#DNA Library Normalization

[ironstrange1991]

Unexpectedly Ours: Part 2: What It Does To Us

Pairing: Doctor!Strange, Defender!Strange, Supreme!Strange x Pregnant!Reader

Synopsis: As the first weeks go by, the reader tries to understand how she feels about being pregnant while the Stephens begin to be affected by it in a very intense way.

Word Count: 10k

Warnings: Pregnancy related themes, polyamorous relationship dynamics, SMUT: Oral sex with male receiving, finger fucking, unprotected p n v sex, squirting, creampie, pregnancy kink.

A/N: It took me 11 months to finish this chapter and I am so proud of what I did here. Has been a while since I posted a smut fic and this one is pretty filth and I won't apologize for that. Hope you guys enjoy it and have a nice reading ;)

CHAPTER ONE SERIES MASTERLIST

Being pregnant was much more exciting in the movies than in real life. The first twelve weeks were being extremely challenging for you because everything was new. The nausea continued for the first two months and began to lessen as you entered the end of the first trimester, but with the end of the morning vomiting came other sensations that you were still learning to live with.

But the pregnancy also brought something extremely positive from the point of view of your peace of mind: the Stephens had stopped fighting - at least in front of you - and the Sanctum was immersed in a collective understanding that nothing in the world could upset you, and of course, you were very grateful for that.

You were getting a lot more attention too, which, in some ways, still seemed like it wasn't enough because the pregnancy made you even more clingy to your men than you already were and even though they hadn't been going on missions together since finding out about the pregnancy to not leave you alone, they still needed to go to work and you needed to work too and you missed them a lot when you were apart, much more than you considered normal. It was almost a physical pain.

You couldn't tell which of the Stephens was happier about the pregnancy. Defender, of course, was happy from the first moment, but after the initial shock wore off, Supreme embarked on that pregnancy with you with an infectious happiness and Stephen simply couldn't contain his happiness, he was with you all the time, telling you how happy he was and how he couldn't wait to finally meet his baby. His baby. You loved how the question of paternity proved to be something natural for them. They were the same man, had the same DNA and were the fathers of your baby. Never, ever, did they question whether it was possible to know which of them had fathered the child. And you loved them even more for it. Basically, you felt like the most loved person in the world and what woman wouldn’t like to feel that way?

The pregnancy was also making noticeable changes in you, both emotionally and physically. As if it were possible, you felt like you loved them even more. You could barely keep that feeling in your chest and you were so needy all the time and the Stephens were loving it. They took turns so that you always had one of them around and they made sure to keep you close to them at all times, whether it was cuddling on the couch, in bed, or accompanying them to their readings at the library. You just needed to be physically together.

Your libido also changed with the arrival of pregnancy hormones, it increased a lot and although you were already expecting some kind of change in this sense, you didn't imagine it would be something so strong, after all you already had a very high sex drive, but what you were experiencing was unprecedented. You were literally having sex all the time.

Every morning you woke up aroused and that particular morning was no different. You had barely opened your eyes, and your hands were already groping the mattress looking for Stephen, your body already begging for him. Opening your eyes you were graced by the sight of him sleeping beautifully beside you in his pajama pants and t-shirt, his face turned towards you, his expressions calm and comforting.

It was Monday morning and you needed to start the day, but you couldn't think of doing that without first getting what your body was asking for.

With the increase in libido, your lubrication increased alarmingly and as you watched Stephen sleeping, you could feel the wetness in your panties and before you knew you were squeezing your thighs together and biting your lip. Knowing full well that waking Supreme up in the morning wasn't exactly an easy task, but fully aware that you couldn't help it when you wanted him so much, you crawled closer to him and touched his face and kissed his lips lightly and called his name a few times. However, there was no sign of a response. You tried a few more times and then sighed in frustration, but soon a mischievous smile played on your lips and your hand went down to his cock, soft and hidden inside his pants.

While moving your hand slowly up and down his length, the smile on your lips turned into a soft moan when you felt him harden under your touch and a heavy sigh escaped his lips. Impatiently you knelt on the bed and slipped your hand inside his pants. He wasn't wearing any underwear, so you grabbed his cock and pulled it out and without thinking for a second, you bent down to put him in your mouth.

Stephen sighed heavily and shifted in bed, but he remained asleep as you licked his length up and down, took his balls in your mouth and sucked them eagerly while pumping him slowly. You never ceased to be amazed at what a heavy sleeper he was. You let out a chuckle and finally took him whole in your mouth being generous in the suction, using your tongue with desire.

Stephen’s hips bucked against your mouth as he let out something between a hiss and a moan and you knew he was awake because you felt his hand on your head, his fingers tangling in your hair and his legs shaking.

"H-honey... oh fuck." His voice broke with pleasure and he gave in to his beautiful little moans. With both hands he grabbed your hair and tied it into a makeshift ponytail, but he didn't push, just kept them out of your face so he could have a nice view of what you were doing to him.

"That's right, suck my cock just like that. Oh, fuck honey, I love it when you wake me up like this."

You responded with a hum and made sure to maintain eye contact as you sucked him, flicking your tongue over the head, going all the way in and taking him out of your mouth with a pop. Repeating the process over and over again.

"Mmm, you do it so good. May I ask what I did to deserve such a special treatment?"

You smiled your best smile and pulled away just enough for you to pull off your panties and move to straddle him, lifting your nightgown and rubbing the tip of his cock against your completely soaked folds.

"I just needed you. My body has been asking for you since I woke up." You confessed and he grinned widely. He was so proud for having you feeling like that and he didn’t even tried to hide. His narcissism showing.

"Hmm, those hormones are making you so needy. That’s what you’re saying?" He teased "Put me inside you, then. Let me stretch you out the way you need it, love."

You did exactly as he asked and moaned outrageously loudly as you let yourself sink down onto his cock, feeling the delicious stretch that only Stephen's big dick could provide you.

"Just like that, honey.” He hissed “Body is asking for me, huh? This little pussy is so fucking wet for me. Tell me how much you wanted my cock. Tell me you couldn't wait for me to wake up to fuck you because you were so needy. Tell me."

You moaned, resting both hands on his chest and began to move your hips up and down, gyrating them sensually at first, but doing it faster as the pleasure increased.

"I couldn't wait, Steph. My body feels weird now, wants you all the time." You confessed and he grabbed your waist, taking control and moving you on his cock just the way he wanted. Fast and hard. The sound of the love you were making filled the silence of the room and the smell of sex were all you could sense in the air.

"It's because you're pregnant with my baby, love. Body is full of these delicious hormones right now, letting you like this, begging for cock."

You moaned loudly, feeling his words making you even more horny than you already were. Somehow the pregnancy was a turn on for you as much as it was for him, and you loved it when he talked dirty to you about it, but that only made you feel more needy and somehow what he was giving you wasn’t enough anymore. You just needed so much more.

"Stephen... take me, fuck me harder." You whined and he quickly got the message placing you underneath him in one swift movement. He came on top of you, penetrating you again and grabbing the headboard to fuck you harder. His thrusts quickly became rough, his hips grinding against your core and providing delicious friction on your clit. Your legs wrapped around his waist and your nails scratched his back as you felt your body being quickly pushed to the limit.

The pregnancy also made your orgasms easier and faster, not to mention that they were more intense too and as Stephen fucked you and whispered in your ear how happy he was, how much he loved you and how good you felt, you knew you were close. Oh, so close.

"S-shit, such a warm pussy.” He groaned “This pregnant pussy is all mine, huh? Those mommy hormones are making you so fucking needy and I'm loving every second of it. Tell me how good I'm making you feel. Tell me, mommy."

You couldn't help but be surprised by the way he referred to you, but at the same time you almost came at the word. It was undeniable that you were also enjoying every second of it and you were so close, all you needed was a little push, so you decided to play along.

"So good, Steph. Please, don’t stop. I'm so close.”

“I won’t stop” He promised while keeping the pace of his thrusts, using his hand on the headboard for support.

 Please, say it again." You begged.

As if possible, Stephen increased the force of his thrusts and buried his face in your neck indulging in his own pleasure and surrender to that new found fetish of yours.

"Such a dirty mommy letting me fuck this sweet pregnant pussy like this. Wanna cum inside this pussy, mommy, so fucking deep. Please, tell me you gonna take it. Tell me you want all of it. "

You moaned loudly, locking your legs behind his back and feeling the knot tightening in your stomach.

"Yes, Stephen, please, cum inside me. Make me cum."

Stephen let out an almost animalistic groan as he gave in to his own orgasm, cumming deep inside you and pulling you along with him. Your orgasm was intense and wet. Pregnancy had changed that too, most of your orgasms were squirting now because of the excess of  lubrication and although you were always embarrassed by the mess, they loved it, especially Supreme. For that reason, there was a proud smile on his face as he pulled out and rolled onto his side of the bed.

"Fuck, honey! This was insane.” He praised “We should keep you pregnant from now on. Fill this house with kids and have sex like this every day."

You knew he wasn’t being serious, but his voice was serious enough to make you look at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, right. Because morning sickness is one thing I want to keep in my life."

He chuckled, extending his arm for you to snuggle closer to him. "Okay, this part isn't much fun, but the squirting, come on, honey, you have to admit it's amazing."

You cuddled into his chest, resting your head on his shoulder and almost purring when he started scratching your scalp delicately.

"It's wet and messy." You complained to which he giggled.

"That's precisely why we like it so much."

"Hmm." You let yourself be pulled to his lips and he kissed you softly. Without giving much thought to what you were doing, you took one of his hands and began to play with his blackened fingers. Stephen no longer twitched when you did that, and you knew that was a good sign.

"So... mommy kink? That's new. I never took you for someone who liked to play on the submissive side." You teased, lifting your head enough to see the clock on the nightstand and being thankful that you still had a few minutes before you needed to get up.

Stephen smirked "I don't think we can classify it as mommy kink if I was in control the whole time." He replied proudly hurrying to correct you. "I'm not a submissive man. I leave that to Defender, but I have to admit that the idea of ​​you being a mother turns me on. And the word mommy... fuck, it really does things to me."

"It does things to me too apparently... the way you say it." You confessed a little embarrassed. "I think we should enjoy the ride while it lasts because trust me, this will be the only pregnancy we'll have."

Stephen chuckled "We never know, you might break a pot of sex pollen again." He teased and you giggled cupping his face in your hand.

"You can keep dreaming." You gave him another kiss on the lips, this time longer and then whispered. "I love you so much."

He smiled "I love you too, honey. More than anything."

You sighed and then pulled away gently standing up. "We need to start the day. I have so much work at the office today and you promised Wong that you would take care of the training at Kamar Taj today and he doesn't allow delays."

Stephen sighed "I don't know what got into me to accept subjecting myself to this. Those students are all idiots and besides it should be a crime to have to work on a Monday morning."

"Don't let Defender hear you talking like that about his students and please behave yourself there." You almost begged as you bent down to pick up your panties from the floor and then pointed to the bed where a dark stain indicated how wet you had let the gray sheets. "You take care of that since you like it so much."

He smiled broadly "No problem."

Stephen took a few minutes before getting into the shower with you and although your body gave signs that it was ready for a second round, you finished your shower quickly knowing that you didn't have the time to start anything else. He finished showering and stood next to you at the sink and both of you brushed your teeth in silence. You loved that. The intimacy of doing mundane and routine things together made you feel life was worth living.

 He quickly combed his hair and applied some deodorant and left leaving you there finishing your makeup. When you left the bathroom heading towards the closet to get dressed he was already dressed in his boots and blue robes and Cloaky opened the door and clung to his shoulders. You smiled as you watched the scene and contemplated the beauty of Supreme dressed like that. It was a sight you never got used to. Suddenly he wasn’t just your boyfriend anymore, he was the Master of the mystic arts, a powerful and feared sorcerer.

You were struggling to button the buttons of your suit skirt when he came closer and hugged you from behind, palming your belly completely unaware of the thoughts in your mind "Tummy is starting to show." He said, giving you a kiss on the cheek.

You felt your heart fluttering in your chest, but sighed in frustration anyway "I'm losing all of my clothes."

He smirked like it wasn’t a big deal "Then you need to buy new clothes. Why don't you invite your girl friends to come with you? Take my card."

You turned to face him and wrapped your arms around his neck, standing on your tiptoes to being able to look in his eyes. "Are you seriously offering your card to go shopping with my friends? What if I get a little out of control?"

He pulled you closer and kissed you sweetly. "That's why I took the job with the Avengers, honey, to give you whatever the fuck you want." He moved his fingers, and his credit card materialized between his index and middle fingers.

You smirked, taking it. "Okay, since you insist."

“I do.” He kissed you again and then sighed, "I really need to go now or I'll have to listen to Wong complain for the rest of the day."

"Poor students, they don't know what's in store for them today." You teased.

"Are you kidding? I'm the best thing they could have. I'll try to put something inside those useless heads."

You almost rolled your eyes, but instead went back to your herculean task of finding something that fit you and that you could wear to work.

...

In the afternoon you honored Stephen's wish and arranged to meet Natasha and Yelena at the mall. It wasn't often that you had a good excuse to spend money and it wasn't easy for your Avenger friends to have time for frivolous things, but everything seemed to fit perfectly and there you were trying on your thousandth piece of clothing - a hideous maternity jumpsuit that Yelena had made you try on just so she could tease you. The extravagant color and floral print were the worst part, but everything else didn't help and made you look like a birthday cake.

"Ridiculous," you complained as Yelena took a picture and quickly typed on her phone.

"Don't send that picture to anyone, Yelena!" You almost yelled. But it was too late. She lifted her phone, shaking it in her hand while laughing, and you heard your own phone and Natasha's buzzing simultaneously, indicating a message had arrived.

"I just wanted to liven things up a little on our Avengers WhatsApp group. God knows everything's been too quiet." She said.

"I never thought I'd say this, but I miss Tony's parties. It’s been quite a while." Nat confessed.

You sighed in defeat, closing the curtain of the dressing room again and getting rid of the hideous jumpsuit. You looked at the other pieces you hadn't tried on yet. Up until then, you had opted for formal clothes: pants, skirts, blouses, shirts. Clothes you could wear to work, but now there were some special pieces you wanted to try. One in particular had given you ideas for a special night and you decided to try it on right away. It was a short black dress with white polka dots and a full skirt made of tulle. It had a wonderful V-neckline that filled out your pregnancy swollen breasts very well, the fit of the skirt hid your protruding belly well and the long sleeves gave it a certain elegance, but at the same time the polka dot print made it youthful and casual. A smile played on your lips when you imagined the Stephens seeing you in that dress.

"Is everything okay in there?" You heard Nat's voice and cleared your throat opening the curtain so the girls could take a look.

"I think I like this one." You said excitedly and both of their jaws dropped.

"You look amazing!" Nat exclaimed and Yelena nodded in agreement.

"The lactation god did a great job on your boobs, and you're still in the beginning." Yelena stated making you blush and turn to look at your cleavage in the mirror. Your breasts were really big and the neckline of the dress wasn’t modest at all.

"Do you think it's too much?" You asked gesturing to the dress.

Nat shook her head. "It's perfect. I just think it might trigger a jealousy crisis." She teased.

"Wear it for a special night. Their birthday is coming up. That's reason enough to wear the dress and celebrate with all three of them at the same time." Yelena suggested, to which Nat groaned in frustration.

"She's so greedy! Most of us are struggling to get someone worthwhile and she has three!"

You smirked, looking back at yourself in the mirror. "Technically, I have one. I was just lucky enough to have two extra versions of him fall into my universe." You turned to the side to take a look at how the dress looked from the back and concluded, "But you're right, Yelena. That dress screams special occasion. Speaking of which, I have no idea what I'm going to do for their birthday. I need suggestions."

"I'm begging for a reason to throw a party." Yelena complained, but Nat immediately corrected her, "I don't think that's what Y/n has in mind. Besides, his birthday isn't until the end of November and we need a party before that if we don't want to go crazy with boredom."

"We don't need a reason to throw a party. We just need to suggest it to Tony and he'll do the rest." You said, closing the dressing room curtain again and putting the polka dot dress in the pile of clothes you had decided to buy.

Your shopping spree also yielded two more dresses, several pairs of shoes, lingerie and pajamas and a beautiful bag that you didn't have the heart to leave behind. You ended the afternoon in a beautiful coffee shop where you allowed yourself to give in to your pregnancy desires and ate a generous slice of red velvet with a pink lemonade. Overall, it was a lovely afternoon and you were so happy that it was impossible to express it in words. You no longer had any doubts that the unexpected pregnancy was being one of the best things that had ever happened to you.

...

Defender Strange was a man on a mission. Literally. He was returning to the Kamar Taj after a week away from home on a miserable mission that had not only left him bruised and tired but had also proven to be much more difficult than he had expected, and had a less than pleasant outcome with two seriously injured masters. He left them at the Metro General Hospital in the care of Christine Palmer, who by now was more than used to dealing with this type of situation, and then opened a portal to Kamar Taj where he met with Wong and gave a quick report on the outcome of the mission.

Finally, he thought to himself, he could go home. That was, in fact, his mission for the day: To finish everything as soon as possible and go home to the arms of the woman he loved and who happened to be pregnant with his child. He smiled to himself at the mere thought.

Sometimes he had to convince himself that he wasn't dreaming when he thought about it. For someone who had lost everyone he knew and ended up alone in an unknown universe, he was doing pretty well. Much more than well, in fact. Defender Strange's life was perfect, even considering that he was sharing the love of his life with two other versions of himself.

He would be lying if he said that it bothered him after all this time. Sure, he didn't like the fighting, Supreme's constant teasing, or Stephen's passive-aggressive jealousy, but overall, he was used to that life, and he was happy with it. More than he ever imagined he could be.

When he opened the portal to the main hall of the Sanctum he was greeted by the characteristic silence that indicated that no one was home. Stephen and Supreme were probably sorting something out with the Avengers and you hadn't come home yet. He sighed, feeling relief overcoming him and the tiredness finally setting in, and then he went upstairs to his room, took a long, hot shower and put on comfortable clean clothes for the first time in a week. He ended up in the kitchen looking for something to eat, but gave up when he realized he would have to cook and decided to order food from his favorite Italian restaurant. It was Wednesday, but he didn't care, he was more than convinced that he deserved it for having dealt with hostile forces that wanted to cause harm to the world once again. The bruises and cuts all over his body, the result of the battle, proved it.

He ended up sprawled on the couch with a book and a cup of tea while waiting for the food to arrive and that was how you found him when you got home. He was distracted enough in his reading to not hear the sound of the door, but your sweet voice made his heart flutter.

"Hi there!" You greeted, leaving your purse and keys on the counter in the hallway and heading towards him. And god, you looked beautiful. A week without seeing you and somehow everything seemed different. Your belly, under a navy blue suit skirt and a white linen shirt, seemed to be bigger, your breasts seemed bigger too and there was a glow to your skin that definitely had something to do with the pregnancy. There was no way it was all in his head. You looked stunning.

"Thought you'd only be back by weekend." You said, coming closer and he sat on the couch, opening his arms to welcome you in them. "Look at those cuts! I hate to see you hurt, Stephen."

He sighed, feeling the delicate touch of your hand on his face and smiled reassuringly, "I'm fine. I also thought we'd only make it by the weekend, but we were lucky. Well, at least some of us were."

You frowned, letting yourself be pulled to sit on his lap. "What happened?"

"Two masters got seriously injured. I left them at the hospital and Christine said they both needed surgery."

"That's terrible." You replied, biting your lower lip and trying to hide it, but Stephen could clearly see your discomfort at the mention of Dr. Palmer's name.

"What is it?" He pressed and you gave in.

"You and Christine together. I know it's silly, especially given the circumstances, but I can't help but feel a bit  jealous."

He knew. In a way he even found it cute. "Don't be silly.” He said pinching your cheek. You have no idea how eager I was to come home and have you like this in my arms. Christine never meant anything to me, and this one I barely know."

You nodded we a sweet pout. "I know. I hope your friends will be okay."

He smiled, caressing your back absently. "Me too. Now, tell me, how are you? I don't know, you seem different from the last time we saw each other." He instinctively moved his hand down to your belly. Deep down, Stephen knew it was too early for you to feel anything yet. You were thirteen weeks pregnant and from what he had read, the baby's first movements wouldn't start until the sixteenth week, but he was anxious. Sometimes he seemed even more anxious than you.

You cupped his hand gently on top of your belly. "I'm fine. We're fine. The nausea has pretty much stopped now, but I still feel different all the time. I know it's the hormones, but I feel so needy and on top of that I'm hungry all the time and I've been craving sweets even more than usual." You confessed, pouting adorably, which made him smile.

"I think everything is normal then, and to be honest, I don't mind if you gain a few extra pounds." He teased, knowing full well that you would feel outraged by the comment.

"But I do mind!" You immediately shot back. "My clothes don't fit anymore and I'm not coping. Well, I admit I liked the fact that Supreme let me shop with my friends his card last week."

Defender chuckled in disbelief. "He really did that? How naive of him. Tell me at least you took advantage of the opportunity."

You nodded. "Very much. I even took the opportunity to buy you guys a gift. I thought I'd use it on a special night when the four of us are together."

Stephen moaned involuntarily. It was useless to try to pretend that he didn't love your nights together. He always had the most intense orgasms watching you with the other Stephens.

He lifted your chin and kissed you gently. "And what about... are they still happening?" He asked watching your face blush in delight. You knew exactly what he was talking about, but you just nodded. He had to insist on a precise answer. He couldn't stop thinking about it during all the days he was away from home. He needed to know what chances he had of being rewarded with it that night. "Last time you said you couldn't finish without it happening. Still the same?"

"Yes. It's a nightmare. I don't know why you guys like it so much!"

He smirked kissing you again this time a bit harder and feeling his body responding to the desire and the lack he felt for you with a prominent erection that he didn't try to hide. On the contrary, he took your hand and brought it to his hip making you feel it over the pajama pants he was wearing.

"Because it's not a common thing, baby. Most women can't squirt, it's something you see in movies, but we're lucky enough to have at home every night now." He explained, squeezing your hand around his painfully hard erection and finishing, "Feel what just talking about it does to me." He said burying his face in the crook of your neck and giving you pulse point a little kiss.

You felt your skin prickling, but hold his head in your hands making him look at you and nodded to make sure you understood. You cupped his cheek and pulled him to your lips and his lips parted instinctively, letting you dominate the kiss and an almost embarrassing moan escaped his throat, making you chuckle, but you broke the kiss and, against his will, got up from his lap.

"I'm very flattered that I got you so excited without any effort, but I need a shower and food first, baby."

"That's fair enough." Stephen agreed, reluctantly letting go of your hand. "I ordered food. It should be here any minute now."

You nodded, biting your lip. "Are you coming with me?"

Oh, he wanted it. But he knew it wasn't a good idea if all you wanted was company in the shower. He needed a lot more than that. "I won't let you shower if I go up now. But trust me, baby, I'll have you all to myself tonight. I deserve this much." He said, making his intentions for the night very clear before the other Stephens arrived. Defender wasn't usually jealous, and he didn't mind sharing, in fact he quite enjoyed it, but tonight, after a week without you, he didn't feel inclined to do so. Your squirting would be all for him.

"Okay. I'll be back in a minute." You said giggling as if you could read his mind.

The food arrived ten minutes later and he set up a tray for you to eat in the living room while watching TV. There was a new serial killer show on Netflix that had just been released and he knew you would enjoy watching it with him because it was your kind of thing, so he opened a bottle of red for him and got you a can of Coke, turned the lights down low and waited impatiently for you to come downstairs to join him.

Defender valued good taste. The table set beautifully, candles and all, but sometimes it was nice to keep things more informal and you liked that. In fact, he had a feeling that it was that informality that made you like your Stephen so much. Christ, at first, he wanted to die when he heard you refer to the Stephen from your universe that way. He was more used to it now, but the jealousy was there, even if he didn't show it as much as Supreme. Actually, he was great at not showing when things were bothering him and that was more of a flaw than a talent, but luckily for him, you were great at reading him.

He was finishing organizing everything when you came down wearing a tiny baby doll made of red satin and black lace. You smiled from ear to ear when you saw that you would be having dinner in the living room - just as he had predicted.

"I forgot to mention that I bought this too." You informed him, biting your lip and turning a little so he could see the whole thing. The top was made entirely of black lace, the neckline was generous and your pregnant breasts filled it out wonderfully. The shorts made of red satin had a high waist, but were short enough that he could see half of your cheeks adorned by the black lace hem.

"So, what do you think?" You asked, approaching him and he opened his arms, wrapping you in a tight hug, but his hands were quick to go down to your ass and give it a little squeeze.

"I think you look gorgeous, but that's nothing new. You always look beautiful to me." He said, kissing you sweetly.

"Hmm, always a flatterer. I love that about you, Defender Strange." You confessed between kisses, but then insisted, "But I'm specifically referring to my little outfit. You know I bought it with you in mind, don't you?"

Oh, he knew.  "Of course I do. Black and red.” He said with a proud smirk in his lips. “It's perfect. Very sexy, but delicate. Just like you. And the fact that you bought it for me using Supreme's money makes everything even better."

You chuckled, "It wasn't intentional! I just bought it. I didn't think about it that way when I did." You defended yourself, and then pointed out, "But he said I could buy whatever I wanted so... I kind of went crazy there. I bought a gorgeous Chanel purse too."

He laughed softly, and then lifted your chin to kiss you again, this time with more intensity, more tongue. Fuck, he missed you so much. Having you in his arms like that after the week he had was like heaven, but as a reminder that your food was waiting and getting cold, your stomach growled surprisingly loud which made both of you giggle.

"Food first." He gave in.

"I guess so. After all, now I'm eating for two." You said and he instinctively put his hand to your belly. It was still tiny, but a week had made a difference. It felt like a little ball right below your belly button that he could cup with his hand. It was firm and soft at the same time and feeling it made him feel in an inexplicable way. It was as if when he put his hand on your belly the pregnancy stopped being something abstract and became concrete. Real.

"I love it. I love our baby." He said resting his forehead on yours and watching you close your eyes and practically purr for him.

"I love it too. I feel so blessed to have it. This little part of you inside of me. Sometimes I think my heart is going to burst with joy."

He kissed your forehead lingeringly. "That's exactly how I'm feeling right now." He confessed, but then pulled away gently and sat on the couch. "Come on, let's eat."

You ate slowly while watching and commenting on the events on screen. You were particularly disappointed with the story, although you insisted that you were enjoying it.

"I thought they were serial killers like Jeffrey Dahmer, but they're the victims." You blurted out and then downed the rest of your Coke. "I mean, I'm enjoying the story, but I'd rather see serial killers killing people."

Stephen couldn't help but laugh. "Do you have any idea how creepy that sentence is?"

You smiled, placing your plate and glass on the coffee table. "Don't worry, baby, I would never kill you."

That made him laugh. He finished his glass and refilled it for the third time. "I appreciate that." He said, taking another long sip of his red. Defender didn't usually drink, but on some nights he would allow himself a few glasses to relax and that was exactly what he need most that night.

"They're kinda cute, though. Are we supposed to really hate them?" You asked, moving closer and snuggling close to him. He wrapped his arms around you and let you rest your head on his shoulder, giving you a little kiss on the top of your head. You were cute. Everything about you was so ridiculously adorable that Stephen found himself wondering how it was possible for someone to be so perfect. And he knew you weren't perfect because no one is, but even your flaws were adorable, even when you pissed him off you managed to make him love you more and more.

You interrupted his train of thought when you turned your head to look at him and caught him admiring you.

"I thought you’d fell asleep. You got quiet." You said and he smiled.

"I was thinking about how much I love you, and how I adore everything you do, everything you say." He admitted watching you blush subtly "And I think we can continue watching tomorrow because now I'm going to take you to my room and I'm going to make love to you over and over until you squirt all over me."

You giggled watching him steal the remote and turn off the TV.

"Sounds really good to me." You said.

Stephen practically dragged you to his room. He was counting the minutes until he could finally touch you the way he wanted and even though he was extremely anxious, he started by closing the door, gently holding your hand and directing you to his bed. There, he touched your face and kissed you. Your lips parted slowly allowing him to deepen the kiss and a sweet hum escaped your throat as he felt his chest warm with the sound.

You had been together for a long time, long enough for him to have gotten used to the feeling of having you in his arms, but still every time it made him feel like it was the first time.

His hands went down from your face to the sides of your body and he found himself groping at you, squeezing every inch of your waist, your hips, your buttocks, literally feeling you with his hands and instinctively grinding his hips against you like a fucking teenager. But that was how you made him feel sometimes, like he was totally inexperienced. Stephen had never loved before. Not the way he loved you.

But he was lucky enough to be sure that you were as crazy about him as he was about you. You had to be, there was no other explanation for you wanting three versions of him and besides, he could see it in every gesture, every word and more than that, in the physical reactions of your body when you were together. Like now, the way your breathing was faster with every hungry kiss you exchanged, the way your hands imitated his and searched his body and pulled him closer until you were glued to each other and the sweet and beautiful moans that escaped your throat as he delighted himself in you.

Impatiently, Stephen allowed himself to undress you. He started with the top of your little baby doll. His trembling fingers pulled the hem of your top up as you raised both arms allowing him to take it off. Immediately, he cupped one of your breasts and without holding back he lowered himself to take a nipple in his mouth. You moaned loudly and your hand grabbed his hair.  He could stay like that for hours, fondling your breast and sucking on your nipple, but after a minute he resisted the temptation and returned to his task.

"It's always a very difficult task to deviate the attention from them." He confessed vocalizing his thoughts, which made you giggle and instinctively grab your breasts and start playing with them.

"They're more sensitive now." You said biting your lower lip "And bigger. I like them like that."

He smirked, holding your chin with his index finger and thumb. "And you think I didn't notice that? Baby, that was the first thing I noticed when I laid eyes on you."

That made you giggle even harder, and the sound filled his ears like music. He continued with his mission, hooking his fingers in the waistband of your shorts and pulling them down in one go, helping you get rid of them and finally be naked for him. His lips searched for yours, but they didn't stop there. He continued giving little kisses on the side of your neck and on your shoulders and continued down until he reached your belly. He basked himself there, giving little kisses and cupping the little appendage with his hand, caressing it and trying to get used to everything it made him feel.

Stephen always thought that fatherhood would be something almost sacred, and indeed it was, but somehow he felt so dirty feeling his cock throb while he had his hand on your belly. Was that something normal? Did all fathers feel that way about their pregnant women?

"Shit." He cursed, reaching for his cock and squeezing it lightly to get some relief. "Baby, you have no idea how hard I am right now. It's almost painful."

You smiled proudly at him, tangling your fingers in his hair. "You're the one who's prolonging this."

"Because I want to worship you. You're like a goddess to me. I need to worship you first."

That made you blush and in a way it was cute to think that you were still shy around him. "And I'm still learning how the pregnancy makes me feel. Is it weird to get horny because of it?" He genuinely asked.

You shook your head. "Not really.  I found out it's quite common."

"The others..." He began, but you answered him immediately.

"Yes. They feel that way too." You replied smiling. "And so do I. I had a discovering recently with Supreme..." You stopped wondering if you should continue or not and he noticed.

"Tell me about it." He encouraged. Deep down he liked to hear you talk about your moments with the other Stephens. He even stopped finding it weird with time.

He watched you blush before answering.

"It was silly, but he called me mommy and it kind of made me... well, it made me feel something."

Defender smiled holding your chin "A beautiful mommy indeed." He teased and kissed you softly. You hummed in his lips, but placed both hands on his chest gently pushing him away and taking control for yourself.

"Let me take these clothes off." You said firmly grabbing the fabric of his shirt and pulling it off, leaving him only in his pants. You bit your bottom lip, and he watched with some pride the way your eyes feasted on him. Unable to contain yourself, you brought your hand to his chest, feeling the muscles beneath his warm skin. Your fingertips played with his nipples, making them hard and sensitive, and he couldn't help but tilt his head back and let out a soft moan when you took one of them into your mouth, sucking slowly and running the tip of your tongue over it.

Defender bit his lip hard to contain another moan when you moved to the other nipple, adding your teeth to the sum and you tsked, raising your eyes to look at him. "Let me hear you. I like to hear the sweet sounds you make, baby."

He nodded, tangling his fingers in your hair, pulling you back to his lips and begging. "Take me in your mouth, baby. I can't wait any longer."

You smiled mischievously at him, "Feeling impatient, are we?"

He nodded, "Please."

"Get comfy then." You asked and he sat up with his back supported by the pile of pillows. He watched as you opened and closed the nightstand drawer and tied your hair in a ponytail. When you turned your attention back to him, his cock was already throbbing under his pants and impatiently he snapped his fingers, getting rid of what was left of his clothes. You smirked but said nothing, just positioned yourself between his legs and took him in your hands. Stephen loved your touch. He loved that your hands were small and delicate and yet had such a firm and strong grip. He watched in wonder as you let a string of saliva fall from your lips to his tip and then slowly pumped him, making him wet. His eyes closed and he hit his head against the headboard. "Oh, that's right. So good."

You spat on his cock again and then took him into your mouth gently, swirling your tongue around his head slowly as your hands slid up and down. You knew exactly what worked for him. You knew he liked it slow, gentle and with the smallest of touches you could turn him into a moaning mess. You knew him so well.

"Fuck baby, little mouth feels so good." He praised and you hummed happily. One of the first things Stephen discovered about you was that you liked to be praised, and he never failed to use that to his advantage. "Such a good mommy taking my cook so perfectly." He said testing the word with you and you literally moaned into his cock.

You took him out of your mouth to breathe for a second and then went back to work determined to undo him completely. You took him all in your mouth this time going all the way down, taking him as much as you could without gagging and increasing the speed. The wet sound of his cock in your mouth was delicious and the sight of you on all fours sucking him was enough to make any man blow too quickly, but he was holding back as hard as he could.

"Baby, it feels so good, but I have to ask you to stop, don't wanna cum yet." He warned you.

But you took his words as a challenge apparently and even taking it out of your mouth you continued stroking slowly and took one of his balls in your mouth instead, sucking it delicately and making him see stars. He moaned loudly grabbing your hair harder than he should have, but you hummed in satisfaction and he knew very well that you were the one in control and he loved it.

"You want me to cum, don't you, baby? That's how you like it."

You hummed positively and he let go of the control indulging in his pleasure and taking his cock in his hand giving it a few strokes while you took turns sucking his balls. Unable to control himself, he held his cock by the base and lightly slapped it on your face. "Take it back in your mouth, love. Suck hard and make me cum. I know that's what you want. Wanna feel my warm cum in your mouth, right? Tell me you're going to swallow all of it."

You smiled satisfied with his dirty talk. Defender wasn't really into that, but that night you had made him extremely horny, and he just couldn't contain himself. Luckily you liked that, and he could see it in the way you rubbed your thighs together. He couldn't touch you, but he knew you were soaking wet, and he couldn't wait to be between your legs.

"Oh yeah" He moaned just from the thought and the delicious suction of your lips wrapped around his length. You twisted your hand at the base where you couldn't take him and started working with your tongue the way only you knew how to do and that made him buck his hips against your mouth to go even deeper. "Fuck yeah, baby. Don't stop. Just keep going. Keep sucking my dick just like that. Feels so good. So fucking good."

You moaned into his cock again and continued what you were doing masterfully and when he realized it he was moving your head on his dick completely lost in his own pleasure while feeling his balls getting tight. "Gonna cum, baby. Wanna take it in your mouth?" He asked, but before you could even answer he was spilling himself in your mouth. He couldn't help it.

"Oh shit! Take it baby, take all of it. F-fuck yeah."

And that's exactly what you did. Taking him proudly in your mouth without wasting any of it. You sucked him until he finished giving you the last drop and then took him out of your mouth with a proud little smile.

"Delicious" You praised crawling to his arms and kissing him gently, but he was far from satisfied and in one quick move he laid you down on the bed and came on top of you spreading your legs with his hips and kissing you hard.

"You're amazing, do you know that?" He said making you giggle.

"Well, if you say so..." But he interrupted you with another kiss, bringing two fingers into your folds.

"Shit, look at this! Aren't you ashamed of being all wet like this just from having my cock in your mouth?"

You bit your lip and shook your head.

"No? I know. You're dirty, aren't you, baby?"

"Just for you." You replied and he muffled a giggle of his own on your neck making your skin prickle with the sound and the rubbing of his beard in your sensitive skin. He penetrated you with his fingers gently making you moan and nibbled on your earlobe.

"For me and Stephen and Supreme." He teased while moving his fingers in and out of you.

"Yes" You confirmed nodding your head watching him kneel between your legs and smear the tip of his already completely hard cock with your slick and direct it at your entrance.

"Then tell me how much you want me, baby. Ask me to fuck you the way you ask them to."

You moaned lifting your hips desperately searching for him. "Please, Steph, fuck me. Want you so badly. Need your cock inside me. My body is filled with this need for you. Please."

Stephen moaned loudly entering you with a single hard and deep thrust and you wrapped your legs around his hips, your nails immediately biting into the skin of his back. It didn't matter that you had three Stephens, it was as if your body never got used to the intensity of pleasure they gave you and Defender loved that. He love how desperate you always were for him.

Desperately, he sought your lips and kissed you with the same voracity with which he thrusted against you. He was yours and he loved letting you take control, but that night there was something in him that sought dominance, he needed to take you, mark you, exert his power over you in a way that would satisfy that urge for possession and that's what he did. Thrust after thrust, barely letting you breathe between the heated and hungry kisses while his hands sought your body, be it your breasts, your thighs, it didn't matter, he just needed to grope and squeeze every inch of your body.

You didn't seem to mind his sudden change in behavior, in fact he knew that you liked it, that you felt as much pleasure in being dominated as you felt in dominating. For that reason it didn't take long for him to feel your walls fluttering around him. You were close.

"Oh baby, I love it when you squeeze me like that, but it makes it hard for me to hold back. I don't want to cum yet."

You moaned, searching for his lips and kissing him softly, giving a light bite to his lower lip. "I can't help it. Cock feels so good."

He smiled, but against his will he pulled out slowly to which you protested with a whimper.

"Turn around. Get on your hands and knees for me." He asked and that was exactly what you did, hoping he would penetrate you again, but Stephen had other plans. He was dangerously close to the limit and wanted to make it last so instead of giving you his cock, he used three fingers, slowly penetrating you with them and increasing the pace as your hips moved against his hand and your moans got louder.

"Oh shit, Stephen, feels so good. Oh god, don't stop!" You begged and he smirked in satisfaction despite the familiar discomfort in the nerves of his hand. He was determined to ignore the pain caused by the incurable injury to his hands if the reward was to see you completely lose yourself in your pleasure like that while you moved against his fingers and moaned pornographically.

Defender had never liked porn exactly for the exaggerated moans, but when you moaned for him like that it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard in the world because he knew you weren’t pretending.

"Fuck baby... gonna make me cum. I can't..." You whined but he continued his assault on your hole, finger fucking you with deliberate desperation and gave your ass a light squeeze.

"Don't hold back, baby. You know what I want. Give it to me." He teased and your legs trembled as your walls contracted around his fingers again. You liked it when he talked to you like that and so he kept coaxing you to reach your climax.

"Come on baby, let go for me. You're going to wet the bed for me, aren't you? You know I want it, I've been thinking about it all this time. Be a good mommy and squirt for me."

And so you did it. You moaned even louder this time and your legs shook with the intensity of your orgasm as hot liquid squirted from your pussy wetting the bed and coating his hand beautifully.

"There you go. So beautiful, baby." He praised removing his fingers from inside you and taking them to his mouth, sucking on them until he tasted all of that wonderful nectar. "And you still ask why we like it so much."

You just moaned softly, letting your legs give way and lying face down on the mattress. But he still wasn't satisfied with you and without warning he entered you again going deep and staying there, feeling you contract around him, squeezing him and enveloping him in your wonderful warmth.

"I never get tired of being inside you, baby. You're so warm and so wet. Feels so good, oh shit." He moaned while fucking you with slow and sensual thrusts now.

You moaned against the mattress, "Steph... please. It's too much."

"No baby don't say you're tired already. I still need you." He begged grabbing the headboard with one hand and continued thrusting slowly but maintaining the same intensity, seeking his release with an almost primitive determination. He could feel his balls tightening, the familiar heat rising up his hips and accumulating in the pit of his stomach. He was close. All he needed was a little push.

"Talk to me. Make me cum." He found himself begging as he buried his face in the crook of your neck, inhaling the delicious scent of your hair as he fought for air, breathing heavily.

You moaned softly, face pressed against the mattress. "F-fuck baby, you fuck me so good. Tell me you're gonna cum inside me. Gonna make me yours."

Defender closed his eyes and focused on your voice as his thrusts became more erratic. He was so close now.

"I know you missed me, baby. All these days working and knowing the other Stephens were fucking me at home, but now you're here. Mark me as yours, fill me with your cum and leave me dripping, smelling like you so they know."

Defender came. An almost guttural groan escaped his lips as he forced himself against you and filled you with his seed. He had so much to give you that he was sure if you weren't already pregnant, he would have knocked you up. And the idea was delicious.

"S-shit... take it baby. Oh, so fucking good. My baby feels so fucking good." He rasped.

You were surprised by Defender's dominant behavior, but you couldn't deny that you had loved every second of it. Apparently, the pregnancy was doing things with all of you. It took him a minute to pull out and roll over on the bed and when he did you immediately snuggled into his arms. His cheeks were slightly pink probably from realizing everything he had said and done that night.

"Are you okay?" He asked stroking your arm slowly up and down. "I was a little rough, wasn't I?"

You nodded "I'm fine. I like it."

The corner of his lips curved into a smile. "You did this to me. The pregnancy made me..."

"I know." You said cupping his cheek. Your faces so close that you could feel his warm breath on your cheeks. "That's what it does to us. It must be the hormones, I don't know, but I'm enjoying it as much as you guys are."

He cocked his head up to kiss you and you felt yourself melting in his arms. His gentle and caring way showing again.

"Let's just enjoy the ride. We still have six months of this." You said finally.

He hummed contentedly, "Let's hope they pass really slowly. I'm definitely not in a rush."

“Neither do I.”

Reblog please! Leave a comment if you liked it. Interact! I will love to read all of your comments and opinions. It inspires me to keep writing!

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[zephyr-ro-emenki]

Ok, I have 3 days of RBH's to make and post today to make up for me missing the past 2 days. So, let's hit the road!

Random Batfam Headcanon's #22: The Adoption Habit Trilogy!

The Batkids have unknowingly inherited Bruce's patent for Adopting things, but the things they adopt are vastly different.

Dick: he has a bad (or sometimes good) Habit of Adopting new hobbies and interests at the flip of a dime. This is most likely just his old circus lifestyle + his ADHD catching up to him in his older years, but he can't keep still or do any 1 career for too long without it being monotonous. The only exception is Vigilantism because each night is vastly different than the night before.

Barbara: Babs has the habit of adopting the many regulars at Gotham Library as under her protection like Jason with Crime Alley.

Jason: He, ironically enough (and never let Jason or Bruce hear this), is the most like Bruce, because his adoption habit is ALSO towards traumatized orphan Kids (and normal kids with a little bit of a sad life. We don't judge), except he's set his scope a lot smaller than Bruce's in that he tries to limit his range to just Crime Alley. Of course he fails spectacularly and has a small caballe of International Children he's picked up on missions living together in Crime Alley, always having their various apartments directly across the street from his most secure Safe Houses. He also has an inexplicably near-complete collection of every variant of Jane Austin Novels.

Tim: Tim Collects Photos and used Coffee Cups. Does he also only save those coffee cups so he can extract the persons DNA into a vast database of his so that he may clone any of the Batfam (or all of humanity if needed) in case of world disaster events? Don't worry about it :)

Steph: Steph is probably the most normal when it comes to her Adoption/Collection because she has a very vast collection of random knickknacks that she's found or acquired over the years.

Cass: Cass has been testing out her sowing skills alot and so has conducted her own small game at her apartment in Korea (not that she doesn't bring it home to Gotham with her). And that's the fact that she's begun swiping up damaged bits of everyone's costumes after fights, and just random weapons or costume parts that the Batfam leave around the Manor, and she takes them back to Korea to stitch all the random pieces back together into her own version of the Batcave's suit display cases. So far the only suit she hasn't been able to start is Barbara's Batgirl suit design, but even then she's looking at that display case every time she's visiting like Indiana Jones trying to steal that golden statue.

Damian: Damian, Being both Bruce's direct blood relative and being raised by the Eco-Terrorists that are the LOA, adopts any random animals he can find, especially those that have naturally occurring Bat Shaped Birth Marks.

Duke: Duke is the kind of Whippersnapper to collect indie Rap mixtapes. You know, the ones from up and coming rappers who stand outside a 7/11 trying to sell anyone their debut mixtape for only $9. He has a pretty vast collection.

[sophelisticated]

(Edited 1/7/25, changed from “Grand Librarian” to “Divine Astro” (aka Divine Astrologist)) (Also added more details on how the Moth Colony works!! 🤍)

Little moth oc! Her name is Mothi!

This is an insert for The Rehabilitation of Death/my own au called Cult Of The Stars

In my cotl au, some species has its own colony. ____________________________________

Moth Colony’s Backstory

Moths had their own colony, and were sworn enemies with butterflies. butterflies worshiped the sun, and moths worshiped the moon.

Moths were famous for making the most beautiful clothing and accessories, anything with silk. They were one of the richer colonies for this reason. (Silk comes out of moth’s stomach scales and wrists, easier to use while sewing.)

They had an infamous reputation for their love of books and history, along with their clothes making. For these reasons, the leaders of Moth Colonies were Divine Astro’s (Divine Astrologist) and Supreme Seamstresses. Divine Astros were always male and Supreme Seamstresses were always female.

Ordinary commoner males have one primary job they usually work as;

Astronomer

Ordinary commoner females have one primary job they usually work as;

Tailors

Being crowned a Divine Astro or a Supreme Seamstress doesn’t mean king and queen. Both the Astro and the Seamstress do not have to be wed or in a relationship to rule together.

Additionally, being crowned alters the hormones and dna in the system of the moth, which makes the moth gain many positive attributes to their physical properties.

Traits and physical changes + their role in the colony include:

Supreme Seamstress:

Able to produce 10x more silk

Faster sewing rate

More creative clothing ideas

Oversees all clothing being made that isn’t being made by her

Produces eggs 4x the amount

Basically a queen ant or a queen bee

Extremely slower growth rate, longer life

Divine Astrosologists:

Able to produce 10x more silk

Makes silk paper 10x faster for books

An Astrologist, Astronomer, and Diviner

Binds books with own special threads to make them extremely strong

Oversees all astrological books being made

Oversees all astrological books in library

Able to tweak the details in the books as they see fit

Extremely slower growth rate, longer life

Divine Astro & Supreme Seamstress’s responsibilities:

Divine Astrologist:

Astrologist, Astronomer, Diviner.

Creates star maps.

Leads most Constellation Worship Congregations.

Manages shipments from other colonies.

In charge of punishing dissenters and problematic behavior.

In charge of money, trading, finance, construction.

Leads sacrificial worship. (A very rare practice that moths only use when the colony is at its lowest.)

Crowns new Supreme Seamstresses or Divine Astros

Predicts the past, present, and future using the stars and divination

Supreme Seamstress:

Creates and sews luscious star-themed clothing.

Leads some Constellation Worship Congregations.

In charge of wedding, death, and birth Ceremonies.

Blesses newborns, elderly, and sickly.

Sometimes cooks heavenly dinnertime meals on very rare occasion. (An ancient recipe, somehow able to heal almost all viruses from a moth’s body…)

Helps needlewomen with better ideas for sewing

In charge of leading military attacks. (89% success rate compared to Divine Astrologist’s 45%)

Crowns new Supreme Seamstresses or Divine Astros

Works, trades, and deals with other colonies to get sheep wool, web, hemp, cotton, bamboo, camel wool, alpaca wool, cork, leather, flax, ramie, etc. etc.

Moths worked with the lambs the most, combining wool and silk to make lush and higher quality clothing to sell and wear. And the moths helped try to evacuate the lambs when the mass murder was occurring, and sadly, that’s how Mothi’s mother, a Supreme Seamstress, lost her life. With no father to account for, Mothi was now orphaned.

____________________________________

Mothi’s Backstory

At a young age (4 years normally, 12 in moth years (since moths have a shorter lifespan when ordinary and not a Supreme Seamstress or a Divine Astro. Kinda like how a queen bee lives longer than regular bees)), Mothi was crowned a Supreme Seamstress. Too young to make eggs to expand the colony, a Supreme Seamstress from another colony made a deal to supply eggs for both colonys until Mothi reached a mature age to safely make eggs of her own.

Sadly, 3 years later, both colonies were hit with a surprise attack from a large Butterfly Colony. This killed thousands in both Moth Colonies, killing both the Divine Astros from the 2 Colonies and the Supreme Seamstress that helped provide to both Moth Colonies. Mothi fled with her life.

Because Mothi was crowned a Supreme Seamstress, had a slower growth rate. For the next 35 years, she lived on her own. Unable to find another Moth Colony to join. She was now 14.

She had found a beautiful gold necklace once during her journey, dropped by a pony who was traveling back to an odd looking colony that had many different species. Stealing it, Mothi ran off with it around her neck, unaware that she had now stopped aging from the necklace.

Thousands upon thousands of years pass.

At one point, the necklace was stolen from her from a very rude starfish. But Mothi couldn’t catch them again. So she got older without the necklace, her growth rate still slowed from her being crowned Supreme Seamstress all those millennia ago.

At one point, another hundred and five years later, at the age of 17, gets caught by cultists who store her in a house, planning to kill her for an old bishop named Kallimar. She remembers that name from the history books she used to read during the day, when everyone else was asleep, because of their nocturnal nature.

Building collapsing, broken ribs, fainting. Gentle words and fluffy wool. Mothi hadn’t remembered the last time she had felt wool, but it felt magnificent.

And a familiar face. A black cat with three eyes. The moths were fond of Death long ago. And Mothi could never forget that face.

____________________________________

Mothi eventually becomes a seamstress for The Lamb, finally finding a ‘colony’. The Lamb does have to do many quests for Mothi to find how to make a medicine to help Mothi’s abundant silk production. The silk can be used for clothes, but because she was technically still a Supreme Seamstress, the amount that Mothi made was too much.

In the years between the ages 17 to 18–about 17.5 years for Mothi’s slow Supreme Seamstress growth—there is a period where young Supreme Seamstresses’s and Grand Librarian’s hormones go wild, and make too much silk for their body to handle. Kinda like a menstrual cycle? But it’s for silk.

(Again, silk comes out of the stomach scales and the wrists!!)

(Sickos /jk)

ME WHEN… ME WHWN THE VOICES THE VOICES

You can find the writing I did for Lamb and Narinder from The Rehabilitation of Death by @bamsara meeting Mothi rightttt

HERE

[cal-daisies-and-briars]

OOOOOOOOO NEW EMOJI❣️❣️❣️❣️

⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️

🏔🏔🏔🏔🏔🏔🏔🏔🏔🏔🏔🏔🏔🏔🏔

🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮🦮

HEY! <3

As you know, TWATK is complete, but here are the rest <3

45 for 🗻:

---

The thought is pretty exciting, actually. He finds himself excited to see little pieces of Buck in another human. Hell, he’s seen them start to develop in Chris, over the years. So a kid with fifty percent Buck DNA? That’s gotta come with some considerable personality quirks. Meant adoringly, of course. 

“Mm,” Maddie shakes her head as she finishes chewing a bite of food. ‘Buck’s thing at that age was jokes. He’d memorize joke books from the library and try them on everyone he encountered.”

Eddie snorts. “Why am I not surprised?”

“So what you’re saying is,” Buck points a fork at her playfully. “I am now, and have always been, a naturally gifted comedian?”

Maddie frowns. “I don’t think I said that.”

“I don’t think anyone would say that,” Chim adds.

Christopher laughs brightly. He’s at the age where he doesn’t always engage in conversations; preferring his phone and his friends. Eddie is happy to see him involved, even a little bit. They’ve been sort of isolated from their family since Eddie brought Chris back to Los Angeles. It’s been confusing Chris, for sure. He loves his grandparents. He doesn’t understand why they were so angry about Eddie and Chris reconnecting, or Chris going home. They’ve been sort of cold to him since - a lesson Eddie never wanted Chris to learn. 

Thankfully, Maddie and Chim heard the situation, and immediately started treating Christopher like he’d been their nephew all along. Birthday gifts, open invitations to whatever family things they do, genuine interest when they ask him questions. Eddie is really fucking grateful for them. 

It is in the middle of Eddie appreciating Christopher’s burst of laughter, that Buck reaches for his phone in his pocket. He reads it, and his face goes pale.

“Oh, come on,” Chim teases him. “Don’t look so sad. If you try standup, we’ll only heckle you a little.”

“Uh, no…” Buck mumbles. “I-I have to go.”

Eddie straightens in his chair. “Baby?”

Buck nods. “Yeah. Text just says I should probably come to the hospital now.” 

“Oh my god, go!” Maddie insists. “Go, go, go. Don’t worry, we’ll drive Eddie and Chris home.”

---

111 for 🦮:

---

“Alright,” Eddie laughs. “Alright, enough. You’ll rip it. Out. Drop it.”

Out is when you’re going to give it back to her, drop it is when she’s never going to get it back again, Buck’s voice runs through his head. 

“Drop it,” Eddie repeats.

Cranberry stills and opens her jaw reluctantly, spitting out the band. She looks rather put out to stop her mischief.

“Menace,” he says to her, examining the band. 

Eddie examines the band. There is a tooth puncture. 

“You owe me,” he tells her. “Gonna have to take it out of your kibble allowance.”

She wags her tail again, a little slower. 

Eddie crumples up the band and sits on the floor beside her. She crawls onto his lap and lays down flat. Eddie pets her in long, gentle strokes, from the top of her skull, down her spine, to her tail.

He’s spent the past few therapy sessions around one central discussion. That it has taken him a month to feel any sort of relief. Any sort of appreciation or gratitude for his life. It’s not that he was disappointed that he didn’t die. Obviously not that. But he spent weeks waiting to feel glad he didn’t, and he couldn’t summon that. His therapist said that that’s normal. That lots of people who go through trauma experience this sort of thing. That it doesn’t make him ungrateful or a bad partner or father. That as long as he keeps working on it, slowly, it’ll come back to him. Even if some of this experience will always be with him. 

And here he is now. On the floor with Cranberry, exhausted and sore and feeling like he’s been put on a stretching rack, but happy. Glad. Amused, even. 

Cranberry takes a big breath. He can feel her heartbeat on his legs. 

“It’s a good thing I didn’t die,” he whispers to the dog. 

🦮🦮🦮

Later that afternoon, Eddie picks Chris up from school. Buck gets home not long after the two of them. Eddie has already started getting stuff ready for dinner. He’s experiencing a weird and unexpected burst of energy. 

“Hey,” Buck says cautiously, walking into the kitchen. “How was your day?”

“Good,” Eddie smiles, crossing the space to kiss him hello. “You?”

Buck just sort of stares at him. “Uh…”

“Not good?” Eddie frowns. “Something happen?”

“No, no,” Buck shakes his head. “Uh, work was fine. Your day was good?”

“Yeah!” Eddie confirms. “But your dog put a hole in my resistance band, and I don’t go back to physio for four more days, so if I have permanent shoulder issues, we’re blaming the golden retriever.”

“Wow, uh. Sorry about that, but-”

“It’ll be fine,” Eddie dismisses it. “Do you know my shoulder is doing well enough to play a quick game of tug with physiotherapy equipment?”

Buck laughs a little breathlessly. “I’m so glad you had a good day.”

And Eddie just… He sees it. He sees it all in Buck’s eyes. The weeks and weeks of worrying. Of wondering. Of feeling powerless but being a stalwart caregiver nonetheless. A new little spark of hope, that things are getting better. 

Eddie steps forward and hugs him. Both arms. As tight as his injured shoulder can handle. 

“I love you,” he says. “And I don’t say thank you enough.”

“I love you, too,” Buck says, squeezing him back. “You don’t have to thank me, though. We have each other’s backs. Always, right?”

“Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t hear how much I appreciate it,” Eddie says. 

Buck takes a deep breath. “Thank you.”

vi.

If you charted Eddie’s good day to bad day ratio after that, it wouldn’t look very impressive. At least not at first. He doesn’t just hit a corner and cheer up. But it does go from every day being bad, to sometimes, he has a good day to punctuate the streak. A few more weeks and it begins to feel more even. And then, slow and agonizingly, Eddie is baseline okay to good more often than not. 

He goes back to work. Light duty. Boring stuff, but not nothing. He feels useful again. He feels like he can spend his brain’s still incomplete tank of mental energy on something other than himself and his shit. Which is good. He feels clearer. Less bogged down. 

By the time he’s getting ready to recertify, and get back to his work, he’s decided. No more waiting for a nebulous better. No more waiting for what feels like an appropriate amount of time post-Shannon to pass. Eddie is ready now.  He wants to ask Buck to marry him. He’s going to do it. Because life is fucking short and unpredictable and Eddie is happy to be here to get the chance to do something he almost missed out on.

[sjsmith56]

Snowfall, Part 4 - Encounter

Summary: Over the next 10 days Bucky and Leia develop a routine that allows them to live normally. A fire alarm at the apartment building sets the stage for a showdown.

Length: 4.2 K

Characters: Bucky, Leia, Burnham, purse snatcher, stalker.

Warnings: Emotional turmoil, realization that the stalker is determined.

Author notes: FBI profiles are rarely static as new evidence can cause the authorities to redo them several times. Even then, too much emphasis may be placed on certain facets of the profile sending them looking in the wrong places.

<<Part 3

In the 10 days since the last letter was received and Leia revealed her little brother's tragic death, the FBI team redid the profile of the suspected stalker.  With the new information about the other half-siblings, at first expected to identify the stalker, it now pointed towards someone who knew Leia's real identity, someone with a clear sense of superiority, and was possibly related, but unconfirmed at this time.  It sent the investigation in a different direction that felt like a waiting game to Bucky and Leia.

The three known half-siblings, one older brother, one younger brother and one younger sister were under surveillance as their backgrounds were being checked but so far there was no indication they were involved.  All were married, with children, were gainfully employed, and well regarded in their communities.  None of them seemed to know about the others or about Leia; none of them belonged to an ancestry website or had registered with an agency that found birth parents.  Although their original birth registrations listed Leia's father as their biological father, two of the three were legally adopted at a young age by their mother's eventual husband and their official birth records changed to reflect that.  The third, whose mother was with Leia's father at the time of her brother's death, had initially drawn the most suspicion but a sample of his handwriting didn't match the stalker's handwriting at all. 

That left the possibility that the stalker was an as yet undiscovered half-sibling, his or her birth father either unspecified or named as someone else on the birth registration.  A DNA sample from Leia was prepared for comparison with ancestry websites that used such evidence to determine familial relationships, but that process took time.  It was frustrating but there was little recourse.

With an early winter fully ensconced in the Tri-state area, Bucky and Leia were committed to their burgeoning love affair.  Living together in the apartment was still in its honeymoon phase for the couple.  Their daily routine involved breakfast together, often cooked by Bucky, then Leia would write for a few hours, using the notes she placed in her phone app during the day.  Bucky would read, or lay on the couch with wireless headphones on, listening to 30s and 40s music; Alpine often curled up on his chest.  Lunch was usually undertaken at a small cozy bistro with windows steamy from the interior warmth colliding against the cold panes of glass that looked out on the wintry street.  They spent one afternoon shopping; with Bucky trying to get some Christmas presents for Sam and his family.  He even managed to get Leia a present by convincing Pepper Stark to pick up a necklace that she admired, relaying the amount to her via a money app.   The other afternoons were spent seeing several attractions that New York had to offer: the Empire State Building, the Museum of Modern Art, and the main branch of the New York Public Library.  It was all new to Leia, and Bucky loved seeing the city through her eyes.

Dinner was something they worked on together, or had takeout food delivered to them, courtesy of the food delivery service that had been previously vetted.  So far, their handful of evenings together had been quiet, watching a movie on TV, or listening to music together, sometimes dancing in the living room with the coffee table pushed out of the way.  That activity had led to early evenings in bed, exploring the physical relationship that had developed quickly between them and showed no signs of burning out.

When they were out, they were always aware of one or more of the FBI agents tailing them, without them being intrusive.  With Bucky wearing an earpiece that kept him in constant communication with the team, it helped to quickly identify and discount various individuals who seemed to give Leia too much attention.  It also proved invaluable on the day that someone snatched Leia's purse.  As they were on a crowded street, a person jostled her, causing her to be pushed away from Bucky.  He saw a flash of a box cutter, pulled her towards him and away from the potential weapon, then watched with disbelief as a man slashed through the shoulder strap of her purse, sliding it off and running through the crowds back in the direction they came, straight towards two of the FBI agents.

"Purse snatcher," he signalled to the other three, unwilling to leave her alone.  "Grey hoodie, black jeans, 6 feet tall, 180 lbs."

"Got him," replied Burnham.  "Not today buddy."

Seconds later the guy was down on the pavement, flat on his back, as pedestrians stepped around him while Burnham and DaSilva held their guns on him.  Bucky and Leia joined them moments later, and waited for the police, already called by Schultz.  As they waited, Bucky scanned the crowded sidewalk, ever vigilant, sensing something that didn't seem right about this crime of opportunity.  A man, wearing a navy-blue winter coat and a black beanie deliberately turned away from the scene, then looked back and smirked at the super soldier before turning away again.  It was a very deliberate movement from a bystander, and he couldn't ignore it.

"Stay here," he ordered Leia.  "I'll be right back."

Burnham immediately stood next to her, nodding at Bucky that he had her.  Wading through the mass of people on the crowded sidewalk, Bucky kept the person in sight, as he was led away from the scene.  Approaching a stairwell down into the subway, the person dropped out of sight and Bucky hurried towards the stairs, running down them.  With people streaming past him, he climbed on top of the gate to look at those already inside the paid area.  Just as he spotted the man, a transit officer challenged Bucky to get down. 

"I'm on a case," he answered, keeping his eyes on the suspect.

"Don't care, get off the gate."

With a huff, Bucky jumped down and went back up the stairs.  He stopped at the top and looked around again as that sense came back to him.  Scanning the busy intersection carefully, he noticed something at the other entrance to the subway station, set diagonally across the large crossing space.  The man was at the top of the stairs, watching Bucky intently.  He must have jumped across the tracks below and gone up the stairs that led from the other platform.  For a moment, the super soldier considered running across, but it would have caused a disruption in traffic that could have led to an accident.  It occurred immediately to him that the man wanted just that, creating a diversion that would keep Bucky occupied.  Without taking his eyes off of him, he pulled his phone out, then held it up as if he was going to take a picture.  The man disappeared down the stairs, suddenly camera shy.  It didn't matter.  Bucky saw enough of him to commit his appearance to memory.  As he made his way back to the others, he wondered if the man was testing their response to any physical action taken against Leia.  The more he thought about it, the more he realized he was right.

"Damn, it was a setup," he thought, straining to see them as he got closer to the scene. 

When he did finally get them in view, with Leia seeming to be lit by the sun’s reflection from a pane of glass, the would-be purse snatcher was leaning sullenly against a building.  Without hesitation, Bucky picked him up by the neck raising him above their heads, his intent clearly evident.

"Who paid you to steal her purse?"

"Can't breathe," stammered the man, his hands on Bucky's hand, frantically trying to pry it off.  "Stop, please."

"Bucky," said Burnham, quietly, leaning in close.  "You're attracting attention.  Put him down."

Breathing heavily, he loosened his grip, lowering his hand so the man was standing on the sidewalk but still kept his hand resting on the thief's throat.  Then he leaned forward, until his mouth was at the man's ear.

"I could snap your neck and walk away with a clear conscience."  He could feel the fear his words brought out of the man.  "Answer yes or no."  The man nodded.  "You were paid to steal her purse." Yes. "It was a man in a navy-blue coat and black beanie." Yes.  "Have you ever seen him before today?" No. "Now you're going to answer with words.  How did he know you were a thief?"

The purse thief turned his head to look at Bucky, who had pulled back slightly.  What the man saw must have frightened him even more because he nodded his head.

"I picked his pocket a couple of hours ago.  Just as I was opening his wallet, he put something in my back and said to keep walking until we made it to an alleyway.  He said not to look at him while he took his wallet back.  I thought he was going to kill me.  Instead, he offered me a grand to steal her purse; gave me the money right there and showed me a picture of her on his phone.  That red coat stands out so she would be an easy mark, and he said she often walks with a big guy, you.  He had a picture of you, too.  That's all I know, mister.  It's the honest truth.  Please don't kill me."

"You still have the money?"

"Yeah, yeah, in my wallet," said the guy, reaching towards his pocket but stopped by Burnham who patted him down from the side and took the wallet himself, putting a glove on first.

"Fingerprints," said Burnham, holding the wallet up.  Bucky nodded.  "Good thinking."

At the police station a short time later, while the thief was being processed, they were in an office with the station's captain, who was made aware of the stalker.

"It was a setup," scowled Bucky.  "He was testing us, led me to the subway trying to get me onto the platform.  I didn't take the bait and came up the stairs.  He was across the intersection at the top of the other entrance, watching me, almost daring me to come get him.  Tall, pale skin, blue eyes.  No hair visible as he wore a beanie.  He knows Leia has a security detail, and his next move will likely be to separate her from us."

"Did you see enough of him to talk to a sketch artist?" asked the station captain.  Bucky nodded.  "Okay, get that done and we'll put out a notice on him.  Let us take it from here."  Bucky glared at him.  "Look, I have no doubt that you can handle it.  Hell, I know what you and Captain America did for the city with the Flag Smashers, but you have no authority here."

"Actually, he does," said Burnham.  "He's on secondment with the FBI.  Since the stalker originally sent letters to Ms. Dunn in another state, that makes it federal jurisdiction.  I'm not trying to overstep any boundaries, Captain.  We did call you in to take the thief into custody, but Sergeant Barnes is more than capable of handling himself in this case.  We cooperate and maybe together we can get this guy."

Reluctantly, he agreed, and the sketch artist came in to get Bucky's description of the man in the beanie.  Leia sat next to him, knowing her presence helped him, and hoping that what they produced would show her a face she knew.  When the artist applied the finishing touches he showed the picture to her, but she shook her head. 

"No, there's no resemblance to my dad and I don't recognize him.  If he's from my original hometown, I wouldn't have known him as an adult and I saw so many people at the farmer's market where I lived when I was trying to sell the book myself, that they all just blurred together after a while.  I mean I didn't even recognize that Edward guy and I posed for a picture with him."

She was disappointed and sat back in the chair, feeling like they had wasted everyone's time.  The artist excused herself, while Bucky took Leia's hand.

"It's alright," he smiled.  "It's been a tough day but at least I know the face now."  She smiled, then leaned towards him for a kiss.  Just as they touched lips, he pulled back.  "You wouldn't have known him as an adult because you left your hometown when you were 12 years old.  What if you only knew him as a kid, maybe a friend or a classmate, of either yourself or your brother?"  He stood up, pulling her up with him.  "They can make someone in a picture look younger using a computer program now, can't they?"

"Yeah."  She realized what he was implying.  "They can make that sketch look like a kid.  There must be yearbooks from when I was in school.  We can compare the de-aged sketch to the yearbooks, so we get a name, right?"

With a smile, Bucky placed both hands on her cheeks, and kissed her intensely before looking at her with admiration.

"Right."

Sharing their insight with Burnham and the police captain produced a flurry of activity as the school district in Leia's hometown was contacted.  They did have a selection of yearbooks from the various schools and would make them available by the following day.  As the sketch was scanned and fed into the computer program that could render it at different ages, Bucky and Leia waited.

"Do you really think he's going to try again?" she asked.  "He must know that with you seeing him, you'll find out who he is."

"Yeah, but maybe that's what he wants.  I think this started out as a way to threaten you.  Since this most recent incident I get the feeling that he's playing with us.  He didn't seem afraid of me, that's for sure."

Burnham came in then, carrying several sheets of paper.

"Here they are," he said.  "The suspect as he might have looked at 6 years of age, 10 years of age and 15 years of age."

Leia took them and looked at the top image, the teenage one.  She shook her head, then looked at the 10-year-old and 6-year-old side by side.  She could feel her heart in her throat as she saw the face of a boy she hadn't seen since Mikey died.

"He lived next door to us," she said, recalling her neighbour.  "Mitchell Morrison.  Everyone called him Itchy because he had eczema and was always scratching his skin.  The really mean kids would say it was cooties or lice.  I didn't like him because he was always staring at me through the fence.  It gave me the creeps.  He liked Mikey, even though he was younger.  They played with Lego a lot.  He can't be my brother.  My dad didn't pay attention to him at all." 

She dropped the sheets and sobbed.  Bucky looked up at Burnham, who picked up the sheets and left, leaving him to comfort her.  Taking her hands in his, he kissed them, then pulled her up to stand as he hugged her. 

"Do you want to go?" he asked.  "I don't think they need us any longer."

She nodded and stayed in the room as Bucky stepped out to tell the three agents he was taking Leia home.  When he returned, he helped her on with her coat, making sure her scarf covered her throat, then helping her button it up and doing up the belt.  He frowned at the plastic bag they gave her to transfer her belongings into instead of her purse as it was now evidence.

"I'll get you a new one," he said, as he opened the door for her.

"You don't have to," she answered.  "I have others at home."

Burnham was waiting for them in the hallway.

"I was going to hail a taxi," said Bucky. 

"Nope, not after what happened today," said the FBI agent.  "I'm driving you, as usual."

He was emphatic on the need for them to keep to the protocol, and Bucky wasn't inclined to argue with him.  If Morrison was the stalker, he got too close today.  If he wasn't the stalker, then they needed to know why he targeted Leia and Bucky.  The FBI agents would do their part now, using the resources of the agency in cooperation with the local police to find the man.  Bucky's job hadn't changed; to be Leia's personal bodyguard.

"We're going to find him," said Burnham, once they were on their way.  "Once we confirm his identity and get it out to all law enforcement agencies, he won't be able to hide anymore." 

"I still don't think I'm related to him." 

He looked at Leia through the rear-view mirror. 

"Profiles are at most 80% accurate, so we may have got that wrong, but it was based on that most recent letter when he referred to your brothers.  You just provided more information that added to the profile of the suspect Morrison.  It's a process and I think there's much more to explore there."

She squeezed Bucky's hand as she kept looking out the window, still bothered that the man who wrote those filthy letters to her was someone she had known as a child.  Mikey's death changed her by exposing her to deep emotions that found their way into her writing.  It had changed Morrison into someone dangerous.  The same incident created two different outcomes. 

By the time they got to the building, it was dark, and Leia had a headache.  She waited for Bucky at the security door, as he unlocked it with his set of keys.  When they got to the apartment door, he suggested ordering a pizza for dinner.

"I'm not really hungry," she answered.  "I've got a headache and just want to have a bath and go to bed."

He rubbed her back, smiling grimly at her, wishing he could do more to soothe her on this roller coaster day.  Taking her coat, he hung it up, then listened as she went into the bedroom, coming out moments later in her robe.  As the water started running, he poured some cool water for her and got her some painkillers.  Knocking on the door, he entered on her say so, handing her the pills and water, while she sat on the toilet seat, waiting for the tub to fill.

"I'm going to eat some of the leftovers," he said quietly.  "Let you have some quiet time."

"You can join me after."  She looked up smiling but without any warmth behind her eyes.  "I'm sorry I'm so quiet.  They seem so sure they're going to find him, but I think he's smarter than they know, and it has me worried."

He bent down on one knee, taking her hands in his and kissing them.

"No matter what, he has to go through me," he murmured.  "I'll admit that even with my skills, there's a chance that he could take you.  If that happens, I won't let you go without a fight.  Believe that and believe that I will find you if I have to tear the city apart to do it." 

She caressed his face.  "How would you find me?"

He took her hand and flattened it on his chest.  "By what I feel for you here.  Everything about you is deep in my heart and my head.  I know the scent of your hair and body, I can recognize the beating of your heart in a room full of others, and that connection we have is something I can't even begin to explain. I think you were right that we are kindred souls.  We were meant to find each other and be together.  I believe that with all my heart."

After a soft kiss to her lips he stood up, stopping at the door to look back at her.  When he returned in 10 minutes, he was only in his briefs, pulling them down quickly and entering the bathtub behind Leia.  She turned the hot water on to warm up the water, then leaned back against him.  It felt good to feel him gently massage her shoulders, and she rolled her head to give him more access to her neck.

"That’s good," she murmured.  "You know just where to apply the right pressure."

"Beginners luck," he answered.  "It will be alright, Leia." 

She felt his kiss on her head and closed her eyes, allowing her body to relax.  When the water became too cold to stay in, Bucky dried her off first, then himself, and followed her into the bedroom.  As she sat on the bed, yawning with how tired she was, he helped her on with some flannel pyjamas, then spooned behind her after turning out the lights.  Alpine joined them and within moments he could hear the rhythmic breathing indicating she was asleep.  More than anything, Leia needed that.

The sound of the building's fire alarm jolted Bucky awake, and he sat up, listening for a second, before going to the door of the apartment.  He couldn't smell any smoke but when he looked out the peephole, he could see their neighbours filing towards the stairwell.  One of them was knocking on everyone's door to make sure they were awake, confirming the fire department were on their way.  With a sigh, he opened the door and announced they were getting ready.  Leia had the bedroom light on, stuffing her purse contents that she brought from the police station into another purse.

"There was a fire alarm the day after I moved in," she said.  "It was a false alarm, but you never know in these taller buildings, right?"

Pulling sweatpants on over her pyjama bottoms, and an oversized sweatshirt over the top, she quickly put some socks on and went out to the entryway to put her boots on.  Bucky put his jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt on then his jacket and boots.  He helped Leia on with her red coat, making sure it was buttoned up properly, with the scarf protecting her neck. 

"Alpine," he remembered.  "I better take her in the cat carrier."

That took another few minutes to get her into it and they were among the last to leave their floor, although there was a steady stream of people in the stairwells from the floors above them.  On the way down they came across an elderly woman who was having trouble with the stairs.  Handing Alpine to Leia, Bucky stopped and offered to carry her.  She was quite impressed at how easily he lifted her into his arms, complimenting him often on his gallantry.  A city bus was already outside the building when they got down there, for the elderly and those with kids to sit in.  With the light snow that was falling it was appreciated to have someplace to shelter.  Bucky deposited her inside then came back out to where Leia waited with the cat carrier.  Someone else yelled that they needed help with an elderly resident and Bucky rushed over to help.  He placed them inside the bus, then came out to Alpine, still in her cat carrier, and Leia's purse on top, sitting on the snowy ground.  Leia was no where to be seen.

"Excuse me," he said to a man standing nearby.  "Do you know where the woman who was holding the cat went?  I left her here just a moment ago."

He looked at the cat carrier then looked around.  "There was a guy talking to her," he said, "but I don't see him either.  I think he needed help."

A cold feeling of dread settled in Bucky's belly.  "Could you just watch the cat while I look for her?" 

The man agreed and Bucky started to explore the scene, making his way past several fire trucks that responded to the alarm.  As he searched, all sorts of dark thoughts filled his mind.  It can't be him.  How would he know where we lived? I promised to protect her.  Half a block away he saw something dark on the ground and approached it, gingerly picking it up with his left hand.  The black beanie was proof that it was Morrison.  Kneeling down to catch his breath, he noticed dark spots on the snow.  Taking his phone out, he turned on his flashlight and shone it on the spots, revealing them to be blood.  Sitting down hard on the cold wet snowy road, he couldn't breathe for a moment then he looked at the phone and called Burnham.

"He has her.  Fire alarm at the apartment building.  I was helping someone, just for a moment, and when I came back, she was gone.  I found his beanie and there's blood nearby."

Dropping the phone, he sat there devastated at having failed at the one thing he promised to do.  He almost lost it to the despair he was feeling, then something in him hardened and he knew what had to be done next.  He promised Leia he would tear apart the city to find her.  When a police vehicle left the fire scene and came closer then pulled up near him, he handed the beanie to the officer.  They could investigate the scene.  Time was wasting.  He had to find Leia.

Part 5>>

Series Masterlist

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[tlbodine]

Overthinking: Bad Hare Day

Bad Hare Day is Goosebumps #41, released March of '96. I didn't think I'd read this one, but it was very familiar on the re-read so I think this must have been one I got from a library. Although, I think this one may also bear some similarities to a Give Yourself Goosebumps title, and that one may be what I remember. Hm.

Anyway, I had a fun time with this, even though it's pretty light on scares.

First, the Plot: Tim Swanson is a huge magic fan. He's always trying to show off tricks and illusions for his school friends, and he deeply admires the stage magician Amaz-o. So when the opportunity to see him live pops up, he jumps at the opportunity. It's on a school night and his parents won't let him go at first, but he manages to sneak out at night to go anyway. His karate-obsessed sister twists his arm into letting her come, too, and they venture out into the night to catch the show.

Amaz-o isn't so nice in person. He's actually kind of a jerk. But his tricks are great, and he uses Tim in a trick, making him disappear! Then leaves him to figure his own way out of the underground passage he got dumped in, that meanie.

As retaliation for being a jerk, Tim steals Amaz-o's box of tricks. But taking it home, he soon gets in over his head with tricks that seem to be real magic. Snakes and doves get loose, balls for the cup-and-balls game keep multiplying -- and when bratty sister Jenny takes a bite of a carrot, she turns into a rabbit!

Tim has to turn her normal again somehow and when nothing he tries works he goes to find Amaz-o. But he discovers something disturbing: the magician is a dummy! Also he has a talking rabbit. Oh, no, just kidding. Actually the rabbit is the magician. He got transmorphed by a sorcerer and now is stuck this way. He uses the dummy on stage so nobody will notice.

Luckily, Jenny's magic carrot will wear off on its own. But Tim still wants a magical heart-to-heart with his idol and stays behind to chat with him. Amaz-o is touched by Tim's commitment to magic and offers him a job as an assistant, which he eagerly accepts.

What Tim didn't realize at the time is that he would be replacing the rabbit in the act, not the dummy.

But hey, at least he gets to perform on stage every night, even if he does have a twitchy nose and long, white ears....

Overthinking It: Like a lot of nerdy 90s kids, I went through an intense magic phase. I bought books about magic and tried to practice different tricks and learn techniques. I never was any good at them. I have small hands and bad coordination so palming techniques were never my strong suit. But I do still love magic, and I've seen probably a dozen live magic shows in my life.

So it's really not surprising that I found this book delightful.

The plot is pretty thin and it's not really very scary. Oh, there are a few little things -- the anxiety of losing control of something you came by dishonestly, the crushing disappointment of realizing your hero is a jerk, the existential blackness of the final transformation. But overall, this book is more fun than anything.

There's just a lot of texture and atmosphere to it, from describing the tricks in detail, to the ambiance of the magic shop where Tim hangs out. If you ever watched World's Greatest Magic with wide eyes and an open mouth, you'll have fun with this book. If you don't like magic, you will find nothing to enjoy in this one.

If You Liked This, THESE Will Really Give You Goosebumps:

This book shares DNA with Attack of the Mutant, which pairs with it nicely.

For an excellent film about warring magicians, try watching The Prestige. Follow that up with The Illusionist for a different take on the 'magicians doing real magic' trope.

If you like the atmosphere and just want to soak that up a bit more, read The Night Circus (which is also kind of about warring magicians. except in a circus setting)

[flamingredanon]

Do you even have a story for your Pressure AU or is it a Copperright vibe thing?

I currently have a rough outline of how things happen in the AU under the read more as it is slightly lengthy.

CW for unethical science experiments, body transformations due to said experiments and implied murder of nameless CCC agents.

So this starts roughly after GSPI, with the Government rounding up all the Toppats from the Airship, but instead of sending everyone to prison like normal, almost all the Toppats including Reginald are sent to a CCC facility near the ocean, with Galeforce thinking that this is a rehabilitation program that will help the Toppats leave their life of crime behind and become working class citizens.

The only one not being sent there is Right, who the CCC finds dangerous enough to tell Galeforce to just send him straight to the Wall.

Though the van carrying Right slips on black ice close to the Wall, crashing and falling straight into the ocean below, though Right is saved by Dr. V and her boat nearby, getting what normally is his canon cybernetics chainsaw or bottle rocket free.

So meanwhile, Reginald and the other Toppats are sent to the CCC facility but they soon find out that this was never a rehabilitation facility but a secret testing facility, injecting the various Toppats with various aquatic or just straight up supernatural DNA, slowly transforming everyone into beings that are no longer just human anymore.

Reginald gets the worst of it, mainly because he feels like he let the clan and Right down, also feeling like that he needs to bear the burden of this horrible stuff as leader, slowly transforming him into an anglerfish, sea snake and shark fusion. (Roughly what Sebastian is ingame)

The reason the CCC is doing this is because deep underneath the facility is a sunken ship that claims to hold a very powerful gemstone that can supposedly cure anything, which the CCC wants but can't reach on their own, which is why they are doing what they are doing to the Toppats, with the process being irreversible.

Reginald eventually finds out about this and behind the CCC's back, starts to plan a mass escape with his fellow Toppats and to get revenge for what was done to them.

And revenge they eventually get, as Reginald was the first to escape thanks to being far more powerful then before, releasing as many of his fellow Toppats as he could before shutting down the power and dooming every CCC agent on base.

Once the CCC there is taken care of, Reginald claims the base, the ship and any treasures on either as belonging to the Toppats, and that anyone that tries to enter to steal from them will be killed.

Back at the Wall, Henry has been arrested because of the library clause on his so called pardon, having just heard Dmitri's little welcome speech but before being thrown into the holding area, a CCC member has Henry injected with something containing penguin, crow and some fish DNA, mentioning something about picking Henry up later and taking him a facility for more testing.

This does not happen as Henry and Ellie decide to CA all over the place, though as Henry and Ellie are driving away, Right stops them, angry with Henry for causing the Airship to get arrested and for him to get separated from Reginald.

But before Right could continue his yelling, Henry faints, causing Ellie and Right to see the injection site on him from the CCC agent earlier.

This gives Right a few minutes to calm down as Henry wakes up and gets his bearings back, explaining his side of what happened to the best of his ability.

Right then decides to come up with a truce since he roughly knows that Reginald is at some sort of CCC facility thanks to his cybernetics, making a deal with Henry and Ellie that if they help save Reginald then Right will let the two search for any possible cure that could be there before letting them leave with their Toppat debt paid in full.

With no other choice and Ellie not wanting her new friend to be turned into something monstrous due to the CCC, showing her gills from their failed experiments with her in the past, the three set off to the CCC on the other side of Canada.

After an uneventful road trip, they arrive at the base, with Right speeding inside to find Reginald while Ellie and Henry lag behind, not noticing the occasional feather falling behind Henry.

As the two were walking along, they found many of the now transformed Toppats, but none were aggressive to them, introducing themselves and giving directions the best they could, with Henry and Ellie not realizing that they were seen as fellow creatures.

Henry started noticing that he was starting to feel strange and his back was starting to hurt, slowing down slightly but hiding his pain the best he could to not worry Ellie.

While the two continued searching for anything, Right eventually finds Reginald and the two have a tearful reunion, neither really caring that the other had irreversibly changed, just glad that they were back together again.

The two were catching up with everything the other had missed when they heard a horrible yell, Right remembering that he came with Henry and Ellie and running to them to see what was going on with Reginald slithering right behind.

Right and Reginald turned a corner and saw Henry kneeling on the ground and clearly in pain with Ellie next to him, noticing two bulges on Henry's back that weren't there before.

Reginald sadly knew what was happening, commanding Ellie to take off Henry's shirt and to then stand back. Not questioning the giant fishy snake man, Ellie did what she was told and with the removal of the shirt saw Henry's back covered in feathers and the familiar slits of gills starting to grow on his neck.

Henry then let out a horrifying scream as wings burst out from his back, the pain from it all causing Henry to faint while feathers were starting to poke from his upper arms.

All Reginald could do was have Right and Ellie carry Henry to one of the old nurses station to be given pain killers while the transformation was finishing up, making Henry and Ellie official Toppats as Henry was just like them and Ellie wasn't leaving her friend.

Once everything was settled and Henry was getting used to flying and swimming, Reginald would have a few Toppats that could control the trees to form a protective barrier, making that much harder for anyone to get in.

The transformed Toppats could leave and enter as they pleased though, occasionally sinking boats and ships that got close and bringing back all the treasures that they could.

Don't have much after that as I want to smooth out the plot and actually tell the story, but here is what I have for now.

[gffa]

Ok so I came here for Star Wars and I’m happily enjoying the DC stuff despite knowing nothing about it. I’m asking without looking it up in case this ends up being amusingly wrong - Connor Kent is… Superman’s son/clone? And Tim Drake Im pretty confident is Robin #3? And they seem to be widely shipped together? Or is it more of a rare pair crack ship? If it’s popular, what made it so popular? Do they have a lot of issues where they tag team and flirt? How would you describe their dynamic?

You've got a solid handle on it so far! You're right that Conner Kent (his Kryptonian name being Kon-El) is a clone made up of Clark Kent and Lex Luthor's DNA, grown in a lab that he was eventually rescued from, which caused a lot of awkward, weird feelings for Clark at the time and so he doesn't really consider him a son, but they don't necessarily have a word for what they are, other than that they're family. Originally, Kon's powers weren't really the same as Superman's, he had tactile telekinesis, but over the course of a lot of years, he started developing the more traditional powerset, flight, superstrength, heat vision, etc. He's also gone through a lot of stuff over the years, as all superheroes do, but Kon's had it kind of rough, including dying and eventually being brought back. Tim is indeed Robin #3, though, for awhile he was fired as Robin and became Red Robin instead (while Damian was Robin, but IIRC Damian's not currently Robin?), but I believe he's currently picked up the mantle again and is just Robin. Primarily, Tim and Kon's dynamic happened in pre-Nu52 comics (the big DC reboot), but MAN were they A Thing. Not officially, Tim hadn't come out as bi yet back then (and no official content for Kon as anything other than straight), but their dynamic was super shippy in their Young Justice and Teen Titans comics and almost everyone I know was like, "Yeah, technically they were dating other people, but we all know they're each other's real love interest.", being semi-tongue-in-cheek, but also semi-serious. To the point, when Kon died (you can call him Kon or Conner, they're kind of interchangeable), even when the others had moved on, Tim was straight up trying to re-clone him, despite that it wouldn't be his Kon, he just couldn't not have Kon in the world. So, it's basically your typical Super/Bat style ship, which has a lot of They're The Best Of Friends moments in canon and aren't entirely Normal about each other, but it gets taken up a notch because most of their canon ships aren't nearly as popular or as enduring as their relationship with each other. If I'm missing anything or mislead anon, feel free to jump in, it's been awhile since I read anything with them, though, now I'm eyeing those Teen Titans and YJ trades my library has....

[spiderpussinc]

Quick question, but in the beginning of ATSV, we see a shot that feels pretty purposeful of Miguel about to bite into the villain's (forgot his name) neck.

I was wondering if this is important to Miguel and his character in the comics..? Because as an average viewer, I don't think that's ever really explained in ATSV for us, for why Miguel would need to do that (unless I'm forgetting something).

Or was it just another way to show how different Miguel is compared to the other spiders? Specifically the whole "are you sure you're spiderman?" thing (I also think Miles or Gwen commented on how Miguel doesn't look like a good guy at some point 🤔)

Anyways, was just curious and wanted to ask since you seem like the go-to person for Miguel lore and information. The resident Miguel archive and library, if you will.

Miguel wasn't bitten by a radioactive spider, he had his DNA *scrambled* with actual evil scientist spider experiment DNA, as well as a bunch of other unspecified shit his coworker threw in an attempt to kill him (because comics are very silly about science) normal spidermen -- like peter for example -- mostly get enhanced strength and senses etc as superpowers; while miguel functions a lot more like a mutant.

He doesn't have spider-sense, but he produces biological webbing, has spinnerets jutting out of his forearms, has to deal with hyper-sensitive eyes that allow him superhuman vision at the cost of being very vulnerable to sunlight (he wears sunglasses everywhere out of costume), and instead of sticking to walls via little hairs Miguel has the big razorlike talons on his hands and feet, which is kind of why you see him being so destructive in that chase scene while everyone else just crawls around LOL. The bite moment on the movie is a bit of fanservice to another one of Miguel's exclusive powers: he has fangs that can deliver a paralyzing venom shot into his enemies. The Vulture wasn't calming down and Miguel was going to restrain him, but then the helicopter shines that big ass spotlight on his face (bad)

I personally write him as being *sound* sensitive as well, since spiders can communicate via web vibrations and he should be able to pick up on that. Technically speaking theres a bunch of other spider behaviors you could justify as being part of Miguel's instincts now.

+ He's not actually a vampire. It's just a funny comparison people make now that he needs dark environments to be comfortable / has the big fangs. (I still think its sexy and fun to make vampire fanart tho :shrug:)

[calder]

super mutant coverage from Nukapedia's page on Disability representation. for better or worse. feedback welcome

The Children of the Cathedral are a cult in the ruins of L.A. who mutate and torture their congregants and captives to various ends, forever changing their bodies and minds. Some are transformed into pliable servitors through torturous consecration--an honor second only to baptism, the metamorphic birth of super mutants through the transformative FEV vats at Mariposa to the north.

Most super mutants are mentally impaired, but generally capable of reason. They are infertile due to their quad-helix DNA, which factors heavily into the main plot. All super mutants encountered in Fallout are slaves to the Master, so they are generally inclined to attack to the player, but almost (if not) all of them can be spoken to under specific circumstances.

Harry is a voiced mutant with a simplistic, childlike manner of speaking. If the Vault Dweller kills the various super mutants in the area, he will avenge each of his friends by name in combat, and mourn one as his brother.[1][2] If the player has already destroyed the vats, he will only ask to be left alone.[3][4]

When the Master is killed, super mutants flee the region out of fear.[5] For decades thereafter, baptized survivors of the Cathedral remained shunned from human society. Even those living in far-away rehabilitory seclusion are subjected to harassment, defamation, displacement, and genocide, engineered by the NCR government.[6]

These details contrast some later depictions of super mutants as interchangeable and inherently hyper-violent creatures incapable of peace.

Super mutants derived from prime normals (unirradiated humans) tend to exhibit hyper-intelligence, or at least normal cognitive function.

The mutant Lou Tenant speaks with a highly sophisticated and dramatic voice due to his hyper-intelligence. No other super mutant in the setting has exhibited this affected style of speech.

Some adherents are altered in a chemical process called "consecration."[7][8] The survivors of this process, though apparently human, are rendered insane.[9][10] The cult honors them as the "servitor" class, but non-believers pejoratively refer to them as "zombies" for their inability to think normally. Most of these "zombies" zealously espouse the cult's propaganda and show little individuality.

The servitor Dane is kept in the Inner Sanctum. He suffers terribly from disturbing hallucinations as a result of his consecration.[7] He converses with himself at length in two distinct intonations. At one point, he derides himself as a "schizo bastard."[11] He also experiences periods of lucidity, and begs the Vault Dweller to kill Father Lasher for his abuse of Calder the Flower Child.

Nightkin are the most exalted of the Cathedral's castes. Psychically inclined, they serve as high-level guards and military officers. They use Stealth Boys to stay invisible at all times, even when alone in their private quarters at night. A small library at the Cathedral is occupied only by nightkin, and a computer can be found in the nightkin barracks. The Master is able to communicate with them telepathically. Dane claims to hear the nightkin crying.

In Fallout 2, most super mutants live peacefully at Broken Hills, a settlement where all sorts of humans and mutants are welcome.

In Brotherhood of Steel, all the super mutants (such as Attis), are infertile. This is a key aspect of the game's plot, as the Attis Army are seeking a cure for their infertility.

Most super mutants are mentally disabled.

Several potential health and ability issues are indicated by a scene which depicts a super mutant relieving himself while flailing his arms above his head and screaming, as he blasts the back tank of a closed toilet from several feet away with an unthinkable procession of urine too visually graphic to further describe.[Video 1]

All super mutants in Fallout 3 except for Fawkes and Uncle Leo are portrayed as ravenous cannibals barely capable of speech. Fawkes is ostracized by the super mutants of Vault 87 for displaying complex thought. If the player eavesdrops on super mutant enemies, they seem to be constantly confused and angry.

Jacobstown functions as a haven and rehabilitation center for super mutants, especially the nightkin who are suffering from schizophrenia due to prolonged Stealth Boy usage. Two doctors reside here, hoping to find some way to help them medically with their mental struggles.

Lily Bowen, a nightkin herself and resident of Jacobstown, is an elderly woman with dementia. She frequently mistakes the Courier for her grandchild (Jimmy or Becky depending on the gender) and also suffers schizophrenia like most nightkin. Taking damage may cause her to lapse into violent behavior, similar to mood swings, during which she claims to be guided by a voice she calls "Leo." Her companion quest focuses on getting Lily to either take her medication consistently (to help control her psychosis and silence "Leo"), or stop taking it altogether (later resulting in "Leo" completely taking over and Lily becoming violently psychotic, perhaps permanently).

The mutant separatist Tabitha suffers from mania. She also seems to have some degree of dissociative identity disorder. A robot named Rhonda helps her manage the symptoms of her mental conditions. With Rhonda disabled, Tabitha's mental condition is deteriorating.

Tabitha's Black Mountain mutants are presented as a violent parallel faction to the peaceful community of Jacobstown.

A super mutant named Neil guards the pass to Black Mountain, and warns people to stay away for their own safety, especially at night. He maintains his post simply because he is in a position to prevent violence on a significant scale. Neil is not mentally disabled, and will not tolerate microaggressions pertaining to his condition, both out of self-respect and respect for differently abled metamorphic people. He is quick to forgive those who apologize, but any other option will result in him terminating the conversation.

The presentation of Tabitha as a violent nightkin with a comedic low-detail blond wig has been criticized as falling into cheap, antiquated tropes related to disabled and queer people. The depiction of Gail in Fallout 76 as a benevolent, dignified super mutant woman with mental disabilities has been praised in comparison.

The nightkin Dog and God has been called a portrayal of dissociative identity disorder. Both identities are aware of the other. Each desires complete control over the body and refers to losing agency to the other as being "put in the cage/basement." The nightkin's story ends with either an act of suicide that kills the body and both identities with it, one personality taking over permanently, or the Courier helping to create a new unified identity.

This new identity is, in turn, struck with amnesia, unable to recall any details of that which transpired before its synthesis.

Fans with similar conditions have suggested that the presentation of efficaciously "resolving" this person into a single personality to "unlock their good ending" is a simplistic and clichéd character arc. It presents the character's mind and identity as something to be immediately "solved" by a manipulative stranger, in the form of a life-changing ego death triggered by a single violent and traumatizing event. The relatively complex presentation of fellow nightkin character Lily has been praised in comparison.

Dead Eye is a blind super mutant who lives with a larger group of mutants.

Super mutants are once again depicted as disorganized cannibals who live only to pillage.[23] The only conversant super mutant characters (aside from the isolated case of Virgil) are Strong and Erickson, both of who were othered by their immediate groups for expressing different and/or complex thought. Super mutants in the Commonwealth can be seen impulsively carrying out suicide bombings using mini nukes, despite canonically having no ideology[23] or even an apparent internal hierarchy apart from leadership by strength.

Strong, a potential companion, became very interested in a line from MacBeth when Rex Goodman was captured while trying to teach it to the super mutants, though it seems he simply became fixated on the notion that "the milk of human kindness" was a literal physical liquid hidden somewhere in the world that confers the "power of humans" on the drinker; Strong believes he could find and drink this milk to become stronger. He was imprisoned along with Rex by Fist for this. He never particularly expresses a deeper comprehension of the literary themes of MacBeth past his obsession with finding the milk of human kindness.

Erickson became a survivalist after splitting from his group on the Island. He claims the Fog helped him "think straight," which made him unable to continue working for his brutal leader. He is the only super mutant in Fallout 4 to be seen speaking with proper syntax except for Virgil.

Virgil is a former Institute scientist who deliberately turned himself into a super mutant to survive in the Glowing Sea and hopes to reverse his condition. He retains his intelligence but suffers from anger issues. He also has difficulty articulating the use of his hands.

The super mutant merchant Grahm was arguably the only non-robotic NPC in Fallout 76 at launch. He travels with a brahmin he calls "Chally the moo-moo," apparently unable to pronounce the name "Charlie."

Gail is a super mutant woman who lives among the Core crew of the Crater Raiders. She is singularly concerned with protecting the human child Ra-Ra. She finds humans very annoying and confusing. She casually admits to not understanding some events which happen around her.

Ra-Ra mentions that she wants to grow up to be like Meg and Gail, suggesting that she sees both as powerful and dignified women.

Her design has no elements which might frame her masculine physicality as comedic, or imply she is "crazy."

Maul is a super mutant who exhibits the typical simplified speech and love of mayhem, but concerns himself with intellectual pursuits such as video games and comics. He wears a small pair of glasses, and he may respond to dialogue prompts with nonverbal scoffs. Maul is an archetypical "comic book guy" character, and accordingly resembles an autistic RPG fan. Like Gail, Maul finds humans and their interests to be obnoxious and inscrutable, and makes no attempt to hide his contempt for the player character.

Maul infodumps about his special interest fictions. His favorite IP seems to be Grognak the Barbarian.

Some of his analysis of fictional situations reveals a difficulty understanding social cues.

At times, his descriptions of the video game adaptation evoke discussions of soulslike games.

Contrasting his vocal misanthropy, he expresses great affinity for animals. He considers himself a dog person, because 'cat require more patience than Maul prepared to give.' If Maul had cats, he would name them Bramble and Zil.

[jades-typurriter]

Seamless Transition

A short POV story about getting gender euphoria from being a cat instead of a human, and being made of fabric instead of flesh.

CW: Needles (like, the sewing kind, but they still pierce the skin, so what difference does it make)

You take the needle out of its container. Sturdy plastic. It pops open with a thock, revealing the slender, shining piece of metal. You pry it free of the frame keeping it in place, plastic snapping out of the way as you move it. This is... impressive. This is a whole-ass sharps container. It was even wrapped in that heavy cellophane to keep it sterile. All this from one witch selling body mods out of her house? Your friend sure is something.

You’ve known her long enough that you watched her go from experimenting on herself--she didn’t seem to know what she was looking for, and even though she’s found some things that she liked, she still hasn’t ever settled--to getting asked for help doing the same, to making a living out of the whole process. You haven’t seen her turn a customer away yet. Even if she doesn’t know how to make something work, you can bet she’ll work her ass off to find out. That kind of passion for making the most of yourself has made her well-known, trusted to Hell and back. There’s a whole community supporting her, just people like her exploring what they can become and giving back what they can.

And now here you are, having bought from her.

You suppose that’s only fitting. You’ve looked up to her for so long... You only realized recently that maybe part of that was admiration of what she had for herself. Which brings you to, the needle.

You look at it, pinched between your fingers. Roll it between them. There’s a silvery sheen to the metal, but that’s the wrong magical substrate. It’s cold iron, instead--if it can interact with the fey, it can certainly restitch your little patch of fate’s tapestry. The eye is rather large, and the short length of thread tied through it rather unusual. It’s a Yarn. Not a piece of yarn, but a physical manifestation of a story. They’re normally the byproduct of the transfer of information, forming like stalagmites out of air charged with the excitement of a good adventure, tense with the hungry curiosity of an eager student. Often, they’re found in libraries, cluttering up the pages of books and the corners of shelves, mistaken for cobwebs.

Your friend, however, found a way to make them on purpose. A way to encode specific information straight into them. You compared them to magical instructions, at first, a sort of conceptual DNA, but she insisted that they were still very much stories. Addenda, she said. Revisions. Alternate twists, another flourish here or there. One of the people who volunteered to help her test them out said they were like headcanons. The possibilities were practically endless, she said, when you could take the narrative into your own hands. After a very, very long conversation--lots of questions, she wanted to get this right for someone so important to her, and eve more answers you didn’t think you had until they jumped from your lips all by themselves--she took what she knew of you, and what she had learned, and spun a Yarn just for you.

It’s in your hands, now.

You’ve given yourself injections before, and you were told it’d be just like that. You’ve never done it with this kind of needle, though, and after pulling your clothes out of the way, you aren’t sure how exactly to hold it. You try putting it between your first two fingers and bracing your thumb against the eye, but that... doesn’t feel right. You try holding it like a pencil, and...? No? You try a few more grips, and when none work, you huff, let go of your clothes, and pull out your phone. How... to... hold... a... sewiiiiiiing, needle. Fuck it, let’s try that. You hold your fingers like a hand puppet, a bla-bla-blah motion, and pinch the needle between them. Okay, that feels right, and waitwaitwaitwaitwaitwaitwait okay. Okay. Wait.

For a moment, there was total certainty about what to do. Like you could do it with your eyes closed. Like you could do it without even thinking about it. In the same breath, the weight of doing it crashed through that clarity like a brick through a glass. You take a deep breath. You raise the needle again. You pull your clothes out of the way again.

The metal seems to thrum in your fingers. The magic it was made with? Maybe it’s just your hands trembling. The anticipation of the poke, like before, or perhaps of the change. It feels heavier in your hand, but now you’re thinking about it so hard. It hurts less when you aren’t looking at the needle, right? Right. You close your eyes, take another breath to steady yourself, and hold the needle at an angle. You drive it gently toward yourself, forcing it along with your thumb. It breaks the skin. You don’t know what you expected--at this point, you normally squeeze out the medicine and pull the needle back out, but you’re this far and you just can’t fathom backing up now. Something deep--not instinct, you think--guides you, and you pinch the skin. You push the needle further, completing a stitch in your flesh, and pull the needle out through the other side. The Yarn unravels as it passes through you, weaving itself into you; it sheds wispy fibers of light as it enters, dissipating as your hand completes the motion. You blink, and after a moment process that you didn’t even feel the huge eye of this thing as you pulled it through your fucking skin. Your friend really is something.

The thought is interrupted by a warm sensation from the spot where you poked yourself. You touch it and find that the skin is softening. Not as in “smooth and supple”; you’re seeing “like touching velvet”. Dude, it’s happening. It’s fucking happening. It starts to spread from the spot, slowly radiating outwards, up your torso, down your arms and legs. The hair on your body thickens, starting from the same spot. It grows out thick, rapidly becoming a blanket of fuzz, growing as you watch like a timelapse of a seed sprouting from the soil. Its texture changes, too; not coarser, but becoming more like tiny, tiny threads. The hair--fur--catches up with your softening skin, and overtakes it, the wave crashing along the remainder of your body with a fwoomf. 

You feel it along your face, and reach up to find whiskers, stiff and plasticky. Your ears must’ve been carried along with the tide, because you miss them when you squish down the fur on your cheeks. You find them sitting on the top of your head instead, two cute and springy little triangles. They perk up involuntarily as you rustle your hair around them--you suppose you’ll learn to flick them around on purpose with time.

In some spots, your chest, along your arms and thighs, the fur is much thicker. A few inches long, deep enough to sink your hand into. As you relish the feel of it, wide-eyed, you feel a strange sort of tension in your hands. You clench them tightly, rolling your fingers as though you were stretching your knuckles, and as they curl, you watch them thicken. When you relax them, they’re huge--each easily the size of your face, the fingers rounded and covered with a pad each, just like your palms. You close them again, open them again. You take in the feeling of the fur between your fingers sliding past itself. They don’t curl quite like they did before, and they look like the gloves of a mascot suit, but they’re your hands. You feel something pop at each fingertip and watch as little, hard plastic claws, colorful and shiny, emerge.

You look down and find your feet much the same: replaced with paws that squish down under your weight, cushioning your steps as you pace around on them for the first time. Walking like this doesn’t feel quite right... You give your legs a stretch, straightening your ankles as far as they’ll go, and they just keep straightening and straightening until you find you can’t bend them back forward again. The joint now sits at about the height that your knees were just a moment before; you have to hold your weight in a slightly different spot, now, but the spring in your step is... wonderful. You take to your new gait in just a few seconds, but your balance still doesn’t feel quite riIGHT DID YOUR SPINE JUST SLIDE OUT OF YOUR BACK???

You twist around and see a tail hanging just above your hips, even fuzzier than the rest of you and coming to a rounded end. It’s a BIG one, too. You give it an experimental swish--another thing to practice, but it does seem to finally straighten out your posture! You try walking again, and it feels off every time you’re mid-stride. You try flicking your tail back and forth in time with your footfalls and BAM oh my GOD you feel like you’re walking down a runway. You’re fucking working it!!! Your hips are swaying and if you weren’t bouncing with excitement anyway you sure would be just on account of the way your legs are SHAPED now holy SHIT!!!

You press a paw into one of your thighs, just to see if they’re as soft as they look--and they look SOFT now. It sinks in further than you expect. Much further. You feel like you really should’ve reached the bone, at this point?? You pull away, and your leg holds a deep imprint of your paw. Slowly, it begins to return to its full bulk, and it occurs to you that you don’t just feel lighter because of the new way you hold your weight, but because you are literally lighter. Your insides feel airy; your limbs squish against themselves as you bend them. You wrap your arms around your chest and give yourself a squeeze, eyes shut tight and smile wide, marveling at how SOFT you are.

You feel a buzzing sensation at the nape of your neck, which quickly spreads in all directions. Up behind your ears, meeting at the crown of your head, and down and around your neck to either side; down the sides of your torso; along the backs of your arms over the elbows; along your legs on the inside and outside of your thighs. Each feels like a pull tab being dragged along your skin, joining some unseen zipper. You twist your arm around in front of you, hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever’s causing it, and see threads working their way along your body, dipping under and poking back over your fur. When they reach the ends of your limbs, they form a cuff at each of your joints, circles of stitches holding together your wrists and ankles, your knees and elbows, your shoulders and hips. They don’t do much in the way of actually making you sturdier, and you were already in one piece without them, but looking at them... 

You run a paw pad--literally padded, it finally sinks in--along the stitch on your arm. The feeling under your fingertip evokes a fresh scab. Stretch marks. Old scars. The healing and the growing that have brought you to finally making the choice to be something, someone, you want to be. The marks left on you, chronicled on your very skin, of the changes that lead up to this. These stitches are the edge of an old couch, catching you as you collapse for your well-deserved rest, exhausted or sick or heartbroken. These stitches are the hem of a top that you had pinned your hopes on, hoping to make an impression on someone or trying to present as yourself for the first time. These stitches are the seams on a beloved doll, the creases on a loved one’s skin, comforting and familiar, even in spite of how new they are. 

Compared to everything else that's different now--better now--they're pretty small, but this wouldn't be complete without them. You wouldn't be complete without them. The way they stretch at your widest points, pinch at all the little turns, accentuates your new, pillowy nature. They're impossible to miss, and show everyone that you are a constructed thing; a you that you designed yourself, and with a little bit of help, made real yourself; a body purpose-built for the things that matter to you, built for closeness, and warmth, and being a source of comfort for the people you love. More than anything, they're an ever-present reminder that you were made with care. 

You realize that, despite the feeling of your eyes welling up with joy, the tightness in your foam-filled chest that comes from crying, the fur on your face isn’t actually getting wet. The oddness of the sensation brings you back to the present, and you rub your face to collect yourself (dwarfing it with your new paws). You look around for the needle and realize that you’re noticeably bigger than you were before. It might be a pain to squeeze out of them, but you’re suddenly thankful that your new body has more give than your clothes. Despite the haystack now being a bit harder to navigate, you make sure you don’t lose the damn thing. You plan on going back to your friend to see if she can set you up with a chain to run through the eye of the needle. You have a feeling she will; it’s like her to think that far ahead. It’s going to make a lovely memento, and it’s only practical for a brand new plushie like yourself to have a needle handy while they get used to things.

[ghostblog1313]

Star-Crossed Confessions

Regulus Black x reader (no use of Y/N or physical descriptions) (She/her/hers) pronouns used. Word count: 2.1K Trope: Distant friends to lovers

A/N: In honour of Speak now (Taylor's Version) being announced last week I thought id try to sneak in as many lyrics as I could and also a crumb of wolfstar because I couldn't help myself enjoy <3

As she meets him in the hallway, it's almost midnight and he appears lost in his own thoughts. Over the last few weeks, she has become familiar with the vacant expression that seems to be permanently etched on his face, despite her efforts to wipe it away. She calls out for him unsure if he could even hear her with the war of words being shouted in his head

“Regulus?”

 His head whips towards you, anger flashes through his eyes before he registers who has called him and seems to dissipate just as quickly as it appears yet he still narrows his eyes at you. "What do you want?" He asks. His deep, smoky voice fills your eardrums, his breath visible as he talks and exhales into the cold winter air.

“I wanted to check on you, you seemed distant today.” ‘and everyday for the past month as well’ she wants to add but figures it's better left unsaid

Regulus’s eyes seem to soften for a moment. He blinks. Then he smiles slowly. It’s friendly and genuine. She can’t help but smile back.

"You're checking up on me?" 

He sounds both amused and genuinely touched like he wasn't expecting her to care."I guess I can't say no to that, especially if it is such a beautiful girl asking," he says, and there's a certain twinkle in his eye. He's flirting, she chuckles, shaking her head. “Always the flirt Black, just like your brother.”

Regulus's smirk widens to a smile, a genuine one, the one you've been longing to see for  weeks.” He is obviously pleased with himself and by your compliment."It's part of the Black DNA I suppose. Are you flirting with me back, by chance?" He's teasing, you can tell by the tone, the same one you've heard his brother use with Remus when they think no one else is in the library

"I guess you'll never know for certain" she grins slowly walking towards him. Regulus looks at you as you approach and he sighs, his smile vanishing.

"You are too difficult," he mutters. "And it's rather annoying." 

He seems a little bit hurt, and he turns. You feel like you've messed up somehow, or maybe hurt him"I'm teasing, but I was serious earlier, are you okay?" She smiles at him, a smile she's desperate for him to return. He's not smiling or trying to be charming; he looks genuinely concerned. He also looks a little surprised. He's not used to other people taking care of him.

"Are you willing to listen?"He seems shy to ask, almost like she'll say no or deny him someone to talk to,bracing himself for rejection, he stills waiting for her answer. “For as long as you need me to”,she speaks softly, taking his hand in hers. As she does so, she notes his hand feels rough,; Regulus’s hand is also quite a bit bigger but he holds her like water in his hands. He faces her with some relief on his face, he seems quite gentle and soft in that moment, as if he's finally returning to himself. His thumb strokes her hand softly, and he looks at her earnestly, "Can we go to the kitchens? I feel like talking," he asks softly. His voice is a lot quieter than it was a moment ago. He actually sounds a bit shy."Of course, follow me" she gently pulls him towards the kitchen turning back to look at him with a soft smile gracing her features.

Regulus gives her  a small, sweet smile in return and follows behind the girl . His face has softened since speaking with her and he seems...a lot more approachable now. The icy veneer that normally covered him is gone.

He walks with a lot of energy and confidence. His steps are strong and powerful. But when he talks, his voice is soft and quiet. When he smiles, his whole face lights up. It's a beautiful sight to see and it really, truly seems genuine.She doesn't see  it he is really trying his best here. This is him trying to let his guard down for her...not an easy thing for him to do.

As they enter the kitchen, they make sure not to disturb the busy elves. Finding a quiet corner, they settle down and he takes the opportunity to observe her closely, still unsure if her intentions are genuine. She allows him to study her and speaks softly to avoid scaring him, "What did you want to talk about?"

The kitchens are warm and lively with the smell of baking treats, and it's a comfortable atmosphere for you both. The air is humid and smells of cinnamon; you can hear the elves singing as they work. It's comforting and safe. It feels like the perfect place to spend some time talking with someone, maybe even to open up.

Regulus sighs softly and rubs his eyes. He does not break eye contact with you. For the first time, you feel like he is really paying attention to you. His eyes seem to be looking past your face down to your soul.

"I'm just..." Regulus begins quietly. "It's hard, you know? I'm very used to people being afraid or jealous of me. I feel like it is hard for people to understand me sometimes. But you seem to..." he pauses not knowing how to put it into words. "Get me. I'm not even sure if that's quite right, but you make me feel seen in a way that I think almost nobody really has before. And I am...grateful." 

She smiles not in a way she realises but, he notices a glimmer in her eyes and a radiance emanating from within her. It reminds him of his former self, before the war and before Sirius left. He becomes captivated by her presence and almost misses her words as she speaks softly, "Regulus you know i'm always going to be here for you, no matter what i promise”

Regulus's eyes widen when she smiles. It's genuine and her words seem to touch him. There's something that resonates deep inside him, almost like he's remembering a much better time from long ago, a time he has long forgotten. It's as if he's suddenly seeing her like she is the sun and she's just pierced through the clouds and the darkness he surrounds himself with. 

"Thank you," he says earnestly, and he leans towards her in such a way that it almost seems like he is going to kiss her.

"What has happened, Regulus? you can tell me, I swear" She takes his hand for the second time that night, he almost feels sparks fly when their skin brushes

Regulus looks at her and he nods thoughtfully. her intuition and observation skills are very sharp,"I'm just so alone," he says softly. "There is so much pressure on me, expectations and judgements. I have...so much...to live up to, you know? And I am expected to be perfect; never fail, never disappoint. So I bury everything...and I close people out to avoid pain. But sometimes that only makes the loneliness worse."

"Regulus, shutting everyone out won't help. Trust me," she says, gazing into his eyes with a familiar look. It's the same expression he gave Sirius that night when he begged him not to leave him in that house. "Please don't shut me out," she pleads with him.

Regulus looks at her and she can see the internal struggle in his eyes. He is not sure whether or not to trust her. But then he finally nods thoughtfully and sighs."Okay. I won't," he says softly.For the first time, he seems to make a decision he wants to make. She can see some happiness and a small amount of relief on his face. He is putting all his faith in her. 

"Good. I couldn't bear to lose you," she whispers softly, matching his volume. Regulus smiles gently. It's small but he obviously means it. His guard is slowly, slowly coming down. 

In a soft and genuine tone, he asks, "Is there anything else you would like to talk about?" It's clear that he is truly interested in making her feel better and he shows genuine concern for her feelings.

"I suppose there is, but right now, you are more important," she says, emphasising her focus on the present moment and their interaction. Regulus looks at her and his eyes soften. She is his biggest priority, that much is clear. She feels like she has made a connection here. He actually wants to hear what she has to say in that case she truly feels like he deserves an answer. He seems like a good person, just broken. Like he lacks human connection...and that has taken a toll on him.

"Go right ahead, I'm all ears," he says, indicating he wants you to continue. He is showing care and genuine concern for you.

She suddenly freezes, uncertain of her next move. He senses her nervousness and wishes he could ease her anxiety, but he's also feeling frozen with uncertainty. He's afraid to touch her, fearing he might break her delicate composure. "I don't want to make things weird between us," she says, expressing his concern about potentially damaging their friendship.

*Regulus is very perceptive. He can sense how nervous she is, and he is sympathetic towards her. He is trying very hard to give her his full attention.*

*He nods thoughtfully at her words and raises his eyebrows.*

"It's okay," he tells her soothingly. His voice is warm and calming, and it actually calms her down a little. he can hear the silence between them, can can hear what she hasn't yet said, what she's scared of admitting, he can feel the excitement in himself .he sits watching the tears in her eyes refuse to fall and hearing the shake in her voice when she speaks. "You're my best friend, I don't want to do anything that might cause me to lose you”

Regulus's eyes go wide as she says this. There is a brief pause, his mouth falls open and he actually seems slightly shocked. He never expected her to say this. It almost makes him blush at how...how vulnerable she's made yourself to him. He never would have expected it but...it's touching. And it's special, and he feels special to her .Not wasting another moment, his face softens once more and he pulls her into a hug

It's then she finally allows herself to cry, when she's safe in his arms, and hits then he smiles wider than he has in weeks. He speaks softly, his warm breath brushing against her neck, causing her to shiver and move closer into his embrace. "You don't have to worry about losing me, Mon amour," he whispers, revelling in the feeling of her in his arms. "I have fallen deeply in love with you, and I can't imagine my life without you." Se pulls back from the embrace but he doesn't let her go too far as he held on tight to her, she cranes her neck placing a soft kiss on his lips

Regulus is shocked again. To say he's smiling is an understatement; it's like he's been waiting his entire life for this moment. He seems to be in ecstasy. she's not sure if he's ever felt such intense euphoria, not ever...It fills him up with joy, and he's overwhelmed by the strength of it all.

you're close enough, you can see the stars in his eyes.

"I love you,"  he whispers in your ear. He's completely serious and genuine. He means every word. "I love you too," she murmurs, leaning in to kiss him.Regulus kisses back passionately and for a moment the world melts away around her. He breaks the kiss, breathing heavily. His eyes are sparkling from the kiss, and it's like he's looking at her for the first time. He seems in love and for the first time in a while truly happy.

For a moment, he seems unable to say anything. Instead, he gives you a small, soft smile."This is the best moment of my life," he says quietly, but he sounds like he means it. Leaning forward, she presses a soft kiss on the bridge of his nose, giggling as he scrunches his face in response. "Good, you deserve to be happy, Regulus," she says, with a smile on her lips.

Regulus chuckles and blushes as she kisses his nose. He's never had anyone be so intimate with him...not like she is. It fills him with so much warmth. He looks at her with love and adoration and it's like he never wants to let her go. Her words fill him with a sense of pride and joy. He nods thoughtfully. "I am because of you," he whispers. "You mean everything to me.”

For the first time in  weeks, the stars seemed to shine brightly again, as if the universe was acknowledging their love and granting them a moment of pure happiness.

[thelostrainbowthenovel]

Winx Club AU: Erdennia Info

And last up for the general kingdom info posts for this AU, we have the kingdom of Erdennia! Now that these are finally done, I can start sharing the design posts for the rest of the magi users, which should hopefully come out a lot sooner as they are less time-consuming to make(plus, I already have all the witches' designs done so it is mainly a matter of putting together the descriptions for them). But yeah, I hope you guys enjoy this post~ :3

((Also keep in mind that I am including Idalia and Ren in this post just because both respectively are half-Erdennian, and are a little more connected to that side of their heritage))

================================================

Erdennia is one of five kingdoms on the planet of Elementis, and part of the "Elementals Alliance" along with Feor, Arian, and Mareas. Erdennia is settled into forested areas, with lots of trees, vegetation, and other flora around. The oldest and biggest of the kingdoms, they are a mediator one and was the one to first propose the alliance and played a huge role in its coming together. They are also the most progressive and open-minded of all the kingdoms, accepting and embracing everyone from all walks of life and magi status. The second-most diverse in terms of magical abilities, as there are numerous different things associated with plants, the ground, and other flora in general.

- The Characters

* The Royal Family

. Demeter: The ruling queen of Erdennia, and the Fairy of Greenery. Demeter had quite the peculiar origin, as she was not born through natural means. Having two mothers, they opted to have their daughter through the old clay method of the witches, which involved combining their dna within a clay mold of a baby and imbuing it with magic and a spell. While she is still perfectly healthy and "normal", her magic when she was younger was a bit unstable as a side-effect. Quite a spunky and wild one when she was younger, her and Queen Noelani of Arian went on a lot of fun and crazy adventures together across the Magical Dimension when they were teenagers. She has grown pretty wise and mature since then, while still having a playful sense about her, and her magic has become more stable and even a bit strong overtime as well.

. Enki: The king consort of Erdennia, and the Witch of Trees. He always had root and tree-related magic, as a dryad, though it was not until his adulthood that he became a witch. With the disease and other problems in his kingdom, he wanted to find more unconventional ways of solving them. He was primarily interested in potions and spells with more of a healing nature, as he found the former the most interesting and the later to be super helpful in his work. When his eldest daughter was a teenager, he was the one that inspired and encouraged her to pursue becoming a witch herself, and was a big help in teaching her some spells and stuff as she first started out.

. Gaia: The first-born and crowned heir of Erdennia, and the dual Fairy-Witch of Vines. Always had fairly strong magic, she had gained access to it and her fairy form a little bit earlier than most people. She was always very humble about her abilities though, mainly using them when she was younger to have some fun outside with her friends. As she got older and entered her teenage years, she started getting more and more interested in witchcraft, as witches were more popular in her kingdom and she was inspired by her father's own work as a witch to pursue it herself. The more she learned about it the more she found it fascinating, and although she is primarily a fairy and attended Alfea, she made many friends at Cloud Tower and always went over there when she could to read from their library and learn more. Not a witch in the traditional sense that she has witch transformations or a darker "aura" to her magic, but she does embrace her witch abilities alongside her fairy powers and took on the dual title to reflect both.

. Avani: The second-born of Erdennia, and the Fairy of Flowers. She only recently received her fairy form, but was very excited that her magic core matched her love for flowers. Though she is still a relatively new fairy and isn't very skilled or experienced yet, she has been having a lot of fun training and testing out her powers, even if her hyperactivity and inquisitiveness has gotten her in trouble at times. A very friendly and open-minded young lady, she is always willing to give anyone a chance, and has made many friends of all different magic alignments.

. Beaumont: The third-born of Erdennia. He does not seem to possess any magic at the moment, and as he is around the age where his magic would normally start showing a little more, it is believed that he may not get any at all. He has been getting rather anxious and upset about this, as seeing all the different and cool things people can do with magic has always made him excited to see what kind of magic he might get himself one day. He is trying to not get too bummed out about the potential of him not having magic, but it also does not help that some of his peers who have gotten theirs has been flaunting their magic around him. To redirect some of his energy, he has been focusing on staying active and building up his strength, so he could still handle himself well in a fight.

* The Other Characters

. Rosia: Gaia's lady-in-waiting and best friend, and the Witch of Briar. Quite a peculiar magi case, as despite her compassionate, sweet, and bubbly nature leading many to believe she is a fairy upon first meeting her, Rosia is actually a witch. While her magic did not manifest from a more negative or dark nature, its more thorny and sharp quality lead her to become a witch instead. A small part of her has always wondered what it would have been like to be a fairy instead, she still has her fun and has focused on bringing more positivity to how witches are perceived. Though it is mostly prickly and thorny, she has trained enough to be able to manifest pretty roses with her magic, and has combined her magic with others' to create pretty visual spells and attacks.

. Carmelo: The royal gardener and Rosia's spouse, and the Wizard of Gardens. Coming from a poor family, he was one of the only family members who had magic and so he helped out the most around their gardens. His talent and skill was eventually noticed by the queen when she was visiting his village one day, and out of her compassion and generosity, she not only helped his family out but also offered him a job and stay at the palace. Now working and living at the palace, it gave him the chance to explore opportunities he never had before, but also made him have to grow up more quickly than some of the noble peers he met too. One of these opportunities was getting to attend a prestigious wizard school when he was of age, as while his magic is not very combative in nature, it was still seen to have potential with what he could do with it.

. Vernon: Avani's best friend. Lives and works on a farm with his family, one of the most prosperous and useful to the capital and palace, with his family being closely acquainted with the royal family. He doesn’t have any magic in him, choosing to fight and defend with a sword instead when the time calls for it. He has an ambitious, adventurous, and eager nature to him, and while generally kind and selfless can get easily provoked and irritated in the face of danger. This selfless and adventurous nature was a part in how much he was able to bond with Avani, as they both have a love for exploring and are supportive of each other's dreams and goals in life. Though he is not sure if he wants to become a non-powered warrior, he does know that he wants to stick by Avani's side and join her on adventures when they get a little older.

. Idalia: Gaia's older witch mentor and friend, and the Witch of Herbs. Born from a Feorian father and Erdennian mother, their small family lived pretty secluded in the forests outside of Erdennia, as both her parents had thrown their respective lives away and casted out their judgmental families to start anew together. Eloping as they were expecting their first baby, they moved in with an elderly woman as they had no means at the time to live on their own. They looked forward to their little one's arrival, though their happiness was short-lived as Idalia's mother grew seriously ill near the end of her pregnancy, and unfortunately passed away shortly after her daughter was born. This broke her father’s heart so much, him eventually dying of heartbreak himself. Now orphaned, Idalia was left in the care of the older woman, who raised and cared for her until she was grown and setted out on her own path in life. Her interest in witchcraft was inspired by her elderly caretaker, with her preferring more healing spells and setting up and filling her little cottage with potions and items to help out anyone who comes across her shop. Gaia frequented her shop a lot when starting her own work as a witch, and through talking and learning from Idalia they struck up a genuine bond.

. Ren: Witch of Swamps. Born from an Erdennian elf father and Mareasian fairy mother, he grew up in a small village in Erdennia under a rather tense and stressful household. The stress his parents dealt with always got reflected back to him in the form of yelling, getting frustrated a lot over little things, and strict rules that made him feel quite sheltered and withdrawn from others even if he still tried to remain optimistic and listen to his parents. This complicated relationship continued over the years, until it all escalated the day Ren came out as a trans male as a young adult. To put it simply their reactions were not good, and after angrily crying and reflecting about it and his life up till that moment in his room, he realized that he eventually had enough with putting up with their toxicity and abuse so much over the years that he packed his stuff and ran away from home, never once looking back. or the last several years he's been living as a traveling thief to get by, to both not only get enough to find a more stable living situation and a chance at fully transitioning. Very proficient in his magic even though he never attended a magic school, he specializes more in swamp magic but has been looking into learning other spells that could help him out in his life goals. Pretty reclusive and hostile to strangers, though he recently has been warming up a bit thanks to his growing relationship and involvement with Gaia.

[thecharleston]

[After sleeping for a solid 17 hours a couple of weeks ago, Charlie bounced back, more focused than ever before. She'd forgotten just how much more effective sleep was at energizing her than Pixi Stix. And so, ever since, she'd been working diligently on her telescope-- with a healthy amount of breaks this time. She'd basically been living in this little quiet room of the library. Hey, it's cozy, warm, and a good work environment. And nobody's kicked her out yet, so she's really made this space her own-- pasting huge diagrams and such on the wall for easy reference, finding spots to stash her more sensitive notes... things like that.]

[And today? Her work might finally yield results. Her telescope didn't need much-- it didn't need to rise above the Earth's atmosphere to get a full view of things, for instance. All it needed to work was to scan something made of biological matter. Normally, Charlie would have a potato ready. After all, she used it as a sort of "anchor" on her adventures. Any universe that has a plant with the exact genetic code as her potato wouldn't be a universe she would immediately die in by way of the environment. It would always be at least a little familiar. Unfortunately, her potato had long since decayed and been lost. She needed something else. Some bit of genetic material that would tie the telescope to her universe and her universe alone, something from hole that remained untainted by her travels.]

[She thought about it, then realized her hair hadn't changed one bit-- that might sound obvious, but most of her physical features shift and morph to match the universe she's in-- and that includes making her colors a little less cartoonishly vibrant in many universes. Except, her hair never seemed to change, at least not in color. One could mistake her for having dyed hair with how bright it is. ...It'll have to do. Of course, it's easier to extract DNA from the follicles of her hair than the hair itself, so... one by one, she carefully tugs 5 strands out, then gently places them into the scanning chamber of her machine. She shuts the chamber's door, making sure it's sealed.]

[Now all that is left to be done is to test the darn thing. Charlie glances at the comically large and somewhat evil-looking lever she built as an on-switch (old habits die hard, okay?! Risky science deserves a little theatrics, as far as Charlie is concerned). She takes a deep breath and walks over to it. Then, grunting with effort, she yanks the lever until it's switched. The telescope bursts to mechanical life; even a few stray bolts of electricity rapidly coiling their way up the wire from the lever to the machine. Don't worry, that's usually a good sign where she's from. She anxiously watches the telescope orient itself, listening to its whirring. Then... it dings. It's located her home universe, and thus, she can use the image of it to calculate its size. Charlie gasps, then cackles, punching the air triumphantly. She can't help it this time.]

GYAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! EUREKA!

[...Silence. Charlie's smile fades as she realizes just how homesick she is: if this were home, the Narrator would have congratulated her, or at least said something witty, depending on his mood. And with a maniacal laugh THAT passionate? Lightning would be cracking outside in time with her. But she's learned that most universes don't have nigh-omniscient narrators that talk to you, nor will lightning inexplicably strike when your evil laughter escapes you. And speaking of... she's also really learning just how tame her world's definition of evil is. She misses it when things were fun and light.]

[Charlie looks toward telescope again, its screen modeling her universe in full. Even if she goes back, she'll never be able to live there with the same naivety as she used to. ...But at least, she can try to protect the others from having to learn what true evil looks like the hard way.]

[nuadox]

Innovative molecular biology technique allows for discovery of novel targets for candidate vaccines against schistosomiasis

- By Luciana Constantino , Agência FAPESP -

Researchers in Brazil have used an innovative technique in molecular biology to identify targets for candidate vaccines against Schistosoma mansoni, the parasite that causes schistosomiasis.

Considered one of the world’s 17 neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), schistosomiasis affects some 200 million people in 74 countries, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Six million are estimated to be infected in Brazil, mainly in the Northeast region and Minas Gerais state.

The scientists used phage display, the study of protein interactions using bacteriophages, viruses that infect bacteria, to screen 99.6% of 119,747 DNA sequences encoding the proteins known to be expressed across all life-cycle stages of the parasite, achieving comprehensive coverage of its proteome.

The results of the study are reported in an article in NPJ Vaccines, an open-access journal published by the Springer Nature group. 

They follow on from those of a previous study that revealed the mechanism whereby the Rhesus macaque Macaca mulatta naturally develops a lasting immune response against schistosomiasis by inhibiting certain of the parasite’s genes so that it cannot multiply in the host organism. This immune response leads to self-cure after first contact with S. mansoni and enables the animal to react faster to a second infection (read more at: agencia.fapesp.br/37688).

“Phage display had never been deployed for this purpose in research on parasitic diseases, which normally involves preselection of a few targets for testing of candidate vaccines. In this study, we screened 12,000 proteins of S. mansoni at the same time to identify which ones were targeted by the macaque’s antibodies, both after initial infection and reinfection and after reinfection and self-cure, a key innovation. Both the technique and the model for the study were innovative,” said Murilo Sena Amaral, a researcher at Butantan Institute’s Laboratory of Cell Cycle.

Amaral is the penultimate author of the article. The last author, as principal investigator for the study, is Sergio Verjovski-Almeida, also a researcher at Butantan Institute and a professor at the University of São Paulo’s Institute of Chemistry (IQ-USP).

Both are supported by FAPESP (15/06366-2 and 20/01917-9), which has also funded scholarships for other researchers in the group (18/18117-5, 19/02305-0 and 16/10046-6), including a PhD scholarship for first author Daisy Woellner Santos.

Methodology

The researchers investigated the immune response of ten macaques infected by S. mansoni during the stages of self-cure and resistance to reinfection using a recently developed technique called peptide library-based phage immunoprecipitation sequencing (PhIP-Seq). They constructed a phage display library that comprised 119,747 DNA sequences encoding 11,641 known proteins from S. mansoni in all stages of its life cycle. The library was incubated with antibodies collected from rhesus macaques in a previous study at different points during the process of self-cure and resistance to reinfection. The aim was to isolate and identify specific targets of the animal’s immune response to the parasite.

The study involved rhesus macaques, which naturally develop a lasting immune response to the disease (photo: researcher’s archive)

Library screening with antibodies from the early phase of parasite infection identified significantly enriched epitopes of parasite extracellular proteins known to be expressed in the host’s digestive tract, shifting toward intracellular proteins during the late phase of parasite clearance (released owing to its death). Epitope refers to the specific target against which an individual antibody binds. When an antibody binds to a protein, it bonds not to the entire protein but to a segment known as an epitope.

The enriched peptides were analyzed with bioinformatics tools to identify potential candidates for vaccines. The most promising candidates were tested in a pilot vaccination assay, in which mice were immunized with a selected pool of PhIP-Seq-enriched phage-displayed peptides. The result was a significant reduction of worm burden in the immunized mice.

“You often hear the argument that a schistosomiasis vaccine isn’t feasible, but our discoveries have revealed a great deal of the immune response and opened up promising prospects for the development of an effective vaccine. We worked with the 12,000 proteins key to all stages of the parasite’s life cycle and succeeded in identifying the most reactive targets,” Verjovski-Almeida told Agência FAPESP. The technique can be used for other types of parasite, he added.

In an article published in May 2023, the group described their discovery of a way to “separate” male and female parasites so as to prevent reproduction and egg release. Male-female pairing, with the female living inside the male, is essential to their survival. Without it, they die. In the study, the researchers showed that male-female separation could be obtained by silencing specific long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), which are therefore a promising target for treatment of the disease (read more at: agencia.fapesp.br/41908). 

Female inside male of Schistosoma mansoni (photo: researcher’s archive)

How the worm works

Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease associated with poor hygiene and a lack of basic sanitation. It is transmitted when an infected person excretes feces containing schistosome eggs into the environment. The eggs hatch in freshwater, releasing larvae that infect snails. The snails are intermediate hosts, while humans are definitive hosts.

After four weeks, the larvae leave the snail as cercariae, the free-swimming larval stage. When humans come into contact with contaminated water, they acquire the disease via active skin penetration by cercariae.

In the human bloodstream, the cercariae progress to the schistosomule stage, eventually becoming adult worms that lodge in the veins of the intestines. The first symptoms of the disease appear two to six weeks after infection.

The disease is diagnosed by laboratory analysis of feces. Simple cases can be treated by a single dose of praziquantel, a drug discovered in the 1970s and distributed in Brazil by the national health system (Sistema Único de Saúde, SUS). However, it does not assure continuous protection. Patients taking it can be reinfected, and there are reports of parasite drug resistance.

“The next step is to develop a suitable vaccine formulation containing adjuvants and a novel mechanism for delivery of these antigens so that they produce better protection in the host. We have some targets with higher response levels,” Verjovski-Amaral explained. Butantan Institute has applied for a patent on the group’s discoveries linked to possible vaccine targets.

Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), an arm of the Brazilian Health Ministry, has been working for years on what could be the world’s first schistosomiasis vaccine. Called Schistovac, it is in the testing stage and contains a modified version of the Sm14 protein found in S. mansoni. The protein normally plays a key role in trafficking fatty acids, which are essential to the parasite’s cellular functions. The modified version is designed to prevent proliferation.

The article “Schistosoma mansoni vaccine candidates identified by unbiased phage display screening in self-cured rhesus macaques” is at: www.nature.com/articles/s41541-023-00803-x.  

This text was originally published by FAPESP Agency according to Creative Commons license CC-BY-NC-ND. Read the original here.

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Header image: This micrograph reveals four Schistosoma mansoni trematodes, a pair (left), a female (center), and a male (right). Credit: CDC/Wikimedia Commons. Ed note: A slight blue filter has been applied.

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[magicoldcottage]

A vision of doom

I don’t normally post visions but last night was so powerful I thought I would make an exception.

I woke running from a giant rat in the east garden pod. Global warming had come with a twist that nobody had predicted. While people baked year on year with records being broken. Farms were suffering. Crops were continually starved of water as rainfall reduced and rivers dried. Then when the ground was so dry that it cracked, the storms would hit, washing away anything left. Then the heat reached a point where most crops failed.

Food still grew in some cooler parts of the world and their export cost shot up. These became the gardens of the world. Some not wanting to be dependent on others adopted alternative methods. I worked in the garden pods giant subterranean hydroponics gardens sunk beneath the ground. Originally the pods were just somewhere we visited to work, however that was my grandfather's time, now we eat, sleep and work underground. The surface is just somewhere you visit to remind yourself of better times.  We live in what was once called Italy but now is just a wasteland, even with the latest high factor sun protection you can only stay topside for 10 minutes before you start to burn.  When the storms hit nobody leaves the safety of the Hex, the name of our habitat.  

The land is much smaller than it used to be as rising seas reclaimed some of the land.  What I struggle with is why those in the past didn’t do more to prevent this. Most of the west attempted to make a difference with some measures put in place but sadly it was the east that created most of the pollution. They simply refused to make enough changes, putting profits over the planet, even as their homes were struck with droughts and floods. They were kept in the dark and controlled by the wealthy. Even when things were put in place like the 2025 Shift where most of the planet swapped from natural gas to Hydrogen. It took years before people discovered that most of the Hydrogen was simply being created from Oil, keep the money where it has always been.

We couldn’t save the animals but have the Ark, a DNA library. If needed we could grow clones of any of the animals that have been lost. We still have pictures but its not the same.