#ALSO LIES OF P GOT CATS

[captain-k8kat]

So far, I don't like lies of p as much as I like bloodborne, though that's not saying much because I love bloodborne more than any other game. Lies of P is still a really excellent game.

[queseraphita]

*sees the stargazer right next to the boss room knowing exactly who I'm up against* oh... how kind of them... :)

[hunterbunter3000]

Thinking about a fake dating scenario like say Sweets family is always bothering her about not dating anyone and she lies and says “actually I am seeing someone!” But then they ask to meet the person so now she has to find someone ti be her fake date. I would imagine the boys would be fighting each other for a chance to do that.

I know this is super random haha I’m just talking to talk at this point.

YES! AND RANDOM IS GOOD 👏👏 talk the talk and walk the walk babes! Any ideas you have SPEAK ON IT!!! 💓

But omg you're right, they would

Sweetheart walked in the living room, where the team was sitting on the couch drinking beers. She was talking on the phone as she walked past them to the kitchen, not even noticing the boys.

And she's talking to her mom about her love life. Saying "Yes ma! I will bring him this time!" And "You can tell Danni to shut the hell up cause he is real". And then she says love you and hangs up the phone.

Sweetheart, looking at everybody:

The boys looking at her:

Sweetheart: Okay who wants to be my boyfriend for the day

then they all say M E

And all hell breaks loose 💀💀

Soap: What tae FUCK do y'mean 'mE', Ghost?

Ghost: the fuck do YOU mean 'mEaH', Mactavish?

Soap: I SAID ME

Ghost: nah see-- you did it again. 'MeAh'. It's two letters.

Soap: AH WULL PUMPIN' BREAK YE YAH BRITISH CRUMPET

Sweetheart: uhm, guys?

Gaz: Bitch don't even try

Horangi: And why should I listen to you?

Gaz: You get a nose bleed everytime Sweets hugs you.

Horangi: WHAT?? HOW DO-- HOW CAN YOU EVEN SEE THAT I WEAR A MASK

Gaz: it drips under it, bruv. And I don't think her parents want to witness an extremely touched starved man get an aneurysm everytime their daughter touches him.

Sweetheart: GOOD LORD GAZ--

Horangi: OH YOU THINK YOU'RE SO MUCH BETTER? YOU CRY EVERYTIME SWEETHEART TELLS YOU A GOOD JOB

Gaz: YO I DO NOT-

Ghost: He cries when Capitan says it too.

Horangi: THAT TOO

Gaz: GHOST STAY THE FUCK OUT OF THIS

Price: You cry when I tell you good job?

Sweetheart, kinda touched but concerned: And you cry when I say it too?

Gaz: UHM- SIR I-- WELL SWEETS YOU-- FUCK

Krueger: Ignoring the emotionally unstable man--

Gaz: HEY

Krueger: You should take me, Kleine Göttin.

König: Don't, Sweets. You'll never return if you do

Krueger: König what the fuck

Krueger: You can't even talk your way into getting gas at a gas station, you think her parents want to see you freeze like a tortoise having sex when they talk to you?

König: AT LEAST I DONT SNIFF ANY SEATS SWEETHEART WAS IN

Krueger: THAT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS

König: IT HAS E V E R Y T H I N G TO DO WITH THIS

Sweetheart: Krueger-- YOU DO WHAT

Ghost: He also sniffs your hair

Sweetheart: You do that too, Ghost

Ghost, stares at Krueger: Not while you're sleeping.

Sweetheart: KRUEGER????

Krueger: GHOST SHUT THE FUCK U P

Alejandro: Please don't take Krueger, mama. He would end up in prison

Krueger: (angry German words)

Alejandro: You can take me! They'll love my charm.

Price: What, so you can flirt your way out of personal questions they'll most definitely ask you?

Ghost: Especially with that five-palm forehead you got

Alejandro: CÁLLATE LA BOCA DECORACIÓN DE HALLOWEEN

Rudy: Price, you have no say in this matter. You can practically be her father's golfing buddy.

Sweetheart: uhm, my dad doesn't golf--

Price: I'm 37 you fucking Muppet

Sweetheart: nevermind.

Rudy, surprised: Really?? Damn I didn't know that! You just looked like one of Super Mario's long lost cousins to me because of the janitor mustache you have on your old body

Price: Mother fucker--

Ghost: I don't think you would do well either when you look like a human gopher

Rudy: GHOST WHERE DO YOU KEEP COMING FROM

Alex: ROACH OW STOP HITTING MY FACE

Roach on Alex's shoulders:😠 pap-pap-pap-pap-pap-pap (like a fucking cat)

Sweetheart, rubbing her temples: Oh my fucking GOD- I'LL JUST CHOOSE MYSELF THIS IS TAKING TOO LONG AND GAZ LOOKS LIKE HES ABOUT TO CRY

Gaz, tearing up: I AM NOT

Soap: Me!

Horangi: It's me!

Graves, picking his nails:

Graves: It's probably not me.

Keegan: Uh... If it's no trouble, you can take me. I have to give your brother his game boy back anyway

Everyone looking at Keegan:

Soap: w u t

She takes Keegan.

(He honestly had a good time! Yes, he did start a fire with her siblings accidentally but other than that her parents loved him. Sweetheart sent pictures to everyone and omg they were so SALTY SAD AND JEALOUS. Ghost kinda smiled at a picture with Sweetheart and Keegan together, Keegan's face without the mask and grease paint wearing a nervous but kind smile. He looks happy. The others don't but they'll get over it someday💀💀)

[cheriladycl01]

My choice - Liam Lawson x BrazilianOlympicSkateBoarding! Reader

Plot: While Liam’s fixing his cars you are always found at the skatepark with your best friend Keegan, people online start to assume there’s a little more to that friendship than friends …

It was a normal Friday, and you were in Australia with Keegan. Liam was at the track for the Australian Grand Prix watching FP1 and you and Keegan had been invited by Quadrant.

You’d met through both winning Gold in 2021 at the Tokyo Olympics and had been friends ever since. When Keegan got the offer of Quadrant he said he’d only accept if they made you part of it too.

Lando and Max had in fact met you before Keegan asked for you to be part of the Quadrant Athletes having been to many F1 races with your boyfriend Liam since 2022.

You weren’t at the GP yet because you and Keegan were shooting stuff for Quadrant with Max and Ria. You and Keegan were always goofing around trying to be better than the other one or just making fun of one another.

Your relationship with Keegan was so pure. He was one of those people that you only met once in that lifeline and you hoped to meet again in another.

You knew Keegan before Liam, so naturally you guys had more inside jokes, more banter. Whereas your relationship with Liam was everything you looked for in a partner.

He took care of you, always made sure to know your worth, and eventually (when you agreed to come to races with him) showed you the world.

But some people saw you and Keegs and thought there was more to it than just friends. And it annoyed Liam more than anything.

Of course Liam didn’t care that you were friends with Keegan and he’d never ever try to come between that friendship because he wasn’t the first one there, Keegan was. But it irked him just how hard the media shipped you too.

It got to the point where he was hard-launching your relationship once a week, again and again even though it was out there that you were a couple and had been since 2022.

“Are we finally done! I need a shower now!” You complain having built up a sweat from all the fun things you’d filmed.

“Yea, all wrapped up!” Max smiles and you pull Keegan into an exhausted hug thankful that this part of the day was over. You really just wanted to go to the track now and be with Liam.

Little did you all know but Ria filmed the hug, posting it on her story and Quadrants story to let people know that you were completely done filming with the day.

“Thank god!” You groan, trotting off to the rental car Max had and jumping in the back. Keegan in tow behind you taking the seat next to you.

“So who wants to put money in a Max Verstappen win?” You ask on the drive back.

“Nah im putting money on my boy Lando!” Keegan smiles.

“I’m being realistic and I’ll join in an say Max. But Lan to get a podium!” Max chuckles from the drivers seat.

“Mmm yeah I’m gonna also put money on Max, but Ferrari are looking good” Ria expresses and you nod, knowing people were in fact slowly but surely catching up with Red Bull.

“Oh Max! Is P gonna be there! I haven’t seen her for ages!” You complain wanting to see his girlfriend.

“Yeah she’s at the hotel now, she had a bit of a headache this morning so she didn’t come!” He says looking at you through the rear view mirror to see you pout!

You guys venture back to the hotel, getting ready before all walking to the race track having a close hotel.

“Baby!” You cry running away from the group seeing Liam say outside the RB hospitality with Daniel and Yuki.

“Hey Y/N” he says his tone a little off.

“What’s the matter?” You ask frowning and pouting at him. He never acted like this.

“Nothing” he smiles and you look at Yuki and Daniel who are doing everything to avoid eye contact with you.

“Liam…” you say and he squirms a little bit because you never used his name at all. Even if it was a silly stupid nickname like Li, or Iams (like the cat food brand) to the usual pet names.

Daniel and Yuki slowly left not wanting to be around for the growing tension they could sense.

“What is going on? I’m sorry I wasn’t here this morning if that’s why your pissy but you knew I was filming with Keegan and Max!” you exclaim thinking it must be that you hadn’t been there when he first woke up.

“Mmmm you and Keegan have fun?” He asks forcing your best friends name out with an almost grit.

“I mean - yeah? No more than we usually do…” you offer looking at him.

“Why do you care so much about Keegan today. You never normally have an issue!” You ask with all seriousness, normally you’d laugh.

Liam gets out his phone with a groan showing you the video circling of your and Keegan from Quadrants post on Twitter, so many of the comments were shipping you guys.

“Baby … you know Keegan is my best friend … and there always coming up with new weird shit! You know there’s even fanfics of us now?” You laugh but he doesn’t seem amused.

“Are you being for fucking real right now Liam! It’s the media … they spin anything they fucking can. Do you not feel secure in this relationship? Do you not trust me?” You ask a disappointed look on your face. You genuinely couldn’t believe him right now.

“Honey, what? Of course I trust you! But it just hurts seeing that people think you’d be better off with some other guy than me” he huffs out.

“Liam, look at me!” You say holding his face in both your hands forcing him to look at you.

“I chose you, all those years ago and I’m choosing you today and I’ll choose you tomorrow! You Liam Lawson are the love of my life! And I won’t have you being a mopey little baby over the media and Keegan!” You say before pulling him into a kiss, you can feel him smiling into it making you pull back and look at the new and dare you ay improved expression on his face.

“I love you” he admits holding you tightly in a hug.

“I love you too, my jealous driver” you grin teasingly making him shake his head.

y/user

Liked by keeganpalmer and liamlawson30

y/user: Skateboarding with Bestie and Fast Cars with the LOML is my lifestyle 🇧🇷

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fan1: her and keegan are cuties … look at that date on their boards 😻

-> fan2: shes dating Liam not Keegan 😦

liamlawson30: baby why’d you put Kitty Purry on the board?

-> y/user: coz she’s a CaliforniaGurl 😝🌸

-> liamlawson30: of course she is … you’re weird!

-> y/user: but you love me! ❤️

fan3: Y/N living her best life fr. Imagine having all her friends.

keeganpalmer: it’s always fun hanging with you, my bestie 🏎️🛹

-> y/user: love you bestie 🧡🦖

quadrant:🔥 post Y/N!

landonorris: you best be in Australia little miss!

-> y/user: Keegs an i will be there! In merch DW!

-> liamlawson30: erm I didn’t agree to this … RB merch only …

-> y/user: I’ll sneak in with it Lando!

maxfewtrell: Quadrant Athletes have brought us the best duos!

Instagram Story Caption

Keegs and I living it up at the Aussie Grand Prix 🏎️🦘🇦🇺 Thank you for the invite @ quadrant / @ landonorris

Taglist:

@littlesatanicassholebitch @hockey-racing-fubol @laura-naruto-fan1998 @22yuki @simxican @sinofwriting @lewisroscoelove @cmleitora @daemyratwst @lauralarsen @the-untamed-soul @thewulf @itsjustkhaos @purplephantomwolf @chasing-liberosis @summissss @gulphulp @starfusionsworld @jspitwall l @sierruhhhh @georgeparisole @youcannotcancelquidditch @tallbrownhairsarcastic @ourteenagetragedy @peachiicherries @formulas-bitch @cherry-piee @spilled-coffee-cup @mehrmonga @bigsimperika @blueberry64857959 @eiraethh @curseofhecate @alliwantisadonut @dark-night-sky-99 @i-wish-this-was-me @tallrock35 @butterfly-lover @barnestatic @landossainz @darleneslane @barcelonaloverf1life @r0nnsblog @ilove-tswizzle @laneyspaulding19 @malynn @viennakarma @landosgirlxoxo @marie0v @yourbane @teamnovalak @nikfigueiredo @fionaschicken @0picels0 @tinydeskwriter @ironmaiden1313 @splaterparty0-0 @formula1mount

[moistreicher]

Lies of P

Pinocchio own headcanons.

• I kind of imagine that P is a very curious puppet (like a player in game exploring) and he would always bring something back to the hotel Krat after mission and Gepetto would see his son piling up things on his table. A broken doll in a red dress. A small piece of screw that shines so brightly like it was newly made. A cowboy hat which Gepetto wonders where did he get it and small few jewels which resembles Gemini's color and his eyes. However, P has been collecting so many things and piling it up on Gepetto's table, forced the old man to get a chest for P to put his treasure (mostly junks) inside.

• P doesn't seem to talk in game but characters in game acts as if so I think, P doesn't usually talk. He only talks when spoken too like an actual puppet with corresponding lines but P can make his own replies and he chooses a word or sentence that would only be a brief response. Gemini once tried to make the boy talk more than he usually does by striking conversation and question but it seems like P got annoyed that he eventually ignored Gemini for the whole mission (still listening to Gemini at least)

• despite he had fought big monsters and big hostile machines, P is afraid of cats at first. When he was curious and tried to touch the feline, it launched its claws to his hand and hissed which caused him to startle. Confused and unable to comprehend what happened, it feared the small creature temporarily as Eugene showed him that cats aren't terrifying creature. Although sensitive, cats are surprisingly affectionate in their own way. But he wishes that the cats would at least trust him and let him touch their soft fur.

• P is fascinated by his own limbs. How it bends and straighten. How his arms are able to move in rotation motion and how his fingers folds in a curl. Gemini taught him how to make a heart but unable to understand as it is not the shape of a heart (he thought literal shape of a heart) and Gemini had to go through explaining him how it is a heart. Then Gepetto gave P a show where he'd use shadow of his hands to imitate the silhouettes of animals. P was amused.

• P purrs. Or so what it sounds like. His springs inside make a sound when he feels pleasant, comfortable at certain someone or simply enjoying the pat on the head from Gepetto. They thought that spring sound is only natural but they don't mostly hear it when P feels neutral till Sophia noticed how the springs started to shift inside him when Sophia and P sat down together to enjoy the rain at the garden.

"Oh my, you sound like you're purring, oh clever one" and then smiled. P doesn't know what it means but kept quiet as the spring sound continues. Sophia thinks that he must have gotten it from the cats as he observed them without touching.

As for P's situation, he does feel warm inside or what he would try to describe it as best as he can. He also feel a small vibration inside. Only vibration and nothing else that is worrying so he lets it without telling Gepetto or Eugene.

• Puppets don't need rest however, P started to like his leisure time. He have no mission? He would stay in Hotel Krat and sit down simply and enjoy the structure of the interior. He would explore the Hotel and look at the painting. Check some corridors he hadn't seen yet. He would also look at the cats. Sits in front of them and simply observe them with a small smile which Eugene found adorable feature from the puppet.

After a mission, he wouldn't go back to the Hotel Krat immediately. He will take his time to go back there. Walking in the alley, roadside, other paths and trying to picture the place before the puppet frenzy had happened. He would ask Gemini about the buildings and structures about what it used to be.

• Missions can get P really dirty. He don't sweat but the muds and dirty water can get to his boots, clothes and skin including his hair so whenever he gets back to the hotel Krat, he is adviced by Gemini to go straight to bath immediately.

P can also feel temperature and he likes the coldness of the clean water. He would always let the cold water run and get into the tub willingly. Gepetto had once reminded P not to use too cold water and don't stay too long there to protect his P-organs from freezing. But P can be act like a child still and insists on using even colder temperature to test how he can go on until it actually happens. Almost freezing his P-organs and thanks to Gemini to call out for Gepetto which saved P from freezing all over.

P got a lot of scolding from Gepetto and after that incident, Gepetto would check on him if his staying longer in bath and sometimes would come in and help P to wash his hair thoroughly from the dirt that is in blindspots.

[lilac-cat-draws]

Got around to making my own Lies of P oc since I've been spending my days going through my 4th play through

Anyways this is my stalker oc Lynx

Info under cut:

Lynx

Age: 25

Real Name: Oliver

Info:

Oliver aka Lynx, is a rogue stalker also trying to survive the events that occurred within Krat

Before all of this, Oliver used to be a well known stage actor back in Krat's prime years. He made a name for himself in Rosa Isabelle Street and had everything he could have ever wanted in life up until the petrification disease started to spread more into the city

Oliver unfortunately became one of the other victims to the disease forcing the actor to completely retire from the spotlight

He trained to become a stalker using the knowledge he had from sword training that was originally used for his performances and became Lynx

Lynx has a limited amount of time left and could be cut shorter once the puppet frenzy happened, so his only goal in this city is to find some cure for his disease and leave Krat for good

Other stuff I had in mind:

Lynx is another neutral ally to P

His personality is considered very jaded after the disaster and would still reminisce his glory days back at the opera house performing on the stage again

When Lynx took refuge in the hotel, thanks to the information from P, he prefers not to tell others in the hotel about him being infected except for P once he trust him enough

On first meeting, Lynx would refuse any sort of interaction, not even sparing a glance to others because ever since he got infected, he grew more distant and aloof

His symptoms are somewhat manageable during the events of the game but would have moments where he'd break out into sever coughing

If he were to have a side quest, I could imagine it would be something similar to the Black Cats situation where depending on the choice P makes it could decide his fate

[total-drama-brainrot]

i dont know whether youve established this or not but for ur p!noah au, what does phobia factor look like? (if he makes it that far)

I've got a few ideas for how Noah (both in general and in this AU) would behave in the Phobia Factor episode!

My first idea, which works better for a more canon-adjacent Noah, is to have him either genuinely fall asleep at the campfire or feign falling asleep at the campfire- so he doesn't have to divulge his "greatest fear" in front of the others.

Because Noah's a very private person; both his fellow competitors and the audience at large know very little about him, and those who try to are often met with his sour, prickly exterior. Why on Earth would he ever willingly share his greatest fear on international TV with a bunch of people he doesn't even like?

(And, as we saw in the Awake-a-thon episode, pretending to pass out is something Noah would and does do to get out of uncomfortable situations.)

Of course, that scenario could be ruined by having one of the mlre confrontational characters (like Heather) shake him awake to hear his answer. But, ideally, it'd end up being more of a Courtney situation, where he never does give an answer, but Chris finds something in the shows footage that indicates Noah has a fear of [insert phobia here].

Then there's the second scenario, where Noah just straight up lies about what he's scared of (and I'm surprised no one else did this canonically). Again, why would he tell people what he's actually scared of? So he picks one of the most common phobias and runs with it- something innocuous, like a fear of the dark, or claustrophobia. Or maybe he decides to be a smartass and chooses some obscure or 'ridiculous' phobia instead, like ailurophobia/cynophpbia (fear of cats/dogs), on the off-chance that they'll have to face them as part of a challenge.

In the case of p!Noah, I think he'd do something similar to the second scenario, but claim his 'biggest fear' is hemophobia (fear of blood)- a bold claim for someone's who's decidedly Not Afraid Of Blood, in fact he's quite fond of it. Of course, no one else has any way of knowing this, so it's accepted as truth.

As a side note here, I kind of touched upon this before but p!Noah doesn't really experience fear like others do- that's why he's so amused by other's fear responses, since he lacks one of his own. It's also why he's such a thrill-seeker, he gets all of the adrenaline and none of the actual fear.

And then the Phobia Factor challenge happens. Noah's tasked with submerging himself in a pool of blood, similar to Beth's pool of worms, to earn his team a point.

Noah's fine with this. (More than fine, really. Red is a pretty colour.) But he can't let the others know that, or he'd be caught out in his lie. But he also doesn't want to lose this challenge. So he gingerly climbs into the pool, doing his best to fake fear and revulsion to... mixed results. He doesn't understand things like fear, panic and terror at a personal level, so for the most part he just looks like a soggy unamused cat. Despite how much he really wants to splash about, or get lost in the sauce.

(Maybe the more switched on of his team mates pick up on the maddened glee in his eyes as he floats in a pool of blood, or his almost carefully crafted stoicism- a far cry from everyone else's screams of terror.)

He wins a point for the team, and that's that.

Remember, Noah's strategy here is to be as unremarkable as possible; he wouldn't go out of his way to draw attention to himself. Especially not when Izzy’s still around to cause chaos for him.

...That doesn't mean he won't later make a confessional, still dripping in 'blood', where he complains to the audience that Chris used the 'fake shit' for his challenge for the budgets sake. Noah can tell! He knows the feeling of being covered in real blood.

[the-words-we-sung]

The songs of Young Royals - S1 E1

So after a few re-watch I started noticing how well the songs are used in the show and I wanted to chat a little bit about it ^^ (Because I'm usually watching alone with my cat and he doesn't really care about my opinions on how awesome the show is at picking its songs :p So hopefully people here will be more interested!!)

Bad, Farveblind

I think it's wrong I think it's bad I think it's lame I think it's horrible The song starts when we see Wilhelm at the club where he gets in a fight and then we get the chorus through his earbuds in the car (note: I love it when a show put a music in the background that ends up being something a character is actually listening to in the scene!!). He just got out of a shitty situation which will have huge repercussions on his life and his mother is making decisions about his life without asking him: the show is not subtle about telling us how "wrong" and "bad" it is. And despite this lil' foreshadowing (the song plays before Minou tells Wille about his mother's decisions) and Wilhelm's strong opinion against them, it's still gonna happen. Going to a boarding school is "lame" (or so Wilhelm thinks) and the whole situation is "horrible". And yeah, it's gonna suck on a lot of points, but it's also gonna change his life...

Wannabee Ghetto, Fata Boom

... Keep up the front like it's your decision ... Look our best Covering up what we're missin It's literally what Wilhelm has to do now. His mother decided for him that he should change school and enroll at Hillerska, he is not happy about this plan but has to pretend he's okay with it. He just lied to the public that it was a decision he took part in. He is the prince, even if he's not (yet) the Crown Prince, and he has an image to maintain. An image that was damaged due to the video of the fight: someone is literally putting make up on him to "cover up" the marks of the fight so he can look his "best". And what is he missing? Well August will say it at least twice: he doesn't have the same drive as him or Erik. So he's missing the desire to be on top, to be king, to keep the status quo...

It takes a fool to remain sane, The Ark

... Wasn't life supposed to be more than this ... Let go off my hand and it will slip on the sand If you don't give me the chance To break down the walls of attitude I ask nothing of you, not even your gratitude 'Cause it takes a fool to remain sane ... Of becoming like the others Who become unhappy mothers And fathers of unhappy kids This song!! Such a great choice for their first song <3 Wilhelm being so incredibly unhappy and stuck because "being a prince is a privilege, not a punishment" but he wants more for his life. It is supposed to be "more than this", more than pressure and appearance. The song going on with the "unhappy mothers / unhappy kids" while we follow Erik and Wilhelm stiffly posing for pictures outside. How can Wilhelm not be scared? Is it the life that awaits him? Always keeping a nice front, not being himself?And why is that? 'Cause they've forgotten how to play But Erik and Wilhelm haven't forgotten yet!! Right after these lyrics we have a playful Erik who suggests they take off in the middle of the photo-shoot! And they do!! So there's hope for them!!

I see you, Nadia Tehran

Back to their bases Covering their faces Tones through the breeze yeah The power calls crises Round my crowd No cops allowed Interestingly the song starts with "you ain't welcome here, you don't look like us". This part is not in the show but works so well for Wilhelm starting at Hillerska. He's getting hazed by his peers "covering their faces" and being really rough with him (this hazing is so yucky, I struggle watching it every time ^^'), and he's welcome here because he's the prince, because he's supposed to be part of their world. But he's not gonna be like them. Do they know it already? "You don't look like us", and thanks god for that!! (And yup, "no cops allowed", right August? You can do whatever you want here without any consequences...)

Blah blah blah, Armin van Buuren

All we ever hear from you is blah blah blah So all we ever do is go ja ja ja And we don't even care about what they say The song plays while August is talking to Wilhelm about being among his peers and criticizing him for wanting to be "normal" at his previous school. I love that this song is playing because, yes, it's a good party song, but also, it's probably what everyone watching the show is thinking when August is being an insufferable prick like that! And Wilhelm too, who just usually goes "ja ja ja / yes yes yes" to what August tells him (until he stops and finally goes openly against him, but for now in the show, he just listens and nods). Erik told him he should listen and trust August, so he listens to him. But at this moment Simon appears, and suddenly Wilhelm "don't even care about what they say" because the cute boy he already has a big crush on just arrived. And August and his stupid speeches about rich people being above everyone else don't matter anymore.

[fantasies-fairytales-n-fics]

Code Blue Ch. 50 - Red Dawn

Summary: A tense car ride is full of twists and turns. Josie gets an upsetting message. Craig softens and he and Jo seem to bond as they share another long talk. A phone call leaves Jo with more questions than answers.

*Chapter Warnings* language, angst, anxiety, drinking,

Chapter characters: Luke, Josie, Craig, Lee

Chapter word count: 7,953

Stories Stories Stories Masterlist:

Salem, Massachusetts

March 22, 2022

The tedious drive back to Salem seemed like an eternity and it was deafly quiet, except for the cat-like purr of Luke's Charger. As soothing as the subtle sound was, it still couldn't calm the seething tension between you and the law abiding bad boy that consistently chewed on his thumb nail, for it was much too close for comfort in the compacted side by side space.

But as the cruising car entered Essex county, your focus then went to the mile long monster that lied up ahead. The Salem Harbor Bay bridge that you had recently drove over with Orlando with no choice, for time had been of the essence to get to Dave and this time, your reaction was not much different as your anxiety began to rise, but at least that time, you were in the driver seat. You had control and had someone with you that you trusted and felt safe with and that got you through it. Now, you were literally bound by your wrists and at the mercy of a man who's personality was all over the place. Hot, cold, gentle, savage. It was mood swing madness and you had been stupid enough to wake the lion.

The no speaking agreement was now over for you as you became desperate. "Can you please go another way?"

Luke's tone was cold and his words were straight to the point. "Nope. Freeway. Nowhere to turn around. This way is faster. The sooner I get you out of my car and my sight, the better."

You supposed you couldn't blame his anger after shoving him like you did. You were angry with yourself too, for look where it had landed you. In cuffs and facing prison time for assaulting a cop. Jesus, how were you going to get out of this one? You hated to admit it but Luke was probably right. Gerry couldn't do anything for you. Not without jeopardizing his job and his morals, but...it didn't mean he wouldn't try and you had to hold out hope for that, for if anyone could find some loophole to free you, it was your ex-fiance. You also knew that his guilt over his drunken one-nighter with your sister would give him the extra incentive, not to mention, he still loved you and now you were the one who felt guilty for even thinking of using that against him. BUT, you had the same issue you recently had with Dave. Gerry was M.I.A. and now with that added onto the Brobdingnagian bridge rapidly approaching, your nerves might just send you into a code blue.

Seconds before the wheels thumped over the divide from stable ground to an abyss of lung filling liquid, Luke couldn't help but notice your fear through his random side eyed glances at you as your body stiffened up, your breathing ceased and your eyes clenched shut. He pretended not to notice as he stared straight ahead and tried not to care but deep below the hardened shell of a man, the Grinch's small heart grew 3 sizes that day.

"What's going on Jo?"

"Just shut up and drive. Faster would be great." you muttered, eyes still closed.

"Can't. There's a truck in front of me and I can't pass. Double lines."

Your left eye peeked at Luke. "Oh my god mister holier than thou. Trying to make up for the shitty things you've done by being a model citizen now? What happened to the skillful driver who perfectly whipped my Monte Carlo around every turn in town like he was Luke Duke in the General Lee trying to outrun Rosco P. Coltrane?'

"But Bo always drove the majority of the time."

"Yeah I know that! I just thought it was more fitting to say Luke since that's your name and your hair is dark like his."

"True I suppose. I didn't care for Bo anyways. I don't like blonde hair."

There was silence as both of your eyes were now open and glaring at him as he stared straight ahead with that curled smug smirk of his.

You then raised a smart ass brow. "So that's why you cuffed and stuffed me."

Luke's eyes swung right over to yours and now you were giving the smug smirk.

"I cuffed you because that blonde hair of yours caused you to do something extremely stupid. Now, I thought we weren't talking?"

Your lips pursed and your eyes slitted. "We're NOT! So just hurry up and get us over this bridge already."

"We've been over it for the past 30 seconds."

"What?"

You straightened up in your seat and looked around to see that you were now on a rural road surrounded by forestry.

"Hmmph." you marveled as you burrowed back into your heated leather seat. "Guess I was distracted."

Luke grinned as he glanced at you. "Exactly. It usually does the trick."

"Wait, so...you only engaged in conversation with me to distract me from my fear??"

"Yep and it worked like a charm. Guess I' m not such a bad guy after all."

"Says you."

His eyes snapped to you as he grimaced. "Why do you hate me so much?"

"Is that supposed to be a rhetorical question??? Can you please just STOP talking now??"

"Whatever." he mumbled and sped up.

Not even a minute passed and Luke was speaking again. "So...you're afraid of bridges huh? Why's that?"

Rolling your eyes, you sighed and continued to gaze out the window as you reluctantly replied.

"I'm not afraid of bridges. I'm afraid of heights. There's a difference."

"So, more so, you're afraid of falling really."

"Well duhhhh...and falling into what lies beneath it. All the weight of that water, just pulling me down further and further into it's ice cold depths where there's nothing but darkness and it fills my lungs as my panic forces me to suck it in, trying to breathe."

"Or...you could always swim."

Your eyes lowered as you became quiet and began fidgeting with your fingers.

As Luke looked at you, awaiting your usual mordant riposte, he quickly realized why you hadn't.

"You...you can't swim?"

"Does this even matter? Why can't you just leave me alone and quietly revel in my misery? I got my just deserves. But hey, if you do happen to find a heartbeat under that cold and austere armor, could you not mention this to my mother for the time being? This is the last thing she needs right now."

You wriggled your hips in the skintight seatbelt so you could turn towards the window to hide the oncoming tears of shame and once Luke couldn't see you, they poured out of your eyes like a waterfall. What you didn't consider was that he could see your emotional reflection in the glass as you silently sobbed.

5 minutes of faint intermittent whimpers and sniffles were unwillingly heard loud and clear by Luke. As he came to a stop at a red light, he looked over at you and that's when his own anxiety got the better of him.

Seeing you all vulnerable and huddled against the door like a child sent a stinging twinge of empathy through his heart and made him question if what he was doing was right, even if you did break the law, for he had goaded you and not only that, your anger was justified about Lee. He wasn't going to tell you that though or the fact that he spent many nights weeping and beating himself up over what happened between him and his once upon a time good friend. It was extremely hard for him to speak about just as it was for Lee, for Luke knew it was all of his own fault by intentionally knocking over the first domino, he just never knew the chain of events would lead up to what it did. What he did know is that someday, you would know the ugly truth.

As Luke neared the road that led straight into downtown Salem, the guilt trip he was on forced him to abruptly stop and turn around.

As he pulled to the side of the road and parked, you were already sitting straight up with wet and wildly confused eyes.

"What are you doing? The police station is the other way?"

"I'm not going there. Give me your hands."

"What??"

"Jo, just give me your hands before I change my mind."

As you slowly and unsurely swayed your hands in his direction, he grabbed them, startling you as he vigorously unlocked the cuffs, then yanked your seatbelt off.

"There. Go on. Get out of here."

You sat speechless for a moment, staring at him as he stared out of his window, chewing his thumb nail once again.

"You...you're letting me go...just like that??"

"Did I not just take the cuffs off and tell you to go?"

"Ok but...here? You want me to walk? It's at least another mile to get back to my apartment."

"Can't you just thank me and get out?"

"Why won't you look at me and WHY are you doing this?"

"God damn it." he grumbled and side eyed you. "Why are you such a pain in the ass??!! Just fucking go!"

"Not until you tell me why you changed your mind and are freeing me into the wild like some caged bird??!!"

His palms slapped over his face and then he roughly dragged them down as he groaned in frustration.

"If I tell you, will you fly away???"

"Depends on what the answer is."

"Holy fucking hel..." he began as his fuming eyes met yours, but abruptly paused when he saw the remnants of your tears, then popped the glove box open, ripped a tissue out and held it in front of you as he continued, refusing to look at you once again.

"It's what you said about your mum. You're right. She don't need this. I spoke with her briefly last night and she was quite distraught about Megan so, I just feel with all her grief over one daughter, she don't need the added stress from another."

"So you're telling me you're doing this for my mom??"

"You sound like that's incredibly hard to believe."

"I don't know what to believe from you anymore Luke. One minute, you're this sweet and caring man that seems to have a heart, like the one who once came to my mom's house and comforted me through an anxiety attack and even defended me against my sister and stopped me from strangling her, WHICH ironically I was doing for you with Landy only 24 hours prior when you morphed into robot Arnie the freaking terminator...and the next minute, you're back to being human again, helping me back there on the bridge and now you're claiming to let me go out of sympathy for my mom."

You sat back in a huff, realizing that Lee was behaving the exact same way and you were at a crossroads, literally, on what to do anymore about either of these messed up men.

Luke sighed and softened up a bit. "Look Jo. I don't know what else to say. I pushed you over the edge, waving a red flag at you. If I hadn't done that, I don't think we would be sitting here right now."

And so you softened up a bit too. "Yeah well, I pretty much came at you sideways and got you all riled up."

Luke chuckled and shook his head, then looked right at you with a disbelieving smile.

"What?" you asked, returning a half smile as your eyes curiously tried to figure him out.

"You. You're so afraid of all these things that are bigger than you and here I am, at least 3 times your size, yet you weren't afraid to shove me on my ass. I'm not sure what shocks me more. The fact that you did it or the fact that you were even able to do it. I admire that fire in you Jo. Don't ever let anyone try to put it out. With that said though, use that fire on those other than authority. If it were anyone other than myself or Gerry, you'd be at the station right now being booked as we speak."

You gasped. "Oh god, speaking of, I better call Dave and tell him because I guarantee he's already on his way to bail me out and you'll be busted. I mean, it's the least I can do so you don't lose your job over me."

Luke sat quietly stunned as you made the call, telling Dave to turn around and asking him to keep what he knew under wraps.

"There. He won't say anything. I really hope you are going to lay off of him now."

"As long as these ferry tickets he gave me and the ferryman's words all coincide, he should be good. Thank you Jo and... for the record, I wouldn't have just left you out here. I would have let you sweat for about 5 minutes and then came back." Luke teased with the usual curled grin, then put the car in drive.

Your riposte came out of left field and definitely struck a nerve. "Thanks for sparing me from being another victim of love em and leave em Luke."

Luke gritted his teeth, appalled by knowing that either Orlando or Lee had told you about his notorious moniker of his younger days that he had long forgotten about and wanted to keep it that way.

"This joy ride is over. It's time for you to go home and...about Lee. Just stop asking me. It's his story to tell. Put your seatbelt on."

"It's not just his story when you're involved."

"Wasting...your...breath." he firmly certified and slid a cd in, hoping to shut you up.

You buckled your belt then crossed your arms and scoffed as you sank back into the seat. When a song came on, Luke cranked it up and began mumbling the words as he tapped his fingers upon the wheel and both the singing and the choice of music had your eyes gaping at him with an severely raised brow.

"There'll be no strings to bind your hands..." he began and then snickered as he glanced at you. "How fitting eh?"

"Seriously? You have a Juice Newton cd? Why am I not all that surprised."

"You're mocking me when you clearly know who she is?"

"Nope. Not at all. It's just that the night you drove my car, your choice of music was quite different and frankly much better."

"Oh, you mean Radar Love. Yeah well it was fitting for the occasion just like this one because now here we are with you, a cheery oh angel of the morning." he razzed and then beamed a snarky smile full of teeth.

Shaking your head, you heavily sighed and looked away, trying to ignore the overgrown infant beside you, but that quickly became impossible when he began crooning out the chorus, which you knew was solely just to annoy you.

"JUST CALL ME ANGEL OF THE MORNING BABY! JUST TOUCH MY CHEEK BEFORE YOU LEAVE ME BABY! Then slowly turn away...from meeeee."

"Whad'ya think? Next American Idol winner?" he gloated and howled on with his karaoke session, which if you were to be honest, Luke had a damn good set of pipes but you wouldn't dare tell him that because then he would certainly never shut up.

"Goblin king, take this baby away from me!" you irrationally jeered, then flung your head back against the seat and closed your eyes to try and zone him out, hoping he would take the hint to leave you alone, but you should have known better than that.

Luke's speedy riposte was a breath stealing punch to the gut and you had pretty much had set yourself up for it.

"Oooo ouch. That's rich coming from you. You know Jo, you should really be careful what you wish for since children seem to go missing when you're around."

Just as your eyes snapped open from the sting of his tongue, Luke was pulling up in front of your apartment and low and behold, Craig was outside speaking with what appeared to be a gardener.

"What a coinkydink. Daddy dearest in the flesh. So, does he know that Blaise was right within his reach that night and you knew and didn't...."

"He knows alright! I..I told him yesterday and now, I guess I'll be moving back in with my mom."

"Oh? Why not move in with Lee? You're basically at his place and up his arse all the time anyways aren't you?"

"Now you're the one wasting their breath. We're done here Luke. And if I were you, I'd get out of here before Craig sees you. Besides me, you're not exactly his favorite person."

"Not worried in the least."

As you opened the door, Luke touched your shoulder. "Hey Jo."

"What now??"

"Just be careful around him ok? You're probably better off to get away from him."

"And that's rich coming from YOU." you argued and got out.

Before you could close the door, Luke had more to say.

"Oh and Jo."

"Oh my god, what Luke??"

"Don't let the door hit you in that cute ass."

You shot a death glare at the derogative detective, then slammed the door and heard the blacked out window roll down.

With an arrogant wink, Luke put on a pair of mirrored sunglasses and attempted his best terminator voice. "I'll be bock."

Your eyes rolled so hard, it made you dizzy. "Ughhhh!"

As you stormed off, he revved the engine and sped off which then alerted Craig to your arrival. The last thing you wanted was another confrontation, especially with your rightfully pissed and soon to be ex-landlord, so you kept your head down and moved quickly, feeling his eyes upon you the entire time as you trekked up the sidewalk and into the building, but he never said a word.

You were now safe inside your apartment, all alone to finally gather and process all of your scattered thoughts, but first, you needed to call your mom and see how Megan was.

Slipping off your coat, you let it fall to the floor and went straight to the fridge for some wine, not caring that it was only 10 in the morning, the same time Craig had been drinking yesterday that you hypocritically gave him a lecture about. As you sat down on your bed with your full glass and turned your phone screen on, there was a text from Lee.

When you opened it and read his woeful words, your heart dropped down to your stomach as if you were falling.

Lee always expressed himself with such endearing words from his heart, but sometimes, he let poetry and music speak for him and this time, it was lyrics from a song you knew.

"I had all and then most of you, some and now none of you. Take me back to the night we met. I don't know what I'm supposed to do haunted by the ghost of you. Take me back to the night we met when the night was full of terrors and your eyes were filled with tears. When you had not touched me yet. Take me back to the night we met and then I can tell myself what the hell I'm supposed to do. And then I can tell myself not to ride along with you."

Your heart began to pound, for Lee was basically telling you he wished he could go back to that day in the hospital and never visit your room and that meant you never would have found his bracelet under your bed and took it to his house where your love story all began. You knew he wasn't trying to hurt you. He was just being honest about how he was feeling, but it still hurt. It hurt immensely.

You didn't reply. You didn't even know what to say to that, so you just picked up your wine and let the entire contents of the glass roll down your throat as you fought back the burning tears.

Desperately trying to distract yourself, you called your mom. She told you Megan was doing well but was still too groggy to speak. She also told you that she saw Lee that morning when she came down for coffee. He was on the phone with someone, seemingly upset, so she respectfully kept her distance but she couldn't help overhearing his scolding tone to the unlucky recipient. He spoke about his father's one month of passing and that he was going to his grave to pay his respects after attending the evening mass and told the other person that they should be going too, then Lee abruptly hung up and stormed out. You knew instantly it had to be Gordon and had something to do with the farm dispute between the two bitter brothers.

You told your mom you would be there later to sit with Megan so she could go home, eat and shower. When you hung up, you then nervously wondered if you should still go to the cemetery too, like you and Lee had planned, for if you saw him, you might not be able to walk away again.

Undecided, you got up to begin packing up some things since Craig had given you till the end of the month to move out and that was now only 7 days away. Luke's words haunted you about moving in with Lee as you sorted through your clothes. Yes, you were there all the time and everything was perfect in that area. You were so happy there with him. You would have been happy anywhere with him because Lee was home to you.

Your distraction tactic of keeping busy was failing miserably and it was quickly blown to bits when you were going through clothes you hadn't laundered yet and found a shirt of Lee's that you wore home a few mornings ago. And if that wasn't gut wrenching enough, it was still saturated in his Drakkar cologne and all you could do was scrunch it up against your nose and inhale his intoxicating essence as you laid down and cried your exhausted eyes to sleep.

Meanwhile, Craig was on his way up to your apartment to give you back your deposit and as he approached your door, he raised his hand to knock, but humbly lowered it when he could hear your muffled laments from within. Whatever you were going through, he felt that he should not add to it and it aggravated him that he even cared. Was any of it due to how he had treated you?, for he just witnessed you had rushed to avoid him at all costs or was it because of the depraved detective he had come to despise?, solely because he was Ethan's brother. Craig's street smarts told him Luke was still a red flag, no matter what surname he took on to disassociate himself with the flyblown Bloom blood and if Luke became a threat to you as Ethan had, he would handle him too. Regardless of what was ailing you, Craig decided to leave you alone for the time being and slipped the check under the door, then left, feeling rather disheartened over making you leave.

3 hours later.

You awoke in the same position that you fell asleep in, still tightly clutching Lee's shirt against you and now, not only did his sweet succulent scent seep from your pores, it was also imbedded in your purple satin sheets. You had to get rid of it. ASAP.

The bed was torn apart as you ripped the sheets from it and threw them in the basket along with the perpetrator, Lee's guilty shirt and then headed to the door to take them all down to the laundry room which is when you discovered the check laying on the floor.

Upon picking it up, the amount floored you, for it was hundreds more than what you had given Craig and attached on the back was a sticky note, scribbled in red ink with incredibly perfect penmanship for a man.

Craig certainly seemed to be on the wealthy side but this was too much and was clearly not about your clothes. It was his guilt over kicking you out and you weren't about to accept a payoff apology, especially when he didn't even have anything to be sorry about. You were the reason his 4 year old daughter was missing, even when you weren't the one who snatched her.

Exasperated over that and everything else, you hurried downstairs and packed the washer full of clothes along with an undetermined amount of soap while sobbing the entire time, then went back up to cry some more in the shower, a shower that was cut short by a burst of water as cold as the Atlantic and rust as red as blood....just like what happened to Dave. AND...you had the same reaction as he did.

Gasping and frantically rubbing your eyes, you huddled in the corner waiting for your sight and the water to clear. What was happening?? You did not believe that to be a coincidence all in a matter of 8 hours at two far away different locations, especially when that had never happened in your shower before. Was it some kind of sign, more so an omen or was it merely a plumbing issue like Dave believed his was?

Now that you were all primed and primped for the day, you resumed your packing while debating on calling Craig about his demonic shower needing an exorcist and to come get his money, or...you could just simply shove it back under his door with your own note attached so you didn't have to interact with him. Option 2 seemed best.

You scrawled out a note on the back of his and reattached it to the check, then quietly creeped down the hall to his studio where all was silent inside. Hoping he wasn't in there, you bent down and slipped it under the door, cringing at loud the sound was. Just as you stood up to tiptoe off undetected, footsteps swiftly approached the door.

Spinning around with a gasp, you rushed off only to freeze solid at his shout from directly within the door.

"Just Josie. Come on in!"

With a gulp, you hesitated then slowly made your way back to the door and walked in. There he stood, dressed in all black attire as usual and wickedly grinning while holding your check.

He then turned it over and began reading your note out loud in a trenchant, yet amused tone.

"Thank you but no thank you. My outfit only cost twenty bucks at a thrift shop."

"Well, if that's so." he continued, "then you obviously like deals and that's what this is. A hell of a bargain actually."

"Craig, the added amount is almost as much as one months rent. All you needed to give me was my deposit."

"I was trying to apologize for my wine induced behavior and the harsh things I said to you and a simple "I'm sorry" just didn't seem to cut it."

"You don't owe me an apology Craig. I deserved all of it and the paint bath too."

"You were only trying to help my drunk ass up and even after the first failed attempt that ruined your clothing, you still tried again. And no, you didn't deserve my spontaneous misguided anger. You didn't kidnap my child and you certainly couldn't have known that it was going to happen."

"How could I have not?? I witnesses Elizabeth drop her off at Angel's in a panic over Ethan harassing her about paternity. I should have tried a hell of a lot harder to reach you, end of story... and for that, I will forever be so damn sorry, but as you said, those words just don't seem to cut it. I..I pray that you find Blaise safe, sound and soon. I really do and I will do whatever I can to help make that happen and make things right for you and her. Now, I have to go finish packing. Your apology is accepted and please just keep the money."

"Alright." Craig agreed with astonished disappointment all over his face as he watched you walk out.

His agreement was short lived though and he chased after you, squeezing in your door just before you turned to close it.

"Craig, what the..."

"Just hear me out. Please?"

"Do I even have a choice since you barged right in?"

"Do you want me to leave?"

"Ok fine, but whatever you have to say, you'll have to say it while watching me pack. I have a lot to do today."

"Fair enough. I guess I'll start with Jason. Are we even now?"

"Even?? Craig, I swear I didn't use Blaise to get back at you for..."

"No no no. Jo, I know you didn't and I'm sorry I ever said that. What I meant was, well...if I forgive you, can you forgive me for not telling you your brother was alive? I mean, you were pretty rabid mad that day. Just a little bit scary." he teased with a smile.

You chuckled as you thought of what you just did to Luke. "Yeah umm...I guess I too had spontaneous misguided anger. It was meant for Jason, not you. I know you were just trying to keep him safe and you did. You saved his life, so how can I not forgive you?"

"Sweet. So we're square now. Well, except for one thing."

Craig walked over to your suitcase and began tearing your clothes out of it.

"What are you doing??"

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm unpacking your clothes."

"What...wait...why?? Put those back!"

"I will not. I don't want you to leave. I kinda like you a little bit if I'm honest AND I think you kinda like it here and maybe even me too and..."

He held up a long blue dress and placed it against his brawny body. "And oooh wow. Smokin hot."

"Give me that!" you barked and grabbed it, but Craig laughed and wouldn't let go.

"Nope. Not until you agree to stay." he demanded as you both were now playing tug of war...until the dress split right down the middle.

"Oh, well THAT'S great. It's all yours!" you huffed and plopped down on the edge of the bed.

Craig sat down too and slowly handed you the ripped remnants.

"Sorry." he whispered.

You couldn't even be mad, especially when he had the shameful expression of dog who got busted for chewing up a pair of shoes. Instead, you did what you were becoming a pro at lately. Broke down crying with your face buried in your hands.

"Whoaaa, hey now sweetheart. What's this??"

"Everything!" you squeaked and then rambled on. "My sister was hurt really bad and is in the hospital. She could have, would have died if she hadn't been found and I know Ethan did it, and I was almost arrested today for what you described as my rabid madness and Jason took off with Britt because of your creepy ass father and Lee, he is...I don't even know anymore with that and then everyone's showers are spraying blood and..."

"Alright slowwww down and breathe love. Let's start with the psycho scene. Showers are spraying blood??"

"Yes, mine and Dave's. Well, he said it was rust but with all this ghost shit, I don't know what to think."

"Ghosts??"

"Long story. Is your shower doing that?"

"No...and what did you do to almost land yourself behind bars?"

You mumbled your answer in shame. "I...assaulted a cop."

Craig's eyes popped wide open as he released a titter out of is grinning lips. "Oh how I would have loved to have had a front row seat to that event. What a little baddy you are. Remind me to never piss you off."

"Not funny." you sniffled.

"Ok, maybe not then, but you're obviously not in jail. So, how'd you get out of that mess? Oh wait, was it your ex-fiance cop?"

"Let's just skip this part ok? I shouldn't have mentioned it."

Considering Craig saw Luke drop you off and how fired up you both seemed, he knew it was him you spoke of, but per your request, he would drop it and the overwhelming desire to take the little piggy to market...for now.

"Yeah cops aren't exactly my favorite subject either. Ok so...what's going on with your sister? Ethan attacked her?"

"It certainly appears that way but she hasn't been alert enough to finger him. I'm going to the hospital later to see if she's talking, but I just know it was him. I think he did it because she told Luke that she thinks Ethan took Blaise because he thinks he is her father or maybe he did it to scare me because he hates me and wants Lee all to himself."

"That measly inbred maggot. I should have just taken care of that problem when..."

Craig stopped himself but, it was too late.

"When? Does that have something to do with what you said yesterday? About something you did for me involving him??"

Craig seemed stunned and he was. "I...said that??"

"Yes..I...I just forgot with all that was going on. Craig, what did you mean?"

"Jo, I was quite sauced yesterday remember? I tend to say a lot of things when I drink. What...exactly...did I say?" he probed with an curious brow so he could figure out if he had to tell you what he knew about Ethan and Lee.

"You said you protected me from him but never said why or how."

Craig made sure that his explanation wasn't a lie, it just wasn't the entire truth because he felt you didn't need to know Lee was still Ethan's husband during a meltdown.

"Ohhh...that. Yes, well...I...I saw him once and I basically told him to stay away from you or he'd be fish food." he paraphrased as his heart began to beat again.

"You did that for me?"

Craig suddenly felt awkward. Not in a bad way, but more in a "too close for comfort" kind of way, so he gave a logical answer instead of admitting he had taken a sweet fancy to you, which was the last thing he wanted. He had vowed to himself after Elizabeth's destruction that he would never allow himself to become close to another woman ever again.

"Well...you're my best friend's little sister, so, you know. What's important to Jason is important to me."

"Well thank you and well... I wish you HAD fed Ethan to a mosh pit of sharks, still ALIVE and baited in a pool of his own blood and then let me watch so I could hear his screeching screams and the satisfying crunch of his bones as the angry aquatic vampires with a thousand razor sharp teeth chomped him to death in a splashing feeding frenzy of pure diabolical rage."

"Yeeesh. Easy there Annie Wilkes. Tell me how you really feel, minus the Stephen King synopsis. Horrifying image."

"Arrrgh. Jason was supposed to have taken care of him by now and for saying that, I feel like such a fucking hypocrite for giving him and Lee such a hard time about Liz when she was no better than Ethan."

"And I married the black widow. Even had a kid with her, or so I thought. Creator of life, destroyer of mine. "

'"So did Lee basically. She fooled everyone, EVEN Ethan. God Craig, how could she do that to her own son??? That little boy was my nephew and now Ethan has your daughter and I know he's not just going to forget about Lee. So much keeps happening. No wonder I ended up in the hospital."

"I...I heard about that and...I wanted to maybe send you some flowers or come visit but...I..I didn't think my presence would have been appropriate, you know, just being your landlord and all and well...there's the little tidbit of my primary profession as well that I'm sure Lee isn't too fond of. Anywhoooo...I'm really glad you're ok. You're...ok..right?"

"For the most part yeah. Just gotta keep my iron intake up and stress levels down, which you can see is damn near impossible with the life I'm stuck in."

"You're only stuck if you choose to be."

"It doesn't feel like a choice anymore, even when I try to...ugh, it doesn't even matter."

Craig's ocean-like eyes were consoling as his hand went to your cheek. "Hey, it does matter. What else is bothering you? I have really good listening ears like that of a faithful family dog, only much less hair and a strong but soft shoulder to lean on and even comforting arms if you recall."

"I don't know. Like, for one thing, I'm supposed to hate my sister after all the horrible shit she's done to me and yet, I'm having a hard time hating her after what happened. Like, why...why do I care about people that don't deserve it???"

"Because you have a good heart which can sometimes be a curse really. You're supposed to be able to trust the people closest to you and when they go and give you a reason not to, it's a total mind fuck. It's hard to let them go even when you know it's what's best for you. I get it Jo."

"What I don't get is why I'm not good enough for the truth. I'm always being lied to. It's become nothing but a pattern and how am I supposed to trust someone when I don't know what they're holding back?"

"Ok first of all, you are good enough and if someone doesn't see that, then they are the ones not good enough and second of all, why do I feel this is not about your sister?"

"I appreciate what you're trying to do Craig, but...it doesn't matter."

"It does matter because you're clearly not happy. Tears don't lie. Are...you happy?"

Your eyes fell. "No. No I'm not. I'm miserable."

"Me too. Why don't you stay. We can be miserable neighbors together and drink wine every day and night to the point of inebriation, creating terrible art as a hobby while being covered in a rainbow of paint. You know, kind of like I already do? It's actually kinda fun and therapeutic. A little bit of good trouble..per se. I could use some inspiration as you well know."

You giggled. "Right...because we would actually be the artwork. How inspiring."

"Exactly! Except you'd be a firework. Oh, and you still owe me a viewing of your own masterpieces. So...whad'ya say?"

Craig got down on one knee and took your hand as he gave you a pathetic puppy face.

"Will you be my neighbor?"

"Oh my god you're such a nerd. Get up." you chortled and stood up.

"Well, I've been called much worse. Things I cannot even pronounce. You don't want to know, trust me. Sooooo, is that a yes?"

"I'll think about it."

"YES!" he jeered like an old lady at a bingo game winning the jackpot.

"So now, I'm really sorry but I need to get going. Thank you Craig...for listening and for the advice. It was nice. I want you to know I'm thinking of Blaise everyday and if I can help, I will. You'll never convince me that it wasn't my fault."

In the blink of an eye, Craig became all serious as he placed his hands on your arms. "Alright but, before I go, I need you to listen to me. Don't be letting your guilt cause you to do something dangerous. You let me handle this ok?? I don't want anything happening to you. Let me know what you decide on the apartment and...I'm really glad you're ok Jo and I...I hope you will stay. I like having you around."

He softly smiled and headed to the door, then turned back around.

"Oh and...I'm also glad you don't hate me."

"Ditto." you smiled. "Talk soon."

Craig left and you felt terrible for him. The formidable mafia man, always full of quirky humor wasn't so tough on the inside and was clearly lonely, but even so, you had to do what was best for you and if you stayed, would it really be a good idea? Had you known when you first moved in that Craig was one of Sonny's men and Jason's bff, you most likely would have ran away as fast and as far as you could. On the other hand, he could protect you and he wanted to and you felt safe around him. BUT, that didn't mean you would be. Things could always go wrong, especially in his world, which was now your world. Although, hadn't it always been your world because of Jason? And things always went wrong then, no matter where you were. Even your own brother couldn't keep you safe.

In your confliction, you knew you may still need to leave on a temporary basis because of your sister. No one knew yet what happened to her or where Ethan was, so she could still be in danger and that put your mom in danger as well with Megan living with her.

As you carried on with packing the rest of the one suitcase for the time being, once again you were interrupted. This time by the cordless phone ringing that Lee had talked you into getting for extra ways of communication. You decided to let the answering machine get it because you were in a hurry to get to the hospital, but when Lee's hypnotizing voice was heard, you stood frozen in time.

"Hey sweet girl. I tried your cell but...I don't know, it must be on silent or maybe you just don't want to talk to me. I wish you would. I'm sorry about my text. I didn't mean it in the way you must think. If you're there, could you please pick up? I'd really love to hear your voice."

He paused and waited a few moments, then continued.

"Ok, well, I...I'll just say what I need to say and leave you alone. Jo, I know I've said this so many times and it just sounds so meaningless, but I mean it, with every ounce of my being. I'm so sorry baby. For all of this. For all I have put you through. It's only been a single day and I miss you in ways that there are no words for. You are a mental and physical ache. A longing woven deep into my DNA and I...I don't know how to live like this. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm nothing without you. I'm inside out. I merely exist in this soulless shell and because I know you exist, there's no going back for me. There will never be anyone else for me but you. No one else could ever do. The heart wants what it wants and mine wants you and I knew it. I knew you were the right one from the get go and I still know it because the word "forever" does not sound like enough time."

As your heart was being torn in two and devoured by his agony, you walked over to the phone and picked it up, letting your finger hover over the call button, but you couldn't bring yourself to answer, so you just kept listening to his unintentional torture.

"I know I have no one else to blame but myself. I know I'm broken. We were both broken. By life. By others. By our own serious dysfunctions, but we finally found each other after a decade of near misses. We were so close to each other all that time, yet so far apart and when destiny finally stepped in and we finally came together like the sun and moon during a total eclipse, all of the jagged edges of our broken pieces fit together like a puzzle, as if all that time, we were being broken for that purpose, to be a perfect fit for each other. But now I feel like I don't fit anywhere at all. Not anymore. Life goes on around me as i sit here and watch the boats sail by on the bay and I feel like I'm just a spectator, watching from the sidelines. You were...are my life. You are where I belong. You are my purpose, my reason. God Jo. Without you, all I want to do is drown my sorrows away and Lord knows I've tried, but even then, a sea full of whiskey couldn't intoxicate me as much as a drop of you. Because of you, I believe in love and fairytales and soulmates and everything that is magic. I followed the signs because you showed them to me. Just tell me it's not too late. Don't give up on me. I want to tell you everything and if I can bring myself to do that, maybe then you'll understand. I guess I've wrote a novel here and I should go. I still wish you would come today...to the cemetery. I'll be there around 4. If you don't come, it's ok. I will understand. Ok well..."

There was a pause and then he finished as his voice became very shaky. "I...I love you Miss Massachusetts. God I love you."

Lee quickly hung up and sat down. He had too. The 3 Red Bulls he downed earlier paired with the threat of an oncoming panic attack had him jittery, weak and breathless.

"Lee wait!" you shouted as you punched the red button, but there was nothing but a dial tone.

Should you call him back? It would be so much easier than speaking to him in person because he had this wicked way of breaking you down and getting what he wanted from you that no one else had ever possessed, but of course he could say the same thing about you. Now the real question was, should you go? Lee clearly needed you and you were worried about him. You could hear it in his voice, the fear, the destitution and desperation...the love. And just because you and he were having problems didn't mean you would abandon him, but were you strong enough to uphold your boundaries in his presence? The mere sight of him was like some invisible magic in itself. You felt so guilty because he was fighting like hell for you and you were keeping him at arms length and just running away. Fight or flight? That was the all out question now and you knew exactly who to go to for the answers. Someone who had been through it all. Your mother.

@redeemer46

[thetreefairy]

an euphoric night

p.1 - masterlist

@slasherscrybaby here is part two to your request

Warnings: yandere themes, reader lies to erasermic telling them that their new friend has a partner, erasermic are gaslighting reader into not working, yandere shigaraki is a warning on its own, eri and hitoshi are also kinda yandere for us, this shit long AF. they/them reader

Shigaraki tomura couldn't believe it.

Aizawa Reader, gave him, their number.

Eraserhead's child gave him their number.

And they healed them, without even knowing his name.

When he was at the hide out, he immediately got animal crossing ready. He needed an excuse to talk to them, he needed to know how much they even know about the League of Villains, he needed to become their friend.

He just needed to text them, but what should he say?

Tomura to Reader: Hi, we met at the game shop...

No... That didn't seem right....

Tomura to reader: 'Hi, it's Tomura, is this Reader?'

Yeah, that seems right... Then he can confirm that it's truly Aizawa Reader.

Reader to Tomura: Hii Tomura, this is reader :D, I'm so happy you decided to text me :D

Tomura couldn't help but chuckle at the quick response, it seems that the rumors are true, Eraserheads and Present mics oldest child truly is desperate for friends.

Yet it seemed endearing and cute to him.

Tomura to reader: Thank you for healing my neck, and a new gaming buddy? I am not going to pass that up.

'This won't scare them off right?' He thought as he scratched his neck. Then he got a notification:

*Reader changed Tomura to Tomu-Tomu*

he chuckled, they truly are cute.

Reader to Tomu-Tomu: Its no problem, just make sure to not scratch your neck that much. Well I hope we can be great gaming buddies Tomu!

Perhaps he should give them a nickname too. And he has just the one in mind

*Tomu-tomu changed Reader to player two*

Tomu-tomu to player two:

Send me a list of games you play, player two~ maybe we can play multiple games together :D

Tomura couldn't help but feel giddy, Eraserheads child, talking to him, without knowing who he truly is. Oh how exciting.

Player two to tomu-tomu:

I have to focus on dinner right now, my dads are glaring at me lol, I'll send you a list afterwards :D

Tomu-tomu to player two:

Alright, eat well.

Reader themselves were eating dinner with Erasermic and their siblings as their phone pinged the whole time. And with every ping Reader picked it up, typed something and then put it down.

"Are you done?" Shota asked annoyed. "Yes, sorry." Reader whispered as they ate. "who is texting you?" Hizashi asked. "tomu-tomu! I met him at the game shop with his partner!" Reader lied smoothly. The eyes of their siblings and fathers softened instantly.

"Thats great, but why is he texting you so much?" Eri asked, tilting her head confused. "Oh, he wanted me to send a list of games I play so that we can see how many games we can play together. I told him I would later."

Shota hummed in agreement. "I heard from Hitoshi that you went to a cat Cafe with him and that you got a job offer there." Oh, reader already knew how this would go, Reader glared at Hitoshi and said: "They did, I told them I would think about it, apparently I fit their aesthetic."

This time Hizashi spoke up: "But don't you already have enough allowance?" Reader gulped at his tone, it was clear he didn't want them to work there. "I do." They admitted but continued: "but I would like to work for my money too. It gives a sense of fullfillment, I guess."

"then you can do extra chores for extra money." Hizashi said. "Don't you agree, Shota?"

"Indeed, it seems like a way beter idea then working in a café." Shota agreed, Hitoshi nodded in agreement causing reader to groan in annoyance. Eri sudddenly asked; "what if you get kidnapped by a villain and get experimented on like me?"

Reader stared at their younger sibling in shock. "Eri, did you have a nightmare again?" They blurted out. "Do you want to have a sleepover in my room?"

It seemed that Reader was oblivious to how they wear their Heart on their sleeve. To the point even Eri could manupilate them with ease.

"We can have a family sleepover." Hitoshi counter suggested. "Okay!" Eri shouted happily, she knew that she did exactly what her parents taught her. They must be so proud of her! And they were, Erasermic smiled at their youngest child.

"I'll decline the offer." Reader told Eri with a small smile. However everyone in the room could sense Reader's disappointment.

They were always quite easy to read.

"Can I be excused?" Reader asked. "Of course." Hizashi said with a smile and then asked; "Are you going to send that game list and rest?"

"Yeah, if we are going to have a sleepover, sleeping won't be a top priority." They teased their family, causing Eri to giggle.

When Erasermic saw reader disappear upstairs they couldn't help but think:

I hope that that 'Tomu-Tomu' won't take Reader from us.

If anyone wants me to make a taglist for this post, tell me and I'll add you to it.

this is kinda long ngl

[turnupswritessometimes]

Ricordami - Lies of P - P/Romeo - Ch4

A03 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/56555755/chapters/143738143

Summary: P decides to repair the king of puppets. It sends him on a journey to discover what happened to Carlo and Romeo - and to discover whether puppets can love, after all.

First | Previous | Next

4

They went out together. One night, P and Romeo walked out of the opera house and onto the streets of Krat. They fought the puppets who roamed the streets; the puppets who didn't heed their king any longer. Some were infected with the petrification disease; their joints jammed with carcass fluids. They couldn’t delay much longer – he would have to go into the Barren Swamp soon.

P had known Romeo was a good fighter; had fought him personally, even in this body; but it was different, fighting alongside him. Watching him move with such grace as he welded the weapon P had forged for him. Not quite the splendid sword he'd once had, but – enough.

It felt right, to be with him, like this. His Ergo hummed in response to fighting alongside someone it knew.

"I fought alongside the cat and fox," he told Romeo, as they stood with discarded puppets around them. Puppets that weren’t like them, P reasoned; these puppets were still trapped without their egos. They were still dangerous. "But this is different."

"The cat and the fox?" Romeo echoed. He wiped his blade on his trouser leg, and left a smear of oil there. He still wore the old Monad Charity House uniform. It made his hair was bright as a beacon.

"They're stalkers. Or were." P flicked Gemini on, to see better in the darkness. "They couldn't come with me far. The Cat's leg was bad."

Romeo looked at him for a moment. Then he gave a short laugh. "I think they tricked you."

"Why would they do that?" It didn't make sense. They'd been going his way too. They had helped him, at least a little. What reason would they have to lie?

"Because you're—" Romeo stopped himself. He took a breath, and squeezed P's shoulder. "Because you're kind."

"Was – he?" Was Carlo?

"Sometimes. He could be." Romeo let him go. Continued down the alley they were stalking. "I think he used to be, and I think he wanted to be, but he also thought the world was unfair. That made him reluctant to be." "Are you?"

Romeo looked back. His eye glowed red, in the dim light. "I wanted to be."

That seemed just as much of a riddle to P. They continued. They fought. They hunted. Until they came upon a chunk of Ergo bigger than P's fist. It shone like a streetlight; like a miniature moon.

They both cradled it, together. This would be the last piece of the puzzle, P thought. There wasn't much more left to the story. They'd both wanted to know, but now they stood, hesitant, with the Ergo. Neither of them were ready for that final memory.

"Back at the theatre," Romeo said. P nodded. Followed him back down the abandoned streets. This, he thought, was what they'd both wanted, once. Not just to know about the memories. Before that – in the charity house – they’d wanted to be together, a team, on the streets of Krat, only there was no one else to save, now. No chance of being Stalkers any longer. The city was destroyed.

They sat opposite each other, in the big chairs Romeo had used for the performance. They'd been pulled so close that the wooden legs touched each other.

P met Romeo's gaze. Romeo stared back, with his mismatched eyes.

The Ergo hummed between them, the blue reflecting on their hands; on Romeo’s smooth skin.

"Whenever you're ready," Romeo said.

P raised his eyebrows. "Are you?"

It got him a small smile. He suspected it was because it reminded him of Carlo. He really didn’t know if he wanted to delve into Carlo's mind once more. It was becoming harder and harder to separate the two of them. But he’d promised Romeo he would discover what happened to them, because Romeo was his friend. So he would.

P nodded. He adjusted his grip on the Ergo.

They crushed it, together.

*

Carlo was still sick. He still coughed until his handkerchief was splattered with blood. Still felt feverish. Still felt his organs beginning to turn to stone. His hand had been sacrificed in vain. He didn't tell Geppetto that. He didn't need to. His father could see that for himself, even if he wouldn't acknowledge it. It was only in the sad look of his eyes, the tightening of his mouth.

"I have something to show you."

Geppetto said it, when he'd deemed that Carlo was recovered enough from surgery. When he was strong enough to sit and stand on his own. He didn't look down at his left hand; his lack of a left hand, which his father had hated him using.

Carlo didn't want to see; he didn't care for anything his father would show him; but there was little else to do now, in his father’s house. So he slipped out of bed. He followed his father down the corridors of the house, silently. Down to his workshop. His stomach clenched.

His father paused, before they went in. He brushed the hair from Carlo's face, where it had fallen lankly forward. Carlo flinched away. There was a pause. His father didn't try again. Instead, he opened the door of the workshop.

There was a puppet sat in the workshop chair.

That was not unusual, but Carlo's stomach swooped with a horrifying recognition. He knew that blonde hair. He knew that sleeping face. He knew the puppet sat there.

Rage flooded through him. It ignited in every part of him, as though he was doused in flames. The rage was so strong that, for a moment, he couldn't see anything at all. The puppet swam in and out of focus.

"Is this a joke?" he spat.

"Of course not." And, God help him, his father was serious about that.

Carlo looked at him. He felt twisted with hatred. "You're sick."

"Permit me a moment to explain."

"You think you could replace him? That if it looked enough like him, then the real thing wouldn't matter?" Carlo shouted. It made his throat sing in pain. He had to stop to cough, backing away from his father's comforting hand. "It won't be him! It could never be him!"

His shout echoed off the workshop walls, following by his desperate coughing. The silence that followed was even worse. The P still watching from somewhere inside Carlo didn’t want to see anymore” He thought he knew the rest, and he didn’t want to hear it.

"But it is," Geppetto said.

"Liar!" Carlo managed to choke out.

"No, son." His father didn't try to hold him, again. He stepped toward the puppet instead. "You see, I've discovered it. The secret of Ergo."

Carlo spat blood into his handkerchief. He leant against the wall, his strength sapped. "Really?"

"I suspected, I've always suspected, but now I'm sure. Now that puppet's Egos are waking up all over the city. Ergo isn't a rock. It's not a power source – not in the traditional sense, at least. Ergo comes from us. From life. It's a life source. It holds souls."

Carlo felt sick. He wiped his mouth with the handkerchief, no doubt smearing blood over his cheek. His mind half-guessed at what all this meant, but he didn't want to acknowledge it. He wanted it to stay slow with the effort of being sick.

"The puppets have Egos, because they are remembering their previous lives," his father continued. "So? Don't you see? If you collect the Ergo, you can still use that person's life." Carlo stared. He looked from Geppetto's face – full of a manic joy – to the blank puppet he stood next to. Romeo. No. No. Everything in him was repulsed by the idea.

"You said you'd save him." His voice sounded very distant to himself.

"He had already passed, when I arrived," Geppetto said. His watery eyes flicked up to Carlo, and he felt a chill grip his spine with icy fingers. "But I did tell you I would help him. However I could."

"He's – he's..." Carlo's mind spun with fever. "Lampwick's in there."

It wasn't a question; it was a terrible, sickening truth.

"Yes." Geppetto smiled. "Though, truthfully, I have not started the puppet yet. We won't know for certain it's worked, until then."

Carlo shook his head. The room rose and fell with the movement, the puppet in the chair a pale blur. Romeo was dead, he told himself, as much as it splintered him in two. Romeo was dead, and he needed to mourn him. Not think about turning on that puppet.

The puppet wouldn’t be Romeo.

"Here," Geppetto said. "We'll start him up, together."

"No." The word ripped from Carlo's mouth. He snarled. "No. I refuse. No!"

He stumbled from the room. He didn't make it far. His heart was already overworking to keep himself alive, now it was racing with stress and fear and hatred. He fell to his knees in the hallway. Had to catch himself against the wall and scramble to his feet. He fled. From his father, still shouting after him. From the thing that he'd turned Romeo into.

Carlo had loved puppets. He'd loved watching puppets perform. It had been a delight. It had been a way to see his father, when he couldn't be bothered to show up at the Charity House. But puppets were – puppets. Tools. Performers. They were things which did as they were told, and they were marvellous for that.

They couldn't be people.

How would it feel to wake up inside a puppet? To realise you were a puppet?

To realise that you were bound by the Grand Covenant.

Romeo – his Romeo – his Lampwick – was bound by the Grand Covenant. If he was truly inside that shell.

When Carlo reached his rooms, he was sick. He retched into the bedpan, over and over, until only bloody spittle dripped down his chin. He had to twist his head into his shoulder to wipe it; his only hand was braced against the floor, keeping him upright.

 Geppetto followed him. Of course he did. And he rubbed that terrible hand on Carlo’s back as he struggled to breathe. Carlo couldn't push him away; he didn't have the strength; he didn't have the hand.

"I know it's surprising," his father said, his tone soft.

Carlo took a gulping, shuddering breath. He managed to look up at Geppetto, his hair sticking to his damp skin.

"If you ever do that to me," he said, his voice shaking. "I'll never forgive you."

*

Carlo woke to find his head resting against a chest. Romeo's chest. Romeo was holding him. His arms were around him; tight. And Carlo - P - shook. He was shaking as though he had a malfunction; perhaps there was; perhaps it was too much Ergo – too much stress.

"I think you're trying to cry," Romeo said, softly. Distantly.

P didn't move. He stayed pressed against him, his arms clutched in Romeo's shirt, his legs trailing onto the floor. Carlo's wish – his last wish – had been to not be a puppet. To not have his Ergo trapped. To not have his father bring him back, again.

Not like he had done to Romeo.

"I think..." Romeo paused. "I was an experiment. To see if it was possible. Before…before you."

P stared at the room of the theatre. The lights blurred into each other, and stung his eyes. "You think he always planned to do it."

Had he always known that Carlo was going to die? Had he tried to bring Romeo back first, just so see if it was possible? The prelude to his son?

"I think...Geppetto always loved puppets, more than he had people."

A puppet did as it was told, after all. His son would do as he was told. After all, Carlo's Ergo was inside P, and P had been obedient. He had done as his father had asked, without question. He had loved him.

Carlo had loved his father, once.

P still shook. Even when he got the strength to sit up. He took hold of Romeo's hands, and did not think too much about his legion arm. About the hand that his father had given him. Then he looked at Romeo, properly. He felt his gears jar.

"Your eye," he said. It was different. It was no longer the red puppet eye it used to be. It was the same as the other one. The same hazel, slightly green when it caught the light. Romeo untangled one hand, to trace over it, closing his eye. It was just like the necklace. He had changed. The memories had made him change.

Made them more human.

"Your hair." Romeo reached out a hand before P could check himself. He lifted a lock; it was the same length as before. This time, it was the colour that changed. The hair Romeo held was silver like stars. When he turned his head, he saw it was just that strand. A mark of Carlo's dismay and his grief.

Romeo looked back at him. His expression was stoic, but P saw something, in his eyes. Felt something, in the way he held his hands – he caught the other in his own, because it was easier than thinking about his changed appearance. Wondering whether he was becoming Carlo.

"I'm sorry," P said. His voice was strained. "I'm sorry for what he did. I'm sorry for what I told him to do."

"You didn't tell him to do that," Romeo replied, similarly cracked. "You didn't tell him to do this to either of us."

P shook his head. He brought the backs of Romeo's hands to his mouth, and kissed the knuckles. Even if they couldn't feel the same way, if it didn’t feel like it used to, then at least they understood the action. Understood the meaning behind it.

"You said you hated him, once," Romeo said. "Do you, now?"

P wasn't sure. Dimly, he realised that Romeo had said 'you,' and not 'Carlo,' and that P didn't correct him. But Carlo's visceral hatred, his disgust with his father, was mingling with his own affection he'd felt for Geppetto. Even then, he realised, there had been that nagging suspicion. Perhaps that had been Carlo. He wasn’t sure where either of them ended, anymore. He didn’t know if he wanted Romeo to, anymore. Perhaps Gemini was right about that.

"I don't know," he said. That wasn't a lie. "I don't know how I will face him."

Romeo tilted his head to one side, his lips quirking in a slight smile. He drew their joint hands back to himself, opening them to kiss P's palms.

"If you can lie," he said. "You can act."

P tried to smile back. He cupped Romeo's face instead, unable to look away from his mended eye. That had been Ergo. It had been because P was determined to find the truth. He had done that. Some good had come from the truth.

"Unless you want to do something more drastic?" Romeo asked.

Unless P wanted to attack Geppetto. He didn't think he could. There was still too much of P in him for that.

"He wants to save Krat," P said, slowly. He had believed that, and still wanted to believe that. "I believe that. But do you? Want to do something more drastic?"

"Will you fight against me if I do?"

Fight him again. Destroy him again, if he tried to destroy Geppetto?

P didn’t – couldn’t – reply immediately, because he was not entirely sure. Not anymore. P might, but he knew the Carlo in him wouldn’t. He wasn’t sure which was stronger, and he didn’t want to find out.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said. That wasn’t a lie.

Romeo smiled. Nodded. Leant forward, and kissed P’s mouth. A soft, gentle movement that stirred his Ergo. He kissed him back.

And tried not to think about Geppetto. 

*

Sophia stopped him, when he came through the door of the hotel. She held a hand to his chest, her brows drawn together. He did stop. Her deep blue eyes examined him, and she looked concerned.

“What’s wrong, clever one?”

P looked at her. It was a struggle to breathe. “I remember.”

Her hand hovered over the lock of grey in his hair, but didn’t touch. “You remember?”

“I remember – Carlo.” He was starting to shake again, just at the memories. “And Romeo.”

“Romeo,” she echoed. “The name from the necklace.”

“The king of puppets.” He caught her wrist, gently, and brought it down. She made him calm and composed.

“I’m worried about you,” Sophia said. She hadn’t moved, to let him step around her. “I’m worried you’re going to do something you’ll regret.”

“I’m not going to do anything drastic,” P said, carefully. Not tonight, he thought.

Sophia must have caught something in his tone. She lowered her chin, narrowing her eyes at him. “Are you lying to me?”

He half-smiled, despite everything. He shook his head. “I don’t want to lie to you.”

She almost smiled back. She did take his hand, in both of her own, and squeezed it gently.

“But I have to see Geppetto,” he continued. He didn’t know what he was going to do, or say, but he needed to see him. He needed to look him in the eye and see his reaction.

For a long moment, he didn’t think Sophia would let him. She still examined him, as though he was about to go into a frenzy. Whatever she saw in his expression, it passed the test. She nodded, and stepped to the side.

It left him facing the stairs. They seemed more numerous than before; seemed like climbing a tower, instead of a couple of flights. Gemini glowed at his side.

“I’m sorry pal,” he said.

P traced his fingers over the lantern. The glow felt like an encouragement, and he certainly felt he needed it. He started upwards, taking every step carefully. When he reached the landing, Spring spotted him from where she sat on the side table. She chirruped at him, and P smiled, as stroked her.

He still took a breath, and a long pause, before he stepped through to Geppetto’s room.

His father sat at his desk, as usual, tinkering with machine parts. When he heard P’s footsteps, he looked up. He dropped the machine parts. A screw rolled across the carpet.

Geppetto stood, and crossed to him. His face was pale; aghast.

P didn’t move. His Ergo was stirring, and he felt a swarm of emotions wash over him. Hatred and loathing, but mixed with the same affection and love from before. He loved his father, but he hated him too. Even worse, he had a slight fear. What would his father do, if he crossed him?

“Son, what happened?” Geppetto asked. “Your hair. Who did this to you?”

“Myself,” he replied.

“There will be a way to fix this.” His father took hold of the grey lock, twisting it in the light. “I will fix this.” Then he realised what P had said, and frowned. “What do you mean, yourself?”

“It happened,” P said. It took a great deal of effort to control his tone. His words. “When I remembered.”

Geppetto frowned. “Remembered? What do you mean?”

“When I crush Ergo, I remember things. From before.”

Geppetto’s hands went to take his face, as tenderly and gently as they always did.

P stepped back. Sharply. Suddenly, he didn’t want to be touched by this man; couldn’t bear the thought of it. “I remember Carlo.”

His father jerked backwards, as though he had been slapped. He stared, his brow furrowed, and his chest heaving. “Who told you that name?”

Who had first said the name Carlo? When had he first heard it whispered?

“Romeo.”

“Romeo?” and Geppetto sounded angry, now. “How do you know anything about Romeo?”

“His necklace.” P found he didn’t want to lie. He wanted to tell the truth. He wanted to watch the words pierce his father; wanted to see his reaction to them. To realise what he had done. “The king of puppets had a necklace. Engraved on the back, it said ‘To Romeo. Your Friend C.’”

His father smiled, then. Indulgently. He did step forward, and said, “I believe you need rest, son. I said before. Even if you can’t sleep, your system needs time to configure itself. If you don’t, you get confused.”

Geppetto’s hand landed on his shoulder, and squeezed.

P didn’t move. He stared. “You tried to fix him. Carlo. You took his hand.”

His legion hand clenched on its own. He watched his father’s mouth tighten; watched the recognition spark in his eye. Still, he took P’s other shoulder. Pushed him back a step.

“Son, you need to sit.”

P shook his head, but there was a strange compulsion within him. He wanted to do what his father said – he’d always done what his father said, and that was easy. It made him feel safe. He wanted to. It was easier.

But—

“No.” He caught his father’s wrists. Not hard. “No. You took Romeo. You made him a puppet.”

Geppetto froze, again. He drew his hands away, breathing heavily. He brought one up, again, and brushed P’s hair lightly. The same way he would to Carlo. He hated it. He hated this man, he thought.

“Sit down, son,” he said, again. “And we’ll talk.”

He sounded so reasonable. So gentle. P didn’t want to talk. He didn’t know what he wanted to do – if he wanted to shout and scream, or lash out. He didn’t know if he could; if he was able to scream; if he was able to hit his creator.

His indecision decided for him.

He sat down, in the chair. That same chair he always sat in. He didn’t realise that he was so compliant.

And Geppetto knelt before him, as though he was speaking to a small child.

“I amputated Carlo’s hand to help heal him,” he said. “He asked me to save his friend, and I did. I only ever did what was best for Carlo. He was everything to me. He was my precious son.”

He. He was Geppetto's son. And the soft way in which he said it about Carlo made P realise it had only been used for him out of habit. He felt a dull hurt, at the same time as resignation. (That was from the Carlo side of him, he realised – of course his father would see him as less – why was he surprised? Why could his father still hurt him, even now?)

"But you have to understand..." Geppetto spoke slowly, now, slowly rose to his feet. P felt a creeping sense of danger; felt like when he could hear puppet footsteps further down the street; when he could hear springs, but couldn't see where they were coming from. Surely, he was wrong. "You are a puppet."

"I didn't want to be," Carlo said.

Geppetto blinked. Then his face twisted with anger. He caught P's chin in a harsher grip than he had before. His heart hammered.

"Don't." The word came out twisted like a gnarled tree root. "Don't pretend you are him. You're not."

He was. He was, and he wasn't. He was Carlo but he was also P, like two halves of a butterflies wing, joined in the middle by his body. He stared back at his father, watching the anger and confusion play out over his face.

"Stop looking at me like that."

It clinked into place as neatly as a spring; Romeo had been right. His voice stayed eerily calm – that was the P side of him.  

"Isn't this what you planned?" he asked. Still felt trapped, and still felt that sense of dread. "Lampwick was the experiment. When it worked, you tried it with me."

Geppetto let go of his face. Sharply. His head jerked back. There was a grim satisfaction in knowing he was right. That was the truth. It shouldn’t send him wheeling like it did. He sat in the chair, stunned, and watched Geppetto’s expression harden. He looked like stone.

"No," he said. "No, you're not Carlo. Not yet."

Not yet. It sounded like a threat. P wouldn't dream of hurting his father, but he suddenly knew he needed to be away – needed to get away – but he was trapped by the man over him. He couldn't get up without hurting his father.

And he didn't have the chance. He felt the shock through all of him; from the metal foot of the chair, the headrest, the arm rests. A sharp shock that took his breath. A shock his father had administrated. Panic flooded him, brightly, a sharp fear that he felt in his Ergo.

Felt his Ergo spark out – felt it call for Romeo!

Then his whole system short-circuited.

[sneakyboymerlin]

Heeeeeyyyyy it’s ur boy uh. Skinny penice.

If any of you lovelies wanna help me get my mom’s account out of the negatives, I would be eternally grateful.

Her account is around -$300 after the bills got taken out, we’re just trying not to rack up any late fees at this point ✨ any money will go to getting her account out of the negatives or else paying off the fees as they add up. She’s already been in the negatives for 2 or 3 days because she tried to “fix it herself” without telling me (I only found out because I happened to see her bank app).

Her car’s engine also stopped and we can’t afford a rental so I have to drive her to and from work myself (a 40 minute drive each way, I will be making the 80 minute drive twice today so I can go to my own job). I don’t get paid until Thursday and the only thing I can afford rn is gas.

I just had to pay $500 to get my own car out of the shop after almost 2 months since someone tried to steal it in September (all the parts they needed were on back order) and the dude who tried to take it for a joy ride gets to pay it back in small increments (when a white boy does it for fun, they give him every excuse) which means I’m out $500.

I wanted to attend my community college this upcoming semester but I’m just going to have to skip again if this keeps up, which I really don’t want to do because of pressure from my sister to get a degree or apprenticeship. She won’t help my mom in order to “punish her” but it really just punishes me. My mom has been hiding her finances from me ever since my dad died, resulting in things like my car (the car is under her name & insurance but my dad gave it to me) getting repossessed during the summer (we were able to get it back luckily) and the internet getting shut off. She lied about where the money I paid her was going, paid for her own car + insurance instead and let my car get repossessed. My finances and well-being are entirely dependent on her bank account, and she is consistently dishonest about where our money goes, and then funnels any money I make into her account. She also tries to buy frivolous things we don’t need when she runs out of money + tries to force me to buy those things for her and is only frugal when spending her own paycheck. Everyone I have explained the situation to tells me that I am being financially abused, and I cannot find a way out of it besides moving out, but I can’t afford to do that and I can’t leave my pets behind.

I was also trying to pay off my phone and late bills to T-Mobile so we could switch over to a cheaper company but I can’t make any progress on this because we can’t afford to pay anything off before the next month rolls over and we get charged yet again (when T-Mobile bought Sprint they started charging us out the ass). The electric bill is also going to be unsustainable this winter, our heater doesn’t work half the time so we have space heaters but that’s it for us + our 4 cats + 1 dog.

I’m also supposed to be going to the doctor’s to get a diagnosis (probably EDS), physical and mental therapy, etc. but I have to go through multiple doctors and institutions(?) to do this, which is pretty much impossible when you’re sharing 1 car between 2 people and are the only one with any gas money (which is gonna go FAST). I also do not want my mom to know under any circumstances if I attend mental therapy.

And there’s always more but I don’t have time to continue on

If you follow me or enjoy my posting please consider helping out if you can 💗

C*sh*app is $ThreeTrilobites

DM me for P*yP*l or V-nmo info

[a-m-pyra]

First Burn: Ch6 Surprise (American McGee's Alice/Lies of P)

It all started in the morning. Everyone went down for breakfast, including Mrs. Seymour, and after a few minutes no one was interested in the food, but in the baby Alice was carrying in a wicker basket. 

According to the card attached to the basket, the girl was six months old, and her name was Evie. She was cold and terribly hungry. Everyone immediately rushed to help. Mrs. Seymour rocked her in her arms and held her close. Nan Sharpe prepared milk for the girl, Alice, on Mrs. Seymour's instructions, contacted her aunt, who gave away her daughter's cradle and bottles, and he, Otto and the children collected blankets and pillows for her. 

Everyone forgot about breakfast as they watched Mrs. Seymour feed the baby, who grabbed the bottle as if afraid someone would take it away. Cormac also came interested in the baby, so much so that Mrs. Seymour had to push him away so that he wouldn't irritate her with his excitement.

“She's so sweet,” said Dodo, who got a few punches on the shoulder from Diggie, who joked that he was a softie.

“What kind of mother would do that?” Gemini spoke up, and P realized he had been asking himself that question.

“There are different situations, Gemini. She may have been assaulted, not ready to have a child, or simply not have money. She chose the most humane option anyway,” Mrs. Seymour explained, adjusting Evie in her arms. “I guess we'll have to take care of her together.”

“I'll bring her my toys,” Inez said.

“Can Angela and I look for clothes for her?” Abigail asked.

“I can ask the girls if they have anything from their babies,” Alice said.

“And I can be a long-distance nanny,” Gemini announced, making P look at him with a raised eyebrow.

Mrs. Seymour laughed.

“Any help will be worth its weight in gold.”

Once Evie was fed and Mrs. Seymour helped her burp, she became a completely different baby. Instead of crying, she made sounds that P found quite delightful, or she would pick on other children by crawling up to them and grab their ankles or the hems of their dresses, or she would crawl up to Cormac who was lying under the sofa and grab his ears, and cuddle his stomach. 

And Cormac, despite being a large dog who looked extremely menacing, seemed completely unfazed by the pulling on his ears. Sometimes he would just sniff her and then put his big head back on the floor, letting her continue playing.

When Alice went to work, Mrs. Seymour took care of the sessions, Mrs. Sharpe took care of dinner, and only he, Gemini, and Otto remained on guard.

“Kids are adorable, aren't they, P?”

P looked at him, then back at the girl who was holding the teddy bear by the ear, babbling at it.

“It’s the first time I see a human baby.”

“You said you helped a woman find her daughter.”

“It was a puppet. And this is a human baby.”

Evie crawled towards them. Otto picked her up and sat her on his lap, facing him, making silly faces and funny noises at her, making Evie laugh hard and contagious, making Otto barely contain his giggles and P smiling softly.

He reached for a pencil and a sketchbook, intending to sketch. Evie leaned against Otto's chest, watching what P was doing, accompanied by the questions Otto was asking her. P glanced at the girl from time to time, and after a while he returned his gaze to the pages of the sketchbook. 

He wondered if he should draw Spring. She looked like the kind of cat that would like babies, maybe she would be interested in them; and Evie would certainly be interested in Spring, just as she was now reaching towards Gemini's lamp, which stood on the sofa between him and Otto, or as she was playing with Cormac's ears.

After a few long moments, he turned the sketchbook towards Otto and Evie, showing a sketch in which the girl was sleeping and Spring was resting her head on her belly.

“Who's in this drawing, Evie? You? Yes, you. Together with the kitten,” Otto told her as she smiled at the drawing, reaching towards the drawing of the kitten. 

So he wasn't mistaken after all, Evie actually took an interest in Spring's drawing, smiling and giggling. 

P sighed heavily.

“I don't really know how to deal with children.”

“You're doing great so far, pal. I'm proud of you,” Gemini assured.

“Maybe you want to take her in your arms?” Otto suggested, and P suddenly felt himself tense.

“No, no. I don't want to hurt her.”

“She's such a strong girl, she'll be fine. Come on.”

“No, I prefer not.” 

Otto shrugged and continued entertaining Evie until dinner. Then Mrs. Seymour came down, fed Evie again and spent the afternoon with them, leaving only to put the fussy girl down for a nap and inviting Abigail to the session.

P stood over the cradle with his head tilted slightly to the right, watching the sleeping girl. Evie seemed so terribly delicate, so much so that he was afraid he would hurt her, catch her wrong, squeeze her too tightly with his legion arm. 

He heard quiet footsteps. He looked at the door, noticing Mrs. Seymour. She walked over to the cradle and placed her hand on his shoulder.

“Alice is home from work, you can go to the living room if you want,” she whispered and P lowered his head. “Everything's all right?”

“Yes, it's just new to me.”

“I see.” She looked into the cradle when she heard squeaking. “See, she's waking up.”

She whispered to her, gently scratching the center of her chest. P smiled as she opened those blue eyes of hers, looking at them and yawning at the same time.

P laughed softly.

“Do you want to take her in your arms?”

“Otto already asked about it. I don't want to accidentally hurt her.”

“You have more gentleness than many women. I'll show you, okay?”

He nodded and followed Mrs. Seymour's instructions, realizing after a moment that it wasn't that difficult after all. After a moment, Evie was in P's arms, and he realized that she was not as light and delicate as she looked.

“So you see? You're doing great.” She patted him on the back. “You can entertain her a little. Swing around, make silly faces or sounds, and I'll go get Alice because she has big news for you.”

“For me?” he asked as Mrs. Seymour was already moving towards the door. 

“You'll find out soon,” she said and disappeared down the hall, and P did as Mrs. Seymour said, rocking Evie and trying to make her laugh.

She smiled and reached for his hair, and P felt warm; on the body and chest. After a moment, footsteps sounded in the corridor, and a moment later he felt Alice's hand on his shoulder. She tickled Evie's belly as she greeted her. 

“You're doing pretty well.” She looked at his face. “And another gray streak appeared.” She grabbed a strand of hair that Evie was trying to get at. 

“You're kidding.”

“No.” She giggled. “Put her in the cradle, because I have news for you that you’ll need to sit.”

P nodded and soon waited for Alice to tell him what happened. 

“And so?”

She smiled broadly and took a few breaths.

“We have the green light.”

“What? I don't understand.”

“We will exhibit it Cruel. Vicious. Vengeful. !”

He parted his lips.

“Are you kidding?”

“No! The head agreed.”

He hugged her with joy, and Alice hugged him back, wrapping her arms around his neck.

“You have no idea how happy I am. Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” She pursed her lips, and P noticed that she was smiling strangely. 

“What?”

“Well, I have a proposition for you. I just need to know if you can sing.” She grabbed his hands.

“I don't know, I've never tried, why…”

“I would like you to play Jean-Pierre Interdit.”

He blinked, silent. He had no idea what to say.

“Are you sure?”

She nodded vigorously. 

“I didn't expect… I…”

“Do you agree or not?”

He looked at the door where Mrs. Seymour stood. She winked at him in support.

“Great. I agree.”

Alice squealed happily, falling into his arms again. When P looked at the door again, Mrs. Seymour was no longer there.

[ijustreblogstuff-i-like]

Finally after a million different designs I’ve finally settled on one that I like for my Lies of P OC

I’ve been working on her since the demo dropped but I wanted to wait until the game came out before I made a ref sheet for her in case I got stuff wrong

There’s probably a lot of stuff still wrong but I’ll just fix it later

You can read more of her info here and down below ⬇️

Before the Puppet Frenzy she was a very talented Stalker — reaching almost legendary status.

Most of the work she did for Geppetto was simply just acting as a bodyguard for him and escorting him to and from places. She was recommended to Geppetto by her parent’s.

She briefly left the Stalkers and joined up with the Black Rabbit Brotherhood as an act of rebellion against her parents. She regrets some of the things she did during her time with the Brotherhood.

Her time with the Brotherhood was brief, only lasting a couple of months. One of the members she was closest to was the Battle Maniac. They would often spar with one another and eventually their friendship evolved from simply platonic to something more romantic. Neither of them ever acted on their feelings, and when the puppet frenzy began they would never get the chance to.

When the city of Krat fell into ruin she parted ways from the BRB when they refused to put their stalker training to use and help those in need. Ever since then she’s been on her own, saving any survivors left despite her own body slowly decaying from the petrification disease.

Before she became a Stalker she wanted to become a painter, but her parents didn’t allow it. She still continued to paint as a hobby but had to stop once she lost her eyesight.

Her biological parents immigrated from another country back when Krat was still a fishing town. They both passed from an illness shortly after her and her sister were born.

Her sister was adopted and then experimented on by alchemists. She was able to escape and now resides at the cathedral.

Despite her parents being close friends of Geppetto’s she was only acquainted with his son Carlo. She never got to be friends with him because she was too focused on her Stalker training to form friendships with anyone at the boarding school.

She was around when Geppetto was still making P. She thought it was disturbing that he would make a puppet of his dead son but she kept those thoughts to herself.

Her friendship with P began when he helped her defeat a frenzied puppet that nearly killed her. Since then she has tried her best to help the puppet in any way she can. Assisting him with fighting frenzied puppets, the Black Rabbit Brotherhood, and many more. She knows he’s a puppet, but also knows that he’s different so she helps him try to become more human and understand his feelings and emotions. At first, she is only nice to him out of obligation for saving her life, but as time goes on she starts to think of him as a dear friend that she would do anything for.

Her sister comes first and foremost though, and she’d do anything for her sister even if they go against her own morals and beliefs.

— Random info that isn’t super important —

Right handed — is still a good fighter despite missing her dominant arm.

Her eyes used to be dark brown.

Really likes cats, loves petting Spring the cat whenever she stops by the hotel.

Tries to avoid Geppetto when she’s at the hotel. She doesn’t hate him but she can’t help but feel uneasy in his presence.

Often asks Eugenia to make sure her weapon is up to snuff since she has difficulty repairing and sharpening it herself.

[pardi-real]

Main Story Ep. 2 / Part 2 / Chapter 1 - Witch's Fortune-Telling

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[Northwest Tower, Nearby Forest]

Woman in black: "......"

Berrien: "This way, my lord."

I got off the carriage as Berrien prompted me to.

Woman in black: "You arrived earlier than scheduled, Berrien."

Berrien: "Yes. The journey went smoothly."

Muu: "She seems to be Mr. Berrien's acquaintance."

Woman in black: "This fellow is…?"

Berrien: "Yes, this is our lord."

Woman in black: "I see… Nice to meet you... Lord of the Devil Butler. I am Elvira of the witch tribe."

> "H-hello… Ms. Elvira"

Muu: "I've seen her in the city before!"

Elvira: "Oh? A talking cat? Whose familiar are you?"

Muu: "What!? Familiar?"

Elvira: "Because you are a cat, yet you speak…"

Muu: "I feel like we had this conversation before, when we met on the street."

Berrien: "My lord, allow me to explain. The old tower lies further north from here, nestled at the foot of a snowy mountain... It happens to be the witch tribe's territory."

> "I see…"

Berrien: "We need permission from the witch tribe to enter. This time we have informed them in advance, so we've received permission."

> "So that's how it works"

I had heard about the witch tribe from Nac before. They reside in a small town in the northern land… It is said that there are only women in that town.

Elvira: "This is the gateway to our land. Nevertheless…"

*Close-up* Trudge… trudge…

After saying that, Elvira walked up to me.

Elvira: "I've heard you stopped a butler's demonization… Did you… really do it?"

> "P-probably... I did…"

Elvira: "Please show me your hand for a moment."

"S-sure…"

Elvira is looking at my hand.

Elvira: "Hmm… I see... Well, you must be tired from the long journey."

> "E-err…"

Elvira: "Please rest here for a while."

> (I wonder why she examined my hand?)

Elvira: "That being said, this is just a small village that acts as a gateway and a stop for travelers…"

Berrien: "It's also time for the horses to rest... We'll take you up on your offer for a break."

> "Yeah" > "That's right"

Scout Leader: "Our scout team will be waiting outside the town. The witch tribe is full of mystery... We don't know what they'll do to us."

Elvira: "I see... I see... Please proceed as you wish... Now, let me guide you to the village, devil butlers and their lord."

> "Thank you"

Elvira: "Oh, before we continue…"

~ A few moments later ~

Lato: "Hm… this is so flowy."

Boschi: "It's hard to move in this…"

Haures: "The clothing looks so thin, but surprisingly it's not cold at all."

Miyaji: "Luckily there's a size that fits me."

Lucas: "Fufu ♪ What do you think? How do I look? My lord?"

> "Everyone looks great in these"

Berrien: "It suits you perfectly as well, my lord."

> "Thank you"

Berrien: "This attire signifies our status as guests. The witch tribe is cautious. Those permitted to enter must prove their safety by wearing these clothes."

Muu: "Um... what about me?"

Elvira: "You're a cat, so it's fine. Humans are the dangerous ones."

Muu: "I-I see… I wanted to try wearing the white outfit."

Elvira: "Fufu... Well, then… Welcome to Agnome, the border village. We welcome you, devil butlers and their lord…"

Trudge… trudge…

[Border Village Agnome]

Lato: "Hmm… I was excited when I heard that it was a witch's village, but… it's surprisingly ordinary. I also heard that witches use magic to fly in the sky… I see no sign of that."

Elvira: "We respect magic and handle it with care. It's not for casual use."

Boschi: "Huh… is that so?"

Elvira: "Now then… I'm sorry for the sudden change, but... Would Berrien and his lord come with me? I would like to hear about a lot of things."

Berrien: "Understood. Shall we, my lord?"

> "Yeah, okay"

We followed Elvira to a room.

[Elvira's Room]

Elvira: "Come in, Berrien. And the Lord of the Devil Butler... Please, take a seat there."

The room we were taken to was filled with peculiar items. Items that look like magic tools are scattered around.

> (This is very witch-like...)

And among them, I found something familiar. The painting depicted a man with black wings, weeping and praying.

> (That painting is in the mansion too...)

Elvira: "Here you are, enjoy this soup. Please warm up your cold body."

> "Thank you"

Elvira: "Now… I've heard about changes among the angels."

Berrien: "Yes... About that…"

Berrien explained to Elvira about the intelligent angel.

Elvira: "I see… that's concerning. Thank you for the detailed information. I'll report this to our village."

Berrien: "Thank you for your cooperation."

Elvira: "Hmmm…"

After saying that, Elvira spread a parchment on the desk. It has incomprehensible language and figures drawn on it.

Atop the parchment were crystals of various sizes and colors. Crow feathers, small animal bones, and white sand was placed offhandedly.

> (I-is this divination?)

Elvira: "Hm… This is a tragedy. Sadly… It looks like there will be numerous deaths again."

> "N-numerous deaths?"

Elvira: "Well… That is just what my fortune-telling says."

After saying that, she casually moved the crystals on the parchment again.

Elvira: "I see… As expected, it's true."

> (What is that fortune-telling for, this time?)

Elvira: "Dear lord… I entrust the fate of the butlers to you. The butlers' destiny will change greatly, at your discretion..."

> "My discretion?" > "The butlers' fate?"

Elvira: "Yes… Whether the butler lives or dies… It's up to you."

> "U-uhm… what should I say…"

Elvira: "Well… That's just what my fortune-telling says."

> "I-I see"

After spending some time there, we left the village once the horses were rested.

note: Agnaum and Agnome both qualify for the katakana. Unlike Sardis and Espoir which show plausible etymology though, Agnome shows Azelf and nothing relevant for Agnaum, so yeah.

Agnome could be agnostic + gnome/genome and Agnaum could be agnostic + traum, and apparently Agnum (unsuitable katakana) means lamb

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[rainbowroachies]

Yip! :P I have a question! :3 How did you find out you were a Therian? :3★

I'll explain a decent amount of the story.

So, I had learned about therians in I think February 2023. At first, I didn't know much so I "faked" being one, because I thought it was cool. I faked as a cat I'm pretty sure. Also, at that time, I was really emotionally connected with Australian Shepherds. Even making my fursona an Australian Shepherd because I thought I was very similar to them.

In March was the worst point, because I sent mass hate to therians and lied that I had trauma with them so that they stop messing with me. This had got me canceled, fortunately. And banned on TikTok.

I then looked more into them in around June-July 2023. I found out about different types of shifts, and the real meaning to therianthropy and otherkinity.

Unfortunately by August, I went into a large crisis. I really "hated" therians and I didn't want to be one. I kept using many excuses to say I wasn't one, it wasn't helping.

In September, I started to question people on my therianthropy while being really confusing. I felt really guilty.

In October, I finally decided that I'm gonna do tons of research. I kept doubting myself. It really was because I didn't want to be a fake therian. I realized that I never hated therians.

On November 7th, 2023, I was in my last period while we had some free computer time. I was researching therians like my life depended on it. My main excuse was that I believe I'm physically an animal. A few minutes before class ended, I realized. I realized that not therianthropy experiences are the same. After class, I accepted it. I accepted that I am an animal.

Throughout November 2023 to January 2024, I lied saying that I'm not physically an animal. Buttt then I knew that there will be haters and supportive people.

Now, I have many furry, therian, otherkin, alterhuman, and nonhuman friends!

Thanks for asking, my good friend and sibling-in-law! (Not really lol it's because you and Xalie and together. XDD)