly. Not painlessly necessarily, but we shed them. But yeah, a skull or a toe or something like that ... I think is a little bit more ... raises more questions perhaps.

Cher: Yeah.

Lauren: As to what ...

Cher: Very valid. Here’s the difference: toe, ethically sourced, given with consent.

Lauren: Yeah.

Cher: Excellent. Skull from flea market: unethically sourced, no consent.

Lauren: Yeah. It does raise an interesting ... I don’t want to go too down further the rabbit hole on the ethics of bone sourcing. Well, actually just to make a quick addendum to my earlier explanation of the bone stealing witch ... it was actually a call out post initially to the user who was stealing the bones and then the user tried to explain. I didn’t realize this – eventually the bone stealing witch was raided by the police and they found 11 bones and four teeth in her house.

Cher: Oh my.

Lauren: So, there’s that. And yeah, I think gathering bones from a cemetery, loose bones from a cemetery is very clearly unethical. I was thinking though sort of like, okay, if you’re at a flea market or antique shop and you see a human skeleton, you know, one of those display skeletons that you use in anatomy classes and things like that, that’s clearly old and clearly the person has been dead for several hundred years or whatever, or yeah, they’re from Victorian times, whatever – like, there’s no way for you to find the family of that person I don’t think.

I mean, I guess you could do stuff with DNA but that’s very involved. Is that ... I’m not saying this is my moral stance, I’m just pondering ... is that sort of the same as buying an old fur coat at a flea market? You know? Because it’s like you’re not supporting the fur industry because no animal is being killed because you were buying something and therefore showing that there is demand, you’re buying a coat from an animal that was killed 100 years ago. I don’t know. I don’t know where the ethics on that are.

Also ... presumably, if it’s a full skeleton, like a model skeleton, presumably that person gave their bones to science. So, I think then the ethical thing to do would be to donate it to some sort of classroom or museum or something.

Cher: Yeah, that’s a really interesting point, Lauren. I do think there are those kinds of events, right, they have those kinds of oddities, macabre, traveling fairs and things where they sell all kinds of different body parts. And there’s a museum/bar in New York called “House of Wax” that has body parts in it. And a whole bunch of like weird jars full of like preserved things.

Lauren: Yeah.

Cher: And I mean, where did they get those? Are those ethically sourced? Were they given to science? I mean, I feel like that’s ... I mean, I’m not sure what the answer is, honestly. Because at a certain point how do you know how old it is and how it was sourced and if it was given to science, is that okay if it was stolen 500 years ...

Lauren: Right, what would be the ethical thing to do with it now? Actually, yeah, I’ve been to a pub in England, it’s one of the oldest pubs in England, that has a severed human hand. I actually don’t know if it’s the real hand anymore. I forget. But it supposedly someone was cheating at cards in the 1500s and they cut off their hand. It’s an old wives tale and it’s unclear how true any of it is. But let’s say it was true. Is it ethical for that bar to keep it as sort of a draw for crowds to come and patronize their restaurant? Or what would be the ethical way to deal with that hand? Do you bury the hand? I just don’t know!

Cher: Yeah, I’ve got to hand it to you, Lauren. I have no idea ...

Lauren: (laughs) And these are the very important topics that we discuss on our podcast on Tumblr. How do you ethically source your human bones? (laughter)

Cher: Look, it’s important to know. You know?

Lauren: It is.

Cher: You’ll never know when the need will arise. What if a witch comes to you with an ancient curse and the only way to solve the curse is to find a specific bone from an ancient person?

Lauren: Yeah, I think there are circumstances in which it would be ... I think being cursed by a witch I would give a lot of leeway to. I think I could firmly come down on the side of if someone gives you their bones, I think that’s fine. And everything else ... you’re really wandering into a moral gray area. (laughs)

Cher: So, it’s like ... it’s making me think of what’s his face ... Peter Pettigrew in ...

Lauren: Oh yeah, cutting off his toe.

Cher: Yeah.

Lauren: That’s right. Yeah.

Cher: In Harry Potter, yeah. And also he cuts off ... does he cut off his arm or something when he’s bringing Voldemort back to life?

Lauren: Oh, yeah. He cuts off his hand.

Cher: He cuts off his hand. Yeah.

Lauren: And then Voldemort gives him a shiny hand.

Cher: Yeah.

Lauren: Yeah, that’s right. Yeah. I mean ...

Cher: Ethical? Hmm ...

Lauren: Ethical, I don’t think so. I don’t think it’s ethical to pressure your employee to sever a part of their body in order for you to be reanimated.

Cher: I couldn’t agree more. You know what, Lauren, you’re so right. And I’m going to keep that in mind if I ever manage a team.

Lauren: Yeah, exactly. I think that would count as workplace harassment.

(laughter)

Moral of the story – don’t steal bones.

But, if you are an artist who makes body part jewelry for people, that’s a nice service that you provide, I guess.

Cher: Yeah. I mean, there’s a ton of different unique things that people have started doing with body parts. I know people are doing sand art with cremated body parts and things. Like getting them cast in resin and all this kind of interesting stuff.

Lauren: Oh.

Cher: I saw some kind of video the other day. Yeah, one of those kind of short docs about things, about yeah how people have started preserving loved ones in different ways. Wow, that’s really interesting. I don’t, I mean, if you’re going to have ... what is it ... the jars that they put cremated remains in, an urn?

Lauren: An urn, yeah.

Cher: If you’re going to have an urn or a piece of art that reminds you of someone, I mean, why not do whatever one you want to do.

Lauren: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, you know, talk to your loved ones about how they want their remains taken care of before they die.

Cher: Talk to your loved ones if they want their cremated remains turned into sonic sand art.

(laughter)

Lauren: I mean, more power to you.

Cher: (laughter)

Lauren: All right.

Cher: Oh wow. What a journey we’ve been on today, Lauren.

Lauren: What a journey. (laughter) Shall we wrap up?

Cher: I think we should. I was going to say ... I don’t think we have time for our Feels Corner, but I think what’s got me in my feels is the ethics of bone harvesting. I’m just feeling really interested in that.

Lauren: Yeah, I think that counts. I’m sure that there are philosophers out there who are debating this question. Yeah. I think as with everything, consent is key.

Cher: Consent is key. That’s a beautiful place to end this episode, Lauren. And with that ...

I’m Cher McAnelly and you can find me at OverChers.Tumblr.com.

Lauren: And I’m Lauren Shippen, and you can find me at TheLaurenShippen.Tumblr.com.

Cher: This has been Dashboard Diaries. And ...

[outtro music]

Lauren: May your anons always be loving.

Cher: Your dash always refreshed.

Lauren: Your gifs always be loading.

Cher: And your ships always canon.

Lauren: May the fics you’re reading always be finished.

Cher: And the answers you seek always in the re-blogs.Lauren: Thanks for scrolling with us!

Today we dive into two small tumblr scandals/oddities: Constable Frozen and severed toe jewelry. Also, we discuss our fanfic horoscopes, fanfic never have I ever, and talking about vore at work. Plus, the ethics of bone stealing.

Credits and transcript in our reblog. You can find transcripts for this, and every other episode, here.

Find the posts discussed in this episode in this tag!

#transcript #DD 28

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atlafan · 5 years ago

Text

Heal - One Shot

a/n: werewolffry is here!! I rewrote this like three different times because supernatural au’s are just not my thing, but I’m pretty happy with how this turned out. I didn’t research anything, I sort of just came up with my own lore, and based some of it off of the show Teen Wolf, but not by much. Feedback and reblogs are super helpful, I can’t wait to know what you think! I have some other Halloween requests, but keep them coming! I’m hoping to post one every week until Halloween. Enjoy! (not proofread)

Warnings: Fluff, a little angst, smut (pegging)

Words: 14.8K

Harry, Niall, and Louis are all werewolves; it was that simple. What wasn’t simple was they were university students, trying to live regular lives. The three of them all came from different families, but these families had truces, so they were allowed to interact. Over the years, hunters had started breaking their codes, and wolf numbers were starting to dwindle, so many families were starting to extend their packs to keep everyone safe.

Harry’s family was probably one of the most important; they were healers. Healers were a rare and special breed of werewolf. They were basically the wizards of their kind. All werewolves had the ability to heal themselves, sure, and they could take the pain away from others, but healers had the ability to fix broken bones, extract bullets and close wounds without stiches, they had herbs and “potions” to help humans when they felt so inclined. They were pure, kind, and empathetic. Anne was the head, the matriarch, and Gemma was next in line. However, Harry, needed to be protected at all costs. Male healers…they were easily persuaded, and often got a little too attached to the people they mated with. The women were much more reserved, careful, so when Harry was in secondary school, and started dating…Anne had Gemma give him a little talk about the birds and the bees.

Now, there were no rules saying that wolves couldn’t date or mate with regular people. Because of the dwindling numbers over the years, many partners were being turned. It was essentially like going through the process of converting religions. There was some studying involved, some promises that needed to be made, and some understandings on both parties’ sides.

The boys had all grown up together, and they all learned how to fight and protect themselves, although, Harry hated fighting. As a healer, he had his qualms about hurting other people. He’d always feel bad if he accidentally hurt one of his trainers, rushing to their side immediately to help them. Louis, once a very free spirit, had become hardened after becoming the leader of his family’s pack. No one blamed him, his immediate family got murdered by hunters. Now all of his cousins and other family members looked to him for guidance. It was why he took a gap year before going to university. He also wanted to wait to be able to go with Harry and Niall. Anne was grateful that Louis would be watching over her son. Niall was great and all, but he could be a proper dolt in his own right. He was a skilled fighter, but that was about all he had going for him.

They were going into their second year, and this year they had a flat all to themselves. Being in the dorms…well, it was nothing short of a disaster. They were in a triple their first year, and that was just not enough space for three young werewolves. Now they all had their own rooms so they could do as they pleased. Harry was excited to start his new semester. There was a girl he enjoyed the scent of that worked at the bookstore café last year, and he hoped she would be returning. She was the only one that made his coffee correctly. Not that Harry was snooty, but he was practically royalty, so he had his moments where he acted a little spoiled. He wasn’t sure how someone could fuck up a small black coffee with a little butter in it, but if it wasn’t her who made it, it was fucked up. She was American, so he had no idea if she had just been studying abroad last semester or not.

As much as he frequented the bookstore café, he didn’t say more than his coffee order to her. It killed him. He wanted to flirt with her, tell her how good she smelled, and god, did she smell good. It’s what drew him into the café in the first place, the scent of honey and vanilla. He didn’t talk to her because he didn’t know her, he didn’t know her family. Anyone Harry dated in secondary school he had known his whole life. He knew if they came from a hunter or not. He wasn’t sure how things worked for werewolves in the states. He had no idea if the codes were different, and anytime he asked his mother about it she just told it was something he didn’t need to worry about. The girl seemed nice enough, but Gemma had explained to Harry long ago that male healers were gullible when it came to the people they wanted to mate with.

That’s not to say Harry didn’t mate…he mated often, but mostly with people he had no mental attachment to. He didn’t like the idea of not having a lot of control over his mind, so he stuck to random hook ups. At first he didn’t believe Gemma when she first explained everything to him once he hit puberty, but when he found himself in the woods one night with a rabbit in his teeth that he had killed for his regular girlfriend, he understood. He dropped it out of his mouth. “She’s not a werewolf, she won’t want that.” Gemma had said as she put a hand on his shoulder. “I know you want to please her, but this isn’t the way.” She had chuckled. His sister had laughed at him. He didn’t want to give her a reason to do that again. Granted, he was fifteen, and in puppy-love, but still.

He had learned to control himself, as did Niall and Louis, when it came to the people he was attracted to. He was cautious and observant, and perhaps would just admire from afar. Much to his delight, and surprise, as he was walking around campus with Niall and Louis before classes started, he saw the girl in the bookstore window helping put out inventory. Harry smiled to himself. Even if he was still too shy to get to know her, he could at least sleep peacefully knowing he’d be getting a decent cup of coffee.

Working at the university bookstore was an easy gig. Sure, once in a while Y/N would get a disgruntled student who wasn’t pleased about how expensive a book or a sweatshirt was, but other than that things were pleasant. She loved seeing prospective students and their excited families come in to buy their first piece of memorabilia. The bookstore also house a small café for students to grab some coffee and a pastry, and sometimes they’d stay to do some studying. Sometimes she was behind the bar making drinks, sometimes she’d be working the register, and other times she’d be in the back taking stock.

One of her favorite customers was a boy she barely knew, but had seen around campus plenty. His name was Harry, and he’d order a whipped black coffee with butter every morning. She didn’t work every morning, but any morning she was working, she’d make it for him. Or, that’s how it was last semester, anyways. She had no idea what year he was, he could have finished school last year for all she knew. Y/N chose to study abroad for the entirety of her college career. She had done some traveling in high school, and loved it. She felt way more independent going to school in England, and way more adult. She and her roommates had their own flat this year, and she was excited to really make the space her own. She was in a cramped dorm last year, so having her own room was a major step up.

It was syllabus week, but she was dreading her Calculus class. It was the last math class she needed, thank god. In her first year she had to take algebra, and then precalc. She was a biology student, so she needed Calculus. It was just a lot to balance with her other major courses. Taking bio, chem, and math classes all at the same time was a pain in the ass. Another pain in the ass was that there weren’t a ton of other girls in her classes. Just awkward boys who thought they were smarter than her. She can’t help her jaw from dropping when she sees Harry walk into the classroom. His eyes scan over his options and then widen when he sees her. He knew he smelt something good. He smirks when he sees her obviously flustered, and he walks over slowly to sit down next to her. He flashes her his award winning, shit eating grin, and takes a notebook out of his backpack. He could feel her heart racing, and he almost felt bad, but her heart did that every time he came into the bookstore café. At first he thought it just did that because she was busy, but he realized soon he just made her nervous. Another reason he didn’t say more than a few words to her, until today that is.

Harry turns slightly to look at her, resting his cheek on his fist. She does a double take and sees he’s looking at her. She furrows her brows at him.

“Sorry, you just look really familiar.” He says. “Don’t mean to stare.” He was trying to play it cool. He didn’t want to seem like a stalker.

“Oh! It’s okay, um, I…I work at the campus bookstore.”

“That’s right! You’re the girl who knows how to make my coffee. I think you’re the only one who works there that can do it right.” He sighs.

“It’s not difficult.” She mumbles. “Maybe it’s just the unusual order that throws the others off.”

“Adding butter to coffee isn’t that unusual.” He rolls his eyes. He was talking to her like they were old friends. Maybe in his mind they were. She blinks at him. “What?”

“Nothing…it’s just, well, this is the most you’ve ever spoken to me.” She blushes slightly and takes a pull from her water bottle.

“I could say the same thing to you, you know?” He smirks.

“I’m not the one with the intimidating eyebrows.” She points at his face. “You’re very serious looking.” She gives him a soft smile to let him know she’s only teasing and he smiles back.

“I’m a bit shy, nothing more to it than that. Promise I’m not some scary monster.” God, the irony could have killed him alone.

“Um, how come you’re in calc one? Like, what’s your major?”

“Art History.” She blinks at him again. “I’m an allied health minor, need stats and calc for that.”

“Oh!” She laughs. “Makes sense.”

“What about you?”

“Biology. This is the last math class I need, thank god.”

“Not a fan of math?”

“It’s not that I’m not, I’m just annoyed. I took calculus in high school, but I didn’t know about the math placement assessment last summer, so I had to start out in college algebra last fall. Big waste of time.” She sighs. “Art History and allied health, that’s an interesting combination.”

“Needed a backup, you know how parents can be.”

Truth be told, Harry would go off to be a doctor if he could, but he’d expose himself no doubt. People would catch on to him working “miracles”. It was the empath in him, he just wanted to help anyone and everyone. His mother allowed him the minor for a couple of reasons. One, to scratch his itch for wanting to help people, and two, to learn more about how the body worked so he could properly heal others.

“I totally get it.” She scoffs.

“What do you want to do with bio?”

“I haven’t quite figured out my specialization yet. I don’t think I want to be a doctor doing surgeries, maybe forensics? Working in a lab, that kind of stuff?”

“That’s noble work.” He smiles and she smiles back. “Are you working at the bookstore again this year?”

“Mhm.” She nods. “Sort of have to if I wanna afford things.” She chuckles.

“Cool, good to know I can still get my coffee how I like it.”

“Is that all I’m good for?”

His eyebrows raise as her lips curl up. Oh, she was flirting with him. He has to suppress every urge in his body to not just yank her out of the classroom and take her home with him.

“We’ll have to see how well you do in this class. You may also be good for tutoring.” He wasn’t bad at math, but maybe he could pretend to be if it meant they could start hanging out.

She rolls her eyes at him and shakes her head.

“I’m Y/N, by the way.” She says as the professor walks in.

“Harry.” He whispers, and the class gets started.

Y/N bursts through her door later that day. Her roommates were getting lunch started.

“You’ll never guess what happened in calc! That hot guy that used to come into the café last year is in my class, and he sat next to me! He remembered who I was, and he remembered the way I make his coffee. I swear to god we were flirting, oh my fucking god!” She squeals and her friends giggle.

“Slow down, Y/N.” Talia says to her. “He’s just a guy.”

“But he’s not.” Y/N pouts. “He’s so fucking hot, and he seems really sweet.”

“It’s not a great idea to shit where you eat.” Georgie says. “I hooked up with a guy in one of my classes last year and it was super awkward.”

“Who said I was going to jump into bed with him?” Y/N scoffs. “Maybe I just wanna be his friend.” She shrugs and grabs a cheese stick out of the fridge.

“Mhm, a friend who you’d like to bone.” Talia smirks.

“Well…it’s not like I haven’t thought about it. He’s so handsome…he probably sees lots of girls. Although, I’m pretty sure if he snapped his fingers I’d take my pants off for him.”

All of the girls laugh as they eat. This semester would be interesting to say the least.

Harry started chatting up Y/N in class after that first day, and he went to the bookstore café every time she worked. Even if he wasn’t in the mood for a coffee, he’d pretend like he was, but it didn’t go much deeper than that. His life was complex, and he had to be careful about who he brought into it.

As he got older, Harry realized he had the ability to shift completely into a wolf, but only on full moons. All werewolves could do this, they just needed to reach a level of maturity to do so, and it was extremely dangerous because if they stayed like that for too long, it was difficult to shift back. However, Harry enjoyed going out on the full moon and just running around it his heart’s desire. It also served to satisfy many of his primal instincts. He could go out and kill a small animal, eat, and feel zero remorse about it. The catch was you had to be naked before shifting, and you’d shift back naked, so you had to leave yourself clothes. Niall thought it would be funny to steal Harry’s clothes after he shifted back.

It was extremely early in the morning, and Harry was standing in the middle of the woods naked. Normally it wouldn’t be a big deal, he could just hop from tree to tree, and get back unnoticed, but he found himself in a well-traveled runner’s path. Plus, he was tired from a night out of wolfing it up, so excuse him for not being thrilled with Niall’s prank. He had learned to control his body temperature, so it’s not like he was cold, he was just annoyed. He needed to listen carefully to every little thing. From afar he hears music and someone breathing heavily. Normally he wouldn’t be so phased, but the scent was familiar. Harry freezes when he realized it’s Y/N, so he quickly hides behind a tree. If she was ever going to see him naked it wouldn’t be like this.

Her music wasn’t up terribly loud, she wasn’t an idiot. Running alone early in the morning meant she couldn’t just zone out, no, she needed to be aware of her surroundings. However, it was fall and she was running in a wooded area, so she strips over a hidden tree root. It wouldn’t have been so bad, but it catches her ankle the wrong way, and Harry can feel the ligaments snapping. He winces for her. That wasn’t even the worst of it. Because of the way she twisted as she fell, her head knocked into the stump of the tree, and it knocked her out.

“Shit.” Harry says to himself as he peers at her limp body.

He had a couple of options. He could easily pretend he didn’t see what happened, and continue to get home unnoticed and let someone else find her, or he could go over there, pick her up, and take her to his place to heal her. He goes with the latter, physically not being able to just leave her. He looks around to make sure no one else was coming, and he strolls over to her. He kneels beside her, putting his palm over her forehead to make sure she was really knocked out. He didn’t want to startle her if she woke up. Something about seeing a naked man over your unconscious body…it probably work out well for him. He closes his eyes for a moment, just to take a little of her pain away, then he hoists her up, carrying her bridal style. He takes a deep breath, his eyes glow red, and then he sprints through the trees back to his flat.

“Took you long enough, what did you do, take extra-long to make me feel bad?” Niall says as he opens the front door. His eyes widen when he sees Harry carrying the girl.

“Got a bit side tracked.” He grunts as he walks in.

“What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything.” He scoffs. “She tripped, and got hurt. I need to take her up to my room to help her. Where’s Lou?”

“He went to the market, we were low on groceries.”

“Good, keep him occupied when he gets back. I don’t think he’d be terribly happy about this.”

Niall nods as Harry carries Y/N up the stairs. He lays her down gentle on his bed, and her eyes flutter open some as he walks to his dresser. She thinks she dreaming because she can faintly see a man’s ass, a perfect ass might she add, and then her eyes rolls back into her head, passing out yet again. Harry grabs some things from his closet, namely a first aid kit. He starts with her ankle. He wraps his large hand around it, taking her pain away. He couldn’t take it all, and he couldn’t fully heal her. That would be too suspicious. He’d need to leave her in a little bit of pain. He heals her ligaments, though, and leaves it to make it feel like she may have just twisted it the wrong way. He wraps a makeshift splint on her for show, and then he moves to her poor head. She had an egg growing out of it, so he takes a deep breath and pops it back in with his thumb. He rubs his palm over her skull to feel around for the potential of a concussion, but he doesn’t feel anything that serious. She’d have a headache at most so he gets up and grabs a water bottle from the case in his closet, and a couple of aspirin from the first aid kit. Since he’s dressed now, and she’s mostly better, he feels like he can wake her up now. He nudges her shoulder gently, and her eyes flutter back open. She flinches when she sees him.

“H-Harry?” She sits up, and winces, grabbing at her ankle. “What’s going on?” She whimpers, and he thinks it’s about the cutest thing he’s ever seen. Her bottom lip slightly jutting out as she assesses herself.

“I was going for a run this morning, uh, the same path you were on I’m assuming, and I saw you trip. You hit your head pretty hard, so I carried you back here, I hope that’s alright.”

“You…you carried me all that way?”

“You’re not exactly heavy.” He mutters, and her cheeks grow red. “Here, uh, do you want some aspirin?”

“Yeah, thanks.” She takes the two pills out of his palm and the water bottle. “My head really hurts.” She looks down at her ankle. “Do you make this splint?”

“I didn’t know if you twisted it or sprained it, so I thought it would be good as a precautionary measure. I think you caught it on a tree root.”

“I’m usually a lot more careful than that…I’m sorry if I troubled you, or ruined your run.”

“You didn’t.” He smiles. “I’m just glad you’re okay, Y/N.”

She gazes at him. Before she can speak his door flies open.

“Harry.” Louis says. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“Hey, mate, thanks for knocking.” Harry grits his teeth.

“I need to speak with you and Niall, so take your friend home, now.” He leaves and slams the door shut. Harry sighs heavily and looks at her.

“Sorry about him, he, uh, gets uptight about house rules. Niall probably left the milk out overnight or something.” Harry shrugs. He could feel her worry radiating off her.

“It’s okay…you don’t have to take me home I should be able to make it.” She swings her legs over the side of the bed, and uses his shoulder to help her stand. She winces once her bad foot hits the ground.

“It’s really no problem. I’d feel better knowing you got back okay.”

“You’ve done enough, Harry.” She winces again as she takes a step. Maybe he should have taken more of her pain away. Now he feels guilty.

“I could give you a piggy back ride.” Her eyebrows raise at him. “Would you like that?” He chuckles.

“I…you’d really carry me all the way to my apartment?”

“It’s a flat, darling, we’re not in America.” He rolls his eyes and her face flushes at the term of endearment used so condescendingly. “And yeah, I’d carry you. I bet you’re not even that far away, c’mon.” He wraps his arm around her wrist to get her to stand behind him as he squats. She climbs onto his broad back and he lifts her effortlessly. “Light as a feather, you are. Now, where do you live?” He asks as he takes her out of his room and down the stairs.

“24D…Pine Street.”

“Pine’s barely a block away from here.” He looks over his shoulder and smiles at her on the way out.

“Won’t we look funny like this?” She nearly whispers as he carries her down the street.

“Nah, we probably just look like a proper couple. I’ve got no problem with that…do you?”

“No.” She rests her chin on his shoulder. She inhales some of his cologne and she likes what she smells. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but he just smelled really good to her. “You’re a proper cutie, Harry.”

“Look at you using our slang.” He chuckles. “I am pretty cute, huh?”

“Try being humble, hm?” She nudges the top of his head and it makes him laugh.

His grip on her tightens when they reach the front steps of her flat.

“Hand me your key.”

“I can make it from here.”

“I have to make sure you get inside okay.”

“I will, Harry. I…I’d like to run myself a bath, and I don’t need you there for that.”

“You don’t? Too bad, I’m an excellent bath buddy.”

“Put me down.” She says with a shaky voice, and he smirks. He gently lets her down to her feet and he turns to look at her. “Thank you for being so kind…”

“Do you often run alone?”

“Yeah, my roommates don’t really like it. I don’t blame them, running’s the actual worst, but I don’t really like lifting weights much, so it’s the lesser of two evils for me.”

“Text me sometime, I’d go running with you.” He fishes his phone out of his pocket and hands it to her.

“Really?”

“Yeah.” He smiles. “We could be two proper cuties out running together.”

“Mhm, okay.” She scoffs as she puts her number in his phone and texts herself. She hands it back to him.

“I mean it, you’re very cute.” She rolls her eyes at him. “You are! Especially in calc when your brows are all furrowed when you’re concentrating.” He steps a little closer to her. “You get this very serious pout on your face, it’s adorable.”

“Why…why are you watching me in class, and not paying attention?”

“You’re distracting.” It wasn’t a lie, and it wasn’t meant to be sexist. He wasn’t a little boy getting a stuffy from a bra strap, but she always smelled so good, and anytime she moved he’d get a fresh whiff of her. She looks down at her tattered sneakers and then back to him. She felt like she could easily get lost in his eyes. “Will you let me know later how you’re feeling?”

“Yes.” He nods at that and starts walks down her steps as she keys into her flat. “Harry?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m…working later if you wanna come by the café.”

He grins at her and turns to keep walking. She takes a deep breath as she gets inside. She had a lot of squealing to do with her roommates.

“Tell me again why you thought it would be a good idea to leave Harry, of all people, in the woods naked? I know you’re bored because you’re not allowed to be on the football team, I’m bored too, but that doesn’t mean you can prank him like that.” Louis was scary when he got mad at the boys. He didn’t yell, but you could hear the clear disappointment in his voice, and that was ten times worse. “Well? I’m waiting for an answer, Niall.”

“I guess I wasn’t really thinking.” He mumbles as he sits with Harry on the couch. The two of them looked like little puppies being scolded for shitting on the rug.

“No, you weren’t.” Louis huffs. “And you.” He looks at Harry. “You thought helping a girl, while naked, was an equally good idea?”

“I couldn’t just leave her there!”

“I know you couldn’t.” Louis sighs. “You just shouldn’t have been left alone. We’ve been lucky at this school so far, I’d like to keep things as easy going as they are. You brought a total stranger here.”

“She’s not a total stranger.” Harry mumbles as he twiddles his thumbs. “She’s that girl I’ve been crushing on from the bookstore, and she also happens to be in my calc class…so I know her.”

“We don’t know if she’s harmless or not.” Louis says.

“Looked pretty harmless when Harry carried her in like a limp noodle.” Niall chuckles, and Louis shoots daggers at him, getting him to shut up.

“Did she question anything?” Louis asks.

“No…I didn’t heal her fully so she wouldn’t be suspicious.” He runs a hand through her hair. “I had to help her, she smells to fucking good to not help.”

“You’ve mentioned that a couple of times, but I’m not smelling it.” Niall says. “Smells like any other regular person.”

“It’s because he likes her. You know how it is for us, we really like the way a person smells when we really like them. It proves the attraction.” Louis sits down on the coffee table in front of them.

“And I know she likes me back.” Harry says proudly.

“Yeah? How?” Niall inquires.

“Well, not only did she tell me I was cute, but she gets aroused around me all the time, especially today when I took her home. I could smell it. I’ve been trying to be careful and not act on anything, but I don’t think I can do that anymore.”

“No one ever said you couldn’t date.” Louis says. “You just need to be careful. You know how easily you lot can get attached.”

“I’m fully aware.” Harry rolls his eyes. “Don’t worry, I won’t be going out into the woods to fetch her a dead rabbit.”

Harry started coming by the bookstore even more after that. Y/N had told her friends what happened, that basically Harry was her knight in shining armor. She got excited every time he’d walk into the bookstore. Even if it wasn’t a shift where she was making coffee, she’d make his for him. A flirty friendship had started to form between the two of them. Sometimes he’d come at the end of her shift so he could walk her home, or they’d go grab a bite to eat. She wondered why the most they had done is hold hands, but she didn’t mind that he was taking things slow with her, it was actually a breath of fresh air. And the antics they’d get into in class…he’d pass her notes, actual notes! Sometimes they’d do homework together too. He was slowly swallowing her whole, and she didn’t mind one bit.

“Hello, love.” He says to her as her shift is ending.

“Hi, Harry.” She smiles. “How was your day?”

“Good, better now.” He sighs with a smile and she blushes.

“I just need to take care of some things in the back, and change.”

“Alright, I thought you could come over for a movie tonight. I could order us some food and we can just hang out.”

“I’d like that.” She smiles and goes into the backroom. About ten minutes later she comes out good to go. “Could we watch something with a Halloween vibe? Nothing too scary, of course.”

“Sure.” He loops his arm through hers and she giggles as they leave the bookstore. “You’re into Halloween and all that?”

“Into it? I love it! We decorated our flat yesterday with a ton of Halloween stuff. You’re not a fan?”

“No, I don’t mind it.” He shrugs. “Just think people can get carried away with their costumes sometimes.”

“I agree, some people ruin it for everyone else. I don’t like the scary aspects of it, like, you won’t catch me at a haunted house.”

“Oh, but I’d protect you, Y/N.” He smiles down at her and she blushes.

He gets her inside and he tells her to go up to his room, and to get comfortable. Louis always preferred if they hung out that Harry brought her over, so she was no stranger to their place now. He grabs some menus from the kitchen and meets her upstairs.

“What are you in the mood for?” He asks her. “Chinese, Italian…?” He furrows his brows at the menus as he looks over his options.

“You pick, I’m fine with whatever.” She says.

“Chinese then, do you like dumplings and stuff like that?”

“Yup.”

“Brilliant.” He sits down next to her and grabs his laptop so he can order everything online. He sets it on his desk, and turns his TV on. He sits up against his headboard and so does she. “Here.” He hands her the remote. “You can pick the movie, babe.”

Her heart fluttered every time he called her that. It was just like any other term of endearment, but she still really liked it.

“Hmm…” She flips on Netflix to look over her options. “Oh! What about Teen Wolf, the old one with Michael J. Fox?”

“Uh, that’s a little unrealistic, don’t you think?”

“Well…duh, it’s about a werewolf.” She scoffs. “The whole thing is unrealistic.”

“I just mean, um, oh, look…Hocus Pocus, now that’s a classic.”

“You’re absolutely right. Way better choice.” She hits play and he sighs with relief. “Besides, the show Teen Wolf is way better. I mean, the first two to three seasons were good, and then it just got really bad, but it was still fun.”

“Are you, like, a wolf fanatic or something?”

“No.” She laughs. “It was on MTV when I was younger and it was fun to watch.” She shrugs and looks up at him. “Don’t worry, I think you’re much cuter than the actors on the show.”

“You do, huh?” He puts an arm around her and she cozies up to him. “Good to know.”

She lets her arm fall on his waist as she gets comfortable, and her leg even goes over one of his. It was a proper Netflix & Chill and neither of them had any problem with it. About thirty minutes into the movie, there’s a knock on the door downstairs.

“That’s our food, I’ll be right back.” He pauses the movie and gets up.

“Do you wanna eat downstairs? I’d feel bad about making a mess up here.”

“Don’t be silly, it’s fine.” He chuckles and goes downstairs. He returns shortly with the food. “Alright, I got dumplings, sushi, egg rolls, rice, noodles, and veggies.”

“It smells so good.” She licks her lips and opens the sushi first, popping a piece into her mouth. “Which one’s your favorite?”

“The dumplings.” He mutters as he bites into one.

Eating a dumpling satisfied the more primal side of Harry. It was plump and juicy, like a small animal that he might be ravenous for on a full moon while he’s shifted.

“I like them a lot too.” She takes one and bites into it. She grabs a napkin to dab the corners of her mouth. “Mm, so good.”

“Want some water?”

“Please.”

He grabs her a bottle from the case he keeps in his closet. They eat a bit more while watching the movie, and then Harry puts everything away downstairs so they can go back to cuddling. He pops a piece of gum into his mouth, and offers her some as well.

“We’re gonna have a Halloween party, by the way.” She says to him.

“Yeah?”

“Mhm, would you maybe wanna come? Niall and Louis can come too.”

“We usually lay low on Halloween…lot of freaks come out that night, you know?”

“Please?” She pouts. “I have a really cute costume planned, and I want you to see it.”

“What is it?” He blushes.

“I can’t give it away, then you won’t be surprised.” She boops his nose and he smiles.

“I’ll…I’ll ask them to see if they wanna go.”

“Great.” In a bold move she kisses his cheek. His eyes widen as he looks at her.

“C’mere.” He says, and pulls her onto his lap. She straddles him and wraps her arms around his neck. “I like you a lot, you know that, right?” He tucks some hair behind her ear.

“I think so.” She says shyly. “I like you a lot too, Harry.”

“Can I kiss you?”

She nods yes, and he cups her cheek with one of his hands while the other grips her hip. He presses his lips to hers, and her eyes flutter closed. Her hands slide into his hair and he tugs her closer. His fingers dig into the skin between her shirt and pants. Their lips move along each other’s. Her lips were so incredibly soft, he just want to-

“Mmph!” She grunts as he bites down on her bottom lip and sucks on it.

Harry had learned a lot of restraint over the years, so he didn’t need to worry about his teeth growing sharper or his nails growing longer, or even shifting slightly. He just needed to keep his breathing steady. She seems to like what he’s doing because she doesn’t tell him to stop. In fact, she rolls her hips down on his and tugs at his hair harder. She opens her mouth slightly, and he takes it as a signal that he can lick into her. His tongue swirls around hers, and she moans again. Her breasts press against his chest, and she continues to grind against him.

She tugs his head back to get some air and she moves to kiss on his neck. She mouths and licks over the area just under his earlobe, and his hands squeeze at her hips.

“Y/N.” He breathes. “It’s getting late, do you wanna spend the night?” She pauses her actions and nods yes against his neck, causing him to chuckle.

“What, um…” She moves to look at him. “What do you feel like doing? Do you wanna stop?”

“Do you?”

“N-no, but I feel like we should. I really do like you, and I don’t wanna mess anything up by moving too fast.”

“I feel the same way.” He smiles. “Want something of mine to wear to sleep?”

“Yeah.” She smiles. He pecks her lips again before she moves off him.

Harry grabs her a tee shirt and a pair of boxers. He also gets her a spare tooth brush, and off to the bathroom she goes. She gasps when she sees Louis waiting in the hallway when she’s done.

“Spending the night, pet?” He asks her.

“Y-yeah, is that alright?”

“Course it is.” He smiles. “You know you’re welcome here.”

“Thanks, well, goodnight.” She smiles and makes her way back to Harry’s room.

“I knew you’d look cute in my clothes, but wow.” He blushes.

“Oh.” She blushes too. “Thanks.” She looks him up and down. “You’re gonna wear sweats to bed?”

“I didn’t wanna make you uncomfortable.” He rubs the back of his neck.

“Don’t be silly, you’ll sweat buckets if you stay like that. Sleep how you normally do.” She says as she slips into his bed.

“Can’t do that…”

“Why not?”

“Because I usually sleep naked.”

“M-maybe just your boxers?”

“You’d be okay with that?” She nods yes at him. “I’m just gonna go use the loo. I’ll be back.” Harry washes up quickly, and then turns the light off when he comes back in. He takes his clothes off, staying in his boxers, and then he gets into bed with Y/N. “Did you let the girls know you’re staying here?”

“Mhm.”

They both slide down and face each other. He slots a leg between hers and rubs at her side and back. Harry really liked being petted on, so he figured other people did too. He never got any complaints, anyways. She sighs slightly and moves closer to him. She nuzzles her face into his chest and she realizes it’s bare. It was pitch black in the room, so she couldn’t see any of his tattoos. He pets on her until she falls asleep. His eyes flutter closed, and he falls asleep holding her.

The next morning Y/N wakes up with an immense amount of pressure on her bladder. She was laying on her back, she never slept like that, and she couldn’t physically see Harry. She hears snoring from under the covers, so she pulls the blankets back to see Harry’s head in her lap, and his body wrapped around the rest of hers. It was a little bizarre, but not the weirdest way she had ever woken up with someone. She doesn’t want to startle him so she runs her fingers through his hair and scratches at his head. His hold on her thigh tightens and his eyes flutter open. He looks up at her dreamily, like a puppy, and then he flinches when he realizes his head is in her crotch.

“Jesus, I’m so sorry.” He says as he sits up and knuckles at his eyes. “I have zero idea how I ended up like that.” A lie, but he couldn’t very well tell her the truth.

“It’s okay! I just really need to pee.” She giggles and climbs over him to get up. “Be back in a second.”

Harry takes a deep, and gets dressed in some joggers and a sweatshirt as he waits for her. She comes back in, feeling much fresher, and smiles at him. Harry uses the bathroom next and walks in on her just getting her clothes back on.

“Do you mind if I keep the boxers?” She says as she zips up her jeans. “Men’s underwear is so much more comfortable.”

“Consider them yours.” He smiles and wraps his arms around her waist. She presses her hands to his chest. “I’m glad you stayed over. Can I make you breakfast?”

“I’d like that, but I have to get back to my place so I can shower before my shift in a couple of hours.” She bites her bottom lip. “But another time for sure.”

Harry nods, and walks her down the stairs to the front door. She kisses him goodbye, and he watches her walk away. He desperately wanted to go to her Halloween party, but he knew it would be tough convincing Louis.

“Hey.” Harry stands in Louis’ bedroom doorway.

“How was your night?”

“Good, Y/N just left.” Louis nods at that. “She invited us all to a party at the end of the month.” He mumbles.

“Oh, yeah? That was nice of her. When exactly?”

“Halloween.”

“Very funny.”

“C’mon, Lou, what better night of the year to blend in.”

“The hunters could be feeling the same exact way, Harry!”

“It’s not like we’d be party hopping.” Harry whines. “We could go, make an appearance, and then leave.”

“I think it’s a great idea.” Niall chimes in as he heard the conversation. “We could wear costumes that have masks or face coverings so we’re not as obvious.”

“What do you propose?” Louis asks. “The three fucking musketeers? The Justice League?”

“Well, we’d all look fabulous in spandex, so I’d be cool with that.” Harry smirks.

“No.” Louis shakes his head. “I’ll need to be able to see your faces. I’ll go as David Beckham.”

“Wait, you’re serious….we can go?!” Harry asks excitedly.

“We could use some fun.” Louis sighs. “And I know you really like this girl, and we’ve all started to trust her. She’s no threat. We can go for an hour, at the beginning of the night, and then we’re out of there.”

“Thank you!” Harry throws his arms around his friend. “I can’t wait to tell her.”

“Is she your girlfriend now?” Niall asks.

“I don’t know what we are. We only made out last night, I didn’t wanna take it too far in case I lost control. I didn’t think I would, but I could tell I was really fighting to keep my teeth from shifting. She smells so fucking good, I woke up with my head in her lap.” He runs a hand through his hair. “I feel really comfortable around her, you know?”

“Could you not be so stereotypical?” Louis smirks.

“Yeah, it’s literally puppy love.” Niall chuckles.

“Don’t make fun of me.” Harry pouts. “She doesn’t know that I know, but she sprinkles a little cinnamon into my coffee, literally giving me a treat. I’ll gladly be her puppy.”

Louis dresses as David Beckham, Niall dresses as a basketball player, and Harry dresses as Zorro, but without the mask, Louis wouldn’t let him. They all walk in, and plenty of people are there already. Harry scans the room and his jaw drops. Y/N was standing in front of a tapestry on the wall taking pictures with her roommates. The three of them were dressed like bunnies, classic 1960’s playboy bunnies. His mouth waters, she looked good enough to eat.

“How nice of her to dress as your favorite snack.” Louis nudges him. “Have fun.”

Y/N giggles as she looks at that photos. She turns in Harry’s direction and beams at him. They make their way to each other through the crowd of people.

“You made it!” She throws her arms around his neck and kisses his cheek, leaving a nice, red lipstick mark behind. “You look so hot like this.” She looks him up and down. “Doesn’t Zorro wear a mask?”

“Lou wanted to be able to find me easily.” He smiles nervously. “And…if anyone looks hot it’s you, I…this is the last thing I’d expect you to be wearing.”

“They were on sale at the costume store.” She blushes. “And the accessories were easy enough to find. We figured it would be fine to dress a little skimpier since we’re not leaving here.”

He circles around her, like he was checking out his prey, and he nearly loses it at the sight of the cotton tail at the base of her spine, never mind how perfect her ass looks with the nylons she’s wearing. He thinks of the thong she must be wearing.

“You’re not even revealing that much.” He clears his throat. “Still plenty left to the imagination.”

“Mm, well…” She tugs at the open collar of his shirt. “Hopefully not for long.” She says against his lips and then backs away. She smirks and walks away from him as his mouth falls open. He was a little shocked she’d deprive him of a kiss.

“Where do you think you’re going?” He walks after her.

“I need to mingle with all my guests, and be a good hostess, don’t I?” She raises an eyebrow at him. “Go on and have something to drink, Zorro.” She winks at him.

“Sure thing, Bunny Rabbit.”

She giggles and continues to walk away from him. Harry didn’t want to seem clingy, so he lets her go about the party, being a good little hostess with her roommates. He, Niall, and Louis all sip on the same drink to keep up appearances. Alcohol and drugs had zero effect on them, which at times was extremely annoying, but for the most part it was fine. They needed to keep their wits about them anyways. Y/N eventually finds her way to Harry, keeping her arm snaked around his waist. She felt special to have him as her guest. He was so fucking handsome, and she knew there were people looking at him, wishing they were the ones standing with him. His arm was draped around her shoulders, his thumb rubbing at her bare shoulder. She almost wanted to pull him upstairs, but she wasn’t the type to do that at a party. No, it could wait until everyone left, when they’d have a little more privacy.

“Hey.” She says to him, and he looks down at her. “I need to go use the ladies room, could you hold onto my drink?”

“Course, love.” He kisses her temple and off she goes with her heart fluttering.

After she’s done in the bathroom, which takes ten fucking minutes because the costume was impossible to get on and off, she makes her way through the party. She gets the distinctive whiff of weed coming from outside. She groans, and steps out and sees a group of people passing a blunt around.

“Guys, not to be a party pooper, but you can’t do that here…”

The group makes an annoyed noise, but they listen to her. Suddenly, she’s alone outside, and she realizes how fucking cold it was. She shivers, and moves to go back inside…

“Talia, have you seen Y/N?” Harry asks her. “She went to the bathroom twenty minutes ago, but she’s not in there now.”

“How do you know?” Talia slurs.

“Because Niall just fucked some girl in the bathroom, that’s how I know.” Harry says bluntly.

“Oh, then I don’t know.” She shrugs. “Maybe she went up to her room. You can go check if you want, she’s been dying to get you alone in there all night.”

“She has?” He perks up.

“Duh.” She rolls her eyes. “She’s crazy about you, mate.” She walks away from him.

Concern washes over his face because he knows she’s not in the building. He’d be able to feel her heart, he’d be able to smell her, but he can’t. He finds a freshly fucked Niall, and Louis and tugs them both into a corner.

“I think something’s happened to Y/N.”

“What do you mean?” Louis says.

“She’s not here anymore. She wouldn’t have just left without telling me, she had me hold her drink…she clearly thought she was coming right back.”

“I can feel how worried you are.” Niall sighs. “Do you think she might have gone outside for any reason?”

“No idea, but we could check it out.” Harry says, and they all make their way through the flat, and out the back door. All of their eyes glow red so they can see outside better. Harry takes a whiff, and his head snaps to the left. “Over there, there’s something…an object…” He runs towards it and the boys follow. It was one of he her heels. “Oh, no.” He picks it up and nearly wants to cry.

“Don’t worry, Harry, we’ll find her.” Louis takes the shoe and sniffs it to get her scent, as does Niall. “Hunters may have taken her to get to you, so we need to be smart about this. No fucking around, and no full shifting. Claws and fangs at best.”

“I don’t understand hunters.” Niall says. “If they just got to know us they’d see we’re not dangerous in the slightest.”

“We used to be.” Harry says. “But you can brush up on your history later, right now there’s a girl in the woods dressed like a bunny that we need to go rescue. Poor thing’s probably freezing.”

There Y/N was, cold, annoyed, and tied to a tree. She had tried to scream, but someone put their hand over her mouth. They dragged her out into the woods, and she lost one of her shoes. They were awfully expensive too. There were a few people with guns standing near her, and two others pacing around. She had zero idea what they wanted with her. She had cried out of fear, but she was quiet now.

“C-could I at least have a sweater or a blanket? F-fucking freezing out here.” She stutters through her sentence. “Not exactly dr-dressed for this sort of thing.”

“Be quiet, or we’ll gag you.” A man with a gruff voice says to her.

“G-gonna have to buy me d-dinner first if you wanna do that.” She musters up the energy to smirk, and a woman comes over to her with duct tape. She slaps it over her mouth.

“There.” The woman says. “Keep warm with that.”

Y/N tries wiggling her toes and fingers to keep her circulation going. It was only a matter of time until hypothermia would kick in, and she knew that.

“Where are they, hm? Bumbling idiots.” A man says to the woman.

“Maybe Harry doesn’t care about the bitch as much as we thought.” The woman shrugs.

Harry growls lowly when he hears that. He, Louis, and Niall had found the spot the hunters were keeping Y/N easily.

“How many total?” Harry asks.

“Ten.” Louis says. “Keep your emotions at bay. They may be willing to kill, but we can’t do that. Niall and I will knock out as many as we can, and then call for backup. You focus on getting Y/N out of there. Bring her back to our place, and give her something to fall asleep. Then in the morning tell her she was drunk and had a bad dream.”

Harry nods. All of their teeth and claws were out, but nothing more. He knew he had to look scary like this, but he couldn’t worry about it right now. The girl who he was seriously falling for was tied to a fucking tree. Her shoe fell off, but her bunny ears had managed to stay on, although they were a little dented now. The three take a deep breath, and jump up nimbly into the trees. Harry slips down the tree she’s tied to, and cuts through the ropes easily with his claws.

She looks down at herself as she feels the ropes loosen, but she stays put not wanting to bring attention to herself. Y/N sees two figures moves swiftly, knocking the various people around her over. They evade the bullets being shot at them (the guns have silencers). She has no idea what’s happening. The men around her suddenly fall, and she gasps. A figure with a broad back picks them up effortlessly and tosses them into a pile of other people. He turns to look at Y/N and her eyes widen.

“I’ll explain everything later, I promise.” His voice was deeper, and she felt sedated. “Need to get you out of here, trust me?” She nods quickly, and he wastes no time picking her up bridal style, he claws digging into the meat of her thigh, and he jumps up in the trees.

She felt like she was on a roller coaster ride as she clings to him. She didn’t know a person could move so fast, but clearly Harry wasn’t an ordinary person. He was a thing she had only seen on TV or read myths about. Once he gets her inside his flat, he retracts his fangs and claws, and his eyes turn green once more. He carries her up to his bathroom and sets her down on the sink counter.

“This is probably gonna hurt.” He says as he starts to tug on the tape covering her mouth. She nods and closes her eyes. She squeaks out a noise as he rips it off. “Took it like a champ, babe.” He rubs his hands up and down her arms and shoulders.

“Been getting my lip waxed for years, that was nothing.” She breathes.

He looks her up and down. Her nylons were all ripped up, and she had dirt all over her. Did they fucking drag her? He growls angrily just thinking about it.

“I found your other shoe.” He takes it out of his pocket, and she nearly melts. “Did they hurt you?”

“They dragged me through the woods, and slammed me against the tree when they tied me up.” She pouts. “Almost knocked the wind out of me, but I’m okay.”

“I can make you feel better.” He cups her cheek. “But I need to draw you a bath in order to do it. You’re freezing anyways, so it’s a good idea all around.” He moves to turn the water on, and he grabs some bottles from the linen closet.

“Harry…”

“Yeah?” He doesn’t look at her as he sprinkles whatever’s in the bottles into the warm water.

“Who were they? What did they want with you?”

“They either wanted to kill me, or take me as a prisoner.” He turns to look at her. He takes his jacket and shirt off, and her eyes widen. “M’not getting in with you, I just need to mix it all together once the tub’s full, and I don’t wanna get my clothes soaked.” He defends himself.

“No, I just…you have so many tattoos. I didn’t notice it the other night when we slept.”

“It’s really not a lot, Lou has way more.” He bends down to take her other heel off, and he puts the shoes together neatly on the floor. He stands back up and grabs at the bunny ears. “You’ll wear these again for me sometime, yeah? Be a shame if you didn’t.” She nods at him and he sets them down on the counter. “Good, bunnies are my favorite.”

“Your favorite what?”

“Snack.” He says as he grips her hips, helping her hop off the counter.

“Right.” She swallows, and her eyes rim with tears.

“What’s wrong?” He asks as he turns the water off in the tub and starts mixing everything.

“Are…are you going to kill me?”

“Now, why would I offer to make you feel better and then turn around and kill you?”

“I don’t know! Nothing’s exactly clear, Harry!”

“Okay, be cool, yeah?” He stands up straight. “There’s no reason to freak out.”

“No reason to freak out?! I was just taken from my own home, tied to a fucking tree, and then you come and you have these big teeth and these talons, and…shit, I need to text my roommates and let them know I’m okay. Or, maybe that I’m not okay…”

“They’re claws, not talons. I’m not a bloody chicken.”

“What are you then, hm?” She puts her hands on her hips.

“I’m a person, same as you.”

“My eyes don’t glow red, Harry.”

“They could, maybe you’re just not trying hard enough.” She makes an exasperated noise at him, and motions that she’s going to leave. “Okay, okay…I…I’m a werewolf. I was born this way, I wasn’t turned, but a lot of us these days are. The hunters want me because I’m a healer, and I come from a family of healers. They must have caught wind that I go to school here, and they must have noticed that we’ve been hanging out so…to get to me they took you. I feel absolutely terrible about it because the last thing I would ever want to do is put you in any danger. It’s why I barely spoke to you last year. I didn’t want you getting dragged into all this, and here you are now…literally being dragged into it.” He huffs.

“Great, so now I can add bestiality to the list of things that are wrong with me.” She shakes her head, more so saying it to herself. She looks at him. “I’m in a lot of pain, so I’m going to disregard a lot of what you just said, I’m going to not ask any more questions, and I’m going to chalk this up to being an extremely elaborate Halloween prank or something.”

“It’s not a prank, Y/N. I know it’s a lot to take in, I’m so sorry.” He shakes his head. “And being with a werewolf doesn’t make you into bestiality.” He chuckles softly. “You saw me out there, I didn’t grow any extra hair, my ears didn’t get all long and pointy, and I’m pretty sure you’re the only one with a tail on tonight. It’s not like what you think, we blend in really easily. I can shift so I can look like what you may have seen, but it’s rather uncomfortable and unnecessary.” He runs a hand through his hair. “Are you scared?”

“Yes.”

“Of me?”

“No.” He sighs with relief at that. “I’m scared that they’re going to take me again.”

“They won’t.”

“How do you know?”

“Because…we have ways of protecting ourselves and others. I have something I can give you to keep you safe.”

“Like what?”

“I…I have to bite off one of my claws, and put it on chain for you to wear.” She grimaces at him. “Don’t worry, I’ll do it in the morning, and it’ll grow back. I can even paint it a nice color, I have some nail polish.”

“Wonderful.”

“C’mon, the bath is gonna get cold. I’ll step out so you can get in, and-“

“I want you to stay in here with me.”

“I’ll come back, I just wanna give you some privacy.”

“I need you to unzip the back of this stupid thing for me first.”

She turns around and sighs heavily. She looks at herself in the mirror, and is shocked at how fucked up she looks. Her mascara had run down her face, and her bunny nose and whiskers that she painted on had smeared.

“Do…do you have any face-cloths?” She mumbles.

“Yeah, babe.”

He steps over to the linen closet after unzipping her. He hands her a blue cloth and steps out of the bathroom. He hears the front door open and close, and races downstairs to Louis and Niall.

“Cleaned up and taken care of.” Niall says. “I need a shower.”

“Y/N’s getting into the tub. I ran her a bubble bath so I could heal her.”

“I told you to put her to sleep.” Louis grits his teeth. “I really don’t like it when you don’t listen, Harry.”

“M’sorry, she…she just looked so scared, and I couldn’t lie to her. We can talk to her in morning, can’t we? It’s not like she’s the first regular person to get involved with a werewolf.”

“True, but you should really have ran this by your mum first. She’s not gonna be happy.” Louis says.

“I’ll deal with her in the morning too. Let me go tend to my bunny, yeah?”

He goes back upstairs, and taps on the door before entering. She was in the water, covered by the bubbles. She had pulled her hair up into a bun on the top of her head. He sits down on the toilet and faces her.

“I need to stick my hand in.”

“Excuse me?” Her eyebrows raise at him.

“To make what I put in work, I have to stick my hand in the water.”

“Alright.”

He leans forward, and dips his hand into the warm water. His eyes glow red, and she feels every cut and bruise on her body disappear. She feels better than she had before the night even started.

“Holy shit.” She breathes as he takes his hand out of the water.

“How’s the temperature, still warm enough?”

“Yeah…it’s…it’s perfect.” He nods at her and she sighs heavily. “So, you could literally rip me to shreds, and you’re choosing not to?”

“Why is it your first instinct that I’m going to kill you? It’s what the hunters think too, and it’s just not the case, love. Especially with my breed. Healers don’t like hurting others, even in defense. We’re too empathetic. I wanna keep you safe more than anything.”

“Are there others? Obviously Niall and Louis, but, like, in our classes?”

“Not that I know of. The three of us stick together because we’re all in the same large pack. Our three families came together for safety. Other packs just tend to leave others alone, you know?”

“No, I don’t know.” She snaps.

“I never meant to put you in danger, Y/N.”

“Do you have a towel for me, I’d like to get out now.”

He sighs and gets up. He grabs her a fresh towel, and hands it to her. He turns around so she can stand and wrap it around herself. She steps out of the tub and looks up at him. She groans and presses her forehead into his chest.

“I can feel how conflicted you are.” He says as he wraps his arms around her.

“Must be nice to just sense how someone’s feeling.” She scoffs as she nuzzles into him. A thought occurs to her and she looks up at him. “Is that why you curled up with me the way you did that night? Like…are you more dog than person when you’re sleeping?”

“Wolf, I’m not a fucking dog. And…I don’t really know. Sometimes we can do that when we feel really safe with someone.”

“You feel safe with me?” Her eyes widen.

“Well…yeah. And you always smell so good.” He mutters as his hands splay on her back, pulling her closer to him.

“I…I think you smell good too.”

“You do?”

“Yeah, but I can never quite put my finger on what cologne you’re wearing.”

“I don’t wear cologne.”

“What?!”

“It would fuck with my natural scent too much. I have to wear a scentless deodorant even.”

“So…you just naturally smell good?”

“I…” He thinks for a moment. He had read about this before, and from what Louis and Niall said about not being able to smell anything particularly special about her, some things were starting to connect. “Let’s go to my room, Niall said he needed to shower.”

She nods, and he grabs all of her clothes as they make their way down the hall. She sits down on his bed, after he sets her things down on his desk. Her eyes scan over the broadness of his back, and how his muscles flex while he digs through his dresser. She clamps her legs together after shaking her hair out of its bun. He stands up straight after getting a whiff of her. She was turned on? He turns to look at her.

“What?”

“Nothing, here, you can wear these.” He tosses her some boxers and a shirt.

“What if I wanna be like you and sleep naked?”

“Y/N, it’s late and-“

“That bath gave me a second wind.”

Harry wasn’t doing anything in particular, but healers had a way of bringing out confidence and truths out in others. Especially when they seemed to be this connected. They could be soulmates for all he knows, but he doesn’t want to say that and scare her off.

She stands up and walks towards him, reaching around for her bunny ears, and putting them on. She smirks at as he swallows.

“You’re really okay with all of this?” He puts his hands on her shoulders.

“I know I wanna be with you. Maybe I shouldn’t want that, but I do. I…I don’t think I could stay away from you even if I wanted to.”

“I feel the same way.”

“Is…is someone going to tell us we can’t see each other anymore?”

“No.” He scoffs. “I’m like a prince, no one tells me who I can and can’t see.”

“Good, because…” She presses her hands to his chest and lets her towel fall. “I got all dressed up tonight because I wanted to look cute for you, and I’m really sad it all went to waste.”

“It didn’t.”

He cups her cheeks and presses his lips to hers in a searing kiss. He backs her up against his bed, and lays her down. He gets his pants off, and climbs on top of her. . She wraps her legs around his waist and he grinds his clothed dick against her. She groans and scratches her nails down his back. He kisses down her body, and looks up at her to make sure it’s alright before he dives in. She nods frantically, and he goes for it. He licks all around her folds, essentially making out with her other lips, and then he sucks on her clit. Her hands fly to his hair, and she tugs harshly. He moans against her, and her mouth falls open. Her hips buck up towards his mouth. He thought she tasted so fucking good. He was nose deep, moving his face from side to side, and she loses it. He licks her clean and pops his head up.

“Holy shit.” She breathes. He chuckles and gets his boxers off. He moves to sit up against the headboard. His tip was leaking for her. “Are…are you that big because of the wolf thing, or…?”

“Nah, that’s just good genetics, love.” He grins. “C’mere, bunny rabbit, come bounce on my cock for me.” Her mouth falls open and does as he says quickly. She swings her leg over his lap, and lines him up with her. “Wait, uh, do you, like, want me to use a condom, or-“

“M’on the pill, it’s fine.” She smiles at him and he nods. “Thanks for asking, though.” The head of his cock pushes inside her and she bites down on his shoulder as she takes him deeper, inch by inch. She lets out a puff of air once he’s all the way. She looks up at him with big eyes. “Will you help me?”

He bites down on her bottom lip as he moves her up and down on his hard dick. She was so snug around him, he was starting to lose control a little. His claws grow and he scratches at her love handles. She gasps into his mouth.

“Shit, sorry, I-“

“No, it feels good, it’s okay.” She smiles and moves around in a circle on him.

“Here I was thinking you were this innocent little thing.” He smirks and runs his nails down her back. Her head rolls backwards and he notices goosebumps raise on her skin.

“I usually am, but you’re bringing something out of me.”

“Do you feel good?” He asks as he nibbles on her neck.

“Yeah, really good.” She bounces faster up and down on him. “I’ve wanted this for a while.”

“Me too.”

He slots his mouth over hers, and licks into her. She moans into him. This is exactly what they both needed right now. He retracts his claws and before she has a second to protest he snakes a hand between them to rub her clit.

“Oh!” She gasps.

“Gonna make you come again, baby.”

She moans out as she feels it bubbling in her stomach.

“You can come inside me if you want to.”

“Do you want me to?”

“Yeah, I really wanna feel it.”

He nods and rubs her faster. She cries out into his neck, and then he bursts inside her. He fills her to the brim, and it has her panting. He kisses her tenderly as she whimpers. He takes the bunny ears off her and tosses them elsewhere before carefully lifting her off of him. He lays her down, and grabs the towel she was using earlier to clean her up.

“Thank you, that’s so sweet.” She says tiredly.

“It’s the least I could, I made a fucking mess inside you.” He chuckles. “There we are, all clean.” He tosses the towel in his hamper and knees back onto the bed. She rolls over onto his chest as he turns the lights off.

“That was really great.” She nuzzles into his neck. “I’ve never felt so confident with someone before.”

“I enjoyed it too.”

“So, do you get, like, animal instincts or urges sometimes? Like, do you ever randomly chase after squirrels, what am I dealing with here?”

“No.” He laughs. “Nothing like that, although I really enjoy getting my head scratched, like, behind my ears like a dog would.” He mumbles the part about the dog. “The only time I would chase after another animal is I’ve fully transformed, and I only do that on full moons. It’s liberating to just run free like that.”

“Will you be able to tell when I’m getting my period, or if I’m on it?”

“Yeah. I have a keen sense of smell. My hearing’s enhanced too.”

“Oh my god.” She sits up a little. “So did they just hear everything?”

“Probably, unless they’re asleep already.” He shrugs. “It’s not a big deal, no need to be embarrassed, alright?”

“Are…are you gonna have to transfer schools since the hunters know you’re here?”

“We shouldn’t need to. We’ll need to see how many of them are here and what not. My mum might send reinforcements if need be. Don’t worry, I wouldn’t have fucked you if I thought I wasn’t going to be able to stay.”

“Okay.” She settles back down and he pulls the blankets over them.

“Do you mind if I sort burrow under the blankets again? I could just rest my head on your stomach.”

“Sure.” She smiles and he pecks her lips. He shifts under the blankets, and rests his head just above one of her hips. She mindlessly scratches at his head and he sighs. “Comfy?” She giggles.

“Very.”

The next morning Y/N sits comfortably in Harry’s sweats in the kitchen while Niall makes her breakfast. Harry and Louis were on a video call with Anne and Gemma.

“Does it bother you that they’re having you babysit me?” She asks him as he sets a bowl of fruit in front of her. He was making pancakes as well.

“Not at all, love. The conversation doesn’t really concern me. Harry’s talking to his family, and Louis is a pack leader so it makes sense for him to be in on the chat.” He sets a short stack in front of her.

“Thank you.”

“So…” He drums his fingers on the kitchen island. “You know everything?”

“I wouldn’t say everything, but I know the three of you are…a little special.”

“And you’re not scared?”

“The three of you rushed into the woods to save me. I’m more scared of the people who dragged me out with guns on their hips.” They hear a noise from upstairs that sounds like a puppy just got kicked. “Jesus, what was that?”

“Oh…Harry must’ve just ripped out one of his claws.” Niall gives her a soft smile and digs into his own pancakes.

“What will me wearing it do, exactly?”

“Alright, so basically, we’ve got this stuff all around the house that makes it so we can’t be tracked. I can’t really explain it, it’s outside my expertise. You may notice we all smoke a lot of cigarettes?” She nods at him. “They’re not normal cigarettes, they have the same stuff in them. It would kill you if you tried in inhale one, so we give normal people pieces of ourselves and it has the same effect. You’ll need to wear it all the time.”

“It won’t just decompose?”

“No, he has something to put on it so it won’t. It’ll sort of look like a shark tooth or something to the untrained eye.”

Harry and Louis come downstairs. Harry’s face is flushed, and he comes around behind Y/N to clasp the chain with his claw on it.

“I panted it black.” He mutters.

“Are you alright?” She asks as he sits down next to her.

“Yeah, it already grew back, see?” He holds his hand up for her.

“We’ve been given the greenlight from Anne, Harry’s mum.” Louis says as he pops a blueberry into his mouth. “But you need to be sworn to secrecy. You can’t say anything, Y/N.”

“I understand.”

“Do you? Because we’re trying to live normal lives, and-“

“She’s not going to say anything!” Harry slams his hands down on the island. “We literally just spoke with my mother about this for a bloody hour! I trust her, there’s nothing more to it than that!” His fangs peak out, and Louis growls at him.

“Do I need to remind you that male healers are extremely gullible? Or did your mother not drive that point home enough for you up there?”

“I-“

“H-Harry…” She puts her hand on his back and he looks at her. Her heart was racing.

“Oh, baby, we’re scaring you.” His fangs retract and he takes her hand in his. “I’m sorry, we’ll cool it.”

“You’ll need to stay here the rest of the weekend.” Louis says. “It may not be safe for you at your flat.”

“What about roommates.”

“I’m gonna go check on them.” Niall says. “I have a class with Georgie, shouldn’t be too weird.”

“Y/N, have you ever taken any self-defense classes or anything?” Louis asks her.

“No.” The boys all share a look. “Should I?”

“Harry will take you to the boxing gym that he goes to and show you some ways to defend yourself. You should be safe, but you can never be too careful.”

She looks at Harry and smirks at him.

“Wanna get into the ring with me?” She giggles and he giggles too. Louis sighs heavily rolls his eyes.

“I’m gonna take my breakfast to my room.” He grumbles and leaves.

Harry started going to the bookstore twice as often, setting up shop there for most of Y/N’s shift. If he could have curled up in her lap and sat on top of her in calculus he would have. Whenever he’d go over to Y/N’s place, he was always laying on top of her. Her hands were in his hair, and sometimes his foot would start shaking if she scratched him just right. He was in heaven. Her roommates, however, saw an extremely clingy and possessive guy taking up all of her time. So, they decide to talk to her about it.

“Guys, I can’t talk long. Harry’s gonna be here soon.” Y/N says as she packs her overnight bag.

“We know, it’s just…we’re a little concerned.” Talia says.

“With what?”

“He literally lives up your asshole.” Georgie says.

“He’s…clingy, but it’s not a bad thing. He gives me my space when I need it.”

“You told him to go home one night and I swear to god I heard him whimper, Y/N, whimper!” Talia says. “Also….he likes to call you ‘bunny’, and I I’m pretty sure that’s a weird BDSM nickname. Like, does he make you wear a collar or some shit, or-“

“Okay.” Y/N laughs. “You are so far off. He calls me bunny because I was dressed like one for Halloween, and sometimes I wear the ears when we have sex, but that’s the extent of it.”

It wasn’t the extent of it, but her friends didn’t need to know when they were feeling especially naughty, they would play a game of big bad wolf. Y/N had hot glues the bunny tail from her costume to a pair of lace panties, and she’d wear a lace bra, and Harry would hide somewhere in his room, and he pop out with his glowing red eyes, his fangs, and his claws. He wouldn’t scare her, it turned her on to see him so forceful. And then…once he “caught” her, she was in charge. She’d ride his dick, and tell him to be good for her while she squeezed and tugged at his curls.

“So, you’re both just a little kinky, but he’s not making you do anything you don’t wanna do, right?” Georgie says.

“Exactly.” Y/N smiles. “Look, I love you guys. I appreciate you looking out for me, I really do. I promise, if anything felt wrong with him I would tell you. We’re in a perfectly healthy relationship.” There’s a knock downstairs, and she slings her bag over her shoulder after getting her jacket on. “That’s him, I have to go.”

She goes downstairs, and opens the front door. She throws her arms around his neck and kisses him before he takes his bag for her. He laces his fingers through her hand.

“How’s my little angel baby?” He asks her and it makes her giggle.

“Good, how are you?”

“Good.” He nods. “Sorry I couldn’t be there during your shift today, I was a little busy with the boys.”

“Oh, it’s no problem. I don’t expect you to be there all the time.”

He gets her into his place, and he can’t stop grinning. She gasps when she sees a folding table set up in the living room, a nice tablecloth on it, and delicious food piled high.

“What is all this?” She says as she walks over to the table. Niall and Louis come out of the kitchen with biscuits and wine.

“You celebrate Thanksgiving right? Not like you can easily go home for that, so we cooked.” Harry says. “We looked up what all the best stuff is.”

“You…you did all of this for me?” They look at each other like they’re the only two people in the room.

“Well…yeah.” He takes her hands in his. “I…I love you, Y/N.”

“Oh, Harry, I love you too!” She throws her arms around him and slots her mouth over his. He groans into his kiss and pulls her closer.

“Ahem.” Niall says. “We’ve got hot food here…so…”

“Right.” Harry clears his throat and steps back from Y/N. “Let’s eat, yeah?”

Everyone enjoys the meal. Y/N giggles as they boys tear into the turkey and pretty much obliterate it. Usually they all had manners, but she thinks seeing the turkey ignited something primal in them. She eats until she’s the happy kind of full, and then she helps clean up. After cuddling on the couch (and making sure to go to the bathroom), Harry and Y/N go up to his room.

“I can’t believe you did all of that for me.” She pouts at him as she sits on his bed. He kneels in front of her and rubs his hands up and down on her thighs.

“Do you wanna do something for me?”

“Anything.”

He grins and pecks her lips as he stands up. He goes into his dresser and grabs a few things, keeping them behind his back.

“I’ve been sort of preparing myself all week for this, and I feel really close to you. These last couple of months have been incredible, and we love each other so…I was wondering how you’d feel about topping me.”

“Harry, I top you all the time.” She giggles.

“No, I mean, like…” He takes a strap and a bottle of lube out from behind his back.

“Oh!” She gasps. “Oh my god…you’ve been putting that up your ass all week?”

“No, I used a butt plug, and I got all cleaned out. Wanna give it a try, bunny?”

“Will you fuck me first?”

“Yes.”

She smiles and nods at him. He eagerly gets his clothes off, and he helps her get out of is.

“I just…l don’t wanna lick you down there like you’ve done to me, is that okay? I’ll use my fingers, but I don’t wanna stick my tongue up your ass.” She says as he kisses on her neck.

“Yeah, that’s fine. It’s why I got so much lube.” He smirks at her. “But you have no problem with me doing it to you, that’s cute.”

“That’s because your tongue works all kinds of magic.”

He growls at her and kisses down her body, getting between her legs. He sucks on her clit while he fingers her, knuckle deep. He throws her legs over his shoulders and relentlessly fucks her with his fingers. She was a heaving mess underneath him. She comes around him, squeezing tightly around his fingers. He takes them out of her and sucks them into his mouth. He takes her hand and sucks two of her fingers into his mouth. She groans watching him.

“Okay, I wanna fuck you now.” She says.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.” She bites her bottom lip. “I’m really into it now. I wanna make you feel good.”

He kisses her quickly before grabbing the strap and the lube. He helps her into it, and she gets the lube on her fingers. He lays on his back with his legs spread for her. He had trimmed everything for her, which she greatly appreciated. Harry didn’t always manscape, not that she minded, but he clearly wanted to make things as comfortable as possible for her. She swirls her fingers around his hole and he spreads further apart for her.

“Wish I could have seen you with the butt plug in.” She grunts as she fingers him easily.

“I’ll happily wear it for you any time you want.”

“What made you wanna do this with me?” She asks as he gets the dildo attached to the strap lubed up.

“I’ve always wanted to try it, but I’ve never trusted someone enough.”

“God.” She breathes. “That is so sweet. Okay, I’m gonna start. Make sure to tell me if it hurts or something.”

“I will, go ahead.” He holds his legs back for her and she slowly pushes inside him. He tries to keep his breathing steady as she keeps going. Once she’s all the way in she waits for his signal. “You can move.” He grunts.

She slowly moves out, and then back in. She puts more lube on the dildo to add to his comfort, and then continues. Eventually she’s able to get a pace going, and she wraps her hand around his twitching, hard cock. His head falls back into his pillows and his mouth hangs open.

“Oh! Shit, do that again.” He groans. “Think you hit my g-spot.”

“Here?” She thrusts into him again and his eyes roll back into his head. She bites her bottom lip and she hits the spot over and over while pumping him silly with her hand.

“Feels so fucking good, Y/N.” He was starting to pant. “Will you sit on my face when we’re done? I wanna fuck you with my tongue.”

“Y-yeah, we can do whatever you want.” Her legs were shaking. She was extremely turned on seeing him like this.

“Fuck, I’m gonna come, babe!”

She gives him one last good push while he comes into her hand. Some of his gets onto his lower tummy, but he doesn’t seem to care. She licks her palm clean of him, and he moans at the sight. She carefully pulls out of him and gets the strap off.

“Are you sure you wanna-“

“Get up here, now.” He growls at her, and his eyes flash red for a moment.

She didn’t dare fuck with him, so she crawls up his body, and he grips her hips harshly as he licks into her. She gasps, especially from the way he nibbles at her clit. She tugs at his hair as she starts riding his face. He moans against her, loving the way she tastes. She was dripping for him. No one had ever made her this wet before.

“H-Harry.” She moans and he presses her harder against him. “Fuck, oh my god, shit!” She comes on his tongue and he laps her up. He nips at her inner thigh before she gets off him. “W-wow, that was-“

“Wanna take a bath?” He asks, already getting up.

“Sure.” She shrugs. “How are you feeling?”

“Incredible, baby, you did such a good job. What about me? Was I good for you?”

“Yeah, Harry, you were really good.”

If his tail had been out he’d be wagging it. He grabs a couple of towels, and they head to the bathroom. Once the tub is full of bubbles and calming scents, they both get in. Harry sits in front of Y/N so he can rest his head on her shoulder, and so she can play with his hair.

“Are you going home for the holidays?” He asks her, turning slightly to make eye contact.

“Nope, can’t afford it. I just video chatted with my family last year, it was fine, why?”

“Well, how would you like to come to my house for Christmas? My family really wants to meet you, I want you to meet them too, of course.”

“I…I’d love to.”

“And you won’t be the only regular person there either, some of them choose not to be turned.”

“It’s nice everyone’s so cool about it.”

“Love is love.” He shrugs. “So, you really wanna come home with me?” He pouts up at her.

“Of course I do.” She squishes her nose to his. “Sounds like fun.”

“And we can travel a bit too, if you want.”

“I don’t care what we do, I’m just happy to spend time with you, Harry.”

He smiles and pecks her lips. After they get out they towel off, and go back into his room. They get cozy in his bed with his head laying on her chest.

“Do your parents know about me?” He asks as he fondles one of her breasts.

“Yes.” She giggles. “I told them I started seeing a very nice boy in my calculus class, and since my grades have been good they haven’t seemed to mind. They may come try to visit over winter break since it’s so long.”

“Would you let me meet them?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“I’d really wanna make a good impression.”

“I wanna make a good impression with your family too.” She whines slightly. “Your mom is this powerful matriarch.”

“Yeah, but she’s also like any other mum.” He kisses on her breast. “God, you are always as sweet as honey. I always wanna kiss you all over.”

“Mm, I like it when you kiss me all over.” She runs a hand through his hair.

“Your body is so perfect.”

“Harry.” She giggles. “No it’s not.”

“Sure it is. I love every little thing about it.”

“Thank you.” She leans forward to kiss his forehead. He yawns out and shakes his head. “Sleepy?”

“Yeah.”

She nods and reaches to turn the light off as he goes further under the covers to rest his head on her hip. It wasn’t the most conventional way to sleep, but he always made her feel safe, and he told her it made him feel safe to sleep like that. She wasn’t entirely sure what it meant to be in a relationship with a werewolf. It wasn’t too different from being in a relationship with a regular person, they just took more precautions than most. Sometimes being with Harry was like having a pet. He needed a lot of attention, and a lot of love, but it was okay, she had plenty of it to give him.

#heal #harry styles #harry styles imagine #harry styles fic #harry styles fanfic #harry styles x reader #harry styles x y/n #harry styles smut #harry styles fluff #harry styles angst #harry styles y/n #werewolf!Harry #student!Harry #college au #supernatural au #werewolfrry

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forsakenoathkeeper · 4 years ago

Text

I Am Alive (chapter 13/?)

Chapter 13: Shattered Porcelain

Deviant!Connor[RK800] x (fem!)Reader Rated M(18+) for canon-typical violence and gore, medical procedures, and graphic sexual content

Chapters: 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • more coming soon

You can also read on AO3 & thank you for supporting me ♥

Author's notes:

There are a handful of android medical procedures in this chapter. Could be uncomfortable if you're squeamish. I'm not an expert with the lore. So, I tried to have it fit with DBH's android anatomy; but, if I'm being honest, I pretty much made this up as I went along.

Also, this chapter is super cheesy with lots of cameos.

...

The place Connor brought you to was a rundown building that looked like it was an apartment complex once upon a time. The sight left a sinking feeling in your gut, mainly because androids were living in this squabble and there was nothing you could do about it.

You followed behind Connor, who had a death grip on your hand. He was likely more afraid than you were. You placed your free hand on his shoulder to try to urge him to relax. You were ready to tell him as such; however, when you crossed the threshold into the place he called 'Haven', the words died on your tongue.

The floor was bare concrete and the walls were decades behind on a much-needed paint job. The place somehow had electricity, likely from a makeshift generator. At the least, there were some functioning lights; but, they were all covered in dust with dead bugs lining the interior fixtures.

The androids had cleared out the center to make room for the supplies Kamski had wrangled up. They were neatly organized across several crates acting as tables. As soon as you stepped in with Connor, many eyes landed on you, ranging from nervous to distrust.

Their states ranged from pristine to chipped to severely damaged, limbs missing, sauntered poorly to prevent thirium loss. Many of them had stitched together mismatched parts to try to regain some semblance of order. You couldn't imagine what that must have felt like.

You nudged at Connor's forearm until he got the message and let go of your hand. He remained close, his presence looming and protective.

Markus was quick to make himself known. "Thank you for all of this," he said, gesturing to the supplies in the center of the room. "Really I... I don't know how to properly thank you."

"I-it wasn't from me," you said, feeling nervous. "More of a messenger, really."

Your eyes swept the floor, where some androids stared at you with abandon and others were trying not to stare. You swallowed nervously, not knowing where to start, if any of them even wanted you touching them.

Some androids had already taken to the supplies and were patching each other up. Androids might have been more knowledgeable about their own anatomy than humans often were of themselves; but, not all problems were simple.

An android pushed his way through the crowd and approached you with haste.

"It's you," he said, a beaming smile on his face.

You and Connor recognized the android immediately. He had been driving a Cyberlife supply truck that was attacked by protestors. You had pulled him out of the wreckage and saved him.

"When they said a nurse was coming, I was hoping-" he cut himself off, sounding choked up and excited. "If it wasn't for you, I'd be dead," he proclaimed. His words eased the tension that had been building up inside you and left you bubbling with pride. You didn't know what to do but to smile at him.

"C-can you-" he stammered. "We have someone who's very damaged."

"I'll do my best," you replied, trying to mask how nervous you felt. You squeezed at the handle on your shoulder bag, the weight of your tools suddenly feeling much heavier.

The android ducked back into the crowd with haste.

You were shocked when he returned with another android in his arms. It was immediately obvious to you that the android was shut down. He was limp, eyes open and staring ahead blindly, LED on his temple off, a stoic expression on his face.

He was an WR600 model, still wearing his factory default uniform. However, he had a tarp wrapped around his shoulders, wearing it like a poncho.

The artificial skin on his hands and wrists had been scraped down to the android shell beneath. He had a gaping wound on his right forearm that went beyond the shell and exposed the membrane beneath. It was pulsing blue, indicating he was still functioning.

You followed them to a makeshift table, where the android set the WR600 model down carefully. As you maneuvered around to get a better look, the left side of the unconscious WR600's face came into view, and you audibly gasped.

Someone had struck him, hard, multiple times, across the face. His jaw was indented, skin scraped off to expose the pale white shell underneath. The cuts were so deep that the blue membrane beneath was exposed. Cracks split out from the gashes, like shattered porcelain.

The damage had shattered the protective sheathing on his right optical. Thirium had leaked into it, staining the entire eyeball blue. The gashes ran up into his hairline and one ran low enough to split at the corner of his lip.

You had seen androids looking far worse than this before; but, still, you never got over it.

"W-what-" you stammered, silencing yourself when you realized how pointless it was to ask.

It was obvious what had happened.

"Why is he powered off?" you asked hesitantly, looking up at the android who had carried him over to you. Your first assumption was that something was very wrong with him.

"We had to force him offline," the android replied, not looking proud of that. "He was... erratic."

You wondered if he meant the android was erratic when he heard a human was coming, or if he was always like that. Considering the damage, you wouldn't have been surprised if it was the former.

"I - uhm," you stammered nervously. "I need someone to be his guardian - to consent to this, since he can't. Are you close?"

The android looked uneasy, but also touched by your words. "He's not close to anyone."

You swallowed nervously and did your best to keep your gaze off the room and focused more heavily on the WR600. You hadn't worked on an unconscious android since before the revolution. The thought made your stomach churn.

Sensing your frustration, Connor approached you. His concerned face came into view in the corner of your eye.

'You don't have to do this,' is likely what he was going to say.

Not wanting to give him the chance, you said, boldly, "I'm okay, Connor."

He looked uneasy for a moment, LED solid yellow, as he tried to fight himself on this. You being here made him really uncomfortable; but, he knew how much this mattered to you. Part of him also knew that these androids needed this. It wasn't just for repairs, but to give them some hope that humans like you existed in this world.

When Connor stepped away, you rotated over to the powered off WR600.

"What's his name?" you asked as you set your bag down carefully and unzipped the top.

"Ralph," the android who had carried him over answered.

After pulling out some tools, you reached around the back of Ralph's ear to open his access panel. With a heave, you lifted him by the shoulder to gain access to his upper back and easily found the release for his skull.

His appearance was alarming; but, you were more concerned with the high possibility of damaged internal components.

As expected, one of Ralph's processing units was cracked. The good news is that it was a common model, and one that Kamski had supplied dozens of.

You investigated his eye next. As soon as you opened the socket, thirium leaked out and spilt all over the table. It wasn't enough to concern you, and you carefully removed his optical unit. Upon a closer inspection, you were confident it was still operational.

With a free hand, you yanked a clean container out of your bag to set the optical unit it so you could investigate the sheathing. The gold platers on the connector were still intact; but, the sheathing closest to his temple was cracked. Luckily, it could be repaired the same way you intended to repair the dents on his face.

It was less preferable than completely replacing the shell pieces; however, you didn't have access to any of those. He would have very noticeable scars. You hoped, at least, they would be more preferable to an exposed membrane.

For a moment, you set your tools down and scurried along the line of android parts until you located a box containing processors. Ralph's was easy to locate and was the first thing you replaced on him.

With that complete, you pulled more tools from your bag and a small ingot of android skin. You started with the protective sheathing around the eye before slowly, carefully filling in the cracks in his face. You did your best to match the contours of his cheek bones and jawline, suddenly feeling more like a sculptor than an engineer.

Connor tried to give you space while you worked. He was far enough away to not hover, but close enough to get to you quickly, if needed. You were too focused to notice, thankfully.

"Do you remember us?" a soft, feminine voice beckoned to him, startling him out of his trance.

Two female androids stepped into his peripheral. They were WR400 models, one with long, dark blue hair, and the other with very short, light brown, almost red hair.

Connor didn't immediately reply; but, the look in his eyes gave them his answer.

They were the Traci models who had escaped the Eden Sex Club last winter. The last time he saw them, they were running away, hands cupped tightly together. They looked much the same today, hands still tightly intertwined, the same look of adoration on their faces.

"You had a clear shot," the short haired Traci stated. "I know you did, several times; but, you let us go."

"I-" Connor stammered, finding himself at a loss of words.

Back then, he didn't understand their behavior, why he couldn't bring himself to shoot them, even when they had their backs turned, why Hank looked so impressed - proud - when he let them go. He didn't understand how they could find comfort in each other, why they were afraid of losing of each other, of not being able to hold and touch again.

He had changed since then - changed a lot, in fact.

Now, he understood.

"We're grateful," the blue haired Traci said, standing so close to her partner that their shoulders touched. "We're still together because of you."

"I didn't do anything worthy of praise," Connor said lowly, his eyes expressing the turmoil in his thoughts.

"Even if you don't think so, we know what you did," the short haired Traci declared, expression soft on her face.

"You understand, now," the blue haired android stated boldly, briefly turning around to steal a glance at you. It didn't go unnoticed, the way Connor gripped your hand when you entered the building, how he stared at you protectively while you worked.

Strangely, he didn't feel scrutinized by the two female androids. They seemed... happy for him.

He nodded silently, at a loss for what to say to them, and the two ladies departed, leaving him alone in his thoughts.

He thought about what they had endured, having to be used by strangers, by people who didn't think of them as living beings. Up until that moment, when they jumped the fence, they lived a life where they were believed unfeeling. They would return to one and other's arms to try to find solace in what consisted of their lives: play things for humans.

Connor thought about how strong they were, that they could endure that for so long.

He couldn't bear the thought-

If anyone dared tried to touch you, he would-

You were still hunched over the WR600 when Connor wretched himself from his thoughts before they wandered into territory that should probably be alone.

You had opened the android's forearms, trying to determine if any wires were damaged. Feeling inspired, Connor huffed softly and trotted over to you. You were so focused that you didn't see him coming and gasped when his hand came into view.

"G-geez, Connor," you scolded him softly, catching the sight of his freckled face in the corner of your eye.

He reached into the android's exposed wiring, his artificial, human skin, fading away. "I'll stimulate the wires so you can determine which are defective," he explained.

In the corner of his eye, Connor could see you smile. "That would help a lot. Thank you."

He sent jolts along the lines. Ones that worked properly gave a response, a very subtle twitch of the hand on the powered off android. Ones that didn't gave no response. They were not major, which meant the use of his hands wouldn't be completely severed; but, his movement would be limited, gestures abrupt or sporadic.

Sometime later, with Connor's help, you had replaced seven wires on one hand and four on the other.

You had enough material to at least cover the exposed membrane on his wrists; but, you didn't have enough to fill in gaps where the artificial human skin was lost. At the very least, you could protect the android muscle tissue.

Connor watched you fill in those wounds in silence, knowing he couldn't do much else. When that was done, you retrieved a saline wash from your bag to cleanse Ralph's eye before carefully returning it to the socket.

"Alright," you sighed, patting your hands together. "That's... all I can do for now."

A couple androids gathered around, one reaching for Ralph to prop him up. "Wow. You did all that without a replacement shell?" one of them commented, the awe in their tone making your heart flutter.

The way they admired the WR400 made you feel something sickeningly sweet. The scars on his face were noticeable; but, the fine cracks were filled in well enough to almost be seamless, unless the light hit just right. The fibrous material beneath his android skin was covered fully. His artificial human skin was mostly intact, minus his hands.

All you could hope was that he would like it. The damaged processor could cause speech issues and potential lapses in judgement; however, his behavior, as described by his fellow androids, was likely a developed trait from trauma. You knew you couldn't fix that, only hope that a new processor would aid his recovery.

Connor stepped between you and Ralph as they powered him on. You moved around Connor, trying to push him out of the way. You wanted to see him wake up, wanted to see life blossom into his hazel eyes.

It didn't blossom, per say, but he suddenly jolted forward and twitched, eyes bright and wild, suddenly very much awake. He looked around hastily, annoyance immediately appearing on his face.

"How dare you power Ralph off-!" he whined loudly, pushing against the hands that held him. They let go at his protest, but remained close as a precaution.

Suddenly, Ralph stopped, looking down at his arms. He gasped, rotated his limbs around to examine them. His hands slid over opposing arms, touching the spots you had filled as if he doubted what his optical processor was showing him. His mouth hung agape and his eyes were wide and bright.

"Ralph's hands are-" he stammered, staring at them in wonder and disbelief.

He realized, faintly, that he could see properly again out of his left eye. Ralph's dominant hand rose and he touched his face, eyes shifting away from you and staring into a random direction. He gasped when he felt the scars left behind from the work you had done.

After that, he recognized a firmware update reading on his HUD, and realized one of his processors had been replaced - the very one that he painstakingly ignored for months, his HUD constantly giving him warnings about how the unit was in imminent failure and needed to be replaced.

Suddenly, Ralph looked up and scanned the room hastily. His eyes landed on you and he froze. You were wearing scrubs and had some thirium stained on your hands. It was an obvious conclusion to come to.

"A - a human...?" he asked lowly. "No - no human would help Ralph - me... me..." he uttered, seemingly to himself. He looked down at his hands resting on his lap.

You didn't know what to say to him, if there was anything you could say that he would possibly want to hear. He seemed more confused than anything else.

"She did, Ralph," one of the androids offered softly, their hand falling onto the blonde android's shoulder cautiously.

He looked up at you again, his lips moving slightly in what appeared to be an unconscious, nervous tick. "Humans wouldn't without - without a reason," he uttered.

The android twitched when he saw your hopeful expression shift and sadness reflected in your eyes.

"R-Ralph didn't mean-" he stammered, lowering his head. His hands came up and gripped the sides of his skull, the touch a little rough, but not enough to hurt himself. "-didn't mean to be ungrateful," he choked out.

"It's okay," another android urged him gently.

Ralph avoided looking at you again. He made a movement to stand and the androids huddled around him backed up. He rose to his feet, stealing a glance at you over his shoulder before shuffling away and disappearing into the crowd. It was hard to make clear of his expression; but, to you, it looked like guilt.

You didn't blame him, or hold any contempt, not even for a second. He likely had never been shown the slightest bit of kindness in his short life.

"Thank you," one of the androids said softly, approaching with you a smile. "He may not show it, but..."

"It's okay," you replied, sincerely. "I understand."

Not long after Ralph departed, a TR400 android approached you, asking if you could examine his left eye. After popping the optical unit out and verifying it was undamaged, you noticed one of the connector pins was bent.

"I don't have a replacement connector; but, I have a soldering kit if you trust me?" you asked him. He seemed grateful that you were willing to try more so than anything else.

It took a little while, as you were slow and careful. But, it was worth it to have the optical pop back into place with a soft click and to see the android blink carefully. He looked around, iris shifting subtly in his eyeball as his vision adjusted.

"It's working now," he chirped, the corner of his eyes wrinkling with his smile.

"I'm glad," you replied softly. You meant it, really. It was always a risk to attempt to fix connectors yourself; but, you had some pride in knowing that you were usually successful.

Right as the android left, a WB200 hesitantly approached you, one hand cupped over his opposite elbow in a nervous gesture.

Before he could get too close, Connor startled you when he suddenly grabbed you by the arm and yanked you back, pulling you behind him and stepping into the space between you and the other android. He glared down at the smaller android, who put up his hands defensively.

"Con - what are you-" you squeaked, nearly tripping over your own feet as the android pulled at you.

"Please, wait, I-" the WB200 pleaded, his voice low and frightened. His hair was short and messy and he had a very boyish face that matched his voice. "I'm sorry about what I did, I - I just couldn't let you catch me."

A little annoyed, you pushed at Connor's sides and stepped around him.

"He's dangerous," Connor warned, eyes not yet moving from the other android. You gawked at the detective, recognizing the distrust in his eyes, before moving your gaze to the WB200. He looked afraid of Connor, and it became immediately obvious that they had history.

"I'm sorry - I mean it. If you caught me, I would've been sent back - and - and destroyed - I - I was scared," he insisted.

He had pushed Hank off the roof in order to escape being captured. If Connor hadn't gotten there fast enough, Hank might have fallen to his death. The android had good reason to be afraid. Connor knew that; but, if he was willing to risk a human life-

The detective was taken aback when you nudged past him and approached the android.

"What's wrong?" you asked him softly, ignoring the hole Connor was burning in the back of your head with his stare.

"I - ugh-" the android stammered, startled by your insistence and still intimidated by the detective android. His eyes flickered away from you for a second, giving Connor a worried look. "My - my right leg. I damaged it when I fell."

You stepped back and the WB200 demonstrated. He took a few steps and you could see the awkward way his leg moved. It was clearly unnatural, and shifted in a way that would have caused a human a great deal of pain. The leg also made an unpleasant creaking sound with each step, crying out in protest from the pressure.

"Lay down please," you asked, gesturing to the makeshift table Ralph had been laying on a moment ago. As he did, you explained, "I - I'm sorry, but, you'll have to undress."

"I understand," he replied lowly, struggling to meet your gaze.

He was wearing a scraggly pair of jeans, likely taken from a dumpster, and a hoodie. He peeled his pants down his legs, wearing nothing underneath. WB200's were designed for manual labor, typically farming or light maintenance. You weren't surprised to find he lacked any male anatomy.

Before you had to ask, he opened the access panel covering his knee, which allowed you to look inside at the wiring, artificial muscles and bones.

"The knee joint is out of alignment," you stated, trying to examine his knee without touching him just yet.

"May I?" you asked, holding your hands up to show what you were requesting. He nodded, lips thin and eyes not hiding how nervous he was.

You pulled back the shell loosely covering his knee to take a better look at the artificial muscle that allowed proper leg movement. He had abandoned maintaining a human skin tone on his leg; or, that function had been damaged when he fell. His skin tone ended at his waist and he was factory default white below.

You stepped away from him briefly to locate some pliars.

Connor had stepped back to give you space, but was still watching, now more so out of amazement than worry. You were absolutely fearless. It simultaneously impressed and infuriated him. You also were ignoring him fiercely.

"What's your name?" you asked the WB200 when you returned to the table.

He gave you a look, suggesting he was contemplating not answering.

"...Rupert," he eventually said, swallowing roughly afterward.

"Rupert, we don't have these parts; so, I'm gonna see if I can fix the alignment myself. We'll have to follow at the hip joint afterward to manually reset the alignment. It will likely hurt," you explained carefully.

"I'm not afraid," Rupert blurted boldly.

"That's good," you responded, reaching behind yourself to yank a chair in closer and plop down before digging into his knee.

You were so focused on the joint that you didn't hear the commotion going on around you, not until some music started playing. You paused for a moment, caught off guard by the sudden melody.

You tossed a look over your shoulder and saw that someone had arranged some pieces of equipment to fashion together a radio. "That'll liven the place up," one of the androids proclaimed proudly, admiring her work proudly.

Once, it might have been a funny thought to imagine androids enjoying music. Hearing their excitement over the piano, bass, and gentle drum brought a smile to your face. It was jazz, soft and relaxing, with no vocals. Something so subtle so drastically changed the atmosphere in the room.

"Okay. I think I got the joint back in place," you declared, standing up and smacking the sheathing back into place. Rupert had been hyper focused on you the entire; when you shifted your gaze from his knee to his face, he looked more relaxed than when you had started.

"Can you open your hip?" you requested, standing at his waist. He nodded, lifting his hoodie to his ribs. His skin faded whilst the panel opened. Manual joint alignments required calibrations at the base for most models. Few could do it automatically. Rupert unfortunately was not one of those models.

"Ready?" you asked, gently pushing back the fibrous, artificial muscle to reach the joint panel.

"Yes," he replied immediately.

You pinched the reset key. His leg twitched and Rupert let out a bizarre, staticky sound, clearly one of pain. The alignment seemed to go off fine; but, his power conductors were likely not state of the art, as expected for his model type. The power traveled from his chassis to the joint and gave you a little shock.

You yelped and let go, stepping back. Rupert looked at you, eyes wide with fear..

"Just a little shock," you explained quickly, trying to relax him. "It's normal."

He relaxed and moved his leg around a little. "Wow," he wheezed. "Feels better - much better." With haste, the android pulled his clothes back on and shimmied off the table and onto his feet to test the alignment. He seemed excited as he bounced around on his heels.

"I - thank you - thank you," he stammered out nervously.

You nodded at him with a smile. "Of course, Rupert."

You turned away from him to set your tools back into their proper positions, just so you wouldn't lose them later. As you did, you heard him give Connor parting words.

"I am sorry - I mean it," he said quietly. If the detective android replied, you didn't hear what he said.

Connor was faintly aware of the high possibility that you were irritated with him in that moment; however, that didn't stop him from approaching you and offering a water bottle, bringing it into your peripheral.

You had forgotten that he took the time to pack a backpack with water and food for you. You were prepared to come here with nothing; but, the android had taken the extra step to make sure you had something.

He really made it impossible to be mad at him for two seconds-

"You should take a break," he suggested softly as you chugged the water enthusiastically. You hadn't realized how thirsty you were until that moment. Leave it to Connor to be more attentive to your needs than you.

"I'm fine," you gently retorted.

"You've been going nonstop for almost four hours," Connor insisted.

"I'm fine," you said again, a little firmer than last time.

His hand fell onto your shoulder. "Please?" he requested. Connor stepped around, right in front of you, and offered his hand in a gesture that you recognized, but you had never seen directed at yourself.

Judging by the look on your face, you definitely didn't expect that from the android in that moment. You gawked at him stupidly and Connor looked back hopefully.

The music was quite fitting for that, but, still, you felt nervous.

"I-" you cut yourself off, looking conflicted.

"Am I in the doghouse?" he asked softly, almost uncertain.

Connor couldn't help but crack a grin at the way your eyes lit up and your lips twisted into a smile. You choked on a bubbly laugh at his tease.

"No," you huffed, delivering a gentle smack to his shoulder. "I just - 'm not graceful, at all, and never really..."

You took his hand anyway and the android cupped it and placed his other hand on your waist, pulling you in gently. He took note of the faint blush on your cheeks, blissfully aware that he really liked that look on you.

"I didn't know you liked to dance," you offered quietly as your free hand fell onto his shoulder.

It wasn't so much of a dance as it was two bodies swaying to a melody. But, you were close, close enough that your torso was touching his chassis, and it felt nice, comforting. You didn't really move, but more so followed the sway Connor had set.

"I don't know if I do," Connor said honestly. "I just wanted to, with you."

As always, Connor was full of surprises. Sometimes, you had to scold yourself for thinking that you knew everything about him, only for him to go and prove you very, very wrong.

"I like the music," he added on.

"Yeah," you agreed, breathlessly.

You liked the music. That much was true; but, it was hard to think straight when Connor was so close and looking at you like that.

-like you were the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

-like nothing else in this world mattered.

His hand, that had been on your waist, shifted around so that his forearm cupped your lower back. He dipped you back, gently forcing you to arch, and you let out a surprised sound. When he pulled you back up, he looked way too proud for forcing that noise out of you.

"Brat," you huffed against his neck. You were glad he didn't apologize, because he didn't look sorry at all.

You lost track of how long you did that. The world seemed to dissipate in that moment. You weren't in an abandoned apartment complex on the industrial side of town, surrounded by damaged androids.

But, then, Connor leaned down slowly, a gesture you were quite familiar with. He gave you a second to protest or turn away. When you didn't, he carefully slotted his mouth over yours, and you suddenly, very fiercely remembered where you were. Yet, that knowledge didn't stop your eyes from fluttering shut or your heart from hammering away in your chest. If anything, it amplified it.

It was a suave kiss, almost chaste. Still, he had done it in front of all these androids. When you parted and looked up at him, his eyes met yours and they said, 'I just had to'. You couldn't bring yourself to be upset with him, or to care that half of the room was staring.

Some part of his software, that he didn't realize existed, wanted them all to know.

You were his, and he was yours.

Human.

Android.

It didn't matter. You were two living beings, and you were fucking happy, and that was all that mattered.

But, then, a sharp gasp rang out through the crowd and the radio was abruptly shut off. Connor turned his eyes to the source of the sound and realized an android had staggered back and tripped, now on their back on the ground and trying to scurry away. You tried to look over his shoulder to see what the fuss was all about.

"Markus," a masculine voice called out in despair. "How could you let them in here?"

The detective android narrowed his eyes.

It was Robert, a gun in his trembling hand.

#connor x reader #deviant connor x reader #connor smut #rk800 x reader #rk800 smut #connor fanfic #dbh fanfic

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