#but pickles is mostly ok I really like his •~•

[sherbetlemonss]

This is silly lolz

[britneyshakespeare]

i finished the merry wives of windsor today btw. 4 shakespeare plays left to go

[fandomgirlz01]

You Matter Most  Pt. 1

Evan “Buck” Buckley X Reader

Imagine on my fandom Instagram?: No  

Prompt or Request or Requested Prompt?: No

Style of Writing: Small Series

Edited: Yes

Word count: 5,677 

Ko-fi

Masterlist

Warnings here

You can listen to the story be read out loud here.

Post Date & Time: August 24th 2023 at 10:41 PM

Summary: {Based off of S6 E18 Pay it Forward} When a series of freeway accidents lead to a big catastrophe, Buck must worry for his team as he rushes to help them all before it only leads to  an even bigger disaster. All while working on helping his team he worries mostly for his best friend who’s unconscious for most of it. 

Third Person Pov:

“May-day! May-day! Air ambulance two reporting a collapse at the 710 interchange. Firefighters down. Repeat, firefighters down!” A voice comes through Maddie’s coms, making her quickly answer the distress call. 

“Air ambulance two, this is dispatch. Can you reroute to assist?” Maddie asks before pausing, waiting to get an answer. 

“Negative. We have a priority spinal transfer,” the voice solemnly tells her. 

“Do you have a visual on how many firefighters are down?” Maddie asks and there’s a long pause as she waits for the information. 

“All of them— the entire 118. They were on the upper span when it collapsed. They all went down,” the voice tells her in a very worried tone and Maddie’s heart drops. 

Her mind immediately goes to thoughts of her fiancé, brother, and sister-like friend, worried for all three. Her heart beats wildly and suddenly she can hear it in her ears as she types up details on her computer. Tears cloud her eyes for a moment and she tries to will herself not to cry just yet. 

Y/n’s Pov:

I groan as my alarm goes off and roll over onto my back to look at the ceiling. It takes me a few minutes, but soon I’m reaching over to my phone and turning it off. With one last sigh, I push myself up from my bed and start to get ready for the long shift I have to work. 

Once I’m ready, I grab my backpack as well as my morning hot cocoa and keys. I quickly make my way out into the hallway of the complex and lock my door. Just as I lock the bottom lock, I hear Buck’s door open and shut. 

I turn to him and let out a giggle when I see the pure exhaustion on his face. He locks up his door before turning when I giggle and he smiles. 

“You must have had a lousy night, E. You really look exhausted,” I say, using the nickname I’ve had for him forever with humor laced in my tone. 

“Ugh, not exhaustion. More annoyance at the two idiots that won’t make up,” he replies with a roll of his eyes before we both start walking out. 

“I’m sure they’ll make up soon, bubs. Just give it a little more time,” I try to reassure him and he hums, shaking his head at me. 

“Sure. Then maybe I won’t have to deal with Kamron needing me 24/7. Or the smell of pickles. She keeps needing me to open them. Never did I think I’d hate pickles,” he rants with a roll of his eyes and I giggle again. 

“You definitely won’t and I’m sure you’ll like pickles again soon,” I joke with him as I playfully hit my arm against his. 

“Anyway, wanna carpool to work today?” he questions me, now changing the subject. 

“Sure, why not. Anything to hang out with you a little more,” I joke as I bump my arm into his again and he shakes his head, chuckling. 

“As if we don’t already hang out everyday,” he playfully scoffs and I shrug. 

“No, we definitely don’t,” I playfully deny and he chuckles, shaking his head. 

“Ok, dork. Let’s go. Bobby will kill us if we’re late. Again,” he remarks and I giggle. 

“You got that right,” I agree with him as I roll my eyes while we walk out to his car. 

“Breakfast on the way?” he asks and I smirk. 

“You buying?” I ask him with a raised eyebrow and he groans. 

“I wouldn’t have offered if I wasn’t,” he playfully growls out like he’s angry when I know he indeed isn’t. 

“Then hell yeah. I'm hungry,” I tell him and he groans. 

“Don’t be like Kameron now,” he says as he rolls his eyes and I laugh. 

“What, pregnant? E, I don’t know if you know how that works, but I kinda need to have some relations before that, and you know I’m not seeing anyone right now…” I playfully tell him and he shakes his head. 

“Of course I know how that works? You know I didn’t mean that. I mean, I was a sex addict, remember?” he asks and I giggle, letting my eyes go wide jokingly. 

“Oh I vividly remember, Mr. Do it on the rooftop of the firehouse. Dumbass,” I joke as I smack his arm and he rubs it. 

“Well, what would you have done?!” he fights back and I laugh. 

“Not on the rooftop, that’s for sure,” I joke back and he rolls his eyes. 

“Whatever. Let’s just get the food and get to work,” he tells me and I giggle. 

“Awe, E, I’m just messing with you!” I inform him and he shakes his head. 

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s go, you Gremlin,” he tells me and I giggle, smiling softly at the use of my nickname Buck had given me when we were younger before we split up to get into his Jeep.

“Okay, 118, let’s gather ‘round and settle in. We have some outstanding tasks from our last shift and I’ve got an important announcement about our upcoming weather conditions,” Bobby announces, making me and Buck, who's up on the truck, sit down with our legs hanging off the side. 

“So cute, huh? Oh, wait. I promised her I’d wear it all day. Take a picture so we can…” Chimney talks with one of the other firefighters as they walk out of the locker room. 

“Firefighter Han,” Bobby calls out, cutting Chim off and making him look up from the play ring on his finger. 

“I was gonna save this until the end, but why not make it the first order of business? Congratulations on popping the question,” Bobby announces as he uses his clipboard to point at Howard. 

“Yeah, Chim! Whoo, whoo!” I shout out as everyone else claps while I shake Buck. 

“Ok… ok… a little less shaking, there,” Buck comments as he pushes me lightly, making me giggle softly. 

“Didn’t she do the proposing?” I quietly whisper to Buck, who chortles and nods. 

“She finally made an honest man out of him!” Ravi shouts as he grabs Chimney by the shoulder and shakes him lightly. 

“All right, everybody. Let’s settle down. We still have to get to the weather update,” Bobby calls out and all the laughs die down. 

“All right, apparatus maintenance. Firefighter Diaz will be running point this morning on engine service. We’ll be doing an oil change and a brake fluid change,” Bobby explains as I yawn lightly and lay my head on Buck’s shoulder. 

“Tired?” Buck quietly questions me and I hum at him. 

“Didn’t sleep too well last night. Tossed and turned all night. Don’t know why, just had a weird feeling,” I whisper back to him and he smiles softly before wrapping his arm around my shoulder. 

“Hmm, comfy,” I mummer out as I cuddle in closer and he chuckles softly. 

“Eddie?” Bobby calls out, making us all listen in. “Yeah, cap?” Eddie asks nonchalantly as he looks at his phone. 

“Did Eddie finally find someone?” I quietly question Buck, who shrugs. 

“He didn’t say anything to me if he did,” Buck informs me and I sigh. 

“Then why’s he staring at his phone like a lovesick puppy?” I query and Buck gives a small ‘huh,’ before shrugging. 

“I guess maybe he did. He’ll tell us when he’s ready,” Buck comments to me and I cross my arms. 

“I wanna know now. We’re the three musketeers. Two musketeers can’t just be left in the dust by the other,” I whisper as I cross my arms, pouting and Buck chuckles. 

“You and that impatient ass of yours,” Buck comments and I give him a playful smirk. 

“And you like this ass of mine,” I joke with him, wiggling my eyebrows at him and he shakes his head. 

“Can’t say I don’t,” he plays right back and I giggle before we both turn back to listen in. 

“Apparatus maintenance,” Bobby pointedly comments as Eddie moves into a different sitting position while closing his phone. 

“I’m on it, Cap,” Eddie promises and Bobby nods as Buck’s phone vibrates. 

He quickly silences his phone, but it vibrates again and again. He groans quietly and presses the answer button. 

“Okay. All right, now for the weather update,” Bobby starts as Buck puts the phone up to his ear. 

“Uh, hey, listen, I-I can’t… I can’t talk right now. No, I can’t. Kameron, I don’t know why he’s calling you. Maybe if you answer the phone you’ll find…” Buck talks into the phone and I smirk as Bobby turns around. 

Booby walks over to us on the truck and looks up at us. He gives me an irritated questioning look and I just shrug, making him look at Buck, who trails off. 

“You're in trouble…” I jokingly mutter out as I try to hold in my giggles while poking his side lightly. 

“Umm, I got to go,” Buck tells her and I hold back a giggle at his ‘oops’ tone before hanging the phone up. 

“Uh- s-sor… sorry, Cap. Um…” Buck stutters out his apology, but Bobby just ignores him and turns back around. 

“Alright, folks, listen up,” Bobby again tries to get to the point. 

“Uh, Cap?” Ravi questions, holding his hand up and Bobby gives him an unamused look that tells him to go on. 

“Can I just say, if Buck needs to get the pregnant lady out of his apartment,” Ravi starts and Buck hops down off the truck before turning to me to help me down real quick. 

“I do have a two-bedroom that’s about to be on the market, so…” Ravi finishes as Buck and I walk towards him. 

“Thank you, Ravi! Maybe a discussion for another time,” Bobby humorously chides as everyone laughs a little bit. 

“118, it’s time to dial it in,” Bobby starts to try and corral us in again. 

“We have a Job to do, but in order to do that job, you have to be here. I need precision, I need focus, but most of all, I need you to be present,” Bobby pointedly announces as Hen cautiously walks in and around him to take a seat. 

“Sorry I’m late, Cap,” Hen quickly apologizes as she sighs. 

“Okay! Let’s get cracking,” Bobby finishes before starting to walk off. 

“Hey, wait. What’s the important weather update?” Chimney asks as Bobby walks past him. 

“There’s a moderate marine layer,” Bobby answers, unamused as he continues to walk away. 

“I’ll see you for lunch?” Buck questions and I nod in confirmation. 

“Yeah. That is, if we don’t get a call before then,” I promise him with a small smile. 

“Don’t jinx it,” Buck jokes, pointing at me with a chuckle. 

“Ok. I’ll see you in a-” I start, but the alarm sounds and Buck groans. 

“You jinxed it!” he shouts, throwing his hands up and I giggle. 

“My bad…” I reply with a shrug and he shakes his head. 

“Come on, dork. Let’s get into our gear,” Buck tells me with a grin. 

We both rush over to our lockers and start to put our gear on before running over to the truck. Buck hops in on the left side as I hop in on the right and we get into our seats as Bobby starts to pull out of the garage. Bobby drives throughout town before coming up to the scene on the bridge. Once the engine comes to a stop, we all quickly pile out and get to work. 

“Hen, Chem. Check the driver of this camper van,” Bobby orders as he points to the van. 

“Buck, y/n Eddie, Ravi, I want you guys to check these surrounding vehicles for injuries. Let’s go,” Bobby commands and we all give him a nod before rushing off. 

Buck, Ravi and I walk around, making sure there's no more injuries. Once we deem there are none, we walk back over to help. We stand back as Chimney and Hen communicate with the girl inside. 

“Cap, second victim in the back. She didn’t have her seatbelt on when the accident happened!” Chimney shouts as he looks around the side of the van. 

“Okay, these back doors are obliterated. I want you guys to pull that windshield,” Bobby commands, making Hen and Chimney nod.  

I quickly rush back to the engine and pull out the windshield suction cups as Ravi grabs the pry bars. Once I have them, I rush back to the van with Ravi in tow. I hand the suction cups to Hen as Ravi gives the pry bars to Buck and Eddie. Hen quickly places the suction cups on the windshield and pulls as Buck and Eddie use the pry bars. Once it comes off, Hen quickly passes the windshield to Buck, who takes it and sets it aside. 

“All right. What’s your name?” Hen asks the frightened girl softly. 

“Jo,” the girl cries out her reply. 

“Jo. Can-can you move?” Hen questions the girl and she looks down at her leg. 

“Um, I don’t know. It’s my leg. I think it’s broken. Um, please help her!” Jo cries out again as she looks up at Hen and Chimney with tears cascading down her face. 

“I'm on it, Jo, but I need to get back there, so we’re gonna pull you out. You might feel a little pain, okay?” Chimney calmly explains to her and he moves aside for Hen to get in a bit more. 

“Buck, can you carry her to the ambulance?” Chimney queries and Buck nods, moving behind Hen and getting ready to grab her. 

“Okay! Ahhh!” Jo agrees before screaming out in pain as they move her. She cries as they pull her out of the vehicle. 

Buck quickly lifts her up and carries her over to the back of the ambulance as Chimney moves into the van. Hen quickly stands up and pushes me along with Buck. 

“Go help him look her over. You have more medical training then he does. I’ll stay with Chim,” she commands me and I nod before rushing off behind Buck. 

I quickly help Buck get her down on the floor so I can look over her leg. In one fast fluid motion, I pull out a tourniquet-like brace and start putting it on her leg along with Bobby’s help as they wheel a gurney over. 

“Cap. We’re going to need an air ambulance. Patient is unresponsive, breathing is weak and she’s lost bladder control. Could be a spinal,” Chimney explains over the radio as we continue to work on Jo. 

“Copy that,” Bobby replies as we start to prepare Jo to get her on the gurney. 

“Spinal injury? Is she okay?” Jo asks me in fear and I look at her. 

“We won’t know until we get her to the hospital,” I inform her as they bring the gurney closer, now ready to get her up onto it. 

“Please, please don’t take me now because I need to see her,” she begs as she grips my hand and I pause as Hen walks up. 

“Hey, hey. You’ll be able to before they airlift her. I promise, okay?” Buck promises her before Hen or I can say anything. 

Eddie walks past us with the backboard, headed towards Chimney and we quickly move Jo onto the gurney. Jo keeps a grip on my hand and I squeeze hers before letting go. 

“Don’t worry. You know the firefighter that told you you’d see her?” I ask her and she nods in understanding. 

“That’s my best friend. I know when he promises something, he keeps it. You’ll see her just like he said,” I promise her softly and she gives me a small thankful smile as she seems only slightly less freaked out. 

“My name's y/n. I’ll stay here till your mom’s out, okay?” I tell her and she smiles a thankful smile at me again.

“She’s not my mom. She’s my mom’s best friend. My, uhh, mom passed away three years ago. Mallory was insistent we take this trip as an honor to my mother…” Jo explains to me and I smile softly at her. 

“I’m sorry to hear about your mom. You're very lucky to have Mallory. That sounds like a lovely plan. I’m sure you two can pick up when everyone is okay again,” I try to comfort her to the best of my ability and she shakes her head. 

“No. I think we’ll find a different way of traveling,” Jo informs me and I nod. 

“I would probably do that too. Nothing wrong with that,” I agree with her and she nods in agreement. 

We wait maybe a few more minutes until we see Chimney come out first. Then Eddie pushes Mallory out and together they lift her backboard onto another gurney that was taken over to them. They then start to roll her over and I move over next to Hen so they can roll her next to Jo. 

“She’s right up here,” I hear Chimney inform Mallory as they get closer. 

“Okay, she’s right up here,” he repeats himself as they get closer. 

“Mallory!” Jo shouts when they get closer before coming to a stop right next to her. 

“I’m so sorry,” Jo apologizes as they both reach out to hold hands. 

“I can’t lose you, too,” Jo continues on the verge of tears and I feel tears well up in my eyes. 

“I’m not going anywhere. We still have a lot of ground to cover, okay?” Mallory asks her as she squeezes her hand. 

“Next time, we’ll take the train,” Jo insists quickly as the others start to load her in the back of the ambulance as air support flies overhead. 

“Air support. You are clear to land,” Bobby gives the okay through his walkie and soon the helicopter is landing. 

Eddie and Chim start to walk her over to the helicopter and I let out a puff of air as my emotions take over. I take my jacket off in hopes a little air is all I need. I quickly try to sober up so I don’t start sobbing before I feel a hand on my back, making me turn to see Buck next to me. 

“Hey. You doing okay? You’re getting fidgety,” he queries with a raised eyebrow and I shake my head before nodding. 

“Yeah. No. I’m fine. Just had a flashback to my sister, that’s all,” I inform him and he nods solemnly at me. 

“I know. She’s watching over you. You know that,” he solemnly tells me, trying to comfort me as he rubs at my back and I nod, sniffling. 

“Thanks for checking on me,” I say in gratitude and I only hope Buck knows just how much I’m thankful for him. 

“Always, you know that we stick together, right?” he asks me and I smile. 

“Right. Stuck together like glue,” I reply to our life long promise we always tell each other and he smiles, nodding. 

“Okay. I’m gonna go help Chim. We’ll talk more about this later, okay?” he questions me and I nod. 

“Yeah. Go. Go. Do our job,” I agree with a soft smile and he nods before rushing off. 

“Possible spinal! She’s coming over now!” I hear him yell to the air tech that gets out of the helicopter.

“Can’t get rid of me, can you, Buckley?” I hear her voice and I immediately recognize Lucy. Red hot jealousy flares up in me, but I push it away. 

“Great to see you again, for real this time!” I hear Buck shout back as he stops to point at her and I huff, rolling my eyes. 

He turns and walks back towards me, but only frowns as I brush him off. I walk over to Bobby just as Eddie walks up. 

“Hey, Cap, think there’s a propane stove in the van. I’m gonna go check it out,” Eddie explains to him as he walks up to us. 

“Good thinking, Eddie. Y/n, go with him,” Bobby commands me and I nod. 

“Actually Bobby, can I have a quick moment with her?” Buck asks and Bobby shakes his head. 

“I guess. One minute, then back to work. Got it?” Bobby asks and Buck nods. 

“No, yeah, I promise,” Buck informs him and Bobby nods before walking off. 

“Hey, what’s up. Why are you giving the cold shoulder?” Buck asks as he looks at me. 

“It’s nothing, Buck, really. Go back to work,” I play it off and he sighs in frustration. 

“Y/n, I thought we talked about closing up? Talk to me, you know you can,” Buck begs me and I shake my head. 

“Buck. Nothing is wrong, it’s just a hard case. I told you I’d talk with you about it later,” I deflect away from what’s going on. 

“No. I know—” he starts, but gets cut off as the bridge suddenly starts to shake as it cracks down the middle, making both me and Buck fall to the ground with me on top of him. 

There’s more shaking and creaking as the bridge slowly starts to collapse. Buck looks up and suddenly he’s rushing to get up, pulling me with him. 

“Hey. Hey, hey, hey, hey! Let’s move!” Buck yells out as the ambulance comes flying back at us and Buck quickly moves both of us out of the way just in time. 

“Hey!” he continues to shout as the ambulance rushes past us, quickly crashing at an angle. 

Buck quickly maneuvers, but somehow he gets pulled down with the ambulance, making me go with him. He smashes into the ambulance’s windshield and it cracks. 

“Buck!” I yell out as I fly past him, but he doesn’t reply. 

I let out another scream as I come to a landing on a slab of concrete, hitting my head in the process. Pain surges through my side, but I don’t notice it for long as suddenly everything goes black. 

Buck’s Pov: 

I groan as I come to, still laying on the windshield that’s now cracked from me smashing into it. There's a quiet, eerie, metallic creak and it takes me a moment to realize where I am. When I do, I take a moment to push myself up on all fours. I look around in fear for y/n, but there’s no sign of her, so I look into the ambulance next. 

“Hen!” I yell out as I see my friend still strapped into the driver's seat of the ambulance, now unconscious. 

“H-hen, can you hear—” I ask her as I bang on the window. 

“118, report in. I need a headcount,” I talk into my radio, hoping to get any answers. 

“I’m grabbing the ropes,” Ravi radios back first as I look around, trying to assess where everyone could be. 

“I’m in the van. Pretty sure I broke a couple ribs, but this van is about to get pancaked,” Eddie groans out as he radios in and I keep looking around with no sight of y/n. 

“Okay. Eddie, uh. We’re coming to you,” I inform him before taking a pause. 

“Han. What is your status?” I ask into my radio before letting go to get his status. 

“Han, come in,” I practically beg over the radios when he doesn’t answer. 

“Han…” I question again and wait a moment. 

“Han here,” Chimney finally radios in and I throw my head back in relief. 

“Captain Nash, firefighter Maysen, still haven’t heard from either of you. What is your status?” I ask into the radio again, only hoping to get something but nothing comes. 

“Bobby, y/n. Come in,” I repeat through the radio again, but still silence. 

“I see firefighter Maysen! She’s on a slab near you, maybe twenty feet away, just covered by some rubble,” Ravi explains to me through the radio and I sigh in relief. 

“Is she under it?” I question and wait for a moment. 

“No. She’s just close enough to be hidden. She’s out, though, and there’s one other thing…” he voices again though the radio before trailing off. 

“What? Is she okay?” I question him and he takes another pause, making me wait with bated breath. 

“She’s been impaled by a piece of rebar, Buck… right though the side of her stomach. I- if we don’t get to her soon, she might bleed out,” he breaks it to me easily and I sigh, putting my head down for a moment. 

“I’ll get to her as soon as I get Hen and the others out,” I inform him as I make the hard decision to wait, even though I want to rush over to her first and get her out. 

“Ok… only if you're sure. You're acting captain right now,” he informs and I let out a huff before pressing the button on my radio to reply. 

“Yeah, I know. So everyone’s safety is on me right now. Luckily if I can get Hen awake, she can take over. Let’s get to work,” I command before letting the button go, letting out a sigh, and looking down at Hen again. 

“Hen. I’m- I’m coming to you. Just stay right there,” I tell my unconscious friend before I move off the windshield and down the side of the ambulance. 

Very slowly, I make my way to the window and try to shove myself though it. The ambulance starts to tremble as I do, but I keep going. 

“Hen?” I call out to her as I pause for a moment. 

“Chim. Chim! Chim, you back there?” I shout out as I finally slide though the window of the ambulance. 

“I’m alive, but not great,” Chimney calls out in a winded tone. 

“Okay,” I pant out as I move over to Hen. 

“Come on. Hey,” I voice as I try to get Hen to wake up. 

“What happened?” Hen questions as she looks around, confused. 

“Bridge collapsed,” I inform her and her head starts to fall back. 

“Hey, hey, hey. Hen, you with me?” I question her and she squints at me. 

“I’m good. Thank you,” she conveys to me as she starts to reach towards me. 

“You okay?” she asks as she wipes at the side of my forehead. 

“Yeah. Oh. Uh… I mean, physically, yeah,” I tell her, my emotions betraying me ever so slightly as I feel a lump form in my throat. 

“Where is everybody?” she asks me as she continues to clean my face. 

“R-Ravi is up top. Eddie’s in the van. Chimney’s in the back. He needs our help. I’m gonna go up top. Get the ambulance secure. Then we get you out, okay?” I explain to her before asking if she understands. She slowly nods before letting her head fall back a bit. 

“Okay. Where’s Cap? Where’s Bobby? A-and y/n…” she suddenly asks as she quickly lifts her head straight. 

“He’s MIA, and y/n…” I pause and take a deep breath. 

“She’s currently bleeding out maybe twenty feet from us,” I inform her and she just stares at me. 

“You, uhh… y-you’re sure you’re good?” I ask her one last time just to make sure. 

“Yeah. I… I’m-I’m good,” she stumbles out in her shock and pain. 

“Just get some rope so we can get out of here,” she commands me and I nod before starting to try climbing out. 

“Okay, Ravi, I need a line,” I grunt as I call out while climbing out of the window. 

I get about halfway out the window when Ravi throws the rope down to me and I slowly finish pulling myself out. I hold onto the ambulance as I grab the rope before using it to climb back to the front. Once around the front, I continue to climb up the side until I can pull myself up to the top. Ravi hands me a part of the rope and I quickly slide under the engine, tying the rope to the underside of it. I quickly rush back to the side and let out a puff of air when I see what Ravi had seen before. 

The van is under the ambulance and both are close to falling. I let out another breath and close my eyes when I see y/n. She is indeed impaled and blood pools around her as she lays unconscious. 

“Buck, we’ll get to her,” Ravi promises as he puts a hand on my shoulder. 

“Yeah. I know. I’m not letting her go out like this. Not yet. It’s too early and there’s a lot that needs to be said,” I inform as I promise myself in my head that if we make it out, I’ll tell her how I really feel. 

“And it will be said,” he agrees with a head nod before going back over to the truck. 

“Please tell me you made it, Cap,” I whisper to myself as I look out over the scene again. 

“Okay, Ravi. Let’s go!” I shout to him as I turn around, ready to scale the concrete. 

“118, LAPD on scene at the lower level and here to assist,” Athena’s voice comes over the radio just as I hop over, ready to scale down to Hen. 

“118? Captain?” she asks in a scared tone when she gets no response from her husband. 

“Hen! That’s you!” I yell out to her, leaning back a bit. 

“LAPD, this is Wilson. Captain Nash is unaccounted for, we also have one impaled and unconscious. I’m in command. Anything you can do to help survivors on the ground level would be appreciated, ” Hen replies over the radio as I start to quickly scale down with a harness bag. 

“Copy that!” Athena quickly replies again over the radio. 

Once I get down to the ambulance, I set the bag on it and I get closer to the front of it. I quickly tie the rope to the car and pull on it ever so slightly. 

“Hey, Ravi, tension!” I call out to him and I wait a moment before leaning against the ambulance. 

I bounce on it a couple times to see how stable it is and smile when it comes out very stable. I quickly climb back to the top of the ambulance and pull the harness bag in front of me. 

“Okay. Hen, you got a harness and capture strap. Take Chimney and the patient, you send them down,” I explain to her as I throw the strap and harness in the window to her. 

“I’m headed to the van. Then I’ll get y/n. I’ll see you at the bottom,” I inform her of my plan before getting off the ambulance and heading to Eddie. 

It takes me a few minutes, but soon I make it to the van. I come to a stop next to it as Ravi looks over the side. 

“Sending down the saw!” he shouts to me before dropping me the saw bag. 

“Okay, Eddie, you in there?” I ask as I pause and listen in and he gives me a small ‘Yup’ through his groans of pain. 

“Let me get these doors open. Just shield your eyes,” I inform him before I pull the saw from the bag along with the protective glasses and start to saw at the door. 

I work for a few minutes at the door before soon I can start to pull at them. I pull one open and groan as I pause, taking the glasses off to look in at Eddie, who’s trapped under the fridge looking up at me. 

“Hey,” I pant out as I hold onto the door. 

“Any sign of Cap?” he huffs out as he struggles to breathe and I shake my head. 

“How’s y/n?” he asks and I sigh. 

“Currently, she’s bleeding out. I’m getting her next,” I inform him and he nods. 

“Sorry about this,” I apologize as I move closer to him and grab his arms. 

“Yeah. It’s gonna suck,” he comments before I pull on him. 

I pull him out and he yells out in pain as I do. Soon I’m pulling him out of the van all together and he grits his teeth. 

“Okay, I got you,” I comment as I pull him out and quickly we’re climbing down so he can get medical. 

Once he’s down standing on his own feet, some other paramedics come over to us. They get Jo first and Hen groans as she leans over before puking. 

“Hen!” Eddie yells out as we watch her double over. 

“Hey,” Eddie tells me before we both rush over to Hen, who lays flat on top of the truck she’s on. 

“I’m okay. I’m okay. I’m okay,” she groans, waving us off. 

“I’m okay. I’m pretty sure I’m just concussed,” she explains as she sits up and moves her helmet. 

“We got to get Chimney and y/n! We got to get Chimney and y/n!” she suddenly yells out as she looks back up. 

“No. Hey, hey, hey. We’ll get Chimney and y/n. Let’s get you down. Come on,” we both try to stop her as she groans. 

“Come on down. I promise I’ll get him and y/n,” I inform her as we all reach out for her. 

“We got you. We got you. Come on. No rush,” I rant as she finally starts to try and crawl down. 

“Okay. Come on. Let’s go. Let’s go. Let’s go,” Eddie chants as he wraps her arm around his shoulder while she pants out of breath. 

“Eddie, you got her, yeah?” I ask and he nods, giving me a small ‘hmm’ as they continue to walk. 

“Okay. I’m going back for Chim and y/n. I’ll be back,” I promise and he nods. 

Just before I turn, there’s another loud, metallic creaking noise and we all turn around. My eyes widen as the ambulance starts to shake around and the van starts to look like it’ll fall any second. 

To Be Continued…

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[findafight]

how do you think a Stobin body swap would go down? (any season/scenario/au you fancy)

definitely depends on era!

pre s1? Screaming. chaos. yelling and panic. Robin is having a crisis about somehow being in the body of her nemesis. Steve has no idea who he is and that is freaking him out.

post s1? same for robin, but Steve is like ahhhhh what the fuck? ok this sucks but at least I'm not dying? not the weirdest or scariest shit to happen to him. it's not a monster trying to kill him? so it's mostly fine. He should probably tell nancy though. Also robin is mad because she would absolutely blame steve lol.

post s2? (I'm not even going to delve into during a season really because. that complicates things so much.) depending on when, if steve's still beat up robin may take pity on his pathetic sadboy self. She'd also be pissed because now she has to deal with a concussion. Steve is like woah. heart: still broken. Life: getting weirder. Head: no longer concussed! should probably figure out how to not be in someone else's body though!

pre s3? hilarious. they're coworkers. robin blames steve for this. they are scooping ice cream. dustin's there and robin is like listen i am NOT your babysitter I am just in his body. look over there. do you think that's me? Robin? spinning the scooper? no. go to him with whatever you have.

post s3 they wake up and are like huh. hm. this is a pickle! and steve is like what a fucking second i am NOT going to highschool again!! that's the biggest issue they have. Robin says she's gonna make him look bad in front of babes. steve threatens to flunk robin. They barely question it though. very much a "ah. well. this makes sense. may as well happen" they want their bodies back but aren't particularly fussed about it.

at no point is gender an issue they stole that from each other a long time ago without realizing it.

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: It's about ethics

Stephen King: oh boy this is embarrassing Poe: what's that? King: well, see, we kinda King: accidentally King: agreed to let this nazi a story Poe: oh boy that is a pickle King: yeah its a real whoopsie doodle

Poe: did we already tell him yes? King: yeah Poe: well criminy Poe: not much we can do then Poe: that'd be like going back on a pinkie swear King: yeah it'd be like King: kinda awkward Poe: who was in charge of the paperwork Poe: was it howard

David A Riley: Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I call this the tale of the nazi supermen who are our superiors Riley: look, i'm a big fan of howard there Riley: not of his writing so much Riley: mostly just his racism

Riley: what if some dusky kids turned into big scary monsters and killed a nice unassuming white person? Riley: what about that?? Riley: [sitting on chair backwards] i know it sounds like science fiction but actually this scenario is playing out everyday right here in Britain

Riley: the blacks and the jews are going to make the full english breakfast illegal, you know Lovecraft: i-is that true?? King: ok you've had enough for tonight howard Riley: and let me tell you what the hoodie scum are doing to the soil

King: listen david some of these ideas are a little King: umm King: they're a little Barker: they suck Barker: they suck ass King: yes thank you clive King: i think that says it all, really

Riley: i am being silenced! King: we really don't think we should have actual nazis here Riley: YOU ALL SAID I COULD Riley: oh oh now you're going back on your word!!! Riley: you know what that is???? Riley: UNETHICAL Riley: this is all about ethics in campfire storytelling

King: yeah i think we kinda goofed letting a nazi in Riley: you let howard stay here King: well, howard's just howard King: he's a lovable archie bunker kinda racist Lovecraft: it's true, i am

King: see the thing with howard is August Derleth: I'LL tell you the thing with howard Derleth: he is only as racist as the average man of his time Derleth: he didn't, like, run for office as an actual National Front candidate Derleth: [turning to audience] you can google that

Riley: wow, so apparently just because i'm a literal nazi who literally ran for office as a nazi candidate Riley: who wants to eradicate asians and jews Riley: suddenly I'm not welcome here? Riley: wow Riley: just wow

Riley: that's fine, i don't need you anyway Riley: i'll always be welcome in the pages of the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Barker: yeah you sure about that pal? Barker: feel like that might be a mistake Riley: NO Riley: IT IS NOT A MISTAKE Riley: SHUT UP

[fandomwe1rd0]

RICK REDEMPTION ARC IS ACTUALLY SO GOOD GUYS LIKE OH MY GOD

Now just to make myself clear, by "redemption" I mean him being a better person, don't get me wrong he's still an abusive, toxic, manipulative, asshole but he's trying you guyssssssss. Like he started going to therapy when he says he doesn't respect therapy in season 3 you guyssssssssss. He's spoiling Morty you guyssssssssssssss. He's treating Morty like an actual human being you guysssssssssss.

Ok onto the actual post- His redemption arc is actually so good omfg- Now to be fair, he's still in the process, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least a little optimistic about where it's headed, I mean so far it's going really well, he started changing after season 4, which makes sense considering in the finale he said "Holy shit I'm a terrible father." and sat alone in the garage, which is what he deserves but I'd be lying if I said I didn't cry at that scene even though it's exactly what he deserves considering what an asshole he's been in that season. Now after this realization, seeing what a terrible father he truly was, he started changing, for most of season 5 he was still mostly the same ol' Rick. He was still an asshole, was still insulting Morty, y'know much of the same, he wasn't as bad as he was in season 4, but he wasn't exactly good, then then we get to the finale, he actually feels guilt for coming back to Morty after the crows left him, when Morty asked, he couldn't even give Morty a straight answer, he just looked to the ground and sighed. He couldn't even look Morty in the eye. Season 4 Rick would probably just say yes and brush it off with some sarcastic comment, but season 5 Rick couldn't even bring himself to do that.

In season 6 we can see that he stopped his hunt for Rick Prime, even if it was just temporary because Morty sees him as his grandfather and not Rick Prime, you can tell that meant a lot to Rick since his angry expression melted away as soon as Morty said that. (Also yes, this scene makes me cry shut up)

He's also a lot gentler to Morty here, is he perfect? No but a lot of his actions seem more like him being a goofy grandpa then him actually being mean, he gets closer to Jerry, lays off of Morty a bit, and actually puts in effort to spend time with the kid, and he actually goes to therapy on his own accord, sure he didn't want to call it therapy at the beginning but he still kept going even after Dr. Wong said it was therapy and is now going every week, I mean could you imagine season 3 or season 4 Rick going to therapy? Actually scheduling his appointments and paying for therapy? Need I remind you that this is the man who turned himself into a pickle so he doesn't have to go to family therapy? Who pretending he was disintegrating so he wouldn't have to go? Who literally programmed his garage to have a "family therapy mode"? Who programmed the therapist's office with voice activated commands in case he needed to leave? This man, the same man, is going to therapy.

At the end of the season when Morty called him "boring" he regressed and continued his self-destructive hunt for Rick Prime again. Now I may have poked fun at him for this in some of my other posts, but it was more than that, that was the moment where he thought Morty just stopped caring about him. He thought the most important person to him, the only thing holding him back from a mental breakdown *cough* codependency *cough* didn't care about him at all. When we know that's not true, sure Morty lashed out, but he earned the right to after everything Rick put him through. So he left and built a perfect copy of him to take his place. He could've programmed it to be just as mean as him, or even more mean than him. But he literally programmed it to be a good grandpa to, love, and make Morty happy. That was it. He did this for someone who he thought didn't care about, someone he though, in his own words, had become "dogshit" to. Yet he still put in the time and effort to make a robot designed to make Morty happy, when it would've just been easier to just make the robot the same as him. And here's the kicker, when Rickbot reveals it, sure Rick is frustrated and sends Rickbot an angry glare, but he doesn't deny it. Could you imagine season 1-5 Rick doing this? I couldn't. Also in this scene, he manhandles Morty significantly less, I honestly think this may have been the season where he stopped manhandling Morty, correct me if I'm wrong.

Now in season 7, in all the episodes he never treat Morty all too bad. Let's analyze how he treats Morty in each episode shall we?

Episode 1 ~ How Poopy got his poop back

They don't really interact in this episode, Rick just gave Morty a sarcastic response when Morty said "Hey buddy, got you a coffee" and when Morty asked "Have you found him (Rick Prime) yet?" which while it isn't nice, it's better than how he treated Morty in season 4, since he never insults Morty directly.

Episode 2 ~ The Jerrick Trap

Another episode where they don't interact a lot, and when they do it's not really Rick it's like half Jerry half Rick. Buttttt he does have a new "Touch my grandson and die policy" and it's confirmed in that episode that both Rick and Jerry love their family, even if they are horrible at showing it. He does snap at Morty for literally no reason at the end, but still. Comparing it to say, Mortynight Run, the second episode of season 2 where he constantly insults Morty, it shows progress.

Episode 3 ~ Air Force Wong

Again, they don't really interact a lot, man they really ignored Morty in season 7, but he does stand up for Morty when the president insults him, when the president said "Tell Morty to shut up!" Morty says "Tell him he can't talk to me like that!" And season 1-4 Rick would probably just ignore Morty, he actually listens and tells the president "You can't talk to Morty like that." This episode also reveals that he's still going to therapy every week, which is a huge thing!

Episode 4 ~ That's Amorte

He's pretty rude to Morty in this episode, even straight up telling him "The only reason why you're still alive right now, is because you don't turn delicious when you die." Which we all know is a lie, but that doesn't make it better. But I'm pretty sure this was supposed to mirror Mortynight run, which is why I at least found Rick to be pretty out of character in this episode, but he's still physically gentle with Morty, with putting his hand on Morty's back instead of manhandling him like how he would in earlier seasons, and even if it's wrong that he was feeding the family people, he didn't do it out of malicious intent like how most would expect, he just genuinely thought it was good and wanted the family to try it, does that make it right? No, but still. He also (Like everyone else) lost the taste for it when he saw exactly what they were eating.

Episode 5 ~ Unmortricken

Honestly besides his sarcastic comment at the beginning of the episode "Thanks buddy, means a lot that your bar for mental health has gotten lower than mine." and "You should count chickens professionally, Morty." He's pretty sweet to Morty, he was worried for Morty and didn't move until he made sure Morty was ok when they were all in the box, and when he finished making the portal, he made sure Morty got in by pulling him in by his shirt to be sure that Morty was safe, these are all very small details but they say a lot, he also doesn't let Morty come with him because he was worried about him and wanted to keep him away from a very dangerous adventures, which considering that he took Morty on a traumatizing adventure in "Rest and Ricklaxation" It's nice to see that he's actually starting to worry about taking him on dangerous adventures and wants to keep him out of them, this was confirmed when Evil Morty replied "I'm not worried about him, I'm evil!" when Rick angrily said "You brought Morty with you!?" and he even lets Morty hug him without pushing him away

which is a step up from him softly pushing Morty away when Morty attempted to hug him in "Solaricks"

We can also see that he fakes a smile in the end, which is, again leagues above what he would've done in seasons 1-4

Episode 6 ~ Rickfending your Mort

Ahhhh he's so sweet to Morty in this episodeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. We see in this episode that his inner grandpa comes out with Morty and that he spoils Morty, he gives Morty basically whatever he asks for with no resistance or complaining. They do argue, but Rick really mellowed down and didn't insult Morty like at all during the argument, really the only insulting things he did was when he called Morty a little gremlin and accused Morty of lying about the punch cards. Even when Morty fessed up, he didn't rub his nose in it or brag about it like usual. He just said one thing "Hah! Can we playback that confession?" but that was it, and he still accepted the punch cards anyway and is extremely excited when him and Morty are going on adventures again, and smiles when he sees Morty excited about another gun, don't give guns to kids. But when Rick does it, it's his way of spoiling Morty, he just doesn't really know how, but he's tryinggggggggg. He also genuinely thanks Morty for keeping him on track with the punch cards instead of giving some back-handed thank you like how he did in season 1 episode 10. which is nice to see. He also is genuinely bonding with Morty with the pet cemetery scene.

Episode 7 ~ Wet Kaut Summer

Another one without many Rick and Morty interactions...man Morty gets pushed away a lot, butttt we do see more of him spoiling Morty, which is always welcome, and he does try to get Morty back which is sweet, I also thought him bragging to Summer about how he saves Morty a lot was kinda cute in a pathetic way "I save Morty 8 times per season!" We also see him be nice to Summer and open up to her about Diane "I treat you like an equal because I respect you! You remind me of your grandmother."

Episode 8 ~ Rise of the Numericons the Movie

Eh this one was just a weird fever dream, Rick wasn't in this episode like...at all. He wasn't even mentioned once.

Episode 9 ~ 90s fad toys

Rick is just really sweet to Morty here, when Morty messed up by releasing Bigfoot, he seems more worried about how him and Morty will get home rather than mad, and listens to Morty explain without interrupting, unlike other seasons the only mean thing he says was "I could probably teach these idiots how to hit a red button!" which is really pretty mild considering some of the other stuff he said during his arguments with Morty in seasons 1-4 including but not limited to: "You're a piece of shit Morty!" "I'll let you know when I have a point, and the world will know when I try to hurt you!" "Morty, you little lying world-ending pervert!" "I'm really glad you insisted on getting that Fart home, at least all the death and destruction wasn't for nothing y'know?" "I'm going to take a biggg fat Morty, that's my new word for shit due to today's events." "Okay Morty, you big party-pooper buzzkill! Boo!" and is pretty sweet to Morty during his fight with Bigfoot, even encouraging Morty not to help him due to a fear of Morty getting hurt, even when he was getting brutally beaten "Don't worry Morty, I got this under control" and he even cried in front of Morty instead of pretending like he has no emotions, which is a lot more significant when you consider that Morty was the only person (In the smith family at the very least) to see Rick cry

Episode 10 ~ Fear No Mort

Rick isn't in this episode for the majority of it, since this is a Morty centric episode! Finally! Buttt we do see that he brought Morty to a carnival just to spend time with and see a haunted house with Morty, that was literally it.

He also eats with Morty at Dennys (Well was about to before they hear about the fear hole) and really only said two mean things to Morty "You little turd!" when Morty actively didn't listen to Rick, which is a step up from season 6 considering he didn't just ditch Morty and replace himself with a robot. "I mean...define 'irreplaceable'" when Morty asked if he was irreplaceable. But he did sounds genuinely happy and excitied when Morty was back, happily calling out his name as soon as he moved, and he doesn't immediately backtrack on sounding happy or smiling which is a step up from season 1 episode 9 Something Ricked this Way Comes where he was happy, but immediately backpedaled and tried his best to sound like an annoyed grandpa. and he did attempt to awkwardly hug Morty back after Morty hugged him, it was half assed but he still tried. He didn't even seem mad when Morty pushed away, he looked more worried that he messed up more than anything. Also yes, this does still bring me pain.

AND WE LITERALLY SEE THAT HE NOT ONLY LISTENS TO MORTY'S ADVICE BUT ALSO HAS A PICTURE OF MORTY IN HIS WALLET AND LOOKED SO PROUD OF HIM! HE ALSO CHOOSES MORTY OVER A FAKE VERSION OF DIANE

Uh so yeah Rick's redemption arc is amazing, and no I do not regret that I spent an embarrassing amount of time gushing over an abusive old man's redemption arc.

[veveisveryuncool]

so, i was wondering about that mirror AU. first off i wanna say, i really like the designs. but i did have a few questions.

So first off, for Magolor, you say he's basically blind but it looks like he has an eye in his mouth like the original soul version. Is that not an eye or am I just going crazy?

Secondly, You mentioned how Adeline is the most normal of them. So are all the characters basically insane and if so, how would you say they rank on the sanity scale?

And finally, and I just have to ask this being a fan of both these characters, but you mentioned that Magolor has someone to help guide him, being blind. Is there by any chance that this seeing-eye jester you mentioned happens to be Marx?

ohhh hi!! tysm for asking about this! i'm really glad people took an interest in those mirror world counterparts, it means a lot :]]

ok, to start, i'm gonna talk about adeleine and sanity :D (since the two magolor questions tie in with each other and bc i like talking about her)

here is the "sanity" scale! i put this in quotes because they are all a little bit insane in their own ways <3

adeleine is the "most normal" here, not because she is mentally sane, but because she basically lives the same life she had pre-DL3 (living alone in cloudy parks, surrounded by her living discarded WIPs, having various temper tantrums). obviously, she still plays a role in the mirror-world version of 64:CS, but she let the whole "shiver star oh my god. earth is dead. humans are gone and i'm the only one left" thing completely take over her psyche. she stays up in the clouds, desperately trying to remember life on earth, and maybe– just maybe, convince herself that she's not alone.

magolor is doing surprisingly okay here?? like, sure he barely managed to scrape his way out of purgatory, and now has the remains of his wrongdoings etched into his body, but he's taking it like a champ 👍👍 he denies what happened to him was his fault (even when it totally was), and because of it, his AD experience was ramped up to 11. he feels no remorse for his betrayal, and instead no longer fights kirby simply because he gave up trying. he's also got the whole..eye and crown thing going on. so.

elfilin is next, with him basically being confined to the Pickle Jar. he's trapped in his own mind (forever wandering the isolated isles) and just kinda floats there, waiting for something to save him from an eternity of chaos. i put him above adeleine because of the situation that leads him there in the first place. since the initial splitting of elfilis/elfilin was a lot more messy, it means that they're stuck in a yin-yang scenario. instead of completely good, elfilin is mostly good, and that sliver of darkness increased his susceptibility to fecto forgo, drawing him to lab discovera. the beast pack captures him and tries to fuse him with forgo, but because of the discordance, it's taking a lot longer. the "good" part of elfilin hangs on, trapped in his dreams and slowly losing his grip, which is represented by his constant crying of the blood cell-like orbs from chaos elfilis' fight.

ribbon is. not doing so hot here. not only is she on the verge of breaking (mentally and physically), she has essentially isolated herself to complete an impossible mission. since the crystal was smashed into thousands upon thousands of pieces, she'll likely spend the rest of her life searching for each shard. she wallows in guilt and self-depreciation (even though it's not her fault!!), and is also fighting off dark matter possession at any given point. her will is strong, but how long can she last?

okay!! magolor time!!

magolor's seeing-eye jester is indeed marx! (though he will kill you if you call him that) while mirror-marx is even less of a good choice to befriend than normal marx, their friendship still upholds :]

while yeah, magolor does have a huge-ass eye in his mouth, it's not him that's doing the seeing. the visual information goes straight to the master crown, if this makes sense.

the master crown's power has dulled, now forming a symbiotic relationship with him. magolor provides the crown with a body to host, and the crown's magic allows him survive AD, basic perception (he's not gonna run into a tree anytime soon, but can't read or see faces), and a huge ego boost.

[fraudulent-cheese]

Ok i've figured out an elimination order for my TDWT rewrite au thingy! (if ur curious about the general gist + later elimination plots here's the og post here ya go)

putting this entirely under the cut because it's gonna get LONGGG

This covers episodes 1 to 13!

Sorry Ezekiel stans, he's still the first voted out. the first episode actually turns out in a similar-ish way, outside of the different teams and team amazons having trouble with their camel. Team Victory is still last, and Zeke still gets voted out.

However by episode 3, there's the first major elimination order change: Team Amazons looses the challenge, and Cody gets the boot. This is for two reasons: Leshawna's more of a leader on her team and is able to reel Harold back a little, and the Amazon's commercial ends up loosing because of Cody's addition. The votes end up being a tie between Heather and Cody (Gwen and Sierra voted Heather because of course, Heather and Courtney voted for Cody because he lost the challenge for them.) Sierra is absolutely heartbroken from Cody's elimination, but he's pretty happy to go so early.

Bridgette still gets played by Alejandro in this AU, but he has to be a little subtler about it due to Leshawna's higher suspicion of him. He still manages to get Bridgette stuck to a poll and stoke a bit of fire between Heather and Leshawna. That and Sierra's still depressed in the background so she's not performing as well in challenges.

episode 5's still a reward challenge, not much changes, i'd say same with the first Aftermath?

episode 7, Leshawna still gets eliminated after starting a fight with Heather (which is the point where Heather REALLY starts to hate Alejandro since he's messing with her friendships now). I think Alejandro's way of doing it is provoking one or the other, sorta-flirting with both of them which seriously annoys Heather and frustrates Leshawna (she's trying to figure out if he's actually interested or just playing her. I guess she got her answer.) This also makes Alejandro Harold's enemy, and does raise both Noah and Eva's suspicions of him (Noah's the one that noticed it and he talked about it a bit with Eva, who's more eager to get on the guy's case than Noah is)

episode 8's still a reward challenge, however notably Alejandro's attempted manipulation of Owen doesn't work because Team Escope's a unit and he's 100% fully convinced his friends wouldn't do that on purpose (or maliciously in the case of Izzy). I think this would be a sort of turning point with Alejandro's dynamic with the rest of his team - he fully realises he can't break these idiots appart, from any angle (especially since Ozzy's already split here and Eva + Izzy are pining for eachother). So what does he do? He'll play along. (and accidentally befriend multiple of them but shushhhh)

episode 9 is also further divergence and is where the Team Victory trio gets to shine more - they actually win the whole challenge! much to Alejandro's frustration, since Team Victory was supposed to be the easy team to take out, wasn't it? He's fully friends with Noah at this point, and on his way to befriending Izzy and lowering Eva's suspicions, even just slightly. Meanwhile, Heather's in a bit of a pickle: her team is last and both Gwen and Courtney are getting closer, and really don't like her. Sierra is being no help, as she knows Heather's a real snake and is fully willing to vote her off. However, there's one factor none of the girls have considered yet; sabotage. So Heather makes an alliance/deal with Harold. He'll change the votes, and she'll make sure his team gets some kind of advantage next challenge.

episode 10, this is a more lowkey episode focused mostly on the character's interpersonal drama and Alejandro's current relationship with his team - he's starting to actually consider their individual strengths instead of just trying to do it his way, courtesy of actually talking with Noah about it. Courtney and Gwen still look for the Duncan shaped rock, but Gwen's only doing it to be with Courtney (gay) meanwhile, Heather rams her boat into team Escope's boat and later on tries to get team Victory's boat ahead. Im choosing to explain Heather actually sticking to her deal with Harold as both friendship foreshadowing + her trying to keep a solid ally with her in the game.

episode 11. OK THIS ONE'S IMPORTANT FOR MULTIPLE REASONS: this is Team Escope's first member loss, being Owen getting disqualified due to injury. Alejandro's secretly glad he's gone, but he's trying to keep a sadned mask around the team who's pretty bummed, especially Noah and Izzy. He manages to motivate Izzy for the challenge, but Noah's not on his side; he sees through the mask and knew Alejandro disliked Owen for a reason he hasn't fully figured out yet and calls him out on it in private. That, and the DJ thing. i haven't explained it fully, but DJ still has the animal curse thing - support from Harold, Lindsay and occasionally Heather (she's doing it to win Harold's favor + DJ's the only contestant she's consistently nice with) has been reducing it over time, but Alejandro exacerbates it for him this episode. Noah begins to suspect quite seriously that Alejandro's only pretending to be friends with him, Izzy and to a lesser extent Eva (something that Alejandro would probably agree to be doing with Eva and Izzy, but not Noah. He's 100% actually friends with Izzy and hasn't realised it tho.) Officially, he's still acting friendly with him, but he's really not sure if it'll stick.

episode 13, and of course the turning point! on each team, the members captured are:

-Alejandro from the start -Heather after the stretching thing -Harold after he got distracted and started infodumping -Izzy just. dissapears mid challenge -DJ on the bus.

Eva and Noah still catch the Ripper, and Noah drops his "slippery eel" warning to Eva and Izzy (Izzy's on the stretcher.). Eva considers it and in an impressive act of restraint only promises to do something about it if it's confirmed, while Izzy half agrees half denies it. (she's denying it because she knows Noah thinks he's not friends with him. Izzy can tell it's genuine. Izzy is Izzy and would just be able to tell, she can see through people's masks pretty well, considering she calls out Mal in AS and i regularly HC her to be simply acting crazy for shits and giggles.) Either way, Alejandro does NOT take it well at all. That, and Duncan's back! Team Victory and Escope have the choice to get him but well. Harold's still here. So to team Escope the punk guy goes! And he immediatly tries to kiss Gwen in the confessional! He does end up kissing her, but she recoils quickly. Sadly not quickly enough for Izzy to not end up seeing them.

could you tell i started having fun writing this outline out the farther we got? Hope this was comprehensible!

[minkshame]

🏳️‍⚧️😇👻👗🍫

for tord and matt

🏳️‍⚧️ - Gender headcanon

for tord, he’s amab in my head all the time, either cis or the most controversial yet obvious eddsworld headcanon: ITS A GIRL! Transfem awakening very very late into his life. Goes by he/she/it.

Matt is genderfluid or bigender, he/she preferred but probably is ok with they sometimes.

😇- religion

Tord is god fearing in a way but he doesn’t believe in anything. He certainly has his opinions on destiny or luck or whatever.

Matt thinks he is god. There is no way around this. He loves himself too much to worship something else.

👻- what scares them

Tord is scared of his own emotions. He’s experienced real trauma and his very understandable reactions to it often frighten him into fleeing away from the stimulus of discomfort. He is also scared of sexy women ! >_<

Like everything. Matt is scared of his own shadow. He sees an ant and screams. He watches a horror movie and is up at night for 2 weeks afterwards. His greatest fear is going bald.

👗- Clothes they wear

Tord dresses practically/tactically. He likes a lot of layers so he can have options. He does aim for comfort but it’s mostly so he can stay on top form. He is not fashionable nor does he really accessorize unless its for a purpose (wallet chain)

Matt is the queen of like. Being fashionable but also having terrible taste. The purple hoodie with green overcoat? Hideous. He also is a fan of a variety of clothes, he would die for a nice suit but ALSO for a cute spring dress.

🍫- foods they like

Tord likes things people usually would find less appealing. Edd would give tord his vegetables when they ate together as kids. Tord is a salty food fan i think, bacon being one. Pickled foods are something he also prefers. Olives, onions, etc … and he doesn’t have a sweet tooth. Not at all.

Matt likes to bake and cooke but he’s not a huge eater. I think he sticks to lighter meals, especially after being turned to part vampire. His favorite blood is tom’s, of course. Tord’s is ok. Edd’s is gross.

[fictionkinfessions]

Hi MPC. I deleted my reply to your confession and I wanted to apologize for making it seem like I was trying to peer review you or anything like that, it definitely was not my intention. I’m on the aro/ace spectrum myself and wanted to ensure there wasn’t any mix up between the two (as there often are in fandom/kin spaces imo)/try to reassure anon (who turned out to be you!) that people were probably not doing it maliciously. Again, I’m really sorry it came off as anything else and I hope you have a great rest of your day. 🖤

It's ok. Really. I'm not mad or upset, more confused and embarassed about making this a Thing and now everybody is staring. Like accidentally dropping a jar of pickles in the grocery store and the big noise got everyone's attention and now I have to bother an employee to wash the pickles and probably have to pay for my crime against pickle-dom.

Anyways, I totally understand wanting to correct potential misuse of terms. I know it's important not to let the internet and whatnot water down terminology because hey, that's also my identity? Don't mess with that, please? I promise I take it serious, honest. I do appreciate that you and others [mostly] stepped up about it.

Connie / mod party cat

[forcebookish]

ok i'm doing it: ep2 (mostly unpopular) opinions. it's so fucking long i'm putting it under a readmore lol YOU'VE BEEN WARNED

topmew have bewitched me body and soul. i love everything about them. i was so into the idea of them being "toxic" (fandom has ruined that word, i reallllly hate it but it applies here) but hilariously, i think they're the least toxic relationship in the show (if you don't count aprilcheum): they talk about their feelings and boundaries, they go on dates, they genuinely care about and are interested in each other as people. and they want to have sex!!!!! but on mew's timeline, which i like. i love their dance and how flirty they are.

top's trauma is both heartbreaking and unique. it's great writing and it feels like there was a lot of thought put into it. force's acting is incredible. he really looks like a scared little boy and before he admits he can't sleep alone he's got a look on his face like he's scared he's going to be laughed at. because he has been laughed at :( even mew laughs at him (which i kind of liked tbh it was a really honest reaction and i like that he apologized for it). he could have made it into a sob story and told mew when he was trying to sleep in his bed with him, but he only admitted to it when asked and didn't try to ask again about sleeping beside mew, which i think says a lot about him. my son is a good person. as always, forcebook know how to make a scene feel Real.

mew is hot. that's all.

ok actually, mew is fascinating (but not because he's a puppet master🙄 i'm now 100% sure he's not, why would he be lying in his non-diegetic literary device confessional?? please). he is very perceptive (so is top tbh), but boston seems to be a bit of a blindspot (for both of them). i had a suspicion that mew knew that top and boston hooked up, but now it seems like he might not - and he took it at face value when boston lied about top dumping him once they have sex 🤔

i don't care about sandray, there i said it. they're boring.

ray especially is boring. irl? unrequited love and losing a parent is tragic, and i do feel for him, but in fiction? it's tired. wah wah my crush doesn't like me back wah wah dead mom wah wah. i hope his arc picks up but for now i'm totally lukewarm

also the smoke makeout is gross. all i can think about is how bad they must smell and taste😒

i love that sand makes plum wine. plum wine is fucking delicious and i'm very relieved those creepy jars in his apartment aren't pickled eggs djkfjlgjf and i'm happy he's bi!! woohoo!! but other than that, i don't find him particularly interesting, although he definitely has potential (legal issues with the wine, whatever the fuck he and top have going on)

obviously, FUCK BOSTON. hope that sexual predator drowns xoxo i don't want to get into it again because i've already made like nine posts about it but god he is a bad dude, and not in a fun way at all. he actually makes me sick. and i'm not exaggerating or being dramatic, i barely ate yesterday because that scene combined with the fandom reciting rape culture talking points without any self-awareness (even sticking to their guns when called out on it), just unironically saying almost verbatim every victim-blaming kind of bullshit people use against real sexual assault survivors made me SO uncomfortable and anxious.

nick...... sweetie pie what are you doing with this walking red flag what do you even like about him is the sex really that good because it honestly doesn't look that good

(like. topmew's love scene in episode one is hot, aesthetically, but i also can't help but think how fucking good everything they did actually feels. not just from an acting perspective but what they are physically doing: the grabbing, the neck and chest kissing, the grabbing, pelvis-to-pelvis and chest-to-chest, the grabbing djfklsjlgd but all of boston's are just kind of like. yeah ok you sure are having sex. that sure was an orgasm. idk, ymmv)

i do think it's funny that there are so many viewers who think that mew is going to "snap" and "seek revenge" or whatever, when nick is such a better candidate for it. that boy is already crazy, he's on a knife's edge. and that sex tape plotline coming up? the photobooth photos? he's going to do something drastic. ticking fucking timebomb.

APRILCHEUM ARE SO CUTE AAAAAAA I WANT SO MUCH MORE OF THEM

good lord i wrote a lot. i hope the fandom doesn't burn me out with their bull shit because there is such a severe lack of forcebook and topmew love and a fucking glut of content for everyone else, and i want to make stuff for forcebook (and especially top).

also i feel like i'm going to end up writing a lot of topmew fanfiction. like with abaab, probably not before it finishes airing but... plus, i still don't have any real ideas, just vibes and some, ah, positions i would like to write hahaha

thank you for reading this far omg

[lowkeyclueless5137]

Double isekai au

Diasomnia, Ignihyde, Poemfiore and Scarabia ver.

Yep yep... It's not like I've explained 2 times with 2 different characters... :'3

But here we're gonna refine the wine a bit... :3

I will cover more rules, along with small lil details.

And also the reveal of 4 out of the 7 Yuus that are present in their own double Isekai au.

Also their relationships with the double isekaied twst Boi. :v

We are gonna tackle this in reverse dorm order, because why not? :3c

More under the cut!

Diasomnia: Malleus and Yuu

Much like we all know, this double Isekai features a very dumb Malleus. Like he is academically smart, but at the same time his only functional social braincell is just all over the place. He has been infested with gen Z humor and since discovering his magic in twisted wonderland he thinks he's dollar store sailor moon.

His Yuu(which yeah, they're named Yuu) is filling the role of chaotic BFF. They also hype Malleus into all the dumb shit possible.

Unlike Malleus, Yuu is more socially capable, although a very messy simp. They would have the guts to propose right then and there for the Scarabia student B. And they don't even try to hide their simp agenda.

Another funny thing was: Malleus had blonde days. Days where he was just a bundle of joy that would skip around and pick flowers. It was absolutely embarrassing and Yuu would bring it up just to mess with him.

And another thing... Well... There is a reason Yuu has their hair covering half of their face. :v

Ignihyde: Ortho and Yuuki

Listen... I love this one in particular, mostly because of the Yuu in here(They are named Yuuki) and also the family dynamics.

Yuuki is very protective. Mostly to the point where Ortho finds it annoying. There is a lot of bickering on this theme, but it all dials back to them just sticking for one another. They are the middle children since Otto(the youngest sibling in the crevette household) came into the picture. Ortho tries to be less overprotective over the new sib, but at the same time, both he and yuuki have an agreement to beat up anyone who tries to harm the baby. There's also big sib Yulia, who goes to college aboard. She is a walking entity of sass. U-U.

It's mostly your average suburbs family.

One thing about Ortho's journey along Yuuki is that he journals things. (as a punishment at the start of the year) And he really doesn't believe the teach will buy his school year adventure. Doesn't help that probably he broke several international laws during that time. Just... Give him a passing mark... :'3

Another thing is that during their adventure, both Ortho and Yuuki undergo several changes.

And also one thing in here is that Ortho is alergic to pickles... So Yuuki pretty much uses it as an excuse to make 'he asked for no pickles' meme, with Ortho completely done and over with it.

Poemfiore: Vil and Kayuu

Yes, again the Isekai goes on at a young age. Truck-kun really has no patience. U-U

Vil in here gets his own slice of bullying pie, much like Ortho did. Mostly since he was looking feminine. Kayuu(Vil's Yuu) is the big sibling with only a year, but even if they are a boxing prodigy, they are a firm believer of peace and diplomacy, which really doesn't help Vil in any way.

Vil's double Isekai has Neige as the poemfiore dormleader. Vil grows in popularity among NRC during his adventures and this prompts Neige to step onto his game, as no one really imposed a challenge to him up until now.

Also Kayuu learns that sometimes it's OK to punch bitches. Vil drills in their head that they shouldn't be a carpet for people to walk on.

Nonetheless, their relationship is a bit stranded at the start, but with time, they figure it out and are happy siblings.

Scarabia: Jamil and Yuuana

This took place around the time Jamil got in his head about his role as a servant. Kalim was absolutely devastated to hear that Jamil dissappeared.

In here, Jamil has small snippets of his time back in twst before the Isekai, but tells no one. He had a good family and a younger sibling, Yuuana, who thinks their big bro is the best.

Yuuana is a hit shy, mostly due to the fact that she is mute, but Jamil learned sign for her sake and also got for her birthday a parrot, who was trained to speak certain basics when showed an equivalent in sign. Yuuana named the parrot Coco(from the coconut).

Thier Isekai adventure has Jamil quickly piecing things together. He figures out quickly what is his origins, but would rather keep the gig of 'oh I'm a magicless hooman isekaied in here with my lil sib and we want home'.

Thing is... Kalim didn't forget about Jamil either, he just cannot really figure out why the magicless boy looks so familiar.

And here's the first 4 double isekais. :3

Now onto the next 3! :3

[chuuyrr]

hello!!! I really love your scarlet witch JJK series, especially the ones where you do crossovers with Tokyo Revengers!! i really like the Haitani brothers, so could I ask if you could write a scenario where reader is dating them? if it’s not possible I understand! thank you and have a nice day!

the haitani brothers as scarlet witch! fushiguro! reader's boyfriend

jujutsu kaisen x reader x tokyo revengers

masterlist of the series

╰➤ CW(s): possible spoilers for tokyo revengers and jujutsu kaisen, themes of fluff, mentions of scarlet witch's powers, soft! boyfriend! ran & rindou content

╰➤ PAIRING(s): ran haitani x reader, rindou haitani x reader (them as your boyfriends separately)

hi omg thank you so much! im so down bad for the haitani brothers, especially for ran 😩 he's like my second fave, next to mikey hehe. also, this literally an opportunity for me to write and have something fluffy about them because most of the content i see for the haitani brothers here are nsfw or just straight up smut :( ok enough me rambling smh HAHAHAHA, enjoy reading!! anon dear ♡

rindou haitani as your boyfriend !

rindou most likely met you at his school. despite your lack of popularity, you were the person who stood out to him. he found you alone, during lunch breaks, libraries, and so on. he remembered you as a student in his class who is quite introverted and absent a few times per month (because you had jujutsu-related missions to take care of), but who excels academically.

however, his viewpoint of you completely changed when you ran into him in roppongi only to find him in a bit of a pickle with some people, delinquents you noted to be part of some sort of gang.

you recognized the blue-blonde-haired boy as haitani rindou, your cold and blunt classmate who only speaks when necessary. you'd only spoken to him a few times in class when you were grouped with him. you immediately threw the paper bags you were carrying and, well, just jumped into action.

you swept the floor with the delinquents who dared to challenge him, not even breaking a sweat, leaving rindou speechless.

he was filled with questions after witnessing that. when did you learn to fight in that manner? you were fantastic. you were a completely different person not long ago. when you thrusted your leg and threw sharp consecutive punches, your seemingly introverted self vanished. that confidence and sharpness you had just now was attractive.

"uh, hello there," you said, laughing, "i-i can explain! my father taught me self-defense."

it was partially true. you weren't just capable of psionic energy manipulation and the like; you also knew how to fight with fists and kicks, but you mostly imbued your attacks with psionics to make it easier and harsher for those goddamn bullies.

"fushiguro, look out!"

rindou was the one who jumped into action next, just as you turned around behind your back. he effortlessly took out the barely conscious delinquent standing behind you easily and completely, surprising you this time.

"eh? you know jujitsu?" as you lifted an index finger, you muttered, recognizing the fighting style.

this entire time, rindou could have defended himself?

as cliché and ironic as that seemed, that was the kickstart to your and rindou's relationship. rindou became that one friend you'd have during breaks, and eventually your partner in class. the two of you started talking the next day after that little incident as if you had been friends for a long time now, and because of that, you and rindou instantly became the talk of the school, but you didn't mind, and thankfully he didn't either.

you didn't feel so lonely anymore at school. you always had trouble mingling with other kids since you were homeschooled for the most part of your life, but what shocked you was how genuinely sweet he actually was despite how cold and stoic he appeared to be. oh, if only you knew how rindou had been admiring you from a distance the beginning, always wanting to talk to you and just get to know you.

rindou would casually buy and give you your favorite snacks and drinks by leaving them on your table at school and take you on study dates. your conversations mostly consisted of you ranting about supernatural stuff aside from school subjects, and him telling you about his love of music and DJing by making you listen to songs he likes that he thinks you'll also like, and you do.

as the days turned into weeks, you and rindou grew closer, and it appears that you two had been keeping secrets of your own, and it was only then that you discovered the true identities you and him masked. you, a sorceress who exorcises curses and capable of harnessing chaos magic; rindou, a delinquent known to rule over roppongi alongside his older brother, ran.

the night you told him about your identity and powers as the scarlet witch, as well as the existence of curses, was also the night rindou told you about how he ruled roppongi with his older brother, ran, but for some reason, he seemed more concerned about your reaction to his secret, even if yours was much bigger.

"you really don't mind me being a witch and stuff? you don't think i'm weird?" you asked, completely baffled.

"why would i think that?" rindou blinked, "aren't you at least concerned that i'm a.. you know?" he shrugged his shoulders.

"rindou, my family are literally curse users, and my biological dad used to be an assassin." you countered, blinking.

"oh, right.." rindou nodded slowly, taking in the information you had just told him. "i guess that's actually much of a bigger secret than mine."

"it really is." you laughed, and so did he after.

after your confession of secrets with another, it didn't take long for you to start dating rindou. rindou literally fell even more in love with you as he learned more about you and everything.

he is glad and grateful that you, of all people, have faith in him. the only challenging part of dating rindou was hiding the fact that he was a gang member and such, so your relationship with rindou was a secret not only to gojo but also to the rest of the jujutsu sorcerers you saw as family, which is why sneaking out had become one of your greatest skills, and the best kind was sneaking out at night just to be with him when no one was awake.

"rin? oh my god, you're really out there."

it was three in the morning and you looked out your window to see your boyfriend, the one and only haitani rindou, riding his motorcycle in his pajamas; a matching lounge set of sweatshirt and sweatpants. you two were having late-night conversations, which escalated into you wanting to see him because you've been stressed out by school and jujutsu-related issues, and it wasn't long before he called you to say he was right outside.

despite the fact that your boyfriend was from roppongi, which was quite far from where you lived, he would go to great lengths to be with you and make you happy.

"put your phone down and come here before i get infinite voided by your dad or something," rindou joked on the phone before hanging up and motioning you to come down.

risks had always been a common thing for you since then.

you also know that, despite his jokes about your dad, rindou is fearful of him. i mean, sure it's gojo satoru, but that's just it. for goodness sake, he's gojo satoru, your father was the strongest jujutsu sorcerer in existence, inheritor of the six eyes and all, and he's very protective of you.

you quickly grabbed one of your jackets and layered it over your pajamas before slipping on some slippers and using your chaos magic to teleport outside, not only to avoid waking up gojo with your footsteps, but also to make things easier for you and to surprise rindou.

after seeing you at your window, rindou yelped, his eyes widening to see you literally standing next to him. "AH! don't scare me like that!"

"i can teleport remember?" you laughed silently at your boyfriend's little reaction as you waved your fingers in the air, exuding a sanguine red hue from your fingertips and [color] eyes for a fraction of a second.

"i forgot." rindou chuckled and rolled his eyes before draping an arm around your waist to draw you closer so he could kiss your lips, which you melted into.

"let's get out of here, yeah? let's go to that ice cream shop you like so much and just go anywhere," his breath trickled across your skin, sending you sparks as he drew away to allow you and him to breathe.

"m'kay." you nodded, smiling, and kissed rindou again on the lips before climbing onto his motorcycle and wrapping your arms around his waist, pressing your chest against his back, and god, he loved being this close to you.

"hold onto me, okay?" before revving up the motorcycle, rindou turned his head over his shoulder and smiled at you.

"always will, rin."

you smiled as you buried your face into his back, right across his left shoulder, closing your eyes and letting the warmth of his body, combined with the peace of the cool breeze, fill you with comfort, easing your stressful mind.

haitani ran as your boyfriend !

not gonna lie, you were quite intimidated by haitani ran at first. not only because of his height and reputation, but because of how charismatic he looked all the time.

you frequently saw him with his brother at roppongi whenever you were assigned to investigate and exorcise a curse there and rescue people, just typical jujutsu missions the jujutsu tech would assign you. you were actually quite familiar with who they are and how they run roponggi. after all, ghosts loved to gossip.

ran, along with rindou, was genuinely curious of you, noticing how you'd regularly appear in certain parts of roppongi's streets, accessing crime scenes and secluded areas rather than shopping districts and restaurants. more importantly, you don't appear to be from roponggi. you'd also vanish for a long time (due to the veil or curtain that is set) before reappearing to be picked up by ijichi in a fine black car.

ran eventually worked up the courage to confront you one day after noticing you leaving a secluded area in roppongi clutching your arm and limping. you were badly injured and "appeared" to have fought a gang. when you saw the older haitani approaching you that day, you were definitely ready to throw hands and possibly turn him into a frog with your magic, thinking he was going to beat you up or something 💀

"did you get jumped or something?"

but you were taken aback by his genuine concern, especially given his reputation for violence and such.

"n-no. i, uh, just fell down the stairs." you excused, cracking a smile. "i'm good, thanks for asking mister. i'm just waiting for my uber."

"uh-huh.. there ain't no stairs in the alleyway, pretty girl." ran pointed out, raising a brow at you. "are you sure you don't need to go to a hospital?"

you eventually let him take you to a hospital to have your injuries checked and treated, partly because ijichi was taking too long, but also because you didn't want to magically patch yourself up in front of him.

it didn't take long for you to begin talking to and hanging out with ran whenever you were in roppongi. his suspicions and genuine interest in you began when he noticed you inquiring about supernatural incidents in his city, but don't worry, he's actually quite fond of the subject. you also looked pretty just being so into your own rambling. you were also quite introverted, given how ran was always the one to initiate conversations and hang outs. it was refreshing, considering how most of the girls he met were just straight flirts and attempts to get with him.

however, when he caught you in action this one time, he found himself falling hard for you, finally understanding who you truly were. ran was able to see the cursed spirit you were exorcising using your chaos magic because his life was nearly at stake at the time. sure, seeing that monstrosity and seeing red hues coming from your hands was strange, considering it was like watching some sci-fi movie in action, but that shit was awesome. more interesting than gang fights and beating up people.

"ran?! how long have you been there? uh, i can explain!"

"so, that's what you do around here in roponggi."

after you educated him on the existence of curses, your powers, and so on, he was actually pretty chill about it, which surprised you, but hey, at least he's okay with it and promises to keep it a secret in exchange for something.

"you want a what?" your eyes widened.

ran grinned at you, "you heard me. let's go out."

you were hesitant to give it a try at first. not only because he was the haitani ran of roppongi, but also because you thought you two wouldn't get along. he was a delinquent, and you were a sorceress. you two were from two different worlds.

also you weren't really from roppongi, and you assumed ran was just playing with you or something, so you were surprised at how genuine he was in loving and truly accepting you for who you truly are and what you do.

you two eventually realized you two clicked, and everything worked out. you and ran shared a love of fashion and sweets, which led you to discover his love of montblanc, the dessert, and once you were comfortable around him, he became touchy with you, and you loved the physical affection. when you two were together, ran would always give you head pats, hold your hand, and drape an arm around your waist.

he can be a bit of a tease at times, but only because he enjoys getting you worked up, face all red and blushy, but ran makes it up to you by spoiling you with expensive clothes, jewelries, perfumes, and food.

you started going to roppongi even if you didn't have a mission there because you liked being there so much because of ran, but gojo and the others didn't have to know that yet.

"kikufuku? where are ya' going?" gojo inquired, seeing how well-dressed you were and clearly unaware that you were wearing matching clothes with a certain handsome twin-braided man you were dating.

"i'm just going to do some shopping with the money i got from all those missions and stuff," you said to gojo after saying goodbye and making an excuse for him not to accompany you.

as soon as you left the house and the coast was clear, you couldn't help but squeal with delight to see your boyfriend looking so handsome, leaning against his motorcycle, waiting for you.

"there's my pretty girl."

as you darted towards him, he opened his arms only to engulf you in his embrace. ran smiled, peppering your face with kisses and eliciting a sweet laugh from your lips. "are you ready to go? i know a good place in roppongi where we can eat and do some shopping afterwards. it'll be my treat, of course," he winked.

"mhm, ready to go home," you said as you kissed him on the lips.

"home?" ran chuckled, raising his brow in confusion. "we're not going to my house, baby."

"i know that, but home is where the heart is, and well, my heart is with you," you exclaimed, fiddling with your hands as you drew away and looked up at him.

"goddamnit, why are you so sweet and adorable?" ran found his face flushing in a pink color as his amethyst eyes stared at you with love and adoration and larger hands cupped your face.

god he loved you so much.

[film-in-my-soul]

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Reading Time With Pickle | 6,682 | littleblackfox / @thelittleblackfox

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Master Reclist · Personal Masterlist · Blog Nav.

[darkfinch]

it is christmas at babusia's house of murderchildren!! what do people get rabbit? what festive treats or traditions does he gravitate towards? (do that many cats make a decorated tree unwise)

Merry christmas in july!!

Baba’s cats are suspiciously well trained because everyone at Baba’s is suspiciously well-trained, so the tree is mostly left alone - Rabbit (tall, good uncle) comes down to help decorate it early in the season with any younger kids in the family. He’s the guy lifting babies up to put the star on top because he’s 100 feet tall. Most of the ornaments have been made by him :) some have been painted by murderchildren :) they are doing the strings of popcorn/dried oranges thing it's all very cute

Rabbit predictably is the worst person to get things for because he actively does not want anything. The shelves in his cabin are for pickled root vegetables and little wooden fish he’s going to paint later, leave him alone you are giving him an inconvenience. you gift-wrapped a burden. What’s he going to do, build another shelf? Please no items.

Traditional Rabbit Burdens are as follows:

—From baba, a sweater/socks/scarf that matches quinn’s christmas gift sweater/socks/scarf. this is tradition. they both act like it’s a delightful coincidence every time :3 matching lads :3 :)

—From Quinn, wood carving tools (risky, but quinn is Gun Specifications Georg he does research he knows what rabbit has and what he needs and what he’s ok with having be bought by someone else etc); books he thinks Rabbit might like; paint sets; a photo album of cool pictures he took that year since you know rabbit you don’t leave the cabin you probably haven’t seen a beach in a decade (shut up) do you remember what buildings look like (shut up) 

—From Masha, usually baked goods (she baked them <3 sometimes they are rabbit-shaped <3 sometimes they are weird flavours that only he specifically will enjoy due to he has no tastebuds <3) or really fancy jam that he would never in a million years buy for himself because *rabbit voice* dont fuckin buy jam you can make jam. fruit’s free (he loves the jam) 

—From Alina (Nadiya), fancy cigars. Rabbit smokes once every 3.5 months when he hits a wall of “i need a vice or i’m gonna do some ophelia shit in the river outside” and she thinks he should treat himself etc. Also occasionally Very Expensive Alcohol because Rabbit only drinks during family gatherings and, again, treat yourself

(No one else is daring to hand rabbit an item)

Rabbit prefers to sit in the corner of all festivities with a few cats, in his quinn-mandated party hat, not making conversation. however he’s also been a participant in the decades-long annual board game/card game grudge match between quinn and several other cousins, gambling is involved, there is yelling (rabbit is not yelling rabbit is sitting in his chair petting a kitty and enjoying the satisfaction of being a champion at, like, cribbage <3). 

Other activities: eating a superhuman amount of food in absolute silence with beloved nephew chattering next to him. Nodding at people who are singing holiday songs and resolutely not participating. Losing to Quinn at darts and pretending to be grumpy about it. He also occasionally joins in on the arm wrestling later in the night if he thinks someone else is getting too cocky and needs to feel bad abt themselves for a minute

[you-are-forever-special]

I Am Your Mother's Keeper

\\×AU where our goofball boys make a new... "friend," and Taiga's life is caught up in another whirlwind.×

<Set to take place the same time as the episode 'Doublebookedklok'>

If you don't know who my OC Taiga is, this is her original story: https://www.tumblr.com/you-are-forever-special/723792412034662400/tenacious-me?source=share

But I wanted to put her in the Metalocalypse universe, and some of my great friends encouraged + inspired me to get here today.

So here we go!//

TW: Cussing, Alcoholism, Implied drug abuse + self-harm, Animal death, Mentions of blood/injuries, Spiritualism + Related ritual

(It's not in great detail, or graphic, but still!

This story gets kinda silly, then action-packed, and suddenly really intense and emotional. But I tried to end it on a more hopeful note.

I hope you enjoy! This was so much fun to make!

I'm open to constructive criticism, and any other comments, as always! And I tried my best to catch any errors, but if you spot any yourself, please let me know and I'll fix it!

Thank you very much~!)

-Took about 12hr40min to write out-

~~~~~

It all started with a plan to begin their infamous drinking bender.

But the guys in Dethklok were especially going to up the ante this time.

Mostly because...

They were bored out of their fucking minds.

They've played shows in Minnesota before, but each time, they wanted-

No, NEEDED to spice things up, and at least not be sober for their time spent here.

Besides, it's not like it affected their success much, right?

Everything always turned out fine.

And it continued to go that way...

Until they got stranded.

They just wanted to stop at a nearby gas station for a bit, and ended up accidentally being left behind.

And the boys forgot their Dethphones on the Dethbus they were on, and now they were freaking out because they were most likely going to DethDIE(Hamburger Time) out here with no supplies.

All they had with them were their current drinks that varied in levels of completion.

The boys tried to internally calm themselves down.

They each had a drink in their hand. That was something.

And Nathan assumed that any kind of drink they consumed meant that they were being hydrated, so it was ok for now.

Everyone else agreed, or at least in Skwisgaar and Pickles' case, didn't bother to argue with it.

Still pretty inebriated, the thought of going back into the gas station for shelter, and a phone, etc, to use... Didn't even occur to them.

And they figured that ultimately, the woods that they spotted nearby would be their best bet, because there was probably a shortcut to make it back to their bus.

--

None of these men were scared.

And if they were...

Fuck you, they weren't going to admit that.

...

Thankfully it wasn't cold outside.

And even if it was,

"Hey, at least we have booze, amirite?" Pickles pointedly swished the liquid around in his bottle as he was the first one to break the silence that fell upon them and say what they were all thinking as they trekked deeper into these woods.

He smirked before taking another swig from it; seemingly without a care in the world.

And amongst each other, they all agreed that alcohol + the cold totally cancels out the chances of getting frostbite.

Pickles then recalled what Nathan said earlier while they were still traveling on the road to get here.

About how they'd all get "so damn sloppy, that we'll have to make a new word in the dictionary just for this moment in history."

And he even made a note to himself after that statement to ask Charles how to get something put into the dictionary in the first place.

As usual though, Pickles got a head start on their little "party;" being much more than just drunk before they had even planned to have this so-called "Ultra Doubly-Brutal Bender Extreme," as Nathan had ultimately previously put it.

He seemed pretty proud of himself for that name. So, he just let Nathan have that one.

It could be called the "Party of the Piss Platoon" for all he cared...

He was obviously down for it either way.

But Pickles being Pickles was handling it supremely well, and just going with the flow as they walked; Along with starting to wonder who out there in this world even made dictionaries and chose what got put into them anyway.

Regardless, it'd sure take a lot more than this to get him to the point of sloppy Nathan talked about.

Toki, on the other hand, was currently trying to just win his battle with "stupids gravi-tees."

He was winning so far.

However, it was getting pretty dark, and much harder to see anything.

Toki felt that pit of uneasiness blossoming forth in his chest and rising, but he just tried to keep an eye on his bandmates.

Tried is the keyword here.

Because for now, he could only look up enough to spot the silhouettes of their heads, or legs, depending on how he was able to hold up the upper half of his body as time passed.

His worries subsided a bit since they stayed close by as he stumbled along behind them.

Toki's vision was swimming, but he was grateful that he didn't feel like he had to puke anymore.

As the other members chatted, Toki didn't make out a word since he was too busy grumbling mostly to himself about how he already emptied his new bottle; even swinging it upside down and shaking it like that would magically make more of the feel-happy juice flow out.

Toki sighed, but then he immediately was distracted as a different feeling rose within him.

He suddenly called out to the boys.

"Ah, waits, guys!!"

They all froze and turned to face him quickly, because he basically screamed that out.

Most of them seemed annoyed at the jolting disturbance, besides Pickles who was inquisitive, but overall was just vibin'.

Nathan seemed the most irritated by the sudden piercing pitch that Toki's voice could sometimes reach.

He may be used to loud noises in his profession, but certain ones like that just hit a nerve within him.

At least it wasn't as bad as certain fangirls' who have basically screamed right in his ear before.

And not in the ways that he'd prefer.

Still, Nathan was patient and just asked:

"...Why are you screaming...?"

Toki just swayed a bit and slowly blinked as he stared at them, before he remembered why he got their attention in the first place.

"OH.

I's gots to go pee!"

...

...

...

"Oka-?"

"Yous all waits for me here! 'Kay bye!"

And before they could even attempt to refuse, Toki went off past some nearby bushes and trees, humming to himself.

Murderface spoke up after he left, saying:

"Their'sch schomething scheriously wrong with him. I schwear."

Nathan just grumbled and debated continuing to walk ahead, but the softer side of him relented and decided to wait for Toki after all.

"Don't want him to somehow fall and, you know... Ugh... Something..."

Nathan half-heartedly sent his shoddy reasoning into the air before he shut himself and his feelings up with more beer.

Skwisgaar was the most antsy looking one out of them all; holding onto his bottle like it was his lifeline.

He didn't have his guitar, and needed to hold onto something before he snapped himself.

He couldn't even bring himself to make a snide remark this entire time despite his anger, but he did dramatically let out a heavy sigh; making it clear how much he didn't want to be here anymore.

Skwisgaar mumbled to himself, shaking his head.

Why did this have to happen?

It was so annoying having to deal with things like this all the time.

Some "bender" this was turning out to be.

He didn't realize how much he was truly exaggerating, or how hypocritical he could be.

He would usually tease others for complaining whatsoever. Toki overall. But if even one little thing didn't go his way, Skwisgaar was the one who would technically have the biggest reaction out of them all.

His pouting was unmatched. Especially once he could no longer keep it bottled up.

Sometimes he'd snap and yell, but for now, he tried his best to not hit anyone over the head with his-

OH RIGHT. HE DIDN'T HAVE IT.

Maybe his bottle would be good enough.

Skwisgaar could feel his eye barely twitch and he started weighing his options once Murderface yelled out to Toki about hurrying up, even though he was probably too far to hear, which made Nathan internally groan. Speaking of annoying sounds...

They might end up killing each other before actually partying at all.

Before Nathan decided to say something harsh that would require many types of guitar riffs, Pickles tsked first and sat down on the ground for now; resting an arm over his one bent knee.

"Ehh!

Calm dahwn, dood."

"Oh schorry!! I'm scho schorry for schpeaking and wanting to get out of here, Picklesch!"

Pickles deadpanned and just sipped at his drink, seeing where this was going by Murderface's expression and miffed tone.

"Maybe I schould just go off on my own and get eaten by a bear or schomething!

I betcha'd like that, huh!?"

"OH MY FUCKING GOD-!!!"

Nathan interrupted by shouting in frustration.

--

Toki finished up his business eventually and somehow didn't leave a stain all over his pants, or hurt himself, despite his clumsy movements.

He internally cheered for that and instinctively picked up his bottle, even though it was empty; almost toppling over as he bent down.

But he caught himself.

As he stood back up, he perked up more at the sound of...

Squeaking?

No...

Mewling?

As soon as that clicked in his head, Toki dropped his bottle and immediately started searching in excitement for where the noises were coming from.

He didn't care or even think about the scrapes he got as he looked around; eventually stumbling upon a den after getting by some bigger branches.

Toki's pupils dilated even more as he saw a baby kitty.

It was a pretty big kitty, but a kitty nonetheless.

It wasn't long before they were in his arms, being cradled and gently rocked like you would a human child.

He cooed down at them, and despite his drunken state, he was extremely careful with the baby.

"Oh you poors things. Alls alones down here.

Don'ts worries!

I'll takes care of you!"

Toki started telling the kitty every thing that they would do together once they got back to Mordhaus as he got back out of the den.

"I can'ts wait to shows you to my friends!"

Toki was heading back, but then he froze and his eyes widened when he heard a scary growl behind him.

He slowly turned around...

And his eyes widened as he saw a cougar.

He didn't know the English word for this animal, but he wasn't stupid.

All he did know right now was that this kind of "kitty" meant danger.

And one swipe from their claws could mean Hamburger Time for good.

That sight alone basically sobered the man up.

He became even paler than usual and started to back up a bit.

"N-Nice cat..."

Toki muttered, letting out a soft, nervous laugh.

But as the cougar got down even lower like it was going to pounce, Toki's eyes darted around and he thought quick on his feet, suddenly throwing the bottle he spotted that he left behind earlier.

It hit the cougar on their side, even though he was aiming for their head.

But he didn't stop to think any longer on it as he turned back around and booked it; screaming loudly as he ran.

He didn't even register it as he ran past the rest of Dethklok.

Toki just continued to scream and hold the baby cougar close to his chest; leaving them in the dust.

---Meanwhile---

Taiga was strolling around the woods she lived in, going through her usual rounds of checking the area to make sure everything was safe and secure.

It honestly never got boring to her...

And it was pretty much her duty, after all.

But she'd happily do this even if she ever moved for some reason.

It was all such an honor to be able to do this.

For herself, and for others.

And so far, everything seemed to be peaceful, as per usual.

Taiga smiled and took in a breath of fresh air as she walked.

She looked around, adjusting her duffel bag and gripping tighter onto her nata.

There was one more area to check before she'd head back towards the babbling brook where her cottage was by.

A soft melody flowed from Taiga's lips as she went around.

All was well until she heard what sounded like terrified screaming.

And she immediately tensed up, but kept her composure as she stopped humming and quickly made her way towards the screaming.

Hopefully whoever it was was ok-

"Oof!" "Agh!"

...

Next thing Taiga knew, the wind was almost knocked out of her as Toki barreled into her like a linebacker; knocking her over and onto the ground.

"Ugh...!"

Toki fell over too, but he quickly flipped onto his back and rolled a bit as he did; trying hard to not injure the little cub.

Thankfully they were fine, but in his still adrenaline-fueled mind, it took him a second to realize that he hit someone.

His shocked state amplified as he looked up and took in this stranger's features. His wide eyes blinked a few times.

Was he hallucinating again?

...No, they were still there.

Maybe he just went insane.

Unless, that was just a costume, or-

Toki got lost in thought and was dazed as he blatantly stared.

Taiga held her head in a hand and carefully got up.

She was fine, and didn't land on her nata at least...

So that was good.

She put all that aside for now and looked over at Toki, seeing his expression.

"A-Are you alright??"

Taiga asked, but Toki was silent.

She tilted her head as she waited to see if this man would answer.

As she glanced over his features though, something about him looked familiar...

And...

Oh god. Did he have a cougar cub in his arms!?

---

Back with the rest of Dethklok, they all had stopped arguing as they heard Toki's scream getting closer moments before, and were extremely confused as they watched Toki go off into the distance without halting, or falling.

Their looks of confusion changed to more tense ones, and Pickles got back up on his feet, his guard now raised like the rest of the guys.

They were expecting something, but not THAT.

The mama cougar roared and quickly shot out of the bushes not long after Toki did.

"OH SCHIT."

The guys scrambled, collectively throwing their bottles/cans at the animal, but that didn't do much to deter it.

Pickles and Skwisgaar yelled and decided to run too, off in the same direction as Toki did.

Murderface was about to run as well before he saw the cougar decided to try and jump on Nathan first since he was the closest.

"NO!!"

He dove in front of Nathan as a first response, and was successfully taken down.

They flew over a bit and rolled past the surprised, raven-haired man.

The cougar got a couple good, deep scratches on Murderface's back, but thankfully Murderface kicked and squirmed enough before the animal chose a time and spot to hold him in a tight grip and bite down into the meat of his shoulder, instead of getting his neck.

It still hurt like a bitch, though.

As Murderface screamed, Nathan grunted as he kicked off the animal quite aways off; stunning it temporarily as he grabbed Murderface, pulling him back up so they could run off.

He tried to ignore the pain as he ran, and Nathan just tried to focus on getting somewhere safe as they went.

---

Before Taiga could continue her thought, she heard more yelling and turned her head towards it.

She quickly got back up, trying to keep her resolve despite her own fears; holding her nata at the ready.

She came to find that her suspicions on who Toki might be were correct after all as she saw Pickles and Skwisgaar running over. Were they all here?

The pair saw Toki on his knees on the ground and...

Whoever-the-fuck not too far away with a big-ass sword or something.

The two stopped running for now and were hunched over some, panting, as they looked at each other like:

'What the hell is going on???'

They didn't ask questions right now, and heard the sound of other footsteps approaching and heavy panting; Murderface and Nathan coming from the treeline with differing levels of intense panic on their faces.

Since Taiga realized what was going on, she got a firm voice and spoke up loud enough for them all to hear; directing them to follow her once they were all looking her way.

It was obvious they all were confused and questioning the obvious despite their fear, but that would have to wait.

"Come on, this way! We'll be safe! Just don't. stop. running!"

She said with urgency as she heard the mama cougar's roar getting closer.

No one argued as they followed close behind. Except Toki was still frozen in shock. Nathan had to act fast and take the kitten out of Toki's arms and used his other arm to hoist him up; draping him over onto his shoulder.

Toki didn't struggle, but Nathan thought:

'How many times will I have to do this?'

Taiga instantly felt more relieved once her cottage came into view, but didn't get ahead of herself.

She quickly got the door open with her key and let the guys go in first.

Afterwards, she entered as well, slamming the door shut behind them all and locking it.

She knew that the cougar would most likely hang around, trying to get her baby back. But she would worry about all that later.

Eventually the growling died down when they got closer, but she could see them stalking around the cottage still, as she figured.

Taiga sighed heavily; happy she didn't have to hurt, or kill any creature today.

They were lucky to have even gotten that head start on outrunning the pissed off animal.

But now...

The world famous Dethklok was currently in her cottage.

She was too frazzled to even think about the ridiculous of all this, and more importantly, she took note of how badly Murderface was bleeding.

Taiga set down her stuff then got moving and went to grab her first-aid kit.

Nathan sat Toki down onto the nearby couch and saw how he was mostly just staring into space for now, so he just left him alone.

Pickles was the first to speak up again inbetween huffs and puffs as he tried to catch his breath like everyone else; his hand over his heart.

"Gahddamn, dat was close...!"

Skwisgaar agreed, before the room fell silent aside from their panting.

They all eventually looked over at Taiga and took in her appearance more clearly.

The giant swishing tail was especially what caught their attention.

It looked so real.

Taiga could feel their eyes on her, and she tried to ignore it.

She understood. Truly.

But this was always so uncomfortable.

So, she tried to break the tense atmosphere around them.

"I know what you're thinking...

But just let me get this real quick, and then we can talk."

She set down the first-aid kit on the table in front of where Murderface stood, near her dining area.

"Here...

Not assuming you need my help, but this offer's on the table if you want it...

I understand that I'm just some stranger, but I know what I'm doing when it comes to patching up wounds.

That looks pretty bad, but I'm sure you'll be fine."

Her tone was soft and sympathetic, but she wasn't lying...

From what she could tell, if he stopped the bleeding and cleaned it up well, he could get it stitched and heal up just fine.

Murderface knew he had gotten injured pretty badly, but hey, he didn't feel like he was going to die or anything like when he had that accident on the highway.

When he snapped out of his own stunned state, he defaulted back to his signature frown.

He looked down at the kit and back up at Taiga skeptically, but eventually decided to take the kit and tried fixing himself up.

Wounds from his own knife that he would treat back at Mordhaus could get pretty deep, so maybe this wouldn't be much different.

He avoided any further eye contact.

Taiga could see his attitude towards her, but still understood and didn't push it.

She stepped back and looked over at everyone else as they stared some more.

"...Is everybody else ok?"

They looked between each other, seeming fine, before looking down at Toki.

Now that he was in a safer environment, by a cozy fireplace, he had a bit of time for his anxieties to lower some and feel more grounded again.

He blinked and saw he was instinctively just petting the kitten repeatedly.

Toki smile some at seeing their content, sleepy face as they squeaked a bit.

"...You ams okays..."

He sounded more surprised, yet relieved; closing his eyes and hugging them close, so gently, like they could break at any given moment.

Taiga took that as a relative yes and nodded, mostly to herself.

"Good. I'm glad I came across you all in time. Cougars are pretty rare around here...

Only a few sightings have ever been documented before apparently, but..."

She watched as Toki cooed more at the kitten.

She understood completely why the mother chased them.

But she wouldn't scold them. They already went through enough.

"...yeah.

Either way, it's a good thing we're all safe now. But we might have to wait here a while. If you need anything, just let me know."

Taiga offered and was met with more stares.

She sighed a bit.

"Yes, I know I must look different-"

Murderface suddenly spoke up again, making good progress on the wound he could see. It was almost impressive how well he could handle the pain.

"Moscht furriesch do."

Taiga paused and blinked, then looked floored.

"What the- I- Ah- No, I'm not a furry!" Taiga stumbled over her words a little from how baffled she was at what she just heard.

He shrugged.

"Whatever you wanna call it-"

"I'm SERIOUS, look at me!"

Taiga suddenly yanked a bit on her tail enough to prove a point, along with doing the same, but a bit softer, to her sensitive ears.

"This is just how I am!"

"...Yeah, ookay."

Taiga facepalmed and gave up, realizing she wasn't getting anywhere with this.

She didn't need their validation, but she's never been accused of this before.

She had heard the term in the past, but didn't really consider herself one after learning what it meant.

At least, she thought so???

One of her ears then instinctively flicked over at the sound of a tape recorder click, along with Nathan saying a song title that he thought up just now from witnessing this:

"Feral Contusion"

Taiga looked up in confusion at the man's now more softened features as he seemed pretty pleased with what he just did, but she didn't question it as she sighed and looked down; closing her eyes for a second.

Pickles seemed intrigued once he got past his own initial shock.

"...Okay well, either way, ya gotta admit, dat's pretty cool."

He grinned a bit and glanced at the guys, gauging their reactions.

"I used to think it would be awesome as hell if I had a tail."

"Oh! Or wings!"

Toki suddenly spoke up, looking significantly more excited after all of that.

"Or horse legs."

Most of them paused and looked at the blonde. Besides Toki, who didn't seem perturbed at all as he kept playing with the kitten.

"...What?"

Nathan spoke.

"What!?"

Skwisgaar quickly said, somewhat defensively, and turned away slightly as he crossed his arms.

Back to his deep frown.

He regretted throwing that bottle now, as he tapped his fingers on his arm.

Taiga was so surprised as they all seemed to be less and less concerned about her appearance.

The last time anyone reacted so relatively positively to finding out the truth, was Luci.

Taiga's eyes glazed over a bit as she remembered her best friend's visage again.

It felt bittersweet.

But she took a quick breath and refocused as Toki suddenly asked what her name was.

She didn't even notice he was staring at her this time, but it wasn't from awkwardness, more from awe.

Like he couldn't believe she was real.

"I go by Taiga."

She smiled a tiny bit as her nickname was complimented and called pretty by him, but Murderface snorted and not so softly said behind her:

"Of coursche."

Taiga deadpanned, but pretended she didn't hear that.

Pickles chuckled as he got a big smirk on his face and slyly said:

"Like you have room ta talk, Murderface~"

Murderface was almost done fixing himself up already, but almost botched it as he stood up from the chair he sat in, knocking it over with how fast he moved.

"OH ALRIGHT, PICKLESCH!"

He didn't seem phased and glanced away, snickering at how easily he could make Murderface angry.

Taiga couldn't help but smile a bit more as she rolled her eyes at their antics; seeing Pickles lazily poke his tongue out the side of his mouth.

She didn't want to be weird about it, but still made herself ask once the noise died down, even though she knew the answer.

"And... You're Dethklok, right?"

They each perked up again for once at being recognized, but then nodded/confirmed as such verbally for her as they realized it's truly not that surprising with how big they were.

All types listened to them.

Nathan put his focus back on Taiga; his intense look piercing through her, but she didn't cower at all.

Just looked right back at him.

She realized he was just trying to remember something when he asked if she was at their show.

Taiga almost laughed.

She would have been hard to miss if she did.

"No, but it would be fun to get to go see you guys one day."

Skwisgaar looked slightly surprised and raised a brow as he looked back over at her.

"You've never beens tos a concerts?"

"Just not your guys' before."

Taiga dramatically put her hand up to her head and pretended to be distraught.

"I'm too poor."

But then she stopped and laughed.

"Maybe one day, though!"

Nathan was relieved that Taiga didn't start trying to guilt trip them into giving her a free ticket or something. As soon as he heard it, he was starting to tense up before he realized.

Because even if she technically saved them, they didn't owe her anything.

Toki quickly spoke up again, however;

"Wowee. Maybes we cans gives you a ticket!"

Nathan wanted to tell him to shut up, but he didn't have to, because Taiga waved her hand in disagreement.

"No thank you.

That's very generous of you, but I'd rather actually pay for my ticket like everyone else. Besides, I'd feel bad having you guys do that."

She held one of her arms and giggled a bit as she awkwardly looked to the side; some of her hair covering her face.

She still wasn't used to it whenever so much attention was on her, and sometimes, she just needed a break.

But she wasn't really uncomfortable right now, thankfully.

Especially since most of the tension in the room seemed to be gone by this point.

Which made Taiga relieved.

Toki shrugged, but didn't look offended before he then carefully held up the kitten in his hands; looking underneath them before he moved his focus back up to their face, happily saying to no one in particular, that he was going to call them Aksel.

Taiga liked the name.

Understanding that it either meant "Father of peace," or "Mighty God," after wracking her brain for her knowledge of the Norwegian language.

Although, she didn't want to burst his bubble by telling him that he'd eventually have to give the baby back...

Especially since he seemed to start to feel much better.

So for now, she just stayed quiet.

Her eyes softened, and she couldn't help but feel bad for the man.

He probably just wanted a pet but didn't know what he truly got himself into.

Taiga then saw that Murderface was pretty much finished with his self patch job.

At least, for now.

He knew that he would need help later on with his back, but he really wasn't comfortable with taking his shirt off right now and letting someone do that to him.

She didn't question him and put the first-aid kit away when she saw he was for sure done with it.

He soon kept staring at Taiga's nata that was propped up against the floor.

He went over and picked it up to examine it; his love of weapons, especially the more stabby ones, getting the better of him.

When Taiga noticed, she immediately tensed up and wanted to snatch it out of Murderface's grip on instinct, but she resisted that urge and just stayed off by his side as he looked at it with a mischievous grin.

"...You like it?"

She asked, glancing anxiously between him and her beloved nata.

It couldn't be replaced.

Especially not Luci's ribbon tied to it...

So she didn't want anything to happen to it.

"Yeah. Could I have it?"

Taiga's breath hitched for a second.

"Eh-

No. Sorry.

But, I know where you can get one."

"Aw, c'mon!

I'll give you a hundred bucksch for it right now!"

Murderface had an expression like he had this in the bag, until Taiga immediately said no again.

He frowned and kept raising the price.

Until Taiga got tired of saying no and sighed, pinching her brow.

"It's not... for sale.

You can look at it, but just please, be careful."

Murderface grumbled and mocked her a bit, but surprisingly listened, looking very intrigued with the design of her nata, along with its finish.

Taiga lowered her arm and was about to get something to eat, but then she stopped when she heard what sounded like...

Helicopter blades?

Oh wow, those were getting loud, and extremely close.

Her eyes widened and she looked out one of her windows.

One of the most daunting and intricate looking helicopters she had ever seen was currently making a landing in the clearing, but was too big for the surrounding trees, effectively knocking them down.

Taiga fumed; she still owned this land after all, but tried to keep her cool.

At least it didn't damage her cottage, she thought, trying to be positive.

As soon as the guys heard and saw their Dethkopter, most of them immediately went to bum rush the door; Murderface even forgetting about the nata for now right after he put it back, and Taiga was about to shout after them to remind them of how the cougar was probably still biding its time, hiding out there despite the noise...

Before her ears picked up gunshots.

Taiga felt dread flowing through her core and she chanced looking back out the window.

She quickly looked away again, letting the guys leave her cottage.

She knew it was self-defense in that moment, as the hooded men shot the cougar, but she couldn't help but feel terrible...

All she wanted to do was protect her baby.

No one else seemed to care.

Like they were used to this.

But Taiga knew that this was a pretty fucked up world they all were in...

People even got killed on damn game shows these days.

Though...

That still didn't mean she had to just roll over and accept it like most everyone else.

But... Now what?

How could she even try to make this better?

They cheered and Skwisgaar mumbled out something along the lines of:

"Finallys."

And Nathan spoke up as they each started to leave,

"Fuck yes! Where were you, Charles!? We could have STARVED."

"It's been, ah, less than an hour."

He wasn't too worried anyways since he had trackers on the boys, but it took longer than anticipated, and he knew that anything could happen in any given amount of time.

---

Earlier when Charles was first informed about what happened to the boys, a sudden Supercell thunderstorm of seismic proportions had come out of nowhere, and wasn't spotted as they were making their flight, despite the weather radar they had installed.

The winds from the violent tornadoes it had caused, along with the severity of the lightning and size of the hail that came with it, was strong enough to even throw the Dethkopter repeatedly off course.

It was one of the worst, and most unnatural looking that Charles had ever seen.

In other circumstances, he may have even thought it to be beautiful...

He knew it wasn't impossible, but from the cyclone, the form of dark blues that flashed from within quickly morphed into a harmonious tertiary mix of purples and reds; a gut feeling tearing through Charles, telling him that this storm, like all the others he had seen happen before, was no mere coincidence.

And it had sent him further into his own level of frantic searching.

Yet he kept his cool. As he always did.

He had to. Especially in the position he held.

It was a difficult fight with mother nature, and some Klokateers were blown out of the aircraft, but he had to stay focused so the entire flight crew would not end up the same way.

But thankfully this battle seemed to end with a truce.

With the assistance of their complete avionics system, along with the Klokateers who were each trained and handpicked as the best of the best for these jobs, were able to make it back on the ground to their destination.

Although, Charles made a mental note to see to it that Dethklok's driver that accidentally stranded them would be replaced immediately.

And effectively "fired" after this fiasco.

But he'd worry about the messy details later.

---

The guys talked a bit louder as they left, to compensate for the loud noises from the Dethkopter.

Taiga didn't hear the bandmates animatedly trying to tell Charles every little thing that happened to them as he saw Murderface's injuries and urgently tried to have him looked at, but he wouldn't budge and said not to worry about that right now because he wanted to finish what he had to say too.

Funny though, because any other time, he'd be annoyed, because usually no one would pay his injuries attention at all.

But Charles just relented and "listened" to them as they talked over each other for the most part, and they had to keep starting over.

Even though he looked emotionless right now, you could see the exasperation in his eyes if you looked hard enough.

But eventually Charles started getting the gist of it throughout the rambling; beginning to fully understand more and take it all in after deciphering their...

Well, basically word spaghetti.

He got used to having to do that.

At first he thought they were all extremely high once again, but then he spotted Taiga through one of the cottage's windows himself.

He didn't physically react much, but it definitely gave him pause for a second.

Then again, not much phased him after the certain things he had witnessed before...

---

In the meantime, Toki stayed a bit behind as he stood up with his new kitten.

He still looked so happy and didn't see what happened to the baby's mother.

Or...

He just pretended it didn't happen.

Taiga had her arms crossed and was hugging herself a bit as she tried to calm down from that image that was burned into her memory when she looked out the window.

Guilt started coursing through her veins like the contents of a chilling IV drip...

Could she have saved the poor creature?

She tried not to beat herself up. It's not like she could really do much...

Taiga shut her eyes for a bit, but re-opened them and looked back up as Toki suddenly thanked her. He was the first one to.

She forced a small smile onto her face and nodded.

"Of course. It was nice to help, and meet you all."

Her voice wasn't as light anymore, yet she still tried to be friendly.

But she could start to see the glint of the unsure look bubbling up in the young man's eyes as he stared down at the new life that he was now responsible for.

It was a crushing weight, and the feeling was pretty terrifying each time that he got a new pet.

Would he mess this up as well even more... Without trying?

Toki felt like an idiot for being so impulsive lots of times.

Taiga tried not to hold any resentment towards him for taking the cub.

It sure wouldn't help anything.

Besides...

Everyone made mistakes.

No one was perfect.

She never forgot a lot of her own past regrets, as they continue to haunt her.

And she wouldn't wish that on anybody.

So she decided to at least throw Toki a bone before he got too deep into his head again.

She knew that feeling all too well, and didn't want to stand by and do nothing overall.

Taiga hurriedly found and handed him one of her favorite and most educational conservationist and ecology books.

"Here. This should help you out... I hope that it all works out for you."

You weren't really supposed to have cougars as pets, but she meant that. Hopefully the cub could be taken care of properly.

Besides, she felt like they'd each already be given lectures of some form at some point before the night was over.

She tried to inform Toki on what sources to look out for as well as those to keep in mind, especially if he ever went looking online.

She thankfully was able to save a bunch of animals out here before, and a few in her travels outside the country. And she was grateful for that, but she was only so knowledgeable.

Regardless, Taiga tried her best to explain it the best she could.

And Toki seemed to genuinely be listening.

His eyes lit up the more she went on, and he borrowed a pencil to write some things down in one of the books.

His handwriting was all over the place, but he seemed to understand it, and that's what mattered anyway, so she didn't say anything.

Taiga almost giggled a bit at how enthusiastically he kept saying "Wowee!"

But she held it back.

She got so into delving into this information, that she almost forgot about the terrible parts of today's events.

But then when she turned a bit, her eyes widened and she almost jumped when she noticed Charles standing in the doorway with a briefcase; the shadows cascading over his features making him look almost ominous.

She saw him a bit before in the media, but she knew even less about him than the band. Besides the fact that he was their manager.

Not that it was her business to know more anyway.

Taiga calmed down and sighed as she stared curiously at the man.

Toki was excitedly finishing up writing as he leaned over the table.

His tongue poked out absent-mindedly as he focused on it; licking his lips a bit.

Charles was almost surprised at seeing him that intensely focused, but once he saw the cub he held in his free arm, he held back a sigh.

"Toki...

What do you, ah, have there...?"

He was dreading asking; figuring he already knew the answer since he had gotten pets randomly before.

He knew how much it could mean to him, but despite his warnings, Toki wanted to keep him, and promised to give him the best "habipstaps."

"Hab... itat."

"Hambitets!"

Taiga shook her head a bit as she just smiled a little again. She looked a bit defeated, but didn't judge.

Toki's confident smile was beaming too brightly, so she just let him have this.

"You ams nice ladies!"

He then faced Charles again to reiterate that he promises he would take good care of Aksel.

He gave up this newest battle.

Toki was obviously dead set on this.

There were worse "pets" out there that he could have tried taking home, he supposed.

Then Toki asked if he could ask Taiga for more "cool" tips if he needed them in the future, or if she could even come to Mordhaus at some point to oversee the structure and layout of the habitat since she knew a lot about it.

His tone was very convincing, and he even tried to say he wouldn't have to hire anyone to do it.

She raised a brow for a second, wondering why he didn't just ask her directly since she was, you know... Right there.

And the fact Toki just assumed and insinuated she'd do it.

For free.

But she just let it go.

It was kind of amusing in a certain way how each member of Dethklok held their manager in such high regard, yet also treated him with such disregard at different points in time.

But it probably wasn't like that for him alone.

Either way, she actually wouldn't mind doing all that, to a point.

It would put Taiga's mind at ease being able to check in on Aksel in some form or another, however.

Even if it wasn't her fault, she still felt like she was responsible, no matter how much she knew she wasn't.

...Not that she had no semblance of trust in these people, but...

At the same time, she didn't actually know really them as individuals.

So it was hard to say.

And today was definitely a rocky start, putting it lightly.

But she tried to keep an open mind at the very least.

Charles stared at the girl.

More calculating than anything.

It was usually a liability concern when deal with who each individual who entered Mordhaus, who wasn't either an employee or a part of the band.

But he knew simple fixes to that...

And hey, if this person could actually keep Toki happy without giving him or others any extra problems to deal with (like a certain clown did), even better.

Not that he wouldn't be keeping a close eye.

Just in case.

So he ultimately said that that would be fine.

However, Taiga could tell that this conversation wasn't truly over yet.

Toki smiled even wider, like a kid in a candy store, since he was told that it was alright, and his top lip twitched a little; his mustache swinging a bit with the movement.

Charles did have a sense of exigency though, and reminded Toki that they should probably get going as well, as soon as he saw the chance to.

He agreed as he politely returned the pen.

"Thanks..."

Taiga sighed out a bit as she leaned over some and carefully wrote out her phone number in his book as well.

But she didn't seem frustrated.

More so, worn out.

So much had happened in such a short amount of time, and it was all catching up with her.

She internally hoped to at least get some rest later on, but she doubted that greatly.

Taiga put the pen down after she was done, and Toki beamed as he picked up his books and thanked her once again.

He happily said goodbye, gently moving Aksel's little paw to make it look like he was waving at her, before he quickly bounded away; off in his own little world as his tall figure went over towards the Dethkopter.

Taiga could see him through the window; his mouth quickly moving like he was excitedly talking to the cub before covering their tiny ears as they got closer to the aircraft.

It was pretty adorable, but she still couldn't bring herself to feel very chipper right now.

Charles didn't waste any time though as Taiga faced him once again.

Before he left, he wanted to make some things clear.

Taiga suddenly felt the shift in the air, like she should really watch her words, and actions while with this man especially.

She crossed her arms as he spoke, and she made eye contact with him.

"I must say that you, ah, certainly have our gratitude..."

Taiga figured he was half-heartedly attempting to save face in regards to the band, since most of them didn't really show the gratitude he mentioned, but she shrugged a bit.

"I'm just glad I could make it in time. I hope they'll be alright."

He curtly nodded, but took note of her genuine tone, before pulling out some papers.

Taiga could see this is what he actually wanted to get to as she put her arms back down by her sides. He brought the papers over to the table and neatly placed them out for her; his gloved fingers moving precisely, like he's done this routine a million times before.

She took note that he didn't seem affected in the slightest by her appearance, but that was honestly a relief at this point.

Charles explained that he would also greatly appreciate it if Taiga could fill out and sign an NDA, along with a waiver of liability.

She thought, but then paused for a bit.

She wasn't surprised by either option. Especially from the things she's heard happen around Dethklok as a whole.

And she didn't argue, but brought up something.

"Okay. I'll sign the waiver, but...

Actually, may I offer something that could potentially help us both...?"

Charles had to admit, he was taken aback, but he didn't show it.

Most people didn't even think to challenge his offers, but he was actually interested in what this girl had to say.

A slight sound of acknowledgement came from the back of his throat.

"...Let's hear it."

Taiga explained her situation in this city, and how she had help in keeping it under wraps with NDAs as well from her friends Ali and Cait.

Charles continued to make mental notes as she spoke, and she could tell, but continued on; giving over the information he may need if he wanted to confirm the details with them  too.

He didn't think that she was lying, but it was best to cover your bases when legalities were involved.

Taiga figured since there was going to be a contract signed regardless, she may as well just be completely honest, and go out on a limb here for her own sake, as she asked if they could go through with an MNDA specifically.

But she didn't give him a sob story.

Just stated what was most prevalent to the situation.

Besides, she knew that afterwards she'd be looked into more thoroughly anyway.

By either Charles, and/or others.

It was inevitable, but also understandable. Despite how intimidating this all was, she wasn't going to be difficult.

It would be stupid to even try such a thing.

What would she even be able to do, that wouldn't end in disaster?

Especially with the status Dethklok held...

They were legitimately global superpowers.

Not worth it.

Charles understood, and he was glad she actually knew what she was talking about in this regard, and cut to the chase.

Either way, he didn't see how this could really have any negative consequences, so he agreed on it.

Taiga relaxed a bit more at hearing that.

She didn't expect today to end up like this at all...

But if it could end somewhat amicably, with her safety intact, she'd take it.

As Charles set it all up, she wrote down what she needed to and instinctively organized each of the papers before handing them back over to the practically inexpressible man.

He would make sure to keep his end of the deal. If anything, he wasn't the kind of man to go back on his word.

And Taiga didn't know that about him of course, but she felt like she could actually trust this all to not blow up in flames, or worse.

He was critically acclaimed to be preeminent in what he did.

So, she tried not to worry too much about it.

At least for now.

Although, she did have one more prominent issue to bring up before he left.

But she tried to make it quick.

Taiga was confused on how she would even make the commute to and from the citadel itself.

She stated how she would use the money she had been saving up and putting away from her job at the day care Cait ran, but it still most likely wouldn't be enough.

And Taiga's job running the homeless shelter, she didn't get paid for that, and didn't want to.

She loved helping out no matter the circumstances.

She already felt bad enough having Cait pay her at first for something she'd happily do for free, but she insisted.

Charles waved it off, and decided to make a deal with her.

She wouldn't have to pay them any fees, as long as she could make sure not to cause any trouble.

For Dethklok, or him.

Charles said he would have a packet sent to her that would be filled with all of the important guidelines she would have to follow whenever stepping foot onto the property of Mordhaus.

And she wasn't the kind of person that wanted to cause some sort of scandal.

So she especially knew the obvious things to not do.

Again, from a rational standpoint, why would she?

Celebrity or not, there were just some things fans, or others did, that she could never even think of trying.

Also...

The members who made up Dethklok were grown men at the end of the day, and she wouldn't try and play babysitter, or be controlling...

But she heeded the warnings, regardless.

And would try her best to respectfully keep things in check when needed.

Even if something out of her control happened, she would just try to work through and accept it as she paid the price.

Taiga still thought it was extremely fair, and surprisingly generous of him (even if he was mostly being smart and covering his ass) given the circumstances, but she could see that overall, despite his uncaring demeanor or the monkey business that ever took place, he just wanted to keep the guys happy.

At the very least in ways that wouldn't be self detrimental, if he could help it.

So after getting past her stupefaction, she signed off on that agreement as well.

"...Thank you."

Charles glanced briefly over the papers for now before tucking them away once again.

"Yes, well...

Thank you for your time and, ah, cooperation, Ms. Taira."

Taiga nodded as she internally cringed at her real last name being said, but didn't bother saying anything about it.

Charles simply then bid her a good night and farewell; not making any grand gestures, or wasting any more time with further pleasantries as he hastily left her cottage and made his way back to the Dethkopter.

...

Taiga tried to reflect on what all happened today.

Actually, she didn't have to try.

It wouldn't leave her brain.

Especially as she went outside and was left with the mother cougar's body after everyone flew off.

Seeing these kinds of things never got any easier, but she tried to stay strong for what she needed to do next.

Taiga knew that she should take a few moments for herself later on...

It would be healthy.

Not selfish at all, she reminded herself.

And maybe, just maybe, she could successfully get a good rest afterwards.

With no nightmares.

...

But this would continue to itch away at her until she cracked...

She couldn't just leave them out here, anyway.

She wouldn't be able to live with herself.

...

So she got started.

--

As she finished burying the cougar,

Taiga knew the cycle of life would continue, no matter how she felt.

And she took her gloves off, putting them away as she got lost in thought once again.

The body would decay, feeding other lifeforms, just as others that perish.

But each time, she wanted, no...

Needed to give a proper burial.

And when possible, a ritual for it.

It was always such an intense experience.

Emotional and otherwise while going through each ritual.

But Taiga would do it again and again.

In her eyes, it was deserved.

She didn't believe in "perfect," but tried her best to carry this out in the closest way to it as possible.

Taiga closed her eyes, and tears fell down her face as she inhaled; wishing the cougar farewell, and honoring her.

If her spirit wished to remain in contact, she would gladly accept that and try her best to appease them just as she did for any others that came her way...

Whether they made a connection or not, she wanted to be a safe guide, no matter the duration of the stay.

Taiga made another protective charm, similar to the ones inside and around her cottage, and placed it over the grave.

Despite her inner turmoil about how this turned out, she tried to move forward.

Staying stagnant in this moment wouldn't change much.

She would not ever forget this experience of course, but wanted to do right by this being, no matter the cost.

If that meant watching over the cub, so be it.

Taiga would try and help whenever she was called, even after their final breaths were taken.

So after saying her final goodbyes, she got back up, dusted the dirt off herself a bit, and headed inside her cottage again to get on her new computer; immediately getting started on researching more.

She wanted to go above and beyond trying to expand her knowledge on the care, and overall ways of these creatures themselves; highlighting key DOs and DONTs.

Even if she already knew quite a lot about felines as a whole, it wouldn't hurt to read up on them even more.

Focusing on this helped distract her mind for a while...

Easing any pain that came with thinking too much on the events that transpired, or when they would suddenly flash into her head again.

But she also tried to steel herself and not push herself too hard again; taking some breaks inbetween, and trying to just...

Breathe.

When Taiga was able to open her eyes and look back up again, she let herself feel, but reminded herself of what was the utmost truth...

And the end goal she was striving towards.

Strengthened by her new resolve, she took a few more breaths, and was able to set a timer for herself to stop for tonight before trying to get some sleep afterwards.

And as Taiga finished up her current study session and jotted down her notes in the much more silent, coiling vibrations of the now recessing woods that surrounded her...

She couldn't help but wonder what the future may have in store for her from here on out.

~~~~~