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[cyantomatos]

Wheel of Writing - Day 31

Pairing: Marcus Moreno x gn!reader Prompt: You’ve been bumping into the same stranger for months. Finally, you decide to say hello. Notes: We’re done! The last prompt! Thankfully this year was much less stressful getting them all out than last year was, and I’m so happy to have finished my first original October prompts list. Hopefully it becomes a yearly tradition. Thank you for all the love on all the prompts this month!

The first time you see your stranger, it’s in passing.

You’re walking down the busy street, new to the area and slightly turned around. Your eyes are glued to your phone, following the instructions on your Maps app, and when you look up your eyes lock on his. You both give a polite smile, your own eyes immediately dropping back to your phone, and the two of you continue in opposite directions down the street.

A few days later you’re heading into a coffee shop, eager to try a new place after losing your old shop when you moved. He’s heading out, two drink carriers balanced one in each hand, and still he stops to hold the door open for you with his body as you head inside. You share another polite smile as recognition sparks in the back of your mind.

It’s another week before you see him again, this time at the grocery store. He has a young girl, probably his daughter, walking alongside the cart as his eyes scan the names of sugary cereals. She’s chatting along at a mile a minute, getting the occasional absent nod from him, and you smile as you pass to the next aisle.

You don’t technically run into him the next time, but you do see him a few weeks later. The TV in the break room at work is playing an interview when you walk in, and you stop dead at the sight of him on the screen. The scrolling text along the bottom explains that a few superheroes were visiting the local children’s hospital, and your heart nearly melts at the sight of him crouched next to a little girl in a hospital gown.

Two days later you’re standing at an intersection in a crowd, waiting for the light to change so you can cross the street. Your eyes scan absently over the matching crowd across the street, and a smile spreads across your face when you see him standing at the edge. He notices you at the same time, nodding his head slightly with a matching smile - genuine now and not just polite - as the two of you pass on the crosswalk.

The next month is filled with small interactions, smiles exchanged but never a word spoken. It starts to become the highlight of your day when you pass him on the street or at the coffee shop, and you start to wonder if it would be weird at this point to say something. If he wanted to talk to you, surely he would have done so by now?

Almost two months after that first time you saw him it’s pouring down rain. Your head is down as you speed-walk down the street, praying you won’t get too drenched before you manage to get inside.

Suddenly the rain stops soaking into your hair, and you look up in surprise to see a rainbow-polkadot umbrella covering you. You turn to the side and see your stranger, smiling a bit sheepishly down at you. “You looked like you could use an umbrella.”

You glance up again at the bright umbrella, a grin spreading across your face. “Thank you, but not the color I would have expected you to have.”

He chuckles, still smiling as he rolls his eyes. “My daughters. I wasn’t paying attention when I left this morning.”

It suddenly occurs to you that, while you feel like you’ve known him for months, this is the first conversation you’ve actually had. You hold out your hand, telling him your name, and he shuffles the umbrella to his other hand so he can take yours.

“Marcus. It’s nice to finally actually meet you.”

[rankfast]

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[guqin-and-flute]

Are You Here to Stop Me? --Ch. 6 [Peony to Lotus!Verse, Yaoli]

[So, someone commented last chapter ‘I hope we get a breather soon!’ And I was like ‘you know? That’s a great idea.’ So it’s only super lightly angsty at the beginning, easily fixed and the rest is just A-Yuan being delightful. 👐 You’re welcome. Also, it’s been a couple days since WWX’s chapter, A-Yuan doesn’t have a great sense of time, as a child, so I wanted to make it clear that it’s been about a week since the Wen arrived.]

[Chapter 1] [Chapter 2] [Chapter 3] [Chapter 4] [Chapter 5] [First post in Peony to Lotus Verse]

[Ao3 Series]

A-Yuan was lost.

He was at the market near Lotus Pier for the first time and he had been staying close to Xian-gege, just like he said he should, holding his hand or pulling on his belt or wrapped around his leg. It was a hot and sunny day, the air all soupy. They trotted around for a little bit, looking at the different things people were selling; sometimes it was clothes or umbrellas, inside stores or out on carts or tables. It was loud and colorful and it smelled like food and people and sometimes like animal poop that made him wrinkle his nose. Xian-gege had been chatting at him, talking about the places he used to go when he was around A-Yuan’s age with his Shijie and Clan Leader Jiang. It had been fun, even if he was getting all sweaty from the sun. It had always been a lot cooler up in the mountains! He missed them a lot and hoped that they could go back soon. Or maybe they could grow mountains here? That would be nice! He liked the people at Lotus Pier, and all the people left from Dafan Mountain were here, now, so all they were missing was actually just the mountains. Maybe then it would be a new home?

When they had stopped in the nice shade of a cart tent and tree to talk to some man Xian-gege knew who hadn’t been selling anything interesting--pots or something--A-Yuan had spotted a toad. (Spotted a spotted toad! A-Yuan had giggled to himself.)

It was dark and big and polkadot and sitting right by the side of the road and everything. It had golden, bulgy eyes and it’s white throat had been wiggling, just watching the people go by. It was kinda cute, in an ugly sort of way and he had wanted to pick it up. But when he had let go of Xian-gege’s belt to bounce over, it had hopped down further into the grass. So he had followed it just a couple steps and it hopped again, closer to the tree. Suddenly, A-Yuan had a thought--that maybe the toad had a little house in the tree, and if he didn’t catch it soon, he would miss his chance totally. So he waddled behind it all bent over, hands out as it scrambled and jumped and flopped away in the grass. 

Finally, he managed to pounce, grabbing its weird, cold and lumpy body in his hands that were careful not to squish too hard--but he thought that maybe he did anyway because it right away peed all over him, which was super gross and kind of funny. 

When he turned around and tramped back up, he saw that Xian-gege had moved just a bit down the road, dark robes swishing as he turned this way and that, probably looking for him. So he trotted after with his prize through the crowd, grinning, until he raised it up to shove up at Xian-gege because it would be funny and he would probably say something hilarious and make a funny face. “Gege, look!”

But when he had turned around, it wasn’t him; it was some stranger in dark brown instead of black like he thought, squinting down at him and making a gross-out face. “What?”

A-Yuan had taken the toad back real quick, tucking it back to his chest, eyes big and bulgy, just like the toad. All of a sudden, the market sun hadn’t felt just hot anymore, but like the brightest light was shining right on him, like everyone was looking right at him. When he looked around, there were no pots sellers or Xian-gege’s or people he knew anywhere. Just him and his toad, next to a loud food stand he had never seen before in the middle of the forest of grownup legs and butts. When he turned around, he saw that even the man he thought had been Xian-gege had left him behind.

Alone. 

So now, he swallowed hard because it felt like some of the dry dust rising from the stone street was all over his tongue, making his tummy squirm like the toads kicking legs.He kind of knew why it had peed when a weird stranger had picked it up and he felt really, really bad for teasing it cause it must be so scared. Scooting to the side of the road, he put it back down watched it scramble hop away as he wiped his toad-pee hands on the grass, then his robes as he looked around, trying to listen for Xian-gege’s loud, happy voice complaining about how much things cost or calling his name. But everyone’s accent here sounded like Xian-gege and it was so so loud, he couldn’t hear anything but strangers talking about people he didn’t know and things he didn’t understand. And what he did understand wasn’t helpful at all, like the guy yelling about youtiao or the lady calling into the street about her perfume bags.

He didn’t know this big town, yet, not like Dafan Mountain where he had known everyone and everyone had known him. Back when he had walked with his mama and dad and sister around to the auntie’s shops and he had gotten sweets. They had only been here in Lotus Pier, like, a little bit of days. And Auntie Wen Qing had told him to be careful and not tell anyone that he was Wen. Could they tell? Did he look like a Wen? He hugged himself super tight and stared into the crowd, his tummy rolling and rolling in knots. He really wanted his mama, right now. She was dead, but he still wanted her more than anything. 

“Didi? Are you alright?” 

A stranger lady in a pretty pink robe stopped right next to him and bent down but he didn’t know her and he didn’t want her, he wanted his mama or Xian-gege or Auntie Wen Qing or Grandma Wen or someone he knew, so he clamped his mouth shut tight and hurried off down the road, away from her. He was starting to wish that he had kept the toad. He felt super tiny and all alone, even if there were people everywhere. Maybe having the toad to take care of would have made him feel braver.

And then, right when the scared was starting to bubble up into tears in his eyes and he couldn’t see so well, he spotted purple at the end of the road. Purple like Lotus Pier people. Purple like Clan Leader Jiang wore. Right now, he would take grumpy, kinda scary Clan Leader Jiang over weird, super scary strangers. So he blinked his tears away and ran as fast as he could, weaving in and out of grown up legs, not daring to yell in case he had some sort of Wen voice, hoping that the purple didn’t disappear into the crowd like Xian-gege had.

The tips of his shoes were a little too long and they kept catching on the edges of some stones as he ran, and he almost fell twice. When he followed the purple robe right around the corner, he saw that it wasn’t actually Clan Leader Jiang, but Auntie Jiang Yanli’s husband, Jin-something-guy. A-Yuan hadn’t gotten to talk or play much with him since they’d all been here, yet, but that didn’t matter to A-Yuan! He’d finally found someone he knew! Without slowing down, he rammed straight into the grownup’s leg and held on like one of those burrs that got stuck to his robes when he went for a walk in the forest. An, “Ah!” came from above him as the man twisted around to see what had hit him from behind.

“Gege!” A-Yuan gasped, sweaty face buried in his smooth purple robes as he tried to get his breath back in the sticky air. “Gege, I am lost!”

“I don’t--A-Yuan?” the Jin Guy sounded super surprised. “What on earth are you doing here?”

“Being lost!” A-Yuan peeled his face back and stared up at him.

“Goodness. Well, not anymore, luckily,” he replied, eyebrows raised, a gentle hand coming down and patting A-Yuan on the back of his head, behind his ponytail. “Who or where did you get lost from, A-Yuan? Here, let’s find a place to sit. You look like you’ve been working hard.” 

Taking his hand, the Jin Guy led him back down the road a bit to a bench in the shade of a huge tree with a really wide leaf hat that covered half of the shops and carts near it. A-Yuan super appreciated this because he had been working hard and he was all gooey from sweat. When they both sat, the Jin Guy reached into one lapel, pulling out and flicking open a pretty black and gold fan in one move with a fwwwp. Then, he started puffing air at A-Yuan’s face, which felt really nice. When he grabbed for it, the Jin Guy smiled and let him take it and flap it all around--everywhere but his face. 

Wow…fans were harder to work than they looked. Kicking his feet back and forth in the air, he gave it back so the Jin Guy could make it work right, remembering to say a “Thank you,” like Grandma Wen always told him to. 

“Mn,” The Jin Guy replied and started fanning A-Yuan’s face again. “Who were you out here with, A-Yuan? Don’t tell me you’ve wandered all the way from the Pier itself?”

Leaning his face even more into the breeze and closing his eyes, A-Yuan answered, “No, I’m inna market with Xian-gege. But then he lefted! I turned around with the toad and he had just lefted!”

“The toad,” the Jin Guy repeated, in a friendy, smiling voice. “I see. Well, why don’t we let Xian-gege know where you are, hm?” 

Laying the fan on his lap, he reached back into his lapel and pulled out a strip of paper with some writing on it and held it between his first two fingers. Slowly, the paper started glowing and curling and shrinking. A-Yuan felt his mouth drop open. This was the coolest paper he had ever seen! It started getting see-through, like little bugs were eating holes in it, until the Jin Guy turned his hand over, palm up. In the middle sat a sparkling, golden, glowing, see-through, magic butterfly, gently wiggling its wings back and forth. “WHOA-WUH!!” 

A grandma passing by looked down at them with a frown because he shouted, but next to him, the Jin Guy just huffed out a laugh through his nose instead of telling him to calm down. “I take it you like it?”

“Yeah!!”

“Well, this butterfly can carry messages of your voice and go where I send it.”

A-Yuan clambered up so he stood up on the bench and grabbed onto the Jin Guy’s shoulders for balance, peering closer at the magical little thing. “That’s the coolest magic ever.”

“Mm, it is very handy.” The Jin Guy let him grab onto him and lifted the butterfly a little higher so it was closer to A-Yuan’s face. “Go ahead, I’m going to send it to Xian-gege so he can find us.”

So…the butterfly would repeat his voice? Suddenly, shyness raised up inside his throat at the idea. It felt like everyone on the street was watching him again and he felt kind of silly and goofy. So he squirmed around, ducking his head before leaning further onto the Jin Guy and smushing his face into his shoulder. “Grmmrmrrgrmgrmrmr,” he mumbled.

He was squirming around on his feet so much that the Jin Guy raised his arm up to steady him, chuckling. “What was that?”

“Grrmmrgrrmrrmmrmrr.”

“You’re going to have to talk into the butterfly, A-Yuan,” the Jin Guy said, voice still laughing a bit. 

Picking up his face, A-Yuan squeezed his eyes shut and half yelled, half laughed in the direction of the butterfly, “Come and get me, Xian-gegeee!” 

When he looked over to see how he did, the Jin Guy nodded and patted A-Yuan’s back where his hand was. “Yes,” he said dryly into the butterfly, “Come and get him, Xian-gege.” Then, he tilted his hand and the butterfly fluttered, flapping about in the air.

A-Yuan got so excited that he hopped down from the bench onto the grass and reached up with his hands. It circled around his head, making him giggle, and then slowly, with just a flap or two, wobbled around the back of the bench, leaving a trail of gold sparkles. A-Yuan scrambled after it. For a few minutes, he followed it, around and around the bench, laughing and hopping his way after it and trying to jump up to touch it. But he kept his fingers gentle and open, in case he did actually bump it. He didn’t want to squish it for real or anything. The Jin Guy just watched him from where he sat on the bench, leaning back a little on his arms, a small smile on his face. Then, he called A-Yuan back and lifted him back up to sit on the bench, the butterfly suddenly floating up high and fast, flapping away above the buildings. 

A-Yuan was panting again from his running around, so the Jin Guy started fanning him again. “That was the coolest!” A-Yuan exclaimed, grabbing onto the Jin Guy’s purple and gold sleeve as it wiggled around from his fanning. “Can you make it change colors?”

“I’m glad you enjoyed it! Hmm. Perhaps. Not with any of the talismans I’ve already made, unfortunately. What color would you like it to be?”

“Gold is cool! It was just a wonder. Maybe…blue? Or red?”

“An interesting choice! I shall have to consider it. Feeling better?”

“Oh yeah!”

“Are you hungry?”

A-Yuan tilted his head really far to the side, thinking, then nodded really big, once. “Umm…a-yeah pro’lly.”

The Jin Guy looked around at the stalls near them, thoughtfully. At least some of them looked like food people with hissing and crackling things in woks and ovens. “Hmm. Let’s get you something when Xian-gege shows up, how does that sound?”

“Yeah! You’re a nice gege. What’s your name again? I forgotted.”

The Jin Guy looked back at him with eyes crinkled up and little dips in his cheeks when he smiled big. “My name is Jin Guangyao.”

“Oh! Can I call you Yao-gege?”

Just as he was nodding, they both heard a big shout from down the street in a familiar voice; “A-YUAN!”

Xian-gege was shouldering through the crowd, following the sparkly golden butterfly that flitted over people’s heads. He was breathing all deep and hard, his hair looking a little crazy. The butterfly floated over and perched on A-Yuan’s nose, making him squeeze his eyes shut automatically. When he peeked them open again, little sparkles were fading in front of his face. Before he got time to be sad, Xian-gege skidded to a stop in front of the bench and grabbed up A-Yuan in his hands, squeezing him tight to him in a hug. “Where on earth did you go, you little brat?! I turn around and you’re gone? What did I tell you before we left! I ought to hang you by your ankles from this tree! I ought to throw you in the lake! Tell him, Yao-ge!”

From still sitting on the bench, Yao-gege raised an eyebrow at Xian-gege, but didn’t tell A-Yuan anything. A-Yuan began giggling from all the threats and wobbling around, flopping in Xian-gege’s grip, ‘cause it was kinda funny, now that he had found people again and wasn’t lost anymore. “You lefted! I just saw a toad.”

“A toad?” Xian-gege demanded, taking a break from shaking A-Yuan around to rest him on his hip.

“It was big! I picked it up to show you, but you lefted!”

“Well, where is this toad?”

“I let it go, I felt bad.”

When he took both their hands and towed them back up the street he had run down to Yao-gege--it really seemed much shorter and not as wide, now--it wasn’t there anymore. “A shame,” Xian-gege said, putting his hands on his hips, staring around into the grass. “It sounded marvelous.”

“It was,” A-Yuan said confidently, even though he wasn’t sure what that meant. “It peed on me.”

Yao-gege covered a snort with his hand and then cleared his throat. “Perhaps we can find you somewhere to wash your hands.”

“Okay. I don't like being lost,” A-Yuan added, glancing between both of them, in case they got the wrong idea. Being lost was no fun at all.

Xian-gege scoffed. “I can't think of anyone who does.” A-Yuan nodded at this, satisfied.

“We'll be more careful, next time,” Yao-gege added, looking over at Xian-gege with both his eyebrows raised, this time and a thin smile. “Won’t we?”

Xian-gege huffed out a breath, but knelt down and tugged at the bottom of A-Yuan’s robes, straightening out where they were kinda bunchy at his belt. “Both of us will, eh, A-Yuan? No more getting lost in the market nonsense, right? Did you thank your Jin-gege for rescuing you?”

A-Yuan couldn’t remember if he had, so he turned and stuck himself to Yao-gege’s thigh again, grinning up at him. “Thank you, gege, for rescuing me!”

Again, Yao-gege patted his head, just like he did the first time he had grabbed onto him, smiling all crinkly again. “You’re welcome, A-Yuan. I’m just glad you weren’t lost for very long. How about that food?”

The rest of the market trip was a bunch of fun! After Yao-gege bought him and Xian-gege some refreshing mung bean soup to cool off and some youtiao, he wandered with them, always holding one of their hands and sometimes holding both, walking between them. A couple of times, Xian-gege convinced Yao-gege to swing A-Yuan high up into the air between them, and A-Yuan shrieked and laughed the whole time, legs kicking like he could kick a hole in the sky. They even looked at a little cart that was rolling by that sold toys, and Yao-gege let him pick out 3 things. A-Yuan chose a little fan made of flat bamboo, a cute folded butterfly on a stick, and a wooden sword, just like the one that Clan Leader Jiang and other grownup cultivators walked around with.

This made him pause and eye his gege’s hands. They didn’t carry swords with them. “Are you cultivators?” he asked, leaning forward to look at them both, one hand holding Yao-gege’s and the other clutching his new toys.

“Yes, we are. Why do you ask?” Yao-gege tilted his head down at him as they walked away from the stand and back into the loud, hot crowd.

“‘Cause you don’t carry swords.”

Xian-gege said nothing, but Yao-gege just answered, lightly, “Do either of your gugu’s carry swords? Si-shu?”

Hmm. He thought about Auntie Wen Qing and Auntie Jiang Yanli and Fourth Uncle. No, they didn’t. Actually, none of the other Wen did. “Okay!” he answered brightly, then added; “You can hold mine, if you want to.” 

“That’s very kind of you, A-Yuan. I think we’ll let you have your turn first, since it’s so new.”

That made a lot of sense to A-Yuan. 

As they walked, people would call out to the grownups--especially Xian-gege, but some of them knew Yao-gege, too--and they kept stopping to talk to people. Sometimes, they smiled at A-Yuan, too, and asked him his name and offered him little bits of food, so A-Yuan got to eat some sort of meatballs on a stick, then sticky candied fruit, then buns, and then a little bit of the fish on a stick that Xian-gege got himself. By the time Yao-gege was buying something at a weird and smelly shop that had so many drawers and jars behind the counter, A-Yuan was so full that he could barely even walk anymore. 

He had been quiet, playing with his toys through the last couple of the stores they went through, the grownups talking about and looking at and buying grownup things. A-Yuan was trying to be patient. But they had been here for so long and his feet hurt and his tummy hurt ‘cause it was so full and it was hot and he didn’t wanna walk anymore and he was bored. “Can we go home?” he whined. 

“Tired?” Xian-gege grinned from so tall up above him, leaning against the wall as they waited. “You promised to be my market buddy today.”

“Yeah, but that was a lot before my feet hurted so much. I’m tired. I wanna go home.”

Xian-gege clicked his tongue but reached down and swung him up onto his hip. Then, he strolled up to Yao-gege as he turned back from the counter, tucking his magic, bigger inside bag back onto his belt. “Is some of that for you? You’ve been going pretty hard yourself.”

Yao-gege smiled and shook his head. “No more than you have. Will you finally let our good doctor look after you, then?”

Rolling his eyes, Xian-gege hefted A-Yuan up higher. “Look, if she was that worried, she’d have already tied me up and stabbed me with her needles. I’m fine. Got everything? You know you could send a servant here to pick up at least this. It’s a prescription, anyone can hand it over.” 

Leading the way back out into the noisy street and hot, hot sunlight, Yao-gege shook his head, making it spark off his shiny silver guan. “I would rather be thorough and sure. One…never knows.”

“Hmm.” Xian-gege’s easy, teasing smile suddenly left his face, and he glanced up and down the street, as if he didn’t care much. But his eyes were sharp. “This is true.” Then, all of a sudden, he lifted A-Yuan up and plopped him down on Yao-gege’s shoulders without warning either of them. “Here, he’s so warm, he’s like a little hot stone. Eugh.”

For a second, all A-Yuan could do was cling to Yao-gege’s head with a squeak, trying to keep a hold of all of his toys and not fall off at the same time. Yao-gege made an annoyed tongue click, swaying to a stop and raising his hands to grab A-Yuan’s knee and side to keep him steady. Then, he turned and looked at Xian-gege, who was grinning and turning away already, announcing, “Back home we go!”

Sighing, Yao-gege wiggled his shoulders a few times until A-Yuan sat without anything poking him uncomfortably or feeling like he was going to fall off and wrapped his hands around A-Yuan’s ankles. “Comfortable?” he asked, his voice vibrating up like tickles from his shoulders under A-Yuan’s legs. 

“Yeah! It’s so tall up here!”

With a short hum-laugh, Yao-gege patted A-Yuan’s foot and set off after Xian-gege. “Make sure to hang on, please, I don’t want you to fall.” 

It was still bright and hot, but up higher, closer to the bright blue sky, it was a little more breezy. And he didn’t get nearly as hot when he wasn’t walking. Yao-gege’s walking was nice and even, not like the bumpy and scary horseback ride he had taken to get here. A-Yuan shivered at the memory. He never wanted to go on a horse again. 

The wind actually almost took his butterfly away, so he tucked its stick carefully into the bun that stuck up through Yao-gege’s guan, pushing it through so it would be safe. He was leaning around trying to tuck the sword into his belt when Yao-gege asked underneath him, voice patient and amused. “And just what are you doing to my hair?”

“Butterfly! It almost flew away.” Now that his hands were free, he could practice with his new fan, so he did, trying to flap it on him and Yao-gege so they would both be cool.

“Ah, I see.”

“Wow, Yao-gege, I love your accessory,” Xian-gege grinned, slowing his steps on the dirt path down so he could walk next to them.

“Thank you,” Yao-gege said in a totally different voice, now, all flat and annoyed. Xian-gege only laughed and poked at A-Yuan’s side, making him laugh, too.

“Wuxian, you shouldn’t harass him--”

“Oh, he thinks it’s funny!”

Yao-gege just heaved a sigh and shook his head, making it turn this way and that under A-Yuan’s hands. It got a little quieter the further they got from the town, but there were still people and houses everywhere. As they passed, a lot of them nodded and smiled, waved or said a ‘hello’. Only a few people ignored them and only, like, 3 gave them weird, dirty looks. Soon, A-Yuan could smell the lake, green and wet and fresh and just a little gross in the so hot day. Maybe he and Fourth Uncle could go swimming again! His tummy gave a little twinge. Maybe later he and Fourth Uncle could go swimming. Right now, he just wanted to sit somewhere. 

They walked a little bit more, both his gege’s chatting together about things he didn’t pay attention to when he started to be able to see the tops of the Lotus Pier buildings over the houses and trees. He liked Lotus Pier. A-Yuan had never seen a house so big. Auntie Wen Qing said it wasn’t really a house--but people lived there, didn’t they? What else could it be? It was like a big house made of smaller houses inside a big wall. Maybe a village? He hadn’t seen all of it because he wasn’t allowed, but he played around some of it with his Wen Aunties and Uncles and Xian-gege.

He had been afraid of Xian-gege when he first saw him again--he remembered when he had come gotten them all from that cold, dirty place, he had been so shouty and scary and tall. And then they had all been riding horses for days and days and days, so he hadn’t gotten any time to know him. But then, he had played with A-Yuan and dunked him in the lake until he coughed up the water, and made silly voices and so he was his Xian-gege now. Maybe he had been having a bad day when he had first met him? 

Anyway, Lotus Pier was different from Dafan Mountain, and the place they had just run away from a couple days ago. Here, he could take baths and swim and eat whenever he wanted, and he had his own soft bed in Auntie Wen Qing’s room! Lotus Pier was nice and warm, with lots of water and flowers everywhere. He still missed Dafan Mountain, though, almost as much as he missed his mama and papa and sister. He missed the tall, tall trees and the fort he had made behind his house and how big everything was. You could see for so long, like you were on top of the world! Here, the sky seemed a little smaller, all flat with trees up everywhere. 

They were starting to change colors, the trees--he sort of remembered they did that, a long time ago, but wasn’t expecting it to happen again here. He thought that was a mountain thing, but maybe it was just a tree thing. When he found a couple of the leaves on the ground, were so bright, the yellows and oranges and reds. But when he brought them back to the nice smelling room he shared with Auntie, he found them all brown and crumbly the next day. He was so sad that he cried. But one of the nice servants heard him talking and showed him how to press flowers and coat them in wax so they stayed colorful forever. A-Yuan thought that was so cool and had started a collection under his bed of them.

A lot of the Jiangs he saw were nice, like the servant lady who showed him the leaf trick. Some of them ignored him when he said ‘hello!’ There were only a few kids that he had seen and they didn’t talk to him, much, watching him around corners and running away giggling when he asked them to play. Maybe they were just super busy, like all the other Jiang people here.

As they walked along the long, white wall and got to the pretty carved lotus doors, he asked Yao-gege, interestedly, “Are we going to go see Jiang-gugu?” They were married, after all.

Yao-gege glanced up at where A-Yuan was peering down over the top of his head and smiled. “I was going to drop off her medicine and stay if she was awake, yes. Would you like to see her if she feels well enough?”

“Yeah!”

Auntie Jiang Yanli had been really nice on the ride to Lotus Pier and when he saw her again for the first time, yesterday, sitting in a comfy chair with a back in the shade with her maid-girl. She had been really tired and sick all the times that he had talked to her, but she was always nice and asked him about the sort of things he liked to do, so he liked the chats they had had. They hadn’t played, yet, but hopefully they could soon! He could let her hold his new butterfly.

Xian-gege said that he had to get back to work and left them after poking A-Yuan’s sides a few more times until he laughed so hard he almost fell off. Because he was still up there on Yao-gege’s shoulders, A-Yuan had to duck going through a pretty set of doors into a warm, comfy looking sitting room, then again going into a dimmer bedroom that had him blinking green and red haze from his eyes from the sunlight outside. It definitely smelled nice in here, like pretty flower incense. When he could see better, he could see it looked nice, too. Auntie Jiang Yanli smiled up at them from where she was tucked into a bed with tall posts on all four corners and floaty white cloth draped between them, tucked up out of the way. Auntie Wen Qing frowned from where she was sitting on the side of it with her doctor’s box closed up next to her. “A-Yao, A-Yuan, hello,” Auntie Jiang Yanli murmured as Yao-gege lifted A-Yuan from his shoulders and set him down in front of Auntie Wen Qing. “I love your hair ornament,” she added to Yao-gege with a sleepy grin.

He huffed a laugh through his nose with a smile back and slid the butterfly on a stick free from his hair. “It belongs to A-Yuan,” he let her know as he handed it to her to look at and went around the bed to go sit on the other side.

 A-Yuan clambered up into Auntie Wen Qing’s lap, flapping her with the fan--he was getting really good at it. “I got lost!” he announced.

Auntie Wen Qing frowned deeper and looked sharply over at Yao-gege. “What happened to Wei Wuxian?”

“There was a little mix up, but from what I gather, he was only lost for a few minutes before he saw me down the road and came running. We met up with Wuxian later and walked back together,” Yao-gege smiled all calm at her, petting a hand down Auntie Jiang Yanli’s hair. “Here, they had all of it,” he added and unwound his magic bag from his belt, offering it out to Auntie Wen Qing, who took it. 

“Yao-gege saved me! He sent a butterfly and Xian-gege came running!”

Auntie Wen Qing looked like she didn’t know what she thought about this story and wrapped her hand around his to stop it from flapping in her face. “No more, please. A-Yuan, if you’re ever lost, you need to stay right where you are, so we can find you again. Never go wandering off, especially with a stranger.”

 “Yao-gege’s not a stranger.”

“I mean in the future. Just ever.” She sighed. “Perhaps it’s best if you stay in Lotus Pier. Trips to the market….” she trailed off, face worried and thoughtful looking. Then, when he wiggled, said, “A-Yuan, if you’re going to stay, you mustn’t move around a lot, alright? Jiang-gugu isn’t feeling well.”

Obediently, A-Yuan was careful when he clambered onto the light blue blankets on the bed from her lap so he didn’t upset the box of doctor things next to her. “But the market was super fun!”

Yao-gege smiled from where he sat next to Auntie Jiang Yanli, but put a finger to his own lips and tapped, so A-Yuan sucked his lips into his mouth and didn’t say anything else. “I’m glad it all worked out alright,” Auntie Jiang Yanli said, all tired and quiet, even though she smiled at him. “Here, A-Yuan.” Leaning up a bit, she gave back his butterfly.

Yao-gege scooted over to her and stroked her hair, murmuring, “It got worse again?”

She nodded and snuggled up a little closer to his side. “Tired. Mostly.” She coughed behind her hand, deep in her chest. “I was doing well this morning and started fading just a little while ago. Qing-mei wanted to check me again.”

“I’m still concerned about how slippery your pulse is,” Auntie Wen Qing said as she unlocked her box and tucked the bag Yao-gege had given her into a little slot, laying a few things out on the bed.

Yao-gege tucked himself behind Auntie Jiang Yanli and helped her heave herself up from the pillow, a little floppy, like she was too tired to sit up. When Auntie Wen Qing took her pulse, it was quiet enough in the room to hear the frogs croaking and the birds twittering outside the closed window screens. A-Yuan knew better than to be loud when someone was doctoring, so he just sat and fanned his butterfly in silence.

“What could that mean?” Yao-gege asked, quietly. “The slippery pulse.”

Auntie Wen Qing flicked her eyes to him and pressed her lips together before looking back at Auntie Jiang Yanli, who smiled weakly. “A-Yao is allowed to hear all about my diagnosis. There’s no question I mind being asked in front of him.” She nuzzled into his shoulder. “He is an uncommon husband.”

Auntie Wen Qing tilted her head, then, and answered, “There are a few things it could mean but I want to run a few more tests before I’m sure.”

Then she did other things, stuff with looking close at her eyes and Auntie Jiang Yanli sticking out her tongue and stuff, but A-Yuan didn’t pay much attention, even when they started chatting. He let his mind sort of wander away, around Lotus Pier and other toys he might get next time in the market. Where was Xian-gege working? Maybe A-Yuan could go ask to swim with him, soon. His tummy was already feeling better now that he wasn’t so totally too hot outside, plus it  was cool and nice smelling in here. Auntie Jiang Yanli said something about pickles and A-Yuan wrinkled his nose. He didn’t like pickles. He flapped his fan harder and his butterfly spun a little, when he held the stick lightly.

“You had talked about them yesterday, as well.” Auntie Wen Qing said, slowly.

“Mmn,” Auntie Jiang Yanli nodded. “I’ve been wanting them. Does that mean something?”

Dancing the butterfly around in front of him, A-Yuan wondered if he should paint it red or blue. Both? That would be cool.

“...What day of your cycle is this?”

A-Yuan didn’t know what that meant, but when he looked up at the silence, Auntie Jiang Yanli and Yao-gege went really still at the same time, their eyes getting wide. “I’m…it’s always been…rather irregular,” she finally answered, faintly, hand going up to press over her tummy.

A-Yuan felt like all the grownups had forgotten all about him sitting quietly on the end of the bed, all eyes on Aunt Wen Qing, her eyes on Aunt Yanli. “If you had to estimate,” she said, firmly.

“Ah…” Auntie Jiang Yanli turned with her still big eyes to look at Yao-gege, who was starting to look like he had been hit over the head with something really heavy, still staring at Auntie Wen Qing. His hand was squeezing Auntie Jiang Yanli’s other hand, down on her lap. “Maybe…somewhere in week…4?” Even though she looked really startled and tired, a smile was slowly starting to spread across her mouth.

Well, A-Yuan was wrong, because Auntie Wen Qing turned to him from across the bed and smiled a little, raising her eyebrows. “A-Yuan, why don’t you go find popo or si-shu. You can tell them all about your adventures.”

Aww, but he had wanted to tell his aunties about his adventures. Oh well. They probably had grownup things to talk about and he wasn’t all that interested anyway. As he slid off the bed and waved behind him, he brightened up. Maybe they could go swimming! At this happy thought, he started skipping.

[vampireknitting]

hey beloved!! just checking in on my mutuals! hope you’re doing okay! make sure to drink water and eat something if you haven’t in awhile and also (if you don’t mind) tell me about something that made you happy in the past week! <3

Omg this is so sweet of you thank you!! Got me a 40oz water bottle filled with ice water and a lovely ice coffee. My darling snuck my favourite Reese’s cups into the shopping cart while grocery shopping today so my lunch was fabulous and had a lovely dessert 😋.

I started a new sewing project this week that has been making me pretty happy. I can’t wait to finish it and be able to wear it. It’s another mildly over the top type of dress made with two different types of polkadots and it’s gonna have deep pockets and a hood because I love myself 

[giuliafc]

When Magic Fails - chapter 2

Read on A03 || FFN || Wattpad (links to chapter 1)

Summary: The Miraculous Cure can fix the damage caused by a specific akuma. But what happens when said damage comes after the Miraculous Cure? When the damage isn't caused by an akuma? Follow Marinette through the worst day of her life. The day where her identity, or Chat's, won't matter any more. The day when she will discover what's really important. But at what price? Lovesquare story.

Warning: VERY intense! Read previous chapter here on Tumblr

Betas: KhanOfAllOrcs, Agrestebug, Etoile-Lead-Sama, Speckleflower, AmberLambda, Anonymousfriend27 and MiniNoire

Big thanks to: Momo|MarinetteAgresteBrand and Genxha

Cover art and chapter art credit: Rosehealer02 on Deviantart.

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by (c) Thomas Astruc; TS1 Bouygues, Disney Channel, Zagtoon, Toei Animation. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

oOo

Chapter 2 - Code Polkadot

It was a race against time. His ring beeped when she passed the Ministère de la Santé, and her own Miraculous beeped in front of the ambassade des Pays-Bas. People watched in horror as she jumped and zipped across the road. She could see their stares, could hear their whispers. They were probably wondering what Ladybug was doing, holding Chat Noir and running madly across the road, both covered in blood, dust and rubble. She glared at anybody that came within a glaring distance.

“WHERE’S THE HOSPITAL?” she shouted at someone who had just stopped on a bike next to her. A familiar face, but her vision was so blurred by tears and sweat that she couldn’t quite make out who the person was. She shrugged off the idea. Four different hands pointed in the same direction, immediately followed by another dozen. She attempted a grateful smile, but was certain, from the frightened reactions of the people on the road, that she had barely managed to put up a painful grimace.

She jumped across in the direction shown and immediately saw her reflection glaring at her from the windows of the building in front of her. She didn’t even stop to consider what she looked like. The words on the building's windows said Hôpital Necker, but they also mentioned "University". She looked around to find the blue "H" that clearly marked a public hospital and saw it just a few metres away, at the side of a small marble arched gate, which led into a courtyard.

She landed in front of it and burst inside; her eyes scanned the courtyard until she saw at her left a door manning the sign “Accueil”. As she walked inside and looked around, she saw lines of metallic black seats. Mothers and children moved to give her space, as well as the people queuing and standing in front of the reception check in. She heard whispers around the room, mothers consoling their children who were asking what happened to Chat Noir. Why were there so many kids? All the patients had children with them; that was weird.

“I need a doctor, quickly!” she said bluntly at the woman sitting at the check in desk. To her disappointment the receptionist was on the phone, so taken with looking at the screen in front of her that she hadn’t even glanced in her direction. Marinette’s gaze quickly ran to Chat Noir’s face. The side of his head was covered in blood, which had mixed together with the dirt and the pieces of mortar in his hair and had made a sort of paste that had glued to his and even to her own suit. Her heart raced faster in her chest. She needed to hurry.

“Have you got your child’s carnet de santé and carte mutuelle, and your carte vitale please?” came from behind the green desk the voice of said receptionist, who stretched her left hand out to her, her eyes still focused on the screen in front of her, her ear still glued to the phone receiver.

Marinette gulped. Child? She looked around again. There were plenty of colourful drawings and cartoon characters embossed on the walls of the reception desk and pictures of children with many different types of illnesses.

Oh yes. Hôpital Necker, the child hospital. That’s right. She had heard of it in the news so many times, looking for donations for their research.

“He’s not my child…” she said. If the situation hadn’t been so serious she was sure Chat would have found it funny.

The middle aged brunette in front of her took her eyes off her screen, put a thick pair of glasses on and gave her a practised look of pure boredom before her brown eyes widened. “Excuse me ma’am,” she said to the person she was talking to on the phone. “I have an emergency here. You will need to redial.” She hung up and dropped the phone receiver.

“La… Ladybug? Oh Jesus… Chat Noir? What… This is a child’s hospital Ladybug… we have adult patients, but they...they’re not our speciality...” She started stammering and paled considerably.

Marinette felt a gush of anger spreading all over her gut as she admitted it, hastily, “I’m fifteen… and I expect him to be around my age. I don’t care if it’s a hospital for children, for aliens or for wild animals. He could die if we don’t act fast. He needs help. NOW.”

People all around started whispering.

“Fifteen?”

“Oh my God.”

“They are kids.”

“Only kids.”

“Maman is Chat Noir really younger than my big brother?”

“Sure.” The woman at the desk picked up the phone and pushed a couple of buttons on it. “Dr. Richter? Yes, Sylvie here at reception. We have an emergency. Oh you know already? Good… code polkadot you say? What is it, I’ve never heard of it. Ah okay... Cool. Yes, they know. They’re 15! Yes. I hear you, yes. Crazy! I’ll tell her. Leave it to me.” She stood and ran out of the accueil’s room; Marinette could only follow. “They’re already waiting for you in front of the SUSI (2).”

Marinette paled. “But I thought this was…” she muttered, but the woman interrupted her.

“Ladybug, you’re in the wrong place. This is the reception for booked appointments and routine visits. The SUSI is over there.” She pointed to the left. “You’re probably going to be faster than the bed. It’s the other side of that rooftop.”

Marinette gave her a grateful look and a nod. “Thank you… Sylvie?”

“Good luck, Ladybug,” she said smiling warmly. “You saved my boyfriend when he was akumatised. This is the least I can do.”

Marinette nodded again and held Chat firmly, jumping on the rooftop as fast as her legs could take her. She immediately saw that three men dressed in blue were waiting at the back entrance of the next building, near what looked like a gurney and an ambulance. She jumped off right beside them.

“We’ve been waiting for you, Ladybug. Nadja Chamack rang the hospital to warn us of your arrival. Please allow me to take him,” one of the nurses said, as he tried to take Chat from her arms.

She initially resisted, but then heard Chat’s ring giving a louder beep, so she gave in. “Please, we need to hurry. One minute and our transformations will fall,” she pleaded. The man’s gaze became stern. He held Chat firmly and moved steadily towards the gurney next to him. He carefully put Chat on it and quickly pushed the gurney inside the building, trying to move it hastily to the corridor leading to a door labelled ‘PU - Urgences’ (1).

A loud beep came from her earrings, and in a flash of pink, Marinette’s transformation fell as she sped next to the nurses, not even trying to hide her face from the crowd that had gathered all around her. Her gaze stayed firmly focused on Chat and on the nurses who were putting what she thought could be an oxygen mask on his mouth and nose, taking advantage of a moment when the gurney stopped because of the crowd. She didn’t even pay any attention to Tikki, who had come out of the earrings and had looked at her worryingly before flying into her purse.

“Ew, what’s that?”

“A giant bug maman!”

“Does Ladybug keep bugs in her purse?”

“WILL YOU ALL PLEASE GO FASTER? HIS SUIT HELPS HIM, BUT THIS COULD BE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HIS LIFE OR HIS DEATH! HE’S ONLY GOT A FEW MORE SECONDS TO SPARE!” She could swear that she saw a few flashes and tried to cover her face as best she could. Suddenly she felt someone’s arms wrap around her as a jacket was thrown over her head.

“There’s nothing else to see people, let the gurney pass!” a male voice said. She knew that voice… where had she heard that voice before?

They went through the doors of the PU and walked hastily a little longer until the gurney stopped and moved ninety degrees. The jacket was removed from her head as she heard the zipping sound of curtains being pulled all around them. A quick glance to her surroundings made her realise that they were in a sort of cubicle, protected from the view by a set of blue paper curtains, and the doctors and nurses were surrounding Chat, plugging different cables and machines all around him.

“Where do I plug the oximeter?” one of the nurses asked. She looked very young and a bit pale. She held a sort of peg in her hands, plugged into a machine and tried to attach it to one of Chat’s cat ears. “Nope. Does he have human ears?” She moved his hair at the side of his head and Marinette heard her sighing in relief as she attached the peg to something.

“What happened to him, how did he get hurt, Miss Ladybug?” she heard a doctor ask and she suddenly looked up, realising that the man was talking to her.

“Oh… he fell off the Eiffel Tower…” she started to say. Then she heard the last beep of her partner’s ring and in a flash of green his transformation fell. As Plagg twirled out of the ring and fell with a loud sob on top of Chat’s head, Marinette couldn’t stop her gaze from following the black kwami and running straight to the blond boy laying on the bed.

The plastic mask covered almost all his face, but even with that on, there was not a chance in hell that Marinette wouldn’t recognise his blond mane, now combed neatly to the side of his head and clean from the dirt, but not from the blood that plastered the side of his face. Pale; he was as pale as a ghost. She only caught a glimpse of his face before someone’s arms wrapped around her and held her tight. But that glimpse was enough.

No.

NO!

NOO! It couldn’t be...

“Gamin? Talk to me! Are you okay?” she heard Plagg say. Then, she saw something red dashing around the room, grabbing Plagg, oblivious of his objections, and disappearing behind the curtain. “Tikki, you don’t understand! I need to tell Pigtails! He’s been poi—” the little God of destruction whimpered as he was dragged away. She wasn't sure, but she thought she had seen tears at the corner of Plagg’s electric green eyes. Even her own eyes filled with tears, her chest shaken by loud sobs.

“Mar-Ladybug, it’s okay. He will be safe,” someone said, hugging her tight, but it sounded far away, like a whisper from a different time. "Marinette can you hear me? It's me, Luka," he added in a lower tone of voice. But all Marinette could hear were the sudden angry beeps of the machines in front of her, having gone mad the second Chat's transformation fell. A horde of doctors and nurses rushed to the gurney, busying themselves with plugging in more cables and hooking up strange machines to Chat's body and face.

“Sorry, Mlle. Ladybug, can you please wait over there? We need space!” Marinette heard the voice of one of the doctors say, and she felt Luka’s arms wrapping tighter around her as he tried to move her backwards.

She resisted sternly. That face. She had just given one quick glance to that face. She had to see it again, to see that it wasn’t the face she thought. She wriggled out of Luka’s hold and jerked towards the gurney, peeking around the doctors at work and trying to give another quick look, earning quite a few glares from a couple of nurses.

The neatly combed blond mane framed the handsome face of the boy she would recognise among thousands. As pale as a ghost. His once peachy lips now dry and blue under the transparent plastic mask. His beautiful green eyes closed. Why of all people did it have to be him?

She screamed.

"It's okay, Mar-Ladybug! He will be alright!" Luka's voice said again, his arms firmly wrapped around her shoulders to stop her from lunging straight to the bedside.

"ADRIEEEEN!!!" Her heart-wrenching screams came loud and clear in between the sobs that rocked her chest and lungs.

"Marinette? What… Adrien? Oh girl you must be kidding me! Mar… La-Ladybug?" This was Alya's voice. She heard Luka shushing her, and Alya’s eyes widened, as she corrected herself. What was Alya doing here?

Suddenly, a pair of extra arms wrapped around her from her left side. Another pair from the right, in a vice grip that kept her from going to him, that kept pushing her backwards.

A female voice spoke, the masked emotions trickling in through the tremble in her voice. “You can't go over there! You'll only get in the way of the doctors working on him! Stay here!”

“ADRIE—” A hand cupped over her mouth, barely able to muffle the sounds of heartbreak seeping out of her.

"Shhhhh! Do you want everyone to know, Ma-Ladybug?" It was Kagami's voice. She nearly didn’t recognise it, as the usually confident and blunt tone of the Japanese girl was missing completely. She sounded shaken and emotionally drained. Marinette darted her gaze around to notice that Alya was standing at her right and Kagami at her left, and they were both holding her tight, supporting Luka who held her from behind.

They were all there with her. She wondered when they arrived and how they knew where they were. Nadja probably had told them where she was heading, and they were allowed through the door of the PU before detransforming, Marinette thought, but the sight of Adrien being picked up carefully by one of the nurses and transferred into a hospital bed stopped the last of her rational thoughts from coming through. New sobs shook her chest, as new tears rolled off her cheeks. She buried her face in Alya's chest not even attempting to stop sobbing desperately.

Because Chat was Adrien. And Adrien could die. And it was her fault…

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

Notes:

(1) PU - Pavillon des Urgences (A&E/ER)

(2) SUSI - Service d'Urgences et de Soins Intensifs (A&E/ER, Emergency and Intensive Care department)

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

Author's Note:

Hi! *Keeps hiding*

I know, I know, this is probably the most catastrophic reveal ever. Please don't hate me!

I'll cut the fluff and get straight to the point. In the next instalment of "When Magic fails", “Secrets in the Open”:

— “We will need to put stitches on this cut at the side of his head.”

— “He has the right to choose how to live his own life!”

— “Chat Noir hasn’t just been injured. He’s been poisoned. And it’s not just an average poison. It’s extremely dangerous.”

I know, I'm cruel. If you want to kill m—, I mean, if you read this and you’re not part of our wonderful Discord server already, but you enjoy reading, writing and talking about Miraculous, please join our Discord server, Miraculous Fanworks (for people on FFN, discord dot gg slash mlfanworks). See you there soon, and see you soon here with the next chapters of this story. Won’t be too long. Promise!

[abduct-me-helen]

Class 108's Apocalypse Field Trip | Chapter 2.

The school, bathed in green light, seemed to loom over them in a way not unlike the panopticon. Its pillars stood wide and the lot between the foyer of the school was far longer than Jon recalled. The gate seemed to twist with something akin to malice.

“Why are we here, Jon?” Martin asked, running his hand through the curls sat on top his head.

“It’s…not right here. They aren’t trapped, not like…” Jon wavered. “It doesn’t matter. It’s the calm before the slaughter... The taste of innocence being ripped away while watching flesh being ripped-”

“Okay! Okay, please don’t get ominous on me. I can’t be that for you.”

“I know, it’s just…” Jon ran his hands through his hair in distress.

“It’s a lot.” Martin finished for him, putting his hand on Jon’s shoulder in an attempt to steady him. “But wait, I thought we already did the slaughter?”

“It’s…it’s complicated. This place is like an epicenter. The school isn’t consumed in a nightmare, but it’s surrounded by them.”

“Like the safehouse?” Martin questioned, thinking back to the place they’d stayed in blissful peace for months before the end of the world.

“Exactly. I think…” he sighed, “I think I need to make a statement.”

Martin nodded, resigned. “I’ll wait over there.” He pointed to a tree near the gate.

Jon tilted his head in acknowledgement and waited until his footsteps grew quiet, then took a breath and began.

“See Marcy. See Marcy dance. See Sydney. See Sydney scream as she sees Marcy dance. Marcy is dead, but her body still moves. Her body still moves she sees nothing at all. See Katie cut, cut, cut and slice the webs with her knife. Cut, cut, cut and slice. Cut, cut, cut and slice.

Marcy is dead, but see Marcy dance.

See Tabitha. See Tabitha laugh. See Tabitha. See Tabitha cry. See Tabitha. See Tabitha trapped in spiderwebs.

Why are they laughing? Why is Tabitha laughing? Why is Tabitha crying?

See Tabitha. See Tabitha cry because she does not want to laugh.

See Rosie. See Rosie free Katie. See Katie drag Tabitha out of the theater, still laughing and crying. See them run, run, run, home to their little cove in the sun. The sun that is an eye. The sun that does not blink. The sun that watches, always.”

Jon was shaking, and he noticed that Martin was hovering over him, holding him close as he came back to himself. His palms were sweaty but his body was ice cold.

God, what had he done?

“Jon? Jon, are you okay?” Martin asked, worry creasing his brow.

“I-they’ve been through a lot Martin. That was only one statement…there’s so much more…and the watcher drinks it all in…” He shivered, digging his nails into his palms.

“They’re alive?!” Martin said in surprise, eyebrows raised.

Jon nodded. “Not all of them. Not most of them, but I think Elias spared them from the nightmares. Maybe as a gift? Maybe he wants to use them for something. I don’t know.”

“That’s…mildly horrifying. Actually, drop the mildly.”

Jon barked out a bitter laugh, before going quiet. “I think I need to do another one. Maybe two. This place, it’s…”

“Another-okay, got it. I’ll be over there. Take your time.”

Jon nodded in thanks, waiting until Martin was far enough away to not hear him.

He loathed this, and he loathed himself for bringing it about. Mentally steeling himself, he began to speak.

“Eva knows guns. Eva knows guns. Eva knows guns. Her father, when he was alive, had told her that she’d need to defend herself one day. He was a military man through and through, and used the discipline he’d learned there to guide her through her life.

Nothing she learned had prepared her for this.

She is a prodigy with a gun, her aim impeccable from years of practice and innate talent. She’s selected as a sniper as soon as she joins.

She doesn’t like to think about her bullets and where they go. She just pulls the trigger; it isn’t her place to argue about the morality of the situation.

The battleground in bloody, and there’s that bagpipe sound in the background, annoying and loud. Eva’s never been a musician, but she’s certain they aren’t meant to sound like that.

Eva does not like the trenches.

She wakes everyday at dawn, and then she gets her gun and leaves on a cart that will surely be filled with the dead bodies of her friends by the time she returns. The cart leads to various places, all deadly.

She hates the trenches.

When had she came here? Oh, that’s right. Something big happened, something she can’t quite remember. The world was bathed in green.

The blink!

She does not know what that means, but that’s what it was called. The blink.

And then she was here, in the trenches.

And then…what had happened then? She didn’t remember. All she remembered was the war. The war and the gunfire.

The war that never seemed to end.

There is blood in the trenches. It pools like water, and it smells rancid with rot and the tinge of chemical does not help at all.

Eva does not like the war, but there is no choice but to fight. Fight. Fight.

Fight.

Eva is the youngest in the trenches. She is 16.

Eva is the youngest in the trenches.

See Eva.

See Eva bleed.

See Eva scream.

See Eva kill.

See Eva stich her skin back together.

See Eva sleep.

See Eva wake.

See Eva.

See Eva bleed.”

Jon repeated those lines over and over until his head hurt and he was panting. Martin was still at the tree, humming to himself.

Probably for the best.

Jon was quiet. He was so numb he didn’t want to move. It was bad enough he had to know all these things happening to strangers, but to children? To his students?

It was hell.

He laughed bitterly, running his hand through his hair and flapping his hands in an attempt to steady himself.

“Martin?” he called, “I’m done!”

Martin nodded and returned to his side. “How was it?”

“…One of them is in the slaughter.”

“Shit, Jon.”

“Yeah.”

They walked in silence through the gate, until they heard a noise from their left.

-

All of a sudden, a boy with curly red hair bounded into Martin. He yelped and feel back, and the boy raised his club to strike him down.

“Cypress!” Jon shouted, getting in front of Martin.

“You aren’t Mr. Sims! Mr. Sims is dead. Get away from us!” Cypress shouted frantically, eyes wide in fear.

Jon tried to calm him down. “Cypress, I can explain, but you need to put the club down.”

Cypress hesitated, before steeling himself once again and slowly reaching down into his pocket.

“He’s getting a gun-Jon he’s getting a-” Jon waved away Martin’s concerns, knowing full well what was in his pockets.

Sometimes being an eldritch all-knowing horror is helpful.

Cypress pulled out something covered in polkadotted cloth, before dragging the cloth of the item that was revealed to be a sharp piece of glass.

“Hands out. Both of you.”

Martin looked to Jon, who nodded. They both put their hands out.

Cypress cautiously came closer, before using the glass to cut into Martin’s palm. Martin yelped, drawing his hand back, but Cypress seemed satisfied that he could bleed at all.

He did the same for Jon, who grit his teeth and looked away as the shard pierced his skin.

“You aren’t-you aren’t made of stuffing, are you real?” Cypress looked torn between hope and caution, eyes filling with tears.

Jon slowly approached, before pulling the boy into a hug, Cypress melted into it, fighting back the tears in his eyes. It occurred to Jon that this must’ve been the first interaction he��d had with an adult since the eye opened.

These were children. These were students. And they’d all been through so much.

Jon held him closer, hand stroking his curls and tears threatened to escape and his body shook with the effort not to sob.

All of a sudden, Cypress shot up.

“What was I doing outside?” He said frantically, wiping the tears away from his face, still trembling.

“What?” Martin questioned him.

“We aren’t supposed to go outside without consulting everyone-I only just realized it now. I just woke up outside and I didn’t even question it. Oh my god, I could’ve been killed.” He panicked, eyes widening. “Something might be inside. There’s no way I got out here on my own!”

Cypress whipped around and sprinted to the door, Martin and Jon in his trace. The door was locked, of course, and he started pounding on it.

“Hello!”

Martin pushed him out of the way gently, before fishing out some knitting needles from his coat pocket.

“What are you going to do, make me a sweater?!” Cypress said frantically, trying to resort to wit in order to abide his terror.

“No, I’m going to pick the lock.” Martin answered, focusing on the door as he maneuvered his needles into the lock.

Jon could’ve sworn he heard Cypress say “pick my lock daddy” under his breath, but he wasn’t going to get into that.

It only took Martin a few seconds to unlock the door, before Cypress was sprinting in. Martin slammed the door behind him as he entered the school, locking it while Cypress jetted into the classroom with Jon in his trace.

Jon entered just in time to see Katie trying to stab…Cypress? No, it was a not-them. He narrowed his eyes.

“Stranger.”

“Archivist! How nice to see you!” not-Cypress stood up unnaturally, its body moving robotically. “You killed Sasha, well, not-Sasha, but names aren’t important to me! So, I decided to murder all of your students. Isn’t that grand!”

Jon narrowed her eyes. “I see you, Stranger. You forget your place in this world.”

Not-Cypress shivered. “Empty threats, Archivist You wouldn’t do that,” it paused, looping its hand around Sydney’s neck and bringing its blade to her throat, “when I’m doing this.”

Jon narrowed his eyes in apprehension.

“BEGONE THOT.” Tabitha screeched. She lunged at it, kicking it in the face with her boot. It didn’t damage it, but it distracted it long enough for Katie to grab its weapon.

It laughed. “Oh, but you forget. What is a knife, anyway?”

Katie looked around, eyes wide, but she didn’t know what was in her hand. It was weighted, and sharp, but she didn’t know-

“You forget your place.” Jon said once again. “I see you. No, I Know you. You aren’t anonymous, you’re just a nuisance. Ceaseless watcher, turn your gaze upon this wretched thing.”

Dozens of glowing, neon green eyes seemed to surround him, and Sydney felt as if she was being watched by the entire world.

It didn’t feel good, but the thing that wasn’t Cypress started screaming, so she took that as a good sign.

And then there was green.

And then it was gone.

“...what the fuck?”

[boowoomuu]

Rules: Answer 17 questions and tag 17 people!

YET ANOTHER TAG GAME!!! People probably can't stand anymore tag games on my blog but GUESS WHAT???? I LOVE DOING THEM JAJAHAHAHAHAHAHA

so thank you so much for tagging me @yeahhiyellow 💛

LET'S GOOOO i don't know why I'm so excited all of a sudden, i was feeling pretty sad earlier, hehe what is life?

Nickname: Lu, Ana Lulu, Lulu

Zodiac Sign: Pisces

Height: somewhere between 1,55m and 1,58m

Hogwarts House: Hufflepuff 💛

Last thing I googled: 5'6 en metros (I wanted to know @yeahhiyellow 's height hehe)

Song stuck in my head: Sincerely Me

Number of followers: 680

Amount of sleep: Haha, the fuck is sleep?

Lucky Number: 13

Dream Job: Musical Theater and Voice Actress

Wearing: A black t-shirt, a yellow and pajama's shorts with black polkadots

Favorite song: Don't have one

Favorite instrument: Anything able to create art is beautiful

Aesthetic: Blood, reinassence paintings, grass, calm water, the moon, christmas ligths, the beach, old books, candles, goth, cemiteries, balloons, flowers growing in buldings, dark rooms, the sunrise, pools, sweets, glitter, an empty stage, people inside of shop carts, empty malls, red lights, dragons, middle fingers, old statues, blurry images, blankets, fresh tears, goth cathedrals, socks (I'm a little too obssessed with aesthetics, I'm so sorry)

Favorite Author: I don't think I have one :/

Favorite animal noise: The little Arroo?? My dogs make sometimes and my dogs sneezing. Also birds.

Random: I bite to show affection. But for some reason people hate it...

Welp, that's it :)

Tagging: @ilovetoimagine @tired-and-dumb @thequeenchoices @yes-prisoner @somethingnurseywoulddo @geek-senpai @deadgirlonsteroids @guilherminamuniz @fandomsand-oops-politicstoo @trappedinfandoms @shelivesinthewoods @andykangswhore @finnpoeeeeee @areyouhappynowjerkbastard @kinda-iconic @lahiffed @mojikko

[toddbotblog]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Todd Webb (@toddbotdotcom)

Soundtrack for deflating polka dot balloon tied to a shopping cart #dailybleeps #sounds #minimal #ambient #experimentalmusic #ambientmusic #soundtrack #musicforfilm #videoart #quiet #lowfi #ukulele #makenoisemorphagene #granularsynthesis #simple #soundscape #brickwall #balloon #polkadots #shoppingcart #groceries #aldi #synthesis https://www.instagram.com/p/B4JGb__BCiQ/?igshid=l3b5ry9fcbcp

[polkadotcupcakery]

If you are a @dearevanhansen fan you should love these. We were asked to make them for the cart of the show here in Columbus in their final day. We were lucky enough to see the show earlier in the week and it was fabulous! See it if you get the chance. #dearevanhansen #DEHtour #cucpakes #personalized #fondant (at PolkaDot Cupcakery) https://www.instagram.com/p/B2wkbemgaTM/?igshid=1rcsqh4ebk5zi

[momomuchin]

You can check the HQ here ⇠

● Decoration:

-  +Half-Deer+  Serenade - Sleepy Fawn Chair RARE @Arcade

- +Half-Deer+ Spring Serenade - Mini Fox Terrarium RARE   @Arcade

-  +Half-Deer+ Spring Serenade - Fox Welcome Sign  @Arcade

-  +Half-Deer+ Spring Serenade - Bird House A  @Arcade

-  +Half-Deer+ Spring Serenade - Bird House B   @Arcade

-  +Half-Deer+ Spring Serenade - Two Vintage Frames   @Arcade

-  +Half-Deer+ Spring Serenade - Three Vintage Frames   @Arcade

-  +Half-Deer+ Spring Serenade - Flower Diary (Mint)   @Arcade

-  +Half-Deer+ Spring Serenade - Tulip Jug   @Arcade

-  +Half-Deer+ Spring Serenade - Flower Gramophone (Light)   @Arcade

-  +Half-Deer+ Spring Serenade - Heart Watering Can (White)   @Arcade

-  +Half-Deer+ Spring Serenade - Gardening Clutter   @Arcade

-  +Half-Deer+ Spring Serenade - Fawn & Sleepy Birdies   @Arcade

-  +Half-Deer+ Forest Sonata - Books (Light) 

-  +Half-Deer+ Forest Sonata - Bunny Planter (White) 

-  +Half-Deer+ Forest Sonata - Bunny Planter (Brown) 

-  +Half-Deer+ Forest Sonata - Bunny Planter Hideout (Brown) 

-  +Half-Deer+ Forest Sonata - Rainboots (Polkadot) 

-  +Half-Deer+ Forest Sonata - Rainboots (Pink) 

-  +Half-Deer+ Forest Sonata - Ladder (Light) 

-  +Half-Deer+ Forest Sonata - Acorn Party 

-  +Half-Deer+ Faerye Flower Chandelier (Blush)  @Collabor88

-  +Half-Deer+ Faerye Rose Garland - FATPACK - Straight A  @Collabor88

-  +Half-Deer+ Faerye Rose Garland - FATPACK - Draped  @Collabor88

-  +Half-Deer+ Darling Marble Table - Smaller @Belle 

-  +Half-Deer+ Bunny Table Lamp - Cream 

-  +Half-Deer+ Love Succs - Heart Cactus 

-  +Half-Deer+ Yellow Baby Bird - Single - Peck 

-  +Half-Deer+ Yellow Baby Bird - Single - Stand 

-  +Half-Deer+ Warm & Fuzzy - Daikon Kitty Crate  

-  +Half-Deer+ Blanket Clutter - All Colors - Edge Small 

-  +Half-Deer+ Kitchenware - Ingredients Jar 

-  +Half-Deer+ Hot Chocolate Bar Cart - Bookstack

-  +Half-Deer+ Fairy Curtain - Square (White)

- Wednesday[+] ~ Princess Life ~ Rose ~ RARE 

[don-lichterman]

Bitcoin Price | Ethereum Price: Top cryptocurrency prices today: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polkadot, Avalanche drop up to 9%

Bitcoin Price | Ethereum Price: Top cryptocurrency prices today: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Polkadot, Avalanche drop up to 9%

New Delhi: After a decent rise in the previous session, crypto cart saw a strong weakness on Tuesday. However, the movement in the crypto market has been range-bound over the last few days. The digital tokens are wobbling as investors wrestle over attractive pricing and rising inflationary worries, coupled with looming fears of economic slowdown. A majority of tokens were trading sharply lower on…

[precedenceresearch]

Top cryptocurrency Prices Today: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance Coin trade higher

Top cryptocurrency Prices Today: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance Coin trade higher

The cryptocurrency market was nursing its wounds on Wednesday as the crypto cart was trading with mild gains. However, hawkish voices across the globe kept the gains in check. Barring Terra, Polkadot and Dollar pegged Stablecoins, other six out of top-10 digital tokens were trading in green at 8.40 am. However, the gains were capped, with Binance Coin and Cardano gaining up to 2 per cent…

[sofftpaw]

it had stopped raining by the time i got to the store but when i came back out it was pouring down very heavy. i had to stay outside while waiting for the bus, at the little bus shelter thing but the walls of it are like,, polkadotted mesh so water got in A Lot and i was completely soaked through within two minutes.

also someone decided that they weren't going to put their cart away even though there was a little cart return seven feet from their car so they left it on the sidewalk but the wind was rlly strong and pushed it out into the road but i managed to catch it before anything bad happened

[hsauce-drip]

Racing/ Time Attack Playlist

Flying down the I64 at speeds from 55 to 100 (10Ws - 3Ls using 2014 Altima stock / now 2020 Altima stock turbo/ soon ??? Mitsubishi EVO O•Z I hope), I’ve shuffle through 568 songs and only a few put me in the racing mood. I’m willing to share this mix because why not. Have fun and remember: safe is the best way to race.

Songs: [Takahashi Hitomi- Aozora no Namida] [Russell Simins- I’m Not a Model] [Sora Tob Sakana- New Stranger- More PicoPico Remix] [Jinn- Raion] [Hata Motohiro- Toumei Datta Sekai] [Niki- Indigo] [Andy Tunstall- vs. 1010(Rock Version)] [Artic Monkeys- Do I Wanna Know?] [Back-On- Chain / Spark] [Bignic- Scream] [Breakbot- Get Lost] [Chromeo- Come Alive] [Corona- The Rhythm of the Night] [The Crystal Method- Over It] [Daft Punk- High Life] [Danny L Harle- Ashes of Love] [Dave Rodgers- Deja Vu] [Duck Sauce- NRG- Skrillex, Kill The Noise Remix / aNYway] [Eric Prydz- Pjanoo] [Flight Facilities- Stand Still- Wave Racer remix] [Friendly Fires- Hawaiian Air/ Hurting] [Gorillaz- Ascension] [Hadouken!- Bombshock] [Hideki Naganuma- AINT NOTHIN LIKE A FUNKY BEAT] [Hyper Potions- Surf] [Jaden- Falcon/ Watch Me] [JAKAZiD- Make Me Burn] [Joji- Nitrous] [Justice- DANCE] [Kavinsky- Nightcall] [Kowichi- Shot Shot Shot] [Last Dinosaurs- FMU/ Zoom] [Lupe Fiasco- Shining Down] [Lykke Li- I Follow Rivers - The Magician Remix] [Madeon- Technicolor/ You’re On - Alex Metric Remix] [Manuel- Gas Gas Gas] [Max Coveri- RUNNING IN THE 90’S] [Maximum the Hormone- Bu-ikikaesu!! / Zetsubou Billy] [New Politics- Yeah Yeah Yeah] [Noisia- Groundhog] [OutKast- B.O.B.] [Passion Pit- Take a Walk] [Pheonix- 1901] [POLKADOT STINGRAY- JET] [P.O.S- Gravedigger] [Proux- Breath/ Just For Me] [Quelle Rox- Cosmic Gloom/ Space Parade] [Rye Rye- Bang] [Strange Talk- Cast Away] [SUSHIBOYS- Shopping Cart Racer/ sushi car/ NIGIRI] [Tame Impala- The Less I Know The Better] [Thirty Seconds To Mars- Edge Of The Earth] [Tiësto- I Will Be Here] [tricot- Potage/ WARP] [Two Door Cinema Club- Something Good Can Work- Twelves Remix] [Wave Racer- Flash Drive/ World Record] [White Lies- Bigger Than Us] [Years and Years- Shine]

[marinuudetvaatteet]

The Uniqlo x Marimekko collection launched today at Uniqlo, and they have some very nice basics. I snatched the Kukkia rakkaalle t-shirt (last photo) that I’ve been eyeing since they announced the products. If I was a friend of polkadots, I would’ve added that blue dotted shirt in my cart too, the scale of the pattern is great.