#To see the new hidey hole she found

[the-cat-at-the-theatre-door]

My heart is happy when Asparagus and Jellylorum hold hands just because.

[marlynnofmany]

Not A Pest

I kept a hand on the pallet of boxes on the hoversled, making sure it didn't wobble while Blip and Blop pushed it up the ramp. It was all held in place solidly enough by high-tech netting much fancier than the kind we used, and I didn't need to worry much. So when we reached the cargo bay and Zhee called for my assistance back on the ground, I didn't feel bad about leaving the Frillians to finish loading it. They were strong enough to muscle anything into place if needed anyway. 

“What's up?” I asked as I trotted back down the ramp.

“Thought you might weigh in on their pest problem before we go,” Zhee said with a twitch of his antennae towards the clients whose stuff we were delivering. More Frillians today: not as beefy as Blip and Blop, but with waving frills everywhere that just made Zhee look like a praying mantis among flowers. He also looked smug, but that was nothing new. “I mentioned an animal expert, and they mentioned payment,” he told me.

I came to a stop beside him. “You know I don't know everything, right? Just putting that out there. My vet training was on Earth.” 

“Yes yes, I gave them the disclaimers,” Zhee said. 

The client in front, a tall female with colors like a Siamese Fighting Fish, said, “That’s better than anyone on our ship has. Something's getting into boxes in our cargo hold, and we can't find it. Tore into some food and made a mess of the animal fibers.” 

The shorter male behind her in salmon-peach tones held out a lumpy handful of what looked like brown wool. "My guess is it's making a nest somewhere, but it's being wasteful with the stuff too. Tangled it up something fierce."

My response died on my lips as I got a good look at it. Among the stray fibers was the exact shape of a teddy bear. 

“Can I see that?” I asked. 

He handed it over. I plucked off the extra bits and yes, it was definitely meant to be a teddy bear, made by hand from the wool in the cargo hold. There were even little twists for eyes.

I looked up at them. “You don’t have a pest. You have a stowaway.”

They blustered and pooh-poohed the idea: nonsense, how could there possibly be an intelligent creature onboard without their knowledge?

“We’ve been in space a long time,” said the tall one. “Only stopping at uninhabited locations for resources.”

“And at the—” put in the pink one, then stopped at a sharp look from his teammate.

I wasn’t about to let that go. “The what?” I asked.

The tall one sighed. “We salvaged some fuel from a wreck,” she admitted. “But there was no one on it. We checked. And with the tow ship we saw in the distance, it seemed likely enough that the owner had jetted away in a life preserver rather than sticking around. It was a single-person ship.”

Somebody else piped up from between the many crates in their cargo hold. “It couldn’t be a person! There’s nowhere big enough to hide!”

I held up the teddy bear. “This is a child’s toy from my planet.” I looked up at the maze of pipes on the ceiling. “And my people like to climb.”

Zhee was being smug behind me while I made a quick circuit of the room, looking for likely spots. One corner was particularly dark, and it had a series of crates below the pipes, stacked into a perfect ramp. I flashed back to the time a litter of kittens had found a similar hidey-hole on my own ship. This spaceship was made by a different group of aliens altogether, but they never seemed to expect anyone to pay attention to nooks and crannies in the ceiling.

“Hello?” I called, climbing onto the first crate with the wool bear in hand. “Anybody up there?” I continued in every language I knew greetings in, which included the galaxy’s favorite trade language (which I knew well), several minor trade languages (which I did not), and a smattering of languages from Earth (which I knew not at all), plus English. Despite my efforts, I didn’t hear a thing until I got all the way to the top.

“Jambo?” I tried, peering into the dark crevice. “Uh, sprechen sie deutsch?” I held out the wool bear. “Is this yours?”

A quiet gasp echoed off the pipes, then two small arms reached out to grab the bear. With further coaxing, the girl clambered forward to where I could see her: dark skin, wide eyes, artfully braided hair, and clothes that looked fancy, if very dusty. I’m not great at kid ages, but she was young. Old enough to push buttons on her parents’ spaceship maybe, not old enough to steer.

I still didn’t know what language she spoke, but it was hard to go wrong with body language. I held out my arms for a hug. “Want to go home?”

She sniffled and climbed forward into the embrace, clinging tight. That made it a bit of a challenge to get back down to floor level, but I managed. A crowd of Frillians and one smug Mesmer waited there.

“See?” Zhee said to the tall Frillian. “Exactly the animal expert you needed.”

I shook my head in amusement. “For all the wrong reasons, you’re exactly right.” The girl didn’t want to be put down, so I hoisted her onto one hip and stood carefully. “How far away was that crash site? Can you send a message to the planet or station the tow ship came from?”

“Yeah, we’re on it,” the tall Frillian said, her frills flattened in what might have been shame. She directed a couple of the others to do that, and also to gather the fuel they’d scavenged.

Zhee cheered her up with talk of a probable finder’s fee. “Humans get very attached to their offspring,” he said. “There is a strong chance this one’s parents are already advertising a reward.”

While they talked money (and Zhee got our ship that promised fee for pest control), someone with sense arrived with a bottle of water and questions about what food would be suitable.

The girl drank the water eagerly, not letting go of her bear, and didn’t answer any of my questions about food allergies. She accepted some protein cubes and chewed them with determination.

By then, a reply had already come from the nearest space station, and a ship was on the way. Full of authority figures and very anxious parents, by the sounds of it.

While the Frillians discussed that and the little kid quietly refused to be put down, Zhee held up his communicator so I could talk to Captain Sunlight back on our ship. Zhee had already explained the situation.

The captain asked me, “How long do they expect until arrival?”

“I think they said about half an hour,” I said. “Hopefully that won’t put us behind schedule.”

“No, we’ll be fine,” she said. “Given that the young one is so taken with you, we might as well stay to make sure everything gets resolved. Does she need to visit the medical bay?”

“I don’t think so. She hasn’t said anything yet, but she doesn’t look injured. Couldn’t hurt to give her a once-over with the hand scanner just in case. We’ve got time.” I looked down at her thoughtfully, then had a bright idea. “And I bet she’d love to meet Telly. After we check her for allergies, of course.”

The captain agreed that was a fine idea. Zhee took over the conversation while I asked the girl, in a mix of Earth languages and pantomime, if she wanted to see my cat.

Her eyes lit up and she started talking in a spill of words that I didn’t catch in the slightest. Spanish, maybe French? Portuguese? Ah, it didn’t matter. The language of kitty ears and “meow meow” is almost as universally recognized as hugs. We walked from one ship to another, and waited for her parents in the company of a medical scanner, human food, and a very friendly cat.

~~~

These are the ongoing backstory adventures of the main character from this book.

Shared early on Patreon! There’s even a free tier to get them on the same day as the rest of the world.

The sequel novel is in progress (and will include characters from these stories. I hadn’t thought all of them up when I wrote the first book, but they’re too much fun to leave out of the second).

[brights-place]

Valorant Agent Headcannons

Pairings: None <33

Warnings: Fluff, Sillies, Headcannons,

A/N: My friend and I were rambling and writing stupid headcannons after playing a comp match so here we are \(･◡･)/

-Yoru is double jointed -Sage is heavily questioning her sexuality

-Omen is heavily questioning his mental insanity -Phoenix has a sneaker collection -Raze and KJ wake everyone up with there bots

-Chamber when he gets mad he starts speaking french sassily -Kay/0 has a file that's filled with comfort shows for the agents -Kay/0 knows how to make pancakes and makes them for everyone -Skye drags every new agent into a run in the morning -Omen once made every agent a knitted sweater for christmas… Ugly sweaters for life <33 -Breach makes good swedish sweets for everyone -Wingman would make beaded bracelets to agents he likes -Gekko bought a bead set for wingman so he could make more bracelets -When Kay/0 feels petty at an agent he will translate their mother tongue into english for the others to hear ESPECIALLY when someone talks shit (reyna) -Neon knows how to play Bass -All the young agents have tried to make a band together -Sage likes to gossip with Iso over tea and boba -When Clove’s pissed they make fanfics of the other agents >:D -Fade plays with her haunts like yarn (CANNON) -Astra collects seashells for Harbor -Sova has once had a snow globe obsession. He would bring them back to show his grandmother and place it on a shelf -Gekko has called older agents slang names -Viper is obviously a coffee woman and Reyna is a tea woman -Jett has tried to make Skyes birds move faster SHE WAS NOT HAPPY -Deadlock & Sova sometimes have a snowman building contest -KJ likes anime but also phoenix who hides it -Yoru and KJ know phoenix like anime Yoru found out by seeing Phoenix dance to anime songs -Yoru would bring back trinkets for them but denies he thought about them (LIAR)

-Reyna wants to take up crocheting

-Astra is really good at the drums

-Gekko has gotten curious on how his little friends taste he made a list

-Deadlock braids hair, and helps breach braid his

-Iso is really good at cooking and cooks with Jett in his spare time.

-Similarly, Jett and Iso have cook offs and get the other agents to vote

-Clove sneakily puts pride flag toothpicks in everyone's food

-Raze sneaks love letters in everyones lockersand watches with breach and laughs

-Harbour has a bath bomb addiction and collects them like an insane person

-Brimstone has reading glasses

-Cypher gets gifts from everyone on fathers day and also mothers day

-Kj likes making forts

-Chamber corrects the waiters pronunciation at french restaurants

-Reyna plays basketball with Gekko and helps him aim

-Phoenix is trying to learn how to sew so he can make better jackets due to Jett trying to take them

-Clove has an etsy and the only people that buy are breach and gekko

-Neon VS Gekko in any sports (NEON WINS PINOY PRIDE MFS) -Deadlock is scared of dogs

-When Neon gets sick every agent fears for their lives. Her sneezes are BIG (Zoomies) - Neon and Jett get the zoomies if they have energy drinks or coffee -Brim is a BBQ dad he makes good burgers -Imagine Fade looking into Deadlock's nightmares and seeing Cub instead of the bear -Cypher has tinkered with Chamber,Raze, and KJ’s is tech for funsies -Cypher will use people’s fetishes against them -Sova wears one of omens knitted scarves when he goes hunting -Omen gets overwhelmed by crowds sometimes so he likes to hide somewhere quietly -Jett would GRIND on Wuthering Waves and Honkai Star Rail

-Sova has different variations of prosthetic eyes and sometimes he gets gifted weirder or cooler looking ones for fun -Sova as a party trick has taken his prosthetic eye out and some younger agents who haven’t known scream like a banshee -Phoenix is a mama’s boy (I BELIEVE HE HAS TWO MUMS)

-Sage has binged Avatar The Last Airbender many times and takes inspiration from Katara

-Jett has a hidey hole full of other agents' belongings. Yoru’s knives, Phoenix’s shoes, Cyphers hat (sometimes)

-Yoru has tried time travelling, Phoenix jokes about it all the time

-When someone has a bad day, cypher watches over them over the camera to make sure they aren't doing anything bad to themself

-Yoru gives haircuts and is actually good, but he keeps yapping while using his different knives

-Gekko sings creep by radiohead in the shower when he's sad and Neon films from outside the door and jokes about it

-Omen gets too much candy due to being treated as a trick or treater

reblogs + comments are appreciated ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

©brights-place 2023 — do not repost on another platform, copy, translate or edit my works! if you fit my DNI list please don't interact!

[ddejavvu]

hii! i'm absolutely OBSESSED with your fairy!reader x hotch fic and i'd like to request a sequel?? perhaps where her house gets properly destroyed and he has to take her home with him so he can make her a new one? and she helps him around the house and he starts to realise he really likes her and doesn't want her to leave?? idk whatever you want to write but i just adore the fairy au so much ugh <3 <3

today is multiverse monday, send me any au you can think of! :)

thanks so much! i love it too <3 I couldn't fit all of that in one blurb but I've gotten many more requests for another part so I'll use one of those for the next part :) / part 1

--

The unsub doesn't come easily. Even with backup, Morgan, JJ, and Blake all surrounding him, he fires one last shot into the forest, triggering everyone else's instincts to shoot. He gets shuffled into an ambulance with a guard, bleeding from his right leg.

Hotch's brain is fuzzy, like it always is after taking down an unsub. Call it a post-adrenaline crash, call it fatigue, call it the fairy he'd seen on the way in, but whatever it was, he trudges back the way he'd come with drooping shoulders and a foggy head.

Then his foot crunches on something that isn't a stick, and he looks down curiously.

It's wood. It's wood with a bullet hole in it, splintered away from other panels. Oh shit, it's your house.

Fear pricks at his heart. Five minutes after he'd met a fairy, and you're dead? But there's no fairy guts that he can see, no pink shimmery blood smeared over the wood, so he looks wildly around at the trees nearby.

"Hotch?" Morgan calls, a few steps ahead, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Hotch pants, a gust of air from his chest that feels tight at your disappearance, "Nothing, I think I dropped my badge in the scuffle. Go ahead, I'll catch up."

He makes back towards the scene of the shooting, and Morgan knows better than to disobey orders, even if he wants to.

Aaron stumbles through the wooded ground, waiting until the voices of his teammates fade into the background. He casts one wary glance behind him, but Morgan is nowhere to be found, and he heads back for your tree. It's easy to find now that there's broken wood around, but you're not.

"Hey," He calls into the woods, voice soft enough so that you can hear it from a nearby tree, but no one else can.

"Hey, are you there?"

He hears a vague sniffle up and to his left, and he turns his whole body with the clumsy vigor of a toddler.

His neck aches as he cranes it up into the tree he'd heard you in. Sure enough, your small, glowing face is peering out from behind a thick branch, arms wrapped desperately around the limb while you grieve your fallen home.

"It's broken," You whimper, and Hotch is surprised he can hear your quiet voice, "I was just getting new bedding, 'cause mine got blown away when my house got knocked down. But then I heard that awful noise, and- and it's gone!"

"I know," Hotch murmurs, voice like silky sympathy, "I'm sorry. I- I can't- there's nothing I can do to fix it. All I have is my gun."

"I don't like those," You blubber, wiping a shimmering teardrop from your eye, "Please don't use that."

"I won't." He promises, "Where will you live?"

"I don't know," You gush, raw emotion shaking your voice like an earthquake, "A little boy made that for me years ago, he was the only other person I've ever talked to. But now- now he's gone, and he can't make me a new one, and all the good hidey holes are already occupied, and-!"

You burst into sobs, and Aaron eyes the lower branches of your tree with apprehension. Slowly, but surely, he grabs hold of a higher limb, testing his weight on the lowest bough.

It brings him just below your level, and you peer down at him through teary, curious eyes.

"Come with me," He offers, after quick deliberation. He holds one hand out, the other tightening around the tree branch as he offers you his palm.

"What?" You rub at one of your eyes, voice pitiful, "Where?"

"Back to my house." He puts his hand even closer to your feet, "A little boy lives with me. My son. He can make you a new house."

"Really?" You peer at him with a hopeful shimmer in your eyes, wings fluttering slightly, "You'd let me come home with you?"

"It's the least I can do," Aaron reasons, "And I'm sure my son will love having a fairy in the house."

That's what earns him the soft pitter-patter of your feet in his palm, then the way you softly flump down into a cross-legged sit there. He lowers you to his chest, keeping his hand pressed there as he then lowers himself. Once his feet are back on the ground, he wonders where to put you. But you've thought ahead, apparently, because you slip between his kevlar vest and his shirt, nestling yourself snugly in his chest pocket.

You're a little squished, but you grin up at him with red-rimmed, grateful eyes.

"Thank you," You lean your head against his chest, and Aaron can barely feel it, "I'm glad I talked to you earlier."

"Me too," Aaron bites back a smile, trudging back towards the rest of his team, once-foggy brain now occupied with the thought: And not just for the directions you gave me.

[miz-chase]

Bones crime au aka The Reverse Broadsky

There's a sniper loose in DC who has a tendency to hit targets recently investigated by the FBI. Special Agent Jared Booth was put on the case but kept ending up in dead ends. Frustrated by the lack of progress, his boss FBI Assistant Director Hacker enlisted the Jeffersonian Institute's Medico-Legal Lab to aid the investigation. They worked with the remains, particulates, and other evidence to try and pin down the sniper, getting closer than ever before.

In another place, Seeley Booth was lining up the angle for the perfect shot. There's an apartment that just overlooks the falsely-exonerated criminal's home, and it didn't take much to break in. What Booth didn't plan for was the apartment being occupied in the middle of the day. Instead of an empty room, he found a woman with a nasty left hook who took quite an exception to him breaking into her place.

Seeley rolled with the hit and sent a little prayer up for remembering to keep his mask and hat on. Now's not the time to get sloppy. He's able to subdue her, gag & bind her, and lock her up in the bathroom so he could do his work in peace. It took a few hours of patient waiting (and ignoring the intermittent kicks at the bathroom door), but he got his perfect shot. It's quick work to pack up his rifle and get his ass out of there before anyone notices something's amiss. He was a gentleman, though, and unlocked the bathroom and dropped a knife beside the absolutely furious woman. Pretty blue eyes glared daggers at him, but he figured with a mask, a hat, and a bulky jacket, there's not much to see. He took off, not realizing he'd made a huge mistake.

Temperance Brennan was furious. After a decade of personal defense training, being pinned and shushed like she was just a child throwing a tantrum was beyond the pale. And for it to be the very man they were hunting for in the lab? Completely unacceptable. As soon as she's able to free herself, she's on the phone with Jared, getting the apartment scoured top-to-bottom for evidence. Security cameras yielded nothing of value, the man clearly an expert. What he didn't account for was the fact that she was an expert, too.

Working with Angela and her own exceptional memory, Brennan was able to sculpt his likeness. It took a lot of tweaking from Angela and back-and-forthing, but they're able to pull together a decent likeness. Paired against the military records of advanced snipers, there's only one close match: Sergeant Major Seeley Booth.

Suddenly Special Agent Jared Booth's lack of progress on the case didn't seem so much like an accident. It all of a sudden became very remarkable that, while all the sniper victims were from FBI cases, not a single one included Jared's cases. Without explanation, a new agent was assigned to the Jeffersonian and Jared isn't seen again.

Seeley Booth was used to dodging the FBI. He'd been doing it for years now. Admittedly, having his face blasted across every news station was a new and exciting wrinkle to his efforts, but he could lay low. What he's not used to is attracting the attention of local lowlife Max Keenan, who turned up in Booth's garage hidey-hole one night. Now, Keenan doesn't sink so low as to report him to the feds, but he does have a word or two to say about putting his daughter in danger. With a few friendly threats, Keenan suggested Booth could make things right by dealing with a certain Robert Kirby.

Always a good man for taking orders, Booth doesn't ask questions. He just gets the job done. He really shoulda laid low, though, because on his way out of his sniper's perch, a cop recognizes him. Booth took a nasty shot to the hip before he's able to disappear into an alleyway and lose the tail.

He did his best to zigzag his way through the city, leaving no obvious trail to follow. Unintentionally or not, he realized he's wound his way back to the damn apartment where all this mess started. It's a stupid idea but he's losing blood at an alarming rate. He climbed up the back balcony, slipping in through the sliding door, pistol in hand.

Out in the living room, she wasn't facing him when he creeped in.

"Temperance, right?" His voice was low.

She jumped, spinning around, whipping her phone out.

"Easy, easy. Just drop the phone and everything will be alright." He gestured with the gun from her hand to the floor. She dropped the phone with a clatter. Her eyes were big and wide, hands raised in surrender.

"What do you want?" There's a quaver to her voice but she held herself upright with a steel spine.

"I just need a quick favor, that's all. I swear I'm not gonna hurt you."

"You're pointing a gun at me."

"Yeah, cause I know if I don't, you're gonna try to kung foo my ass again."

"Judo." She squinted at him disapprovingly.

"Whatever." He's starting to feel dizzy. That was not great. "Y'got a first aid kit or something?"

Her scowl deepened. "Why should I help you?"

"I got shot doing your father a favor." She flinched at that.

"I don't owe him anything. He's a criminal."

"Yeah, well, here we are anyway. Just... all I need is some gauze and a hand, alright?"

"I could wait you out until you pass out." She jutted her chin up in a stubborn glare.

"I'd really rather you didn't." He gestured with the gun towards the kitchen sink and, reluctantly, she moved that way. "You must have a first-aid kit around here somewhere. You seem the type."

"'The type'?"

"Yeah. Girl scout. Over-prepared."

She knelt, pulling a box with a big red cross on it from under the sink. Brennan plopped it on the table in front of him, crossed her arms, and glared.

"I'm not going to help you."

"Please don't make this difficult?" He gestured with the gun at the plastic box, but she didn't move.

"If you shoot me, everyone in this building will hear it." Her petulant frown dared him to try.

"Yeah, and if I knock you out, my life will be much easier, but that big ole brain of yours isn't really going to appreciate the damage." Her scowl deepened.

With every move clearly telegraphing her disapproval, she set to work putting him back into one piece. She roughly tugged his t-shirt up, revealing a bloody mess. His gut flinched as her hands traced over scarred bare skin. Capable hands harshly pulled padding and gauze around his middle, covering the wound. He hissed in pain as she pressed down firmly, probably firmer than she really needed to. Still, it was good enough. It would do.

She sank back down into one of the kitchen chairs, still glaring at him with arms re-crossed. Booth collected himself pulling his shirt back down with a grimace and smoothing his hand over the bandaged wound. He gave her a long, considering look.

"What would you do if I needed to rest here a while?"

"Call 911." Her look was all grumpy disapproval.

He exhaled a frustrated sigh. "Have you considered not being a pain in the ass?"

"Why in the hell should I help you?" There was disgust in her voice.

"I did take care of your good friend, Heather Taffet."

"The judge was... 'taking care' of her just fine. Legally."

"They were going to let her get off. Everyone knew it."

"Well, now we will never know if that's true or not."

"So that's it then, complete and utter faith in the judicial system? The system that lets criminals go and jails innocent people?"

"It's not faith." She apparently didn't like that word any more than she liked him. "My job hinges on adhering to the logics of evidentiary proof, allowing a jury to deliver correct verdicts in the court of law." She regarded him with a sneer. "Society cannot function with arbitrary, extra-judicial killings as a means of providing justice."

"And police shooting up anyone they feel like is different because...?"

She scowled. "Police reform is not under my purview. Evidence, and its use within the justice system are my only responsibility."

"So the fact that I pick my target utilizing evidence you personally compiled means....?"

That earned him a death glare. "The quality of my work does not excuse appointing yourself judge, jury, and executioner." She huffed. "You're no better than my father."

"If the person with the better lawyer always wins, rather than the better evidence, then--"

"I am done speaking justice theory with you. Sleep on the couch, clearly my opinion has no bearing on the matter. I am going to sleep." She shoved past him, stormed into her bedroom, and shut & locked the door.

Alone in the empty kitchen of a stranger, Booth pondered his next move. What were the chances that she would climb down three floors of balconies to escape? It wasn't impossible, but it wasn't easy either. Probably she'd stay where she was. Picking her phone off the ground, he scrolled through her texts until he found Max.

It's done. Took a hit. Laying low here. She's pissed but fine, Booth typed and sent off the text. Max wouldn't be pleased, but this meant the old criminal would be stopping by in no time.

Taking the lady's advice, Booth laid himself out on the couch and dozed off. Hopefully when he woke up, it would be to Max with a back alley surgeon, not the bone lady whacking him in the face with a frying pan. Hopefully.

[omies-odd-writing-spot]

Lil’ Nugget [Doom AU]

@raventroll80 has this amazing idea and story so far of a Troll!Slayer doom AU and allowed me to write a little thing... and in true Omie fashion the thing I tried to write turned into a large thing.

so have my nugget of a child's pov of meeting the Big Guy and them confusing each other for different reasons. Full story is here and under the cut n.n

Also the hidey-hole is DEFFENTLY just that good.

Story: Heather saw the big armored thing long before it (…him?) ever saw her. She had a really good hiding spot, because her mom had found it and put her inside. She was supposed to stay inside, and Heather was! She just found that she could pull a chair over to the big cabinet in the basement hiding spot and peek out from the big curtains mum had covered the window with. 

Heather could peer and peek very carefully, watching the things outside. Sometimes she could see a pretty spider walk by, or one of the big crocodiles would slowly march by. Sometimes one of the monsters would come close to the building they were hiding in. Sometimes her mom would see her and wave when coming back from her trips outside to look for supplies. 

She really liked it when her mom did that!

Her mom was so brave, and smart! And always found new coloring books and goodies. Before Heather’s mom left this last time, she had said they could leave the basement bunker soon. 

Mom had told Heather all about the boat she found and that still ran. She was so excited to go on the boat, Heather sort of remembered being on boats when her dad was still with her and Mom. It was before the monsters came, Heather missed her dad.

Heather missed her mom too.

Mom had been gone for days now, and Heather was trying really hard to save the soup cans that were her mom’s favorite. The girl had already eaten the pre-made meals her mom had left. Before she could open a tuna can and try to figure out how to make the yummmy tuna can noodle thing her mom would make, she felt the odd vibrations that meant that the Monsters were moving about. 

Heather had climbed on the chair, then onto the big dresser so she could reach the window. Heather had to be really slow as she peeked first, then climbed under the curtains, making sure it covered most of her head until she got used to the light outside. That’s when she saw the big thing.

It was a really Big Thing! 

She could see it… him? Him from all the way down the hill. She could not tell if he was making those odd vibrations like the Monsters did. Though the girl could tell that this new big thing did not like the monsters, or he did?

It almost looked like this strange armored big person was playing with the monsters at the distance. This was puzzling enough that Heather braced on the wall, so she could stay in spot better, though not lifting her head farther. Just watching as the Big One started uphill after one of the ‘smaller’ Monsters.

Were they playing chase?

The Big thing with the green and tan armor launched at the smaller monsters, tackling two and wrapping his arms around them. The monsters vanished into a swath of glowing, almost glittering stuff! 

That was cool! 

It was also really impressive when a bigger monster tackled this new big thing and they rolled onto one of the cars out there. Heather tilted her head and watched with wide eyes as part of the car- not the one her mom hid behind the building. 

Was her mom scared to come back because the monsters were playing with this new thing? Heather would be scared of being out there too, but then again, her mom could hear the monsters coming. 

Heather gasped as teh two rolled onto the yard of the building the bunker was under. Saw them wrestling and rolling over one after the other. Breaking apart and then launching back into the weird wrestling-tag game of theirs. But at one point the girl realized a big seeming difference between the new thing and the Monsters. 

Other than the new thing being the only one in full armor, he had a tail! 

It looked part metal, and Heather wondered if it… he… had lost part of the tail? Needed a new tail? Tails were important to animals she knew, was it just important to this person to keep balance?

Heather ducked down and looked behind her, not for the first time wondering why she could not have a tail like the cats or something pretty like with birds-? 

There was a massive thud and it had Heather yipping a bit and looking back up at the window. Brown eyes widening as she looked up through the window to see her reflection in the silver of this new person’s helmet. Heather reflexively ducked a bit from her nose just over the window still to just her eyes. 

Did the monster throw the big thing?

There was dirt up against the window and Heather gasped as the helmet tilted, and then who was inside seemed to focus on her. She was just able to see the basic outline of features of a face that was more human like then any of the monsters. There was a reflection of green, or so it seemed like under the visor. The girl watched as a just massive hand lifted- he was so much bigger then she had thought until right up close like this. 

He took up the whole window.

For a moment, a big hand lifted and touched the window that Heather was peering out of. Touching the glass between them and Heather reached up to touch the spot and then tapped the glass over one of the big finger pads. Two thick digits seemed as big if not bigger than her hand.

Then that bigger Monster was back, it seemed a lot more mad up close as its teeth sank into this bigger new person's shoulder and Heather yipped in fright. Just as she was dropping down she saw the Monster see her and she whined as she scrambled to climb down while the whole wall of the bunker seemed to vibrate and shiver.

Had Heather made the monster mad by distracting the big person from that weird game they were playing? 

She climbed down to the ground, almost missing the demonic arm reaching through the broken window. Just seeing the claws skimming close to her shoulder before it was jerked back and out. 

Heather grabbed the stuffed Easter bunny her mom gave her before all the monsters came. Running to the other side of the basement bunker and climbing under the big thick table that was in front of the cubby in the wall that her mom made for her. This was where Heather was supposed to hide if any of the monsters outside saw her.

Heather closed her eyes and pushed her face into her old easter bunny. Trying to use it to help control her breathing. She had to be quiet, no squeaking and had to make sure she did not feel herself making any sounds. 

Even when her legs twitched and tingled from being curled up in the hidey-hole. Even if it got cold, she had to be quiet and still, feeling the vibrations from above come and go until it did get cold from the broken window and Heather worried if she could fix it somehow. The bunker was supposed to be safe because the monsters could not smell them in here?

…right?

…could Heather stuff a blanket into the broken window once the monsters moved on if they got distracted?

It took a little longer than normal in this weird spot to recognize a certain vibration. The bunker door opening.

Was her mom back?

Heather stayed in her spot as something was off about the vibrations felt… odd. Not bad but still so odd that it confused her. When she was confused she was supposed to stay still and hide, or play dead.

If she was not so stiff and somewhat cramped Heather might have jumped as she felt the bigger vibrations then finally saw the big, metal foot being carefully placed. The air seemed to vibrate in that odd way it did with the invading monsters but… different. Not prickling a warning about something, like the all of you could be lost if those monsters found you. This was…

Rumble-y. 

It felt like what rock slides seemed like they should sound like. Like the earth was grumbling at you but not mad at you… like the vibration the big crocodile mommas were supposed to make? She could feel it in her chest and behind her ears. It made Heather wonder if this was what sound was like?

It was not dark in the bunker, but not as bright as outside. She could see the green armor of the big new person, and as they…he? He was lowering himself down and rested one of those massive hands on the ground. The basement bunker was so big normally, but now seemed like it was almost as cramped to this Big Thing as the hidey-hole was to her.

It took a moment and Heather realized the tan was not the color of his armor but dirt or clay from outside. It looked like it had been scrapped off mostly before he came into the bunker. There was another hand bracing on the ground that Heather could see from her spot and she tilted her head, surprised again that this bigger-big person seemed even bigger then before at the window.

She could see the main body of him as he seemed to be moving slowly through the bunker. He was moving to the bed away from the two windows, where Heather and her mom slept. The girl watched what she could, taking note of the slow, almost gentle movement from her point of view near the floor.

Movement had the girl’s attention. She blinked before remembering that this bigger-big person had a tail! …monsters outside did not have tails, did that mean this was one of those safe people her mom talked about finding?

…had he already found her mom and got her safe?

Could Heather ask if he could find her mom if the safe people had not?

The tail slid closer to her then swayed away, then slowly back, as if feeling where the table was and the underside of it. Heather was not really sure how or why, but she let go of her easter bunny and reached. Her fingers brushed against the metal tail, and it froze midair. 

There was that low, rumbly feeling again before the bigger-big person slowly lowered and turned. Looking back, and then keeping the tail still before lowering it as if to press against her hand then forearm. Then he lowered even more and Heather saw the helmet tilting to look back and then moving back and forth as if they were not sure she was there.

Was her hiding spot that good?

Heather pulled her hand back from the tail and gave a small wave, still staying quiet as this stranger started to turn around. Her hidey-hole mush be really good after all, he was acting like he was not sure she was there. Even sitting back before the helmet was taken off and set down on the ground. Then this Bigger than big person was backing up and lowering himself onto the ground to look under the table.

There was green before, large, piercing green eyes that scanned under the table before settling on her. Heather tilted her head, watched as this new person did the same, both just as confused as the other at what they saw. This bigger then big person seemed human, or human ish?

Those green eyes seemed to almost glow, watching her as intently back. Studying the girl as much as she was him. There was just something a little… off about him? Not really wrong though but Heather could not place it. His face did not look like the monsters, nor like he was mad at her.

Heather gave another little wave around her easter bunny again. She looked around and back, then she watched as one massive hand- again it seemed a lot bigger than by the window, it slid forward. Under the table and towards her, Heather watched the big gloved hand until it stopped just shy of the hidey-hole. Then inched closer for two digits to touch her arm and curled up knees. 

The hand was… warm, and Heather found herself focusing on those massive digits before reaching over and touching the thick… thick…

Claw?

Bigger than big, he had a tail, claws and glowing eyes?

Was… this not a human after all and one of those… the… what were they called? Heather remembered her mom trying to come up with a sign. Mountain man? Man of mountain? Mountain guard?

He definitely seemed as big as a mountain.

Those big claws were not hurting her, the big hand that was still edging closer was not snatching or grabbing but slid around her. Heather squeaked finally, saw the other finally blink before she was pulled out of the hidey-hole and then out from the table. This massive mountain of… big was moving, not dropping the girl as he sat back and upright. Both hands coming up and wrapping around Heather under her arms, holding her up between them and blinking slowly.

Wide brown eyes blinked back, the girl never looking away at first. Though looked really confused as this mountain person slowly brought her closer to and sniffed. He sniffed her? Her head and shoulder were definitely sniffed.

Heather tilted her head, and offered her easter bunny to the strange person for inspection next. It was the only thing she could think of doing. He could not have her easter bunny, but if he wanted he could sniff that too.

Those almost glowing green eyes did not seem as harsh as they did at first. The bigger than big man sniffed at the stuffed toy before shifting his hold. Heather was lowered into his lap and she looked around puzzled until one hand let go to awkwardly pat her hair and back. Heather shifted and still holding her easter bunny grabbed the other hand before it could leave. Just holding onto the top finger and then hid her face against his hand. She missed her mom, and all the hugs her mom would give Heather. 

This was not the same, but it was enough that the girl was willing to climb higher into the big lap and try to pat this nice mountain back on his closer wrist and thumb.

[breadedsinner]

WIP Wednesday

*

"I found your cat carving in my hidey-hole," said Cadash as she approached the little makeshift workshop in the barn. "I assume it's for me?"

"Yes, my lady. I hope it's to your liking."

"I love it, but why didn't you just give it to me?"

Blackwall's face tensed, the lines framing his eyes deepened, and he turned away, focused on his new project. "I didn't want to bother you with something so trivial, though I am glad you like it."

"But I like making time for you. I can't do Inquisitor stuff every waking moment," she chuckled. "Or if I could, I still wouldn't."

Cadash frowned, seeing the Warden keep his eyes to the new carving. She shrugged and leapt onto his table, her stout dwarven legs swinging in the air. She leaned inward, not so far in that she would get in the way, but enough that he would have to see her face. "You're very good. How does a soldier-turn-Warden even learn something like this?"

"It's not so difficult. Anyone can acquire a bit of skill with time and patience."

"All right. Why this, though? Did you have woodworkers in your family?"

Blackwall rolled his shoulders, clearly trying to ease a tension on his back that persisted. “Yes, actually. My father was a carpenter, had his own workshop and everything."

"But you didn't follow in the craft?"

"No, I," he paused, placing his tools on the table, and wiping sweat off his bushy brown. "I was going to, for a brief time. But at some point, I realized… I wanted more."

[fandomsnstuff]

I was thinking about my youtube au and blupjeans at work today so :3c @taznovembercelebration

Day 13: hide/tradition

"“The Birdhouse” is a colloquial name for a group of seven YouTube personalities who, after years of friendship, decided to move into a large house together. While all their channels are independent of each other, they often cameo or guest in videos and livestreams."

- via The Birdhouse wiki

Read it on AO3

“Every year we've had to add a new rule, so I'm going to go over them one more time,” Lucretia says to the six of them. They're standing in the kitchen of the house they rented for the weekend, and everybody has their own small cameras on hand. “The rules for The Birdhouse's fifth annual hide and seek game. One, no bodily harm to yourself by consequence of your hiding space.” She looks pointedly at Magnus, who somehow managed to squeeze himself into a cupboard year one and ended up needing to see a chiropractor for six months. “Two, no giving yourself away by jumping out of your hiding spot to startle the seeker,” she looks at Magnus again, who jumpscared Merle so bad in year two, he broke a lamp. “Three, during the hiding phase, the seeker must be blindfolded, wearing noise canceling headphones, and be sitting facing a corner of the group's choosing. No peeking.”

“It was a good strategy!” Taako defends.

“Four,” Lucretia continues, “you must hide on the property and stay on the property until you're found or the game ends.” She looks to Davenport this time, who just got in the van and drove away until they texted him telling him he won last year. “And, as always, the winner of this year's game will gain free food and drink for the rest of the weekend, bragging rights for one full year, and the obligation to be next year's seeker. Understood?” Everyone makes some sort of agreeing sound, so she snaps her notebook shut. “Great. Dav, you know where to go.”

He salutes, and takes his blindfold and headphones to a corner of the living room. Once he's situated, Lucretia says, “alright everyone, five minutes on the clock.” She starts a timer on someone's phone that'll go off in Davenport's headphones when it's up. “Go!”

Everyone scatters, heading for spots they scouted out in the two days since they've arrived. Barry beelines for Magnus's room. The shelving at the back of his walk-in closet isn't flush against the wall. For some god forsaken reason, there's at least three feet of space behind it. When he found it scoping out the rooms upon arrival, it was initially storing a spare mattress and some sheets. He pulled the mattress out and leaned it up against the back wall of the closet. It blocked the entrance to the hidey hole, and just standing in the door of the closet, nothing looks out of the ordinary, it's just as if a landlord needed to store a mattress.

And he knows Davenport didn't get up to the second floor until after Barry moved it.

He also fucked up the nicely folded sheets. That way, he can cover himself with them, and even if Davenport found the spot ahead of time, the lump of sheets was already there.

He's just maneuvering his way into the space when the closet door opens.

He freezes, but it's just Magnus, who whisper-shouts, “I was gonna hide there!”

“I got here first,” Barry whisper-shouts back.

“It's my room!”

“Exactly! I'm not going to hide in my own room, that's too obvious. I would've had too much time to plan a spot, since I sleep there.”

“Oh shit, that's smart.” He looks over his shoulder, then back at Barry. “See ya!”

He shakes his head and squeezes past the mattress. He goes straight to the back of the little space, in the corner of the closet. He picks up the pile of sheets, sits himself down with his knees drawn to his chest, and covers himself with the sheets, attempting to make himself look as pile-like as possible.

“Okay,” he whispers to the camera, “I think we're in a pretty good spot, and we've still got,” he checks his watch, “three minutes until Dav's on the move.” He shifts a little. “I might be a little stiff after, but I'm confident. This might be our year.”

“Barry?” Lup's voice comes from outside the sheets. He reveals his head, and she's standing at the open end of the space. She glances over her shoulder, then back. “You got room in there for one more? My top spots got fucking stolen, and time's ticking down.”

“Uh, maybe? You can absolutely try.” He could never say no to her. This was his only planned spot and he's fully ready to start from scratch for her if he has to, he'll just edit out the part about it being his year.

She comes in further and holds out her camera. “Hold this.” He takes it, and she starts pulling away the sheets until he's been excavated from the pile. “Extend your legs a bit.” He complies, and she sits down between them and covers the two of them with the sheets. She leans back against his chest and takes her camera, holding it out slightly to get both of them in the shot. “There, perfectly hidden.” She cranes her neck to look at him. “I'm proud of you, Bear. You actually found a good spot this year.”

His free arm wraps around her waist, the other still propped up with the camera. “My spots aren't that bad.”

“And yet you've never been seeker.”

“I was only found first in year one, and that's only because I didn't have any time to look around before the game started.”

“Still,” she taps his nose, “they haven't been winners.” He just laughs and shakes his head. “But hey, you found one of my top spots, so maybe we'll both win this year. There's no rule about two people in one spot yet. Maybe there'll be Blupjeans double seekers next year.”

He laughs softly. “Don't use the fucking ship name in the video, you'll just encourage them.”

She lowers the camera and slides her free hand over his arm to link their fingers together. “But they're not wrong.”

“No,” she kisses his jaw softly, and he turns his head down, brushing their noses together as he leans in, “but they don't know that yet.”

His eyes have shut, but he feels her smile. “Yet,” she murmurs just before he kisses her.

They've only officially been an item for about six months, but they've come to find out what the internet's seemed to know for years: they've been in love and de facto dating more or less since they met.

He sets his camera on the floor and cups her jaw, tilting her head and deepening the kiss. She sighs, and he draws her closer with the arm around her waist. He could kiss her forever. He could get carried away and do things he really shouldn't do to her with two rolling cameras around, even if he's the one who edits the footage.

They're drawn from it when they hear Davenport's voice echoing faintly through the silent house, “ready or not, here I come!”

“Focus up, Bluejeans,” Lup whispers, “we've got a game to win.”

“You're right,” he says, picking up his camera, “I think it's too soon for a sex tape anyway.”

He has to clamp his hand over Lup's mouth so her laugh doesn't give them away.

[galaxysharks]

that second story is maddox and u cannot prove me wrong

I just remembered you called me old

Suffer, Anthony, this 'Incident' was written just for you

Maddox and Jet always say that Maddie's first word was 'needle-nose Pliers' and it was when she was eight. And to the world that's true, neither of them can remember otherwise, and her earlier instructors certainly never heard a peep.

But Auntie knows better.

Auntie remembers when little Maddie was four, small and flinchy, always jumping at loud sounds and pulling at her shirts that felt bad. She loved little Jet though, even when he was too loud, or pulled at her hair. Maddox even seemed to handle stressors better with her brother, less prone to full meltdowns, with baby Jet pushing down on her chest, like he was personally holding down her temper.

It was around 1am and Auntie was with her brother-in-law and his new wife, having a few drinks. This was back when she still mostly tolerated the man, but even then those beautiful babies were the light of her life.

But anyway, it was early and all the sudden little Maddie comes fumbling into the room, little arms flailing and tears streaming.

"Jet Sick! Crying! Can't fix him! Sick!"

Auntie remembers jumping from her seat, rushing to her side and scooping her into her arms. That wasn't helpful, apparently this was a touch-me-not day. She put her down again and grabbed the little stuffed bear from her bag, pressing it into Maddie's chest.

"hey, hey, ssshhhh.... Jet sick? I'll go and take care of him, ok? Stay and breathe, you'll feel better soon, you're a good big sister, you take care of him"

Auntie went into the bedroom and quite immediately discovered what has upset Maddox so much. Jet had gotten sick over himself and was crying. After getting him cleaned up and the sheets changed, she sat with him until he fell back asleep, reading and giving him crackers to settle his stomach.

Tired but relieved, Auntie makes her way back into the sitting room. And really she's not sure what she expected, maybe for little Maddie to be sleeping on the couch, or with her father, but really that was ambitious wasn't it?

No, instead what she found was that Motherfucker and his wife being belligerent drunks, crowding and snapping at Maddox, who had somehow managed to cram herself into the fireplace,which had thankfully already been cooling embers when she first appeared, her little feet and hands now covered in soot. One little fist stuffed into her mouth as she attempted to be as small and quiet as possible.

"what the FUCK do you think you're doing? Get away from her, you fucking maniac!"

"I don't appreciate how you're talking to my wife!"

"I don't appreciate how you're talking to my niece!"

"She has embarrassed us for years by refusing to speak! We believed there might be damage from the car accident, but instead we find out she's just been Lazy! She could speak this whole time! I refuse to let this behavior continue!"

"Take a hike Dante!"

"That is not my name!"

"Frankly I don't give a damn, get away from us before I do something rash"

Auntie watched him storm off, further into the house. She crouched down, gently reaching to pull the little fist from Maddox's mouth, little teeth imprints bleeding. The soot from the ashes had stained her head to toe, and Auntie can already see the red marks from Maddox trying to rub away the filth. Debating on if she would be making things worse, eventually Auntie decided that cleaning Little Maddie would have to take priority, and she reached forward and pulled the squirming child out from her hidey hole.

Using the softest rag she could find, Auntie cleaned up Maddie as best she could while having as little contact as possible, mindful of her fluctuating mood. After clearing the mess and making note of the minor scratches and burns, because evidently the embers were not as smothered as she had hoped, Auntie bandages her up and brought Maddox back to the kids' bedroom. She tucked her into the lower bunk next to her brother.

"hey little one, are we feeling any better now?"

Maddox smiled the saddest little smile, and lightly chewed on her hand, gently this time, bandages growing damp. Auntie figured she'd already picked her battle today, so just lightly ruffled Maddie's hair.

Auntie stood from her place, somehow knowing that Maddox wasn't about to speak again anytime soon, if ever again.

But right now she had bigger fish to fry, the foremost being the degenerate monsters that currently have custody. And she won't stop until her babies are free.

[imonawholedifferentlevel]

𝗙𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗣𝘁.𝟮 - 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗼𝗹

ꜱᴜᴍᴍᴀʀʏ: ʏ/ɴ ᴡᴀꜱ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ᴏɴᴇ ᴛᴏ ꜱʜᴏᴡ ᴇᴍᴏᴛɪᴏɴꜱ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ᴡᴀꜱ ᴏɴʟʏ ᴏɴᴇ ᴘᴇʀꜱᴏɴ ᴡʜᴏ ᴄᴀɴ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ʜᴇʀ ᴇᴠᴇɴ ꜱᴍɪʟᴇ ᴀ ʙɪᴛ

ᴡᴀʀɴɪɴɢꜱ: ꜰʟᴜꜰꜰ, ꜱʟɪɢʜᴛ ʜᴜᴍᴏʀ, ᴀᴛᴛᴇᴍᴘᴛɪɴɢ ᴍᴜʀᴅᴇʀ, ꜰʟɪʀᴛɪɴɢ, ᴛᴏᴜᴄʜʏ, ꜱʟɪɢʜᴛ ᴀɴɢꜱᴛ, ʙᴇᴛʀᴀʏᴀʟ (ꜰʀɪᴇᴅᴀ ᴏʙᴠɪᴏᴜꜱʟʏ), ᴍᴇɴᴛɪᴏɴꜱ ᴏꜰ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ

ᴘᴀɪʀɪɴɢꜱ: ᴄᴀʀᴏʟ x ꜰᴇᴍ! ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

ʀᴇQᴜᴇꜱᴛᴇᴅ ʙʏ: ɴᴏʙᴏᴅʏ

ᴀ/ɴ: ɪ ʙᴀꜱᴇᴅ ʏ/ɴ ᴏꜰ ᴏꜰꜰ ᴀ ᴀɴɪᴍᴇ ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀ ɴᴀᴍᴇᴅ ʟᴀɴ ᴡᴀɴɢᴊɪ ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴡʜᴏ ʜᴇ ɪꜱ ɪ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ʏᴏᴜ ꜱᴏᴏ ᴍᴜᴄʜ

•☽────✧˖°˖☆˖°˖✧────☾•

It's been a while since Carol and Y/N started dating, and it turned out to be better than expected.

But it was also new for Y/N since she wasn't so used to being around someone so bright other than her father before he passed.

When the whole block found out about them, they were surprised because they were polar opposites—well, they were opposites when Carol wasn't acting all tough.

Every time you see Y/N, don't be surprised to see Carol right after or, better yet, next to her.

Y/N ended up joining in on Carol and Frieda's drug shop since she had some very good experience selling herself.

And that's how she ended up in the hidey hole with her girlfriend eating a bag of chips as she watched her girlfriend's toy with Frieda's picture on the wall.

After some moments, Frieda walks in and stops in her tracks, seeing what Carol was doing.

"Hey Frieda, your dad's hot and all, but I have other plans. I hope you don't mind now. That is human perfection, right, Frieda," she giggled out, replacing her picture with a poster of Burt Reynolds.

Y/N gave Carol a hard side eye. Y/N hated Burt Reynolds because he took away Carol's attention, even if he was on a piece of printer paper.

"I have to go to the bathroom," she said.

"Ok, don't be long," Carol said, kissing her girlfriend's cheek.

Y/N got up and turned the corner away from view.

Not long after she left, Barbra turned the corner with her girls, and they started arguing back and forth, and it looked like a scuffle would go down between them.

"Look at you, Carol; you're a child amateur like you have no business selling horses," Barbra said.

"Who's amateur?" A cold voice said from behind Barbra and her goons jumped and whipped around to see Y/N standing there like a statue, her face still and cold as normal, her tall frame basically towering over them.

"Who the fuck are you?!" Barbra exclaimed, looking at the tall woman in shock. Y/N said nothing and pushed past the older sister, walking straight towards Carol.

"Y/n!" Carol squealed in excitement and instantly latched onto her girlfriend like a leech, while Y/N gave her a very faint smile and just allowed her to do whatever.

"Um, excuse me, I was talking to..."

"Shut up," Y/N interrupted the older sister with a cold glare.

"Who the fuck do you think you're talking to?" Barbra sneered, stepping into Y/N's personal space, which upset Carol tremendously.

"Fuck off!" She sneered, pushing her sister with excessive force and making her stumble back.

Y/N quickly pushed Carol behind her, ready to defend her if Barbra tried to attack when she recovered from the push, but she did nothing but dust herself off and chuckle.

"Oh, I see what this is," she chuckled, smiling with her pearly white teeth showing.

"My little sister finally let her dyke flag fly." Barbra and her girls cackled while Carol gripped onto Y/N's uniform, her fist clenched and shaking with anger.

Y/n stepped closer to Barbra when she wasn't looking, grabbed the collar of the raven's hair jumper, and pulled her eye level so that she was looking dead into Y/n's cold golden eyes.

"Talk about her like that one more time, and I'll split you into two," she sneered, her eyes growing wider with each word.

Barbra leaned her face away from the very disturbing and uncomfortable eye contact, but she didn't have to much longer because Y/N pushed her right into her girl's, making them all fall to the ground.

Carol tried to hold in her laughter as she watched her sister and her workers scramble onto their feet and run out of the hidey hole.

"Are you ok?" Y/N asked about checking Carol over for any very invisible injuries.

"Of course, and that was fucking amazing!" She said she was happily wrapping her arms around Y/N.

Y/N's ears turned red as she wrapped her arms around her girlfriend.

•☽────✧˖°˖☆˖°˖✧────☾•

Y/N felt a small sweat drop down her forehead while watching her soulmate lose her temper.

They were down by one full base, and D-block was in the lead for the first time.

"Carol," she said, grabbing Carol's elbow in a firm grip and stopping her movement all together. Carol took a deep breath and dropped her cigarette before stomping it out of the ground.

She turned away from her minions and faced her lover: "I refuse to lose to Barbie! But all of our good players were released, and Frieda is sick," she grumbled, stomping her foot like a little child.

"I'll go"

"Huh?!" Carol asked, bewildered.

"If it makes you happy, I'll go," Y/N said.

"But you don't even know how to play," Carol said, and Y/N shrugged.

"Kick the ball and walk the field; it sounds easy to me. I just want you to be happy," she said with a small smile.

Carol's frown turned into a bright smile as she clung onto her girlfriend.

"I don't know what I would do without you," she said, happily kissing Y/N's cheek a bunch of times. Y/N said nothing; her red ears told Carol everything.

When Y/N was able to release herself from Carol's hold, she walked towards the field, eyeing the older Denning sister intensely.

She kept her hands in her jumper pockets the entire time as the ball was rolled to her.

Everyone's faces turned into shock as they watched Y/N, with minimum effort in her stance, kick the ball so hard that it flew right past Barbra's head, nearly taking it off her shoulders and making her fall over onto the field.

The ball flew past the trees in front, and nobody moved a muscle as Y/N started to calmly walk the entire field, touching each goal until she made it back to the first one.

"Score" was all she said before the entire C-block erupted into cheers; they won once again.

Y/N could see in the corner of her eye a small silhouette barreling towards her before a body collided with hers, but she just stood her ground, taking the weight of the person completely.

Carol gave her a long kiss on the lips before pulling away. Y/N's heart fluttered when she saw the brightest, happiest, closed-eyed smile on her girlfriend's face. It reminded her of her other father every time he smiled at her or her dad.

And it felt good to see something that resembled her father, even if it wasn't him.

"You're the best!" She exclaimed.

Y/N loved seeing her smile.

[theyaremanycolours]

So, idea for an AU- What if Raz never found Nick in the Mailroom?

This is long, rambly and spoiler laden, so I'm putting this under a cut

My ideas are vague but, first of all, the Casino Mission probably wouldn't of happened, nor would the Interns be motivated to change Hollis' mind to go on it.

Second, Raz wouldn't of been late, which would probably result in Hollis being less suspicious of him.

I can also see Raz trying to talk to Hollis because, well, he can't find his mentor, and given Raz wouldn't of been late to class this time, she could probably attribute the first incident to being a little lost in the Motherlobe/insisting on changing his outfit for some reason, so he probably isn't lying and probably gives him a small assignment/maybe a temporary mentor? while she figures out what's going on with Mr. Johnsmith.

Raz isn't going to bring up the idea the Mole was targeting Lili, so he probably doesn't spend time with Truman- he probably still tries to talk to Ford on his own, but probably doesn't drag him out of his hidey hole back at Whispering Rock

Norma probably still spreads rumours about Raz though, and Raz still tries to investigate, though perhaps his goal is interviewing the Psychic 6 rather than putting Ford back together.

Otto probably stays back at the Motherlobe (even if he has a new brain level) but Compton might invite Raz with him to see Cassie O'Pia as Raz makes it clear that he wants to interview her so they can figure out how to stop the Delugionists, and while he and the others weren't able to stop her, they could help stop her followers, or at least arm the next generation with their knowledge.

Also, the fact that Ford is still Raz's stowaway means they can discuss things with him being at least halfway coherent (Even if he doesn't remember *her*)

(And that the little boy looks... oddly familiar...)

Then they come to Green Needle Gulch and a Hand made of Water manifests, startling Compton before he realizes that it isn't attacking and was most likely his young guest pulling a prank- before looking to Raz and realizing that the poor child had lost control of his powers.

He calms the boy down, walking him through breathing exercises as the slight glow fades from his eyes.

The Hand is still manifested, and Compton tries to get him to stop shaping the water (My, he's certainly a strong little Hydrokinetic, almost reminds him of Lucy) but Raz insists that he can't because it's not him causing it, it's a Curse, and it wants to kill him.

Compton decides to try something.

"Razputin, could you take off your helmet for a second? I'm going to give you my hat"

"Wait isn't that going to-?"

"Don't worry, we only need to do it for a second, plus my hat will protect you from any... accidents."

Raz reluctantly agrees, and they swap.

And then the Hand collapses.

Raz is confused, and asks what the hell just happened.

He pulls the hat off, and the hand manifests again.

He puts it back on and the hand collapses.

Off, on, off, on, off, on.

"Does the hat protect from curses? I mean, that would make sense because if you were to get curse it would be extremely bad especially because of the blastokinesis-"

"No, my hat doesn't protect from curses, it prevents my power from leaking out as blastokinesis, the same way it's preventing your power from leaking out as hydrokinesis."

"..."

They have a big talk about psychic powers and psychosomatic effects that ends with Raz accepting that he's Hydrokinetic and that the people who cursed his family probably took advantage of the hydrokinesis for the curse.

Still doesn't help that much because he's still terrified, but at least the hand isn't completely blocking the way.

On their way to Cassie's they talk about the "curse" and Raz casually drops the fact that his last name is Aquato, which makes everything click for Compton (thank god they swapped back by this point) and Compton explaining he knew someone who was a very powerful Hydrokinetic who, while she didn't have children herself, had a sister who had married to a man with the last name Aquato.

Raz wants more details, because of course he does, he's a little kid learning that one of his idols was friends with one of his relatives, but Compton is reluctant.

This is a lot, and he wants to get the child somewhere safe before he drops that bombshell.

They go to Cassie's, help her out, and then Compton sits Raz down.

He brews a pot of tea and asks Cassie if they can have a bit of privacy.

Compton talks slowly, letting the child process each part as his entire world is slowly put on it's head.

Raz doesn't take it well, but Compton didn't expect him to.

He lets the boy cry, and reassures him that he isn't a monster, isn't going to wake up a "Razigula" or anything of the sort, reiterates that while Lucy had gone bad that he didn't deserve to be Cursed or anything of the sort.

Cassie had listened in towards the end, had learned that her sweet little student that she only just got to meet had more ties to her past then either expected, but only because of how loud the conversation got.

After it's done, Cassie walks in. Razputin is exhausted, and Compton is trying his best to settle him down to sleep.

Cassie goes to see Bob, going to try and see if he is willing to help out, while Compton keeps an eye on him. After all, the Delugionists have reason to target him.

(All the while, Ford is getting this nagging feeling)

Meanwhile, the Aquatos have arrived, and Hollis is now aware that one of her students is missing

And that's all I have for now, outside of Helmut's brain being found by Dion and Frazie

[artsykidwolf-2000]

Hey guys! I've recently have fallen back into love with the God of War series (mostly the Norse series Mimir and Sindri are my faves} and I thought it would be awesome to write something with one of my mainly used OCs from a story I'm making

Her name is Flash (they're normally gender fluid but it's the female version in this case) and she's what I call a Draken (a dragon like person and no she's not like a DND dragonborn or a dovahkin). She's pretty small being around between 5'-5'2" sometimes so she's pretty tall by dwarven standards.

I hope you guys like my story and if you wanna see more content or a self insert request or maybe more OCs I'm up for it! I'd love to make new friends on this game! Please don't be mad at my writing skills I try my best!

A Dragon's Loyalty

{An OC × Sindri Fanfic}

{Flash x Sindri}

Warnings: {possible}, "censored cursing", insecurities, OCD/Germaphobia, skinny body, etc.

Rating: Fluffy Cotton candy with a side of sassy dragon {you have been warned}

★★★★★★★★★

{Flash's pov}

It was like any other morning now...cold, wet, and hungry. I've been mostly on my own since I've left Kratos and Atreus since they were being hunted down by Freya...myself somewhat included. I started camping out in the mountains where she can't track me half the time, nor would she want to where her main target was down in the staved forest below. Gods I wish I could go down there and have a nice warm meal.

My mind begins to wonder, looking to the sky for a sign, I soon found my answer in the form of a familiar voice. It sounded like screaming. HIS screaming. As I ran around the corner of a few ledges I find him pinned in a crack of the canyon. Trying to dig him out was a large dragon, possibly new in town, and wanted a snack for the road.

"Sindri!" I called out.

"Falishia?! Help me!!" He called out, "This dragon is gonna eat me!!!"

I twinged in pain when I tried to leap forward. Stupid stomach wanted to make me look like a wimp. I fought through it and leaped up to catch the dragon by the horns. It noticed my grasp and tried to scrape me off like I was a bird turd or an annoying wasp stinging them. If only Brok could hear my thoughts now....

"The name's Flash!" I leaped into the weight of it's swings and shakes of it's head and knocked it into a cliff facing nearby.

As that new fellow of a dragon kept trying to snap at me I knew I had to end this quickly or I'll be it's skinny snack for the road and Sindri as an appetizer. I reached for my daggers but I remembered that I damaged them to a troll last month in a fight to keep my hunt. They were basically broken and dull letter openers. I tossed them aside back towards Sindri and chose to fight with my bare hands.

"Alright worm with wings....let's dance..." I growled then roared loudly as I leapt into the air as it came up to strike.

My strikes were weakened but precise. My claws were all I needed to take it down. My easy victory turned difficult with each second as it flew around the canyon. My grip began to slip as it soon pinned me against the rock. It's eyes focused on mine. Both spark with the fires of survival and battle. When it started to open it's jaws I heard two whistles of metal fly past me and lodge themselves into the stone next to me. It was my daggers all fixed up.

"Use them! They're fixed!!" Sindri yelled out in his cowardly cry. That caught the attention of the dragon again. It let me go and dropped me. I quickly grabbed onto my daggers as Sindri scampered away to his hidey hole.

I spared no extra seconds and launched myself from my perch and stabbed the daggers into the skull of the dragon. It's cries and roars echoed through the canyon as it fell dead upon the cold damp cliffside it used to call home. I dislodged my daggers and put them away. I hopped off the beast as Sindri peeked out.

"it's...gone...." I huffed out.

"Thank....Thank the gods that's over...." He breathed out shakenly before continuing some paused work. As he turned around to ask me something, I was on the ground. My energy spend was taxing on my frail body. All I could remember was his voice screaming my name.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I soon woke up.

I woke up in a strange place.

The ceilings and floors were fine crafted. The bed and pillows were nice compared to fur and your own tail for warmth and comfort. I sat up to see I was in a spare room of some kind. I looked down at the sheets. All pristine and uniform with the area. No doubt Sindri's work....

I put a hand on my side. It was all bandaged up from the scratches and what not I sustained in that battle. My ribs and stomach definitely showed with thinly stretched skin.

Stupid Fimblwintr...

Even my own tail looked horribly matted and skinny...

A knock at my door took me out of my trance. Soon a sliding door opened to show Sindri with a bowl of some kind. The aroma hit my nose and my stomach immediately churned.

"Seems like I had Brok whip up something on time then" He quipped.

"better now than never...nearly starving me" I snatched the bowl and chowed down on everything. I didn't care for the mess.

"now that you have food... I'd like to ask you something" he said with a shy undertone.

"like what? Got some feelings in a bunch of am I just dense?"

"N-No...well....how did you get so far gone?" He shuffled into a nearby seat.

"not much of a cook, ate my kills raw or smoked what I could..."

He did a small gag at the 'raw' part before taking the now empty bowl.

"Is it also bc of what happened? About a year or so ago?" He looked concerned.

"....Yes....but also my own troubles..." I sighed.

"troubles?"

"to be honest....my body just...doesn't listen sometimes but today it did..." I turned to him.

"H-How come today?" He chuckled nervously.

"Because I wasn't going to let that ember nosed rummaging scaly lipped lizard get one of my prizes treasures!" I growled.

Sindri coughed as his ears dusted a light pink.

"A-And might I ask what was the treasure? Did you hide something vial on me?! Ugh!" He patted around his pockets and armor until I stood up and grabbed his collar.

"You do have something that not many have in a life time....a dragon's loyalty" my eyes glowed a soft red hue from my blue hues. My dark short hair grazing his face, "and no way in Helheim is that coming off anytime soon"

His gazed was focused but scattered. I could feel his breath hitch at my distance between him. Amazing that he didn't pull away. Maybe he thought of sucking it up for once in his life.

"Well...ummmm...thank you for the gift and for...saving me..."

"The same for you...now I must leave..." I turned to go to the door of the lavish house.

"Wait!" Sindri called out.

I stopped, "What's this? Now you want a dirty dragon?"

"You seemed...cold and alone out there...maybe I can return the favor and" he sighed, "and let you stay"

"does it come with meals and a warm bed?"

"of course! I'm not a savage!"

"like me?"

"You're not a savage... you're my friend" he gently reached out and touched a finger to my chest.

I grabbed his hand and his waist. I dipped him into a gentle scoop and grazed his beard. I rubbed my cheek into his glove and licked his cheek as I gave him my signature smirk.

"Maybe a bit more?" I purred

Sindri stood cold for a second before wriggling out of my grasp. He tried to wipe off his glove and cheek.

"YOUR TONGUE IS LIKE SAND PAPER!!! AUGH!!! GROSS!!!" he ran off to go wash himself off. I swore I heard a loud bellowing laugh from Brok downstairs.

As I watched him race out of the room, I felt a little warm knowing I belonged somewhere again. I know I tease him a lot during my years of knowing him but now....

I know where heart resides...

I hope he feels the same...before it's too late...

[themculibrary]

Mantis Masterlist

Alien Dame (ao3) - roseylemon bucky/mantis G, 1k

Summary: Bucky meets a cute alien,

Steve mistakes Mantis for one of Thanos' followers when he finds her in Bucky's room, he didn't realize just how much he misjudged the situation.

All My Life (ao3) - stececilia mantis/nebula T, 3k

Summary: Mantis knows Nebula is in pain. Mantis knows she can help and hates not being able to. The last time Nebula let somebody in they died, so she would not let that happen again. However, Nebula does not realize just how stubborn Mantis is. Surviving a ship crash on an alien planet, Nebula realizes that perhaps letting Mantis in may not be a bad thing.

be all my sins remembered and more (ao3) - juurensha T, 7k

Summary: Mantis can’t help but see fragments of Ego’s children in Peter.

Break the Chain (ao3) - jellybeanforest gamora/peter T, 8k

Summary: One undeniable fact haunts Mantis: Of all his children, Peter Quill takes after Ego the most. So she watches him, waiting for him to slip up, to show his true colors.

And this time, unlike countless others, she won’t fail to act.

Change is Never a Waste of Time (ao3) - Frankensteins_Monster mantis/nebula, gamora/peter T, 4k

Summary: “I still don’t know what this feeling is. But it is magical!”

Dead and Back Again (ao3) - okaykaye T, 22k

Summary: “He is not our Peter Quill,” Mantis repeated, and it sounded as ridiculous the second time around.

Escalating The Feeling Sensation. (ao3) - FanFictionerForLife1994 N/R, 1k

Summary: Drax and Mantis have a moment in Drax’s room, which the rest of the crew regrets catching their eyes on.

I Feel Your Pain (ao3) - rohanrider3 T, 1k

Summary: Being an empath isn’t easy. Being an empath while your new best friend is undergoing the next best thing to heart surgery—without anesthetic—is almost impossible.

Joy Comes from Unexpected Places (ao3) - TheBookTheDragonSaved loki/mantis T, 2k

Summary: So, here's the funny thing about falling in love with an empath: They know it before you do.

(Mantis and Loki totally confusing each other before a mission. And you know the sad thing? Loki is so emotionally confused that it kinda works...)

quaking underneath the force of you (ao3) - orphan_account mantis/nebula T, 14k

Summary: "There’s a bounty out for her rearrest. 20,000 units. 'Sitting with the big kids now', Nebula says as they’re lounging about in her ship one day. She’s missing three new fingers on her good hand, and there’s a panel of machinery sticking out from the left side of her head. She’s colder now. But it’s the same cold she’s always had, and it’s a cold Mantis has always found comfort in. Her frozen soul could breathe fire into her yet again, if Mantis would will it. 'I’m twenty-three years old', she whispers, arms wrapped comfortably around Nebula’s waist. 'I’ve been a ‘big kid’ for years now.' Nebula presses closer to her, content as she rests against Mantis’s chest, and smiles. She’s not listening. She’s...happy. Mantis closes her eyes, trying to lose herself in the rare rays of sunshine emitting from behind the cloudied skies of her friend." . . . Mantis, throughout years.

someone is friendless, and cannot find their way (so I keep a light in my window) (ao3) - philthestone gamora/peter T, 6k

Summary: She’d had her own room, yes, because thank the stars Peter had the sense to move some of his junk out of the various hidey holes in the ship into the cargo bay on the assumption that they would all kill each other within the week if they didn’t have their own spaces, but she’d been stuck in a modified M-ship built for half the number of people it was housing, and her housemates were a motley assortment of questionably sane males and a baby tree.

Things aren’t all that different now, except for a few significant changes:

The Quadrant is definitely bigger than an M-ship; Mantis is here, trying her best to learn how to smile and keeping on a pair of gloves Gamora had dug out of her own bag for her; and Gamora is … comfortable.

The Learning Process (ao3) - Smokestarrules T, 2k

Summary: She lives with Ego and she serves him; puts him to sleep, and lets him kill thousands and thousands of his children for decades. It hurts, but he’s Master. He’s right.... isn’t he?

He’s not.

The Guardians save her from Ego.

They become her new family.

Or

A Mantis character study, where she discovers that others actually care about her.

The Silent (ao3) - WinterDusk G, 4k

Summary: One empath. Far too many million miles from planet-fall; seventy eight hours of transit; eight other Guardians. One ship.

It gets loud.

The Things We Do For Love (ao3) - orphan_account mantis/nebula T, 2k

Summary: Love languages between Mantis and Nebula.

A story told in snippet form.

[milarqui]

Scarlet Lady: The Collector

Directory - Volpina

The old man glanced at the Kwami of Destruction, who, true to form, flitted around without a care for the world.

“You know you weren't meant to bring him here, Plagg,” he chided the Kwami, who smirked.

“Yeah, yeah, you'll change your tune when you see what we brought!”

“Wait, you two know each other?” Adrien asked.

“Of course!” another voice said, and another kwami, this one resembling a turtle, flew out from behind the old man. “He's the last of the Miraculouses' Guardians! Hi, I'm Wayzz!”

“And the one who chose you to be a hero, Chat Noir.”

He clenched a fist.

He felt an eye twitch.

This was the guy responsible for some of the worst things he'd ever had to deal with in his entire life?!

“So you're also the one who chose Scarlet Lady?” he asked, and he knew that the old man had understood the message, given his utter panic.

“W-Wait!” he replied, and stood up, opening a box in the form of a gramophone. “I'm investigating how she obtained the Earrings. Which is difficult since I don't know who she is.”

He showed him a box that had an engraving similar to the one in his book's cover and opened it. It contained five sockets, each looking like a singular piece of jewelry... but only one was full, a yellow hair comb with black stripes. He recognized one that fit with the ring.

“However, my focus has been split between that, and finding the Peacock and Butterfly Miraculouses, as well as the Grimoire. It is fortunate you found it! It contains spells for new superpowers that I can decipher for you!” he said, closing the box and returning it to its hidey hole.

Adrien flipped through the book and suddenly grimaced.

He didn't want to know, but he had to.

“You mean I have to share powerups with Scar?”

“My condolences.”

Yeah, he didn't want to know.

The man – who presented himself as Fu – made some tea for both of them, while Plagg and Wayzz played around, as they hadn't met in months; Adrien smiled as the two kwamis enjoyed a game that quite resembled Tag, but flying.

“You know,” Fu said, checking the book, “I always suspected whoever had the Grimoire would have the Butterfly and Peacock Miraculous.”

“Huh?”

“How did you obtain this Grimoire, Adrien?”

“It's my dad's.”

Fu blinked.

“Ah...”

Yeah, that was kind of a bummer.

----

“You worried about your dad?” Plagg asked. They were on their way back from Fu's, and Adrien felt like a storm was about to blow all over him.

“Of course! Him being a supervillain almost makes too much sense. It's practically cliché.”

The story's big bad being a hero's parent? He had lost count of the stories where that happened.

“It'll be hard to investigate, though, since I never see him,” Adrien said, pushing the door open. He needed to return to his room and–

“Adrien, where've you been?”

“Uhhh...” For God's sake, you're never here when I need you, but the moment I wanted you distracted, you show up? Make up your mind!

“Go to your room.”

As much as he would like to do otherwise, he obeyed his father, who followed him there and immediately brought out a tablet, showing him a photo of him.

Unfortunately, it was a photo that showed him taking the Grimoire.

“Why did you take the book?” his father asked, clearly angry.

The idea that his father may be Hawkmoth, plus these past months' work as Chat Noir, probably informed his decision to reply in the least helpful way possible.

“Uh, it has superheroes in it? Why do you have it?” he fired back.

“First you betray my trust, and now you give me attitude?!”

You're one to talk, and you haven't answered the question, Adrien thought.

“Obviously, going to school has been a negative influence,” his father stated, fortunately unaware of what he was thinking. “I'm pulling you out immediately.”

Adrien froze for a moment. The best thing that had happened to him in years (because if it weren't for school, he would have never met Nino, Alya, Marinette!, the others, and he wouldn't have had a chance to have a normal life) and his father wanted to take it from him.

You want to play dirty, Père? I can play dirty, too.

He pulled out his cellphone.

“Are you ready for the PR nightmare when I tell my friends – one of which has personal ties to Nadja Chamack – about you keeping me prisoner here?”

His father froze. Gabriel Agreste had clearly expected him to meekly accept such a disproportionate punishment. Instead, he had revealed he had a big gun, was aiming below the waterline – and wasn't afraid of pulling the trigger.

“You're... grounded?” he said after a few sweaty moments. “For a month?”

“Better. You almost sound like a parent.”

Even if he was still punished, he would take it as a victory. The Parthian shot was just a bonus.

----

As usual, Chloé was happy – even humming! – for some unknown reason that escaped Tikki's mind, and as much as she hated the usual consequences, she had to ask.

“Why are you in such a good mood?”

“Why wouldn't I be?” Chloé crowed. “Now that I've shattered Lila's credibility, everyone will go back to worshipping their true Queen – me!”

Yes, she hated it.

Instead of pointing out that no one in her class would spit on her if she was on fire, she went for the most obvious part of why Chloé shouldn't be happy.

“Yesterday was a train wreck and a half and you know it. You didn't even get the book!”

Of course, that was the moment Chloé's cellphone dinged.

“Oh! A text from Adri-darling!” Chloé drowned her out.

“Ugh.” Times like this, she wondered why she kept trying.

----

The students were getting ready for class, with some of them talking to each other about the day's business, hoping they'd be able to hang out in the approaching holidays –

“WHAT?!”

The scream that shook the air was so shrill that it would have probably destroyed the windows if it had been just a bit closer. Several of the students held their hands above the heart, feeling a suspicious lack of beating for a few moments, while others ended up dropping some of their belongings. Poor Nathaniel had to deal with a combination of a tear in his drawing and a pencil with a broken tip.

Sabrina sighed. The only person that could have uttered such a crime against nature was someone she knew, and she also knew she would probably have to deal with the consequences.

----

When Marinette arrived to class, it was to the usual scene of Chloé making... well, a scene. She was crying over a table, while Sabrina did her best to pat her in the back, while everyone watched, bemused.

“What's with her?” she asked Nino.

“THE WORST POSSIBLE THING HAS HAPPENED!” Chloé shrieked. “ADRIEN'S NEVER COMING BACK TO SCHOOL! EVER!”

Ignoring Chloé's histrionics (while also wondering what kind of sucky mascara she used that was running all the way down her face), she looked at Nino, trusting him to tell her things in a less Chloé-ish way.

“Actually, he's just grounded. He's just gonna miss the last two days of school before the break.”

Alright, that made a bit more of sense.

“HOW COULD THIS HAPPEN TO ME?!”

Marinette looked at Chloé in disgust and annoyance. When Chloé was in 'Chloé Bourgeois makes everything be about her' mode, she was particularly insufferable.

“You're not grounded.” Dumbass.

“He lost his old man's super rare book,” Nino explained, showing her the message Adrien had sent him. “So, not totally unreasonable.”

Wait, book? The one I found?

“Huh? But I–”

“THE BOOK! THAT WITCH LILA STOLE IT! SHE'LL PAY FOR THIS, WHERE IS SHE?!”

“Apparently, she caught a cold,” Rose said, sadly. “Poor thing.”

“How would you know that anyway, Chloé?” Alix asked, looking with suspicion.

Chloé ignored the question and decided to assault Marinette, who had her hands full trying to shove her away.

“CLASS REP! YOU HAVE HER NUMBER, DON'T YOU?! GIVE IT TO ME!”

“I'm not letting you harass her, especially when I gave Adrien the book back!”

----

Chloé didn't even bother to stay in class, leaving in order to carry out her revenge.

“C'mon, we gotta track down Liar Rossi! This is all her fault!” she yelled, uncaring of the fact that only a door or two kept her from being heard by other people.

“But Marinette said–” Tikki tried to reason out, but since when had Chloé listened to reason? Particularly when it wasn't in her interest to do so.

“Tikki, Spots On!”

----

“A cold, huh?” Alya asked.

“Makes sense, after walking around in winter, soaking wet,” Alix pointed out.

“Yeah, well, she deserves it.”

“You're still mad? It's not that big a deal.”

“Easy for you to say! It's not your blog that she lied on!”

“Okay, okay, you don't have to forgive her.”

You could remember that you were the one that chose to publish the interview, though.

----

Playing foosball by yourself, Adrien thought, is boring.

Hell, the only reason he was getting any entertainment out of this was because Plagg was willing to play the goalie!

“At least your father didn't find out about me! Lucky I don't show up in pictures and videos!”

He had to agree with that. If his father was actually Hawkmoth, him finding out about Plagg would have spelled disaster.

“Just bites that I'm grounded for the whole break.”

Whatever Plagg was about to say was drowned out by what sounded like a large fragile object breaking in pieces.

Which was followed by several more similar noises. And, judging by the direction, it was obvious where it was all coming from.

“Yikes,” Plagg said, although he couldn't avoid grinning a little: destruction was part of his portfolio, after all!

“Père's taking it really hard. Maybe he really is Hawkmoth.” He turned to look at Plagg. “I guess we should tell Scar.”

“Aren't you grounded?” Plagg asked, surprised.

“You know who's not grounded?” Adrien replied, smirking and giving Plagg the finger guns.

“Eyyy!” Plagg almost felt like crying. His kit was properly learning the art of being a rogue!

----

The matter of Adrien stealing the Grimoire – something that she had never thought would happen, Adrien was too nice a boy to delve into such actions – shook her up a bit, but didn't keep her from continuing her job. She was a professional, and she would keep working unless M. Agreste dismissed her.

At the same time, she wondered what M. Agreste was planning. She had heard him breaking several large objects – if she had to hazard a guess, she would say the mannequins he used for his work at home – but couldn't tell how that could be related to the previous event: she knew M. Agreste, and she knew he wouldn't be one to delve into fits of rage.

“NATHALIE!” M. Agreste yelled, but his voice sounded... different.

He suddenly kicked the doors to his office, forcing her to jump away.

“You'll be the first on my list of inspiration!”

“Agh!” she shouted, crashing against the ground, and she turned to look at him.

“M. Agreste... the fuck.” She wasn't prone to using such words, but the event merited it.

“Call me The Collector!” M. Agreste – who was wearing something that resembled his usual suits, but less dignified and with more colors, as well as a set of butterfly glasses, a hairdo that made him resemble a zebra and a pair of heeled shoes – declared, holding a blank book in his hands.

And he was sparkling.

Nathalie glared at the man.

This was your master plan? Fake becoming akumatized and send a butterfly at yourself?

“I'm going to hit you when you lose,” she stated, before she became trapped into the book.

Screw him being her employer, she was officially pissed off.

----

“Adrien!” the Collector said, kicking in the doors to his son's room. “You'll be a great... piece...”

Too late, he realized that the room was bereft of human presence. Particularly of the one person that should be inside.

“What's the point of ground my son if he's not here when I attack him as an Akuma?!” he said. Seriously, the boy didn't have any respect for his elders anymore!

----

Tracking Scar was easy – she wasn't the only one with features that told him where a partner was – and he quickly set off for her. The sooner this got through, the better.

He finally found her just a few minutes away from school, which was good because this would be a good place to plan out how to deal with the situation.

“There you are, you mangy –” she started.

“Yeah, yea, listen up,” he interrupted her. “I got a lead on Hawkmoth.”

“Now?! Lila Rossi is more imp–”

“Shut up,” he interrupted her again. He wasn't in the mood to discuss the Italian girl. “It's Gabriel Agreste.”

----

If I defeat Hawkmoth, my reign as Scarlet Lady is over! I'd only be celebrated for a few months after!

“He fits the profile: total recluse, financially stable, a total dick, you're not listening...”

She didn't pay him any mind, as she realized the silver lining.

But then I get to comfort my poor, lonely Adrien!

“You know, your poker face sucks.”

----

Scar eventually deigned herself to do something and followed him to the Agreste mansion, entering through the window to Gabriel's office – where they found multiple mannequins strewn around the floor, along with folders and paper pieces containing some of his work.

“Ugh. Someone threw a temper tantrum,” Scar noted, and the perfect retort was on his lips before he could think it.

“You would know exactly what that looks like.”

“What'd you say?!” Scar yelled. He ignored her.

The noises coming from the main hall were much more important, after all. He ran out of his father's office, followed closely by Scar, and they found the Akuma at the top of the stairs. It was clearly his father, if dressed in something he knew he wouldn't want to get caught dead with.

“Where's Adrien?!” Scar shrieked.

“Where's Gabriel?” he asked. If his father was truly Hawkmoth, then he might actually make a mistake or something.

“There is no Gabriel, there is only–”

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY ADRIEN?! LUCKY CHARM!” Scar immediately shouted, bringing out the object meant to be used to fight this Akuma.

“Why do I even bother with my evil monologues?” the Collector complained, while Scar looked at the object with obvious confusion.

“What even is this?!”

Being more world-knowing – even with the seclusion that came from being Gabriel Agreste's son – he decided to tell her.

“It's a bike pedal.”

“A what?!”

What a surprise.

Putting the pedal to her waist, she wielded her yo-yo and tossed it at the Collector.

“Take this!” she shouted.

“NO!” he shouted, but it was too late.

“Thanks, I will!” the Collector said, as the yo-yo got trapped into the Akuma's book.

“EEK!” she shrieked. She had certainly never expected to lose her main weapon like that.

Not that she normally uses it, anyway, he thought.

“You idiot, retreat!” he ordered, and for once Scar was willing to obey and get away.

“A fine addition, isn't it?” the Collector stated, smirking.

Chat Noir grabbed a chair and tossed it as hard as possible.

“GET BENT!”

Before leaving the room, he was satisfied to see the chair smacking the Collector in the face.

Chat Noir – somewhat reluctantly – led Scar to his room, having had an idea that could probably give them the opening they needed.

“You won't escape me!” the Collector shouted.

“Creepy,” Scar said, and for once Chat Noir agreed with her.

“We gotta fill his pages!”

Looking up, he jumped to reach his DVD collection close to the ceiling, the one he needed a ladder to access, and waited. Hopefully, using it to trap the Collector would work, and also hopefully the Miraculous Cure would at least restore them if they broke.

Just in time, the Collector entered, aiming for Scar.

“I will immortalize you!”

“Cataclysm!”

The wardrobe containing the DVDs decayed, allowing him to access its contents – and he began to throw everything at the Collector, distracting him as he kept trying to put everything that was raining on him into his book.

“Ah! Ugh!” He was fast, but not enough to avoid getting hit multiple times.

“Scar, the book!”

Grabbing the pedal, she swung it at him –

“TAKE THAT!”

– and she hit the Collector in the hand, forcing him to drop the book.

“OW!”

Jumping off his perch, Chat Noir quickly ripped the book apart, freeing the black butterfly as well as everything the Akuma had collected, including the yo-yo, which Scar used to purify the butterfly and then cast the Miraculous Cure.

----

So, that's how it feels, he thought. While his accepting of the Akuma butterfly allowed him to retain consciousness, it was still a heady feeling to come out of akumatization.

“What hap–! Where's Adrien?!” he said; he did have to play out his role of 'innocent victim'.

“That's what I wanna know!” Scarlet Lady demanded, but clearly Chat Noir wasn't keen on further dealing with his partner.

“Don't worry, your son is probably hiding,” he said, grabbing Scarlet Lady by the waist as their amulets kept beeping.

“HEY!”

“He'll show up soon enough. Au revoir!” Chat Noir declared, jumping out of the window while Scarlet Lady kept insulting him.

“See you soon. Heheheh!”

That was when a recovered Nathalie smacked him hard in the back of the head.

…

Alright, he may have deserved that.

----

Fu listened patiently as Adrien told him of the encounter with this newest Akuma, and the successful resolution of the event.

“Since he was akumatized, my dad can't be Hawkmoth, right?”

“Very probable,” he admitted, inwardly lamenting that the first lead he had had in months had gone nowhere.

“I feel bad for giving him a hard time now.” He sighed. “But I'm still grounded unless I return the book, which isn't really an option. I'm totally gonna miss Marinette's birthday party.”

“Says who?” Fu replied, pulling out his cellphone and beginning to take photos of every page.

“Ooh! So I can give the book back?!” he said, smiling.

“How could I come between you and the girl you love?”

“Huh?!” Adrien said, blushing up to his ears.

“I know everything, Adrien.”

Save for the two things I would really want to know, that is.

----

Much to his shock, he found Marinette waiting inside, talking to his father.

“So, I'm just confused why you think–” she was telling his father.

“Marinette?” he asked, confused.

“Adrien!” his father said, either unbothered for his foray into unwilling superpowered villainy or just hiding it very well. “Mlle. Dupain-Cheng was explaining that she found the book and already returned it to you. Is this true?”

Thank goodness Fu allowed me to bring it back! he thought, pulling the book out of his bag.

“Sure is!”

“Why did you not say so before?”

“Would you have listened?” he replied, crossing his fingers behind his back.

It's not like I had it on me! he thought. He wasn't the only one capable of dealing in deflecting questions, after all.

Fortunately, his father's awkward cough told him that he had fallen for his half-lie.

At least, there was that.

----

In the end, Adrien's father decided that he could lift the punishment from him, since it was technically his fault that Adrien hadn't returned the book, and left her and Adrien to say their goodbyes.

“Thanks for getting me un-grounded, Marinette!” Adrien replied, smiling, and she felt herself blushing.

“Oh, I didn't do much in the end,” she said, giving a hand wave.

“You headed home?”

She sighed, and smiled at him.

“I've got another stop first.”

Saying her goodbyes – and with Adrien promising to call her later – she left for the second target of the afternoon. She had to check on someone else.

Finally arriving to her destination, she resolutely knocked on the door, which opened a few moments later to show the face of a tall woman that clearly resembled her daughter in an older format.

“Yes?”

“Hello, Mme. Rossi!” she greeted, waving a hand. “I'm Marinette, the class rep for Lila's class. May I come in?”

The woman bid her in and asked if she wanted some tea, which she accepted.

“It's so nice of you to check on Lila!” the woman gently said. “How unlucky for mia bella to catch a cold on her first day of school! Lucky we're so close to the end of the semester. She'll catch up in no time!”

The woman sighed, sipping on her hot tea.

“Marinette, Lila wouldn't tell me why she came home soaking wet. Do you know what happened?”

Before Marinette could answer, Lila – wearing her pajamas and a very flushed face – came running from the corridor and slid into view, making the picture behind her actually vibrate.

“Mamme, didn't you need to go grocery shopping?!” Lila asked, talking too fast for it to be just an attempt to remind her of something.

“Oh, that's right!” the woman said. “Marinette, I apologize, there are some things I need to buy. Is it alright by you?”

“Well, sure. I just needed to do a couple of things apart from seeing Lila. I shouldn't disturb her too much.”

“Good, good. Now, Lila, you go back to your room, you're still running a fever. I'll be back soon, mia cara.” She gave a kiss to Lila, grabbed a bag and her purse and left, while Marinette followed Lila to her room.

“Why are you here?” the Italian asked, giving the back to her.

“Mme. Bustier wanted to pass on this pa–”

“I'm not going back to school,” Lila interrupted.

“Huh?”

“What's the point? Everyone knows I lied and Scarlet Lady humiliated me! My social life is over before it even began!” she said, sitting on her bed.

“So you're running away?” Marinette asked, sitting next to her. “You think you can trick your mom and miss a whole year of school?”

“You underestimate my power,” she replied, giving a weird grin.

“Good lord,” she whispered, before rallying back. “Why did you lie anyway?”

“Cuz it's fun!”

“Huh?!” What was so fun about lying?

“Well... it became fun. At first it was a defense – new kid syndrome or whatever – since I'd move so much,” she explained. “After a while I started seeing how far I could push it. How crazy I could get with my stories. Like a game!”

She pulled her knees up and half-hid behind them.

“But the game's over. Scarlet Lady ruined everything and everyone loves her. No one will be on my side.”

“Yeah, no, Scarlet Lady sucks,” Marinette replied, disgusted, and causing Lila to turn to look at her with surprise. She stood up and grabbed her backpack, having left the papers on her table. “Look, I don't like liars. But Scarlet Lady is the biggest liar I know, so I'd pick you over her any day. And just so you know, Rose was worried about you. And Alix stopped Chloé from spreading rumors about you.”

Lila now looked really surprised, and pondering at Marinette's words, before she continued.

“What I'm trying to say is that you're gonna have to earn back some trust, but... you're not as alone as you think. Maybe rethink your assumptions before you give up,” she finished, walking to the door and making her way back home at last.

----

The next day was the last before the Christmas break, and the mood was quite festive, if only a bit subdued due to how two of their own were missing.

Then a car gently stopped at the school's gates, and Adrien came out of the back door.

“Hey guys!” he said, cheering up.

“DUDE!” Nino shouted, and ran to hug Adrien. “You're free!”

“Ahaha!” Adrien laughed as he returned the hug.

“Adri-darling! You came back for me!”

Adrien dodged her and went for Marinette, the one that had allowed him to return.

Chloé crashed into the ground.

“Agh!”

Nobody cared, as they were all busy greeting Adrien.

“Welcome back!” everyone said, their moods lifted by the turn of good luck.

----

Nathalie, now more willing to listen to her employer without desiring to hit the man (a marathon of The Best of Gabriel Agreste may have been involved in it), followed the man as he checked the book once more and returned it to its safe.

“Why did you bother if you already copied the book?” she asked.

“I did what was necessary to keep my secret,” he said, pushing the buttons that activated the lift to his secret underground base.

As the hole closed above the man, she couldn't help but drop one last retort.

“You're truly the picture of subtlety, sir.”

----

Lila.

Lila.

Lila.

OMG, what Alix?!

LOL, you comin' to Mar's party or wut? It's @4 at the park.

So I've heard.

Come on, come on, you gotta come!

“Again, Alix? Geez, you're relentless.”

----

La Befana

@zoe-oneesama Hawkmoth keeping himself out of trouble by using his powers on himself. Funny, that.

We're getting closer to the debut of our favorite heroine! Only 4 chapters away!

Marinette's Nonna will come before the end of the week!

[braveclementine]

Day 14~ 10:19 A.M.

Warnings: None, Readers under 18 can read this book.

Copyright: My OCs are Coach Yonce, Emma, Ila, Tempus, and Itty Bitty. I own these characters. I do not condone any copying of this.

We were in a completely new map that had only come out recently. It was a large mansion and there were lots of places to hide. The only bad thing was that I had no idea where most of the computers were.

The other players left me in the dust, so I just limped in a random direction, knowing that after enough searching, I would eventually come across a computer.

I opened and closed a large oak door behind me, finding myself in a library that was at least two floors high. I could see the glow of a blue computer on the second floor and I sighed, resigning myself to climbing the stairs.

It took me forever- the bell dinging throughout the entire map to let us know the killer was in the map now. I finally situated myself between the computer and a bookshelf, which I could actually hide under so that the killer couldn't hit me.

I started out on the typing, much slower than normal. I finally realized something that I would need my left pinky for- A, Q, and Z.

I cursed out loud, typing all of the letters with my other hand with perfect speed and accuracy. I would wait to use my pinky to type any A, Q, or Z's, but of course, with no pinky, nothing happened. Luckily, despite being a slower typer now, I didn't make any mistakes to alert the killer to my location.

Once I got the letter, putting it into my watch, I left the library. There was a bedroom and a bathroom and all sorts of rooms, but no computers.

I got an alert on my watch that another number had been found. I sighed, before climbing into a closet and waiting and for the killer to walk by, the heart beat pounding in my ears until it faded away.

I caught my breath once more, before heading out of the hidey hole.

I crept along the side of the wall, slipping into each door I came across, just to see if there were any computers. In a sixth bedroom I found another computer. I assumed the killer had already been along because half of the text had already been finished.

I settled myself in front of the computer, slowly typing out the rest of the code and finding the third number.

Two down, two more to go. And then another game and another.

I turned the corner and the killer was coming down the hallway, pink light emitting from the gem on his hammer.

"Oh fuck." I cursed, turning back to the corner, getting down on my hands and knees, and crawling through the vent. The door was on the whole other side of the room and I knew that the killer would know I came in here, and would attempt coming in through that door. I just had to wait until they were on the other side of the door, slip back out the vent, and then continue the way I had been going originally.

No heartbeat ever appeared and finally, I rolled back through the vent, before wishing I hadn't.

I guess the lady really was going full out on trying to kill me. She was even hiding the sounds of the killers from me now. I groaned, clutching my stomach from where the hammer had hit me from the boys perfect swing. He was grinning as he did it.

I wheezed for breath as the boy drug me along the floor. I had nothing to stop me from entering a tank this time.

My heart lit with panic once more. It really was stupid that after everything I had survived and sacrificed to survive that I was now going to die in the games once more.

The boy opened up a door, dragging me over to a tank and shoving me inside. He was immediately hurrying away from the tank and I felt it grow cooler and cooler until it was slowly turning freezing.

I watched my watch, waiting, counting the seconds, letting them tick down. Eventually, the watch started to freeze over with hold cold it was. I could see the fingertips of my nine fingers turning blue. I could feel my entire body stiffening and I couldn't even cry because my tears were frozen.

The door suddenly opened, the freezing effect was instantly cut off and I nearly screamed from how hot the air was, clashing with the freezing temperature of my body.

The girl staring down at me had large green eyes, round on her face. She had pale, pale skin and long black hair. She couldn't have been more than seven.

Now that she had helped me out, she scampered out of the room, leaving me to fend for myself.

My body would not respond to my commands, only slowly warming up. I now understood why I had to drag that frozen boy.

My arms warmed up first, and I dragged myself along on the floor towards one of the lockers that was there. I just had to get myself into that and I would be fine.

I pulled myself into the cabinet, shutting the door just as I heard the door open up again- the girl had closed it behind herself.

"Shit." The boy cursed as I clapped a hand over my mouth to keep from breathing. Tears streamed silently down my face. "Shit, shit where did she go?!"

I wish Itty had been able to explain what had happened over the five days I had gone missing.

The boy kept muttering under his breath as he opened the door, the door slamming shut behind him with such force that it made the walls vibrate.

I kept a look at my watch, knowing I had a limited amount of time in the hidey space, but not quite able to leave it just yet.

I pushed the door open, tumbling out and falling to the floor. I stretched my legs out in front of me, unable to stand yet.

I rubbed my hands together as I waited for my body to warm up.

"Killer Sounds and Gem lights being rebooted." A systematic robot voice said over the intercom, "Killer sounds and gem lights reinstated in 3. . . 2. . . 1. Killer sounds and gem lights reinstated."

I used the table edge to pull myself to my feet. I tucked my hands into my pockets- which the pants were freezing. I had goosebumps all up and down my arms despite the hot air. My hair was sticking up on edge.

I opened up the door and found that the air out here was even cooler, meaning that this room had been heated specifically for the purpose of thawing me out when I left the room. I slumped to the floor, the strength giving out in my legs.

"Please." I mumbled, praying to a God up above if there was one at this point. "Please God."

I pushed myself back up and stumbled out of the room, catching myself against the wall against the hallway. I shook, my body reacting weirdly to the difference in temperatures.

All of the numbers now beeped on my watch and I was once again at a disadvantage for not knowing where I was or where the exit doors were.

I continued walking, ducking into rooms to avoid the heartbeat. For some stupid reason, I continued to trust in the game, to trust that the heartbeat would stay consistent and continue, that it wouldn't give out again, that it truly had been rebooted.

Because if I didn't believe and follow the rules of the game, there was no system. There was no order and balance. There was nothing to stabilize me. Nothing to keep me going. To keep that shred of hope in my heart.

I rolled through another vent as heavy footsteps and the heartbeat came around. I heard a young girl squeal, and a body fell right outside the vent.

I tried not to look, but my eyes looked straight into the girl- the same one who had saved me. She blinked once and then her body was being dragged away.

I rolled out of the vent, following from a safe distance until he put her in a tank. I waited. I watched. Her timer was already at the half point, I guess she'd been put in the tank already at some point. The killer- thank God- went down the opposite way.

I wasted no time, moving as fast as possible down the hallway, leaping through the window. The timer was almost there. I had no time to spare, lunging at the tank, my hand hitting the glass, letting it open, and she fell into my arms, escaping death as needles came to plunge into her.

I pulled her upright in my arms, her tiny teeth chattering as she snuggled into me.

"Are you good at this map?" I asked her breathlessly, awkwardly maneuvering out of the window and carrying her down the hallway.

She nodded, tucking her face into my neck, her cold nose making me flinch. "That way." She pointed with a quivering finger. With her directions, I found the already open door, no killer near it, and made it through the door.

I instantly fell to my knees, still holding onto the girl.

Thank you God.

Thank you.

⬅️➡️

[follyglass]

Follyglass : Need

If you’re in need of furniture and there happens to be a somewhat-nice-even-though-there’s-a-small-rip-in-the-side floral wingchair sitting half on and half off the brick sidewalk…you’re gonna take it. After a quick sniff and sit, of course. And even though you found it in the old section of Witchton, near the historic Black Gables house, you’ll consider yourself lucky. A prize! It goes with all of your other furniture in the same way that everything you own has the same sort of provenance: questionable. You’ll put it next to the fireplace and across from the hand-me-down brown vinyl couch and the lamp you found on trash day three weeks ago.

That night, I slept soundly.

In the morning, there is a painting on my wall. An actual painting. The frame is gold. I’ve never seen it before. My room-mates shrug when I ask about it, but we all agree it’s quite nice, and perhaps even worthy of being in the Gardner Museum. My room-mates like the ‘new’ chair.

The fifth morning, I wake to a fine cup of apple tea, and maple-crisp scones on my nightstand – which is and has been a cardboard box ever since we moved in. When I thank my roommates for such a nice breakfast, they cast quizzical glances over their cold pizza.

It’s only on Monday when they wake up and there’s a feather carpet in the living room that they really start to get weirded out in a ‘are we in danger’ kind of way (and we bicker about what thieves give instead of take), but being poor, we decide to brush it off and find the positive. So, each day, we play a game called ‘find the new thing.’ On Wednesday, Sidone finds a sunflower petal coat in her closet. She can’t stop smiling. She makes us watch as she spins and all of the petals flutter. Four days later we wake to the smell of cranberry waffles, and find a large copper rooster in our kitchen making them. He addresses us as ‘Highlings.’

When we ask the rooster gentleman questions, he only answers with ‘Highlings.’ It is the only word he knows. But the waffles are crispy-buttery delicious, and so is the chicken and pumpkin pot-pie the rooster makes for dinner. Only after the Rooster climbs out of the window and falls asleep on the roof do we have a discussion about whether a rooster cooking chicken is cannibalism. Points are raised about the rooster being copper, and it is decided that since the rooster didn’t eat any, it is clearly not cannibalism, but it is suspect.

For months new gifts arrive. We are afforded no answers from the gentleman rooster who we have taken to calling Genty. We wonder about fairy godfathers and rich old couples who remember what it was like to live on toast and count coins. The gifts keep appearing.

Our apartment begins to resemble a fantasy magic shop; there is an amethyst kaleidoscope that Tom thinks can auger the future, seven chandeliers made from butterflies hang from the tiny living room ceiling, and books in unknown languages pack our shelves (to the chagrin of Sidone’s cats who rather liked their hidey-holes amongst the books). We have begun to stack things, to make paths through the whimsical chaos. And we have begun to invite people over solely with the intention to share our bounty, to give away whatever confections Genty has made and to de-clutter our living space.

We take baskets of mittens to the town center; an invitation for anyone to please take as many as they would like. It is our general view that the gifts aren’t ours alone.

Eventually, Genty holds a note in his outstretched copper feathers. It is simply addressed 'Highlings.' An invitation, if we like, to join the Wandering Queendom. It also states that we can refuse, but we must do our best to return all of the gifts. We think of the mittens. Tom mentions the waffles.

There is a deadline. One of us must go.

I am now part of the Wandering Queendom. We live in a somewhat-nice-even-though-there’s-a-small-rip floral wingchair. Some see what we could be, and so we are taken someplace warm, someplace safe for a year. We make beautiful things in gratitude for the shelter, and we invite people to share our magic.