#do you know how long that taaaaaakes?

[whyeverr]

Err... That was the plan anyway.

After waking up hungry and alone, Lydia achieved her last infant milestone—learning to pull herself up to standing! all by herself!—out of sheer desperation, only to realize it gets her no closer to Octavia up on the roof! 🥲

Thankfully Tyler's dropped by (once again!) to save the day.

[themoonytomypads]

I'm proud of loving you 🏳️‍🌈✨🌙

(Or Wolfstar's first Pride Parade)

Sirius was really.fucking.excited. Just a week ago Lily and Moony had told him about this event, and now he was just an hour away from arriving. But of course that hour was like a bloody century for Sirius Orion Black.

Sirius: Moooooooooooons! How long is gonna taaaaaake?

Remus already knew how impatient his boyfriend could be, but somehow he managed to get on his nerves every.damn.time. He sighed long before answering

Remus: Well, since you made the same question FIVE MINUTES AGO, still 55 minutes left on the road Sirius. Ask one more bloody time and I swear to god I'm gonna turn this car around.

As the drama queen he is, Sirius flipped his hair towards his bf and turned his head to the passengers window, with puppy eyes and pouting. Remus catched that sight on the side mirror and sighed again.

Remus: I know you're excited pup, but we'll get there just on time. Lily and James already saved us a parking spot near the beginning of the parade, you heard their patronus.

Sirius faced his boyfriend again and gave him a sorry smile.

Sirius: I know love, but I'm kinda nervous too, this is our first Pride as a couple and I want it to be perfect... After all, we fucking deserve to celebrate our love, Remus...

It had been a rough couple of months. After Sirius' mother discovered about their relationship, she had disowned his older son (not without hurting him as badly as she could first... They had to petrify James so he wouldn't go after her)

Remus: And we will baby.

The determination on Remus' voice, helped Sirius to calm down. He hummed contently, and turned the radio volume up. "I Will Survive" was playing on a muggle station, it was one of Sirius' favorite karaoke songs (thanks to Lily), so he started singing (or 'performing' basically) without a worry in the world. Remus sung along while laughing at Pads' dorkyness.

Time passed between many songs sung off key and laughs, till they finally arrived. Sirius' and Remus' eyes shined with happiness when they saw the scene in front of them. Cheerful people in a massive crowd, with colorful clothes, flags, makeup and beautiful decorated floats. And they couldn't help but feel a strong feeling of belonging. All the people were being so nice to each other, and they looked like a family. Sirius felt tears forming on his eyes and beginning to fall from the corners of his eyes, but it was from happiness. Pure happiness and hope, finally feeling like he was not a broken bloke, that he was ok, that he was normal, and natural and so deserving of loving whoever the fuck he wanted. Just like all the beautiful people around him. And like the precious perfect boy who hugged him in that moment.

Sirius: Moony... I...

Remus: I know love, I know...

They were holding each other tight, feeling like floating on all the love they were feelig... for each other... for their new discovered family... when suddenly a familiar voice brought them back to reality.

James: Oi, lovebirds! We're here

They turned around and saw Lily and James walking towards them holding hands. James was wearing a shirt with the pansexual flag and his face was painted with the same colours. Both of his friends smiled. They knew James had struggle for a while figuring out his sexuality (after all, from year 3 to 5 he used to be madly in love with Sirius' little brother, even though that didn't work out), and they were so happy to see that their mate was finally comfortable with that.

Sirius: You're rockin' Pride, my dear Prongsie!

James: So do you, Pads! I can't believe you even convinced Moony to wear face paint.

Because, of course, after an eternal whinning, Remus caved into Sirius' begging of going full on showing their pride. Moony had the bisexual flag colors on his face and a tshirt that said "I'm mooning over this man" (totally pun intended, since it was Sirius idea) with an arrow pointing Sirius. Meanwhile, Sirius was wearing booty shorts with all the Pride flag colors, and a croptop ("Moony, it's a fashion statment! God, you're such an old men!") that said "This sexy BEAST is mine" with an arrow pointing Remus (again, totally pun intended).

Remus: The things you do for love, right Lily?

He specifically talked to the redhead because she was also wearing a ridiculous tshirt that said "I'm Jamie-sexual" written in the demisexual flag colors (since the girl figured that was her sexuality, and it was kinda true bc the only person she was ever attracted to that way, was her boyfriend, and only because she loved him so so much)

Lily: We must love this two dorks way too much.

Sirius: Oi! Enough chatting and talking crap about my and my brother's impressive creativity.

James: Yeah! But you're right in one thing, my sweet love: You love us a freaking lot. Now, shall we go show some pride?

Each couple holded hands and walked to the happy crowd. Everyone there received them with smiles, cheers, and a general sentiment of love. Because that was what they're were celebrating after all. Their right to LOVE, who, how, and when they wanted.

The Parade started, and they all raised their flags, while a car was blasting "Dancing Queen" and Sirius started dancing and walking at the same time, still holding hands with his dear Moony.

They all had the times of their lifes. They marched, danced, singed and also had a shit ton of booze. That's how James and Sirius ended up dancing to "The Boys Are Back In Town" on the top of a moving float, while their partners watched them with a little of embarrassment and so much love on their faces.

They were happy. Full of love, full of life. Full of PRIDE. Just like they should. Just like they deserved 🏳️‍🌈✨.

[ohgoddard]

Fist of Fire: Omega.1.7

“Taaaaaake my haaaaand, take my wholeeeeee liiiiiife tooooo..”

The song snakes its way into my cell. And into my ears. I clasp my hands over my ears.

“For I. Can’t. Help. Falling in love, with, youuuuuuuuu.”

He found the venue I wanted, the dance I dreamt of. And the song I wanted to play at the reception when she and I took to the dance floor. I don’t know he found out, but he wormed his way into my mind and discovered things I only kept for myself. Like the dress, I was going to wear to my wedding. I saw it in a window at a boutique, and it stuck in my mind for months. He bought it and sent me photos of some other woman getting married in it.

” Like a river flows, gently to the sea..”

I shove myself into the corner of my small room, tears welling in my eyes. All the power in the world couldn’t have escaped the hell I was putting myself through. This slime of a man won’t hold me forever. I am the master of my own fate. I control when I leave. I control what I say. I am In control. I am in control. I am in -

“Ahem.”  His voice startles me. He stands in the doorway to my cell, no orderlies with him at all. He never needed them. Not that they could do anything anyways. Out of all the villains I've fought, all the so-called heroes I’ve had to put down, he has been the vilest of beings I have encountered. He has never given me any name, and no one will tell me about him. Some say he isn’t real, thinking they can gaslight me. They can’t pull the wool over my eyes. I know what's real. I’ve decided to give him a name of my own. Most of them couldn’t be uttered in polite conversation, and some of them not even in casual conversation. I call him “Snitch”. It is the closest compromise I could make for myself between polite names and the word bitch.

“I am so sorry to stop our session right now, Ms.Kiara. I thought we were so close to breaking through whatever barrier you had constructed for yourself that prevented me from... Solving your issues. I need you to work with me for us to get past this guilt you have surrounded yourself with.”

“Burn in hell.” A sharp migraine was my reward for such a remark. “Regardless, “he said with a cruel smile, "we have to end today. There is a parade in town and I’d rather go see it than talk to you, frankly.” The insult meant nothing compared to the news he dropped. [i]The parade was finally here?[i] I tried to hide my face from him, but I think he saw my look of shock. Thankfully, though he is an insightful man, his pride is rather large. “Oh, don’t look like that. It should be no surprise that I have a life outside of interrogating some power-tripping failure. My favorite hero is in town. I wouldn’t miss him for the world.”

This seems… too good to be true. Freedom from the Snitch, the parade in town with Whirlwind, and a chance to finally be done with this horror I have been putting myself through? For it all to happen at once, with the people involved...no. No, it can’t be true. I don’t let myself fall for it. He’s tricking me. I feel the heat behind my eyes begins to swell, how could I have let myself almost fall for this?

I spit at his shoes. “Some therapist you are.”

A sound of disapproval comes from Snitch. “Disappointing reaction, I have to say. I would have expected so much more...emotion. I must be going soft in my approach. No matter. I’ll be back tomorrow. See you then, ‘o patient of mine.” He turns to leave the room, I watch as he leaves, I feel as he gets into his car, and watch as he drives away to the town with enhanced vision. He truly leaves.

Was the parade today? Has time truly passed that quickly? No, no I can’t let my excitement get ahead of me. I need to focus. I need to make sure what's happening is, well, happening. I take a few long breaths and try to broaden my hearing. Slowly, my ears become full of every conversation and noise in the hospital. Then, the noises of the grounds around it. The squirrels and birds chirping, the worms burrowing. Then beyond even that to the small town that rests some miles away from this hospital. I hear cars driving, trash being thrown away, the voices of policemen clearing the streets in a straight line….no it can’t be.

Instantly, the stress and pain I've been feeling for weeks, months in this damn hospital begins to fade away. In its place, the long-suppressed rage begins to open up. He is within my grasp, finally. The months of terrible hospital food, pretending to be insane, flirting with an exasperated psychiatrist, admitting to my so-called “crimes”, all of it will be worth it if I can just get my hands around Whirlwind’s neck. He is so close within my grasp.

I stand up in my cell, the door still open. They never close the door on me. I have never left before, made no attempt to even try. Not like any door could stop me anyway. I walk out of my room and down the hall, the walking nurses and staff glancing at me with surprised and worried eyes. One of them runs to a phone and talks into it, telling the orderlies that I am leaving. The reply she gets is,[i] "we couldn’t stop her if we tried. Just let her go.”[i] I walked down the halls to the counter where I checked in my items when I turned myself into the hospital. All around me I felt staring eyes, and a crowd of the nurses and doctors trailed behind me at a distance. I stepped towards the counter, behind it a very scared-looking old woman. I would be scared too. My reputation precedes me, I have murdered a lot of beloved public figures. They may not be beloved anymore, but the fact that I killed them still brought terror. Not to mention that I feel the heat my stare was giving, just a notch below going full heat vision, due to my rage. The poor old lady cleared her throat. “C-c-can I help you, Miss.Kei--Omega Man?” I smiled. She called me by my name. My real one. Kiara died in a fire with her father. “Hello, ma’am. I want the clothes I turned in a few months ago. Can I have them back?” I tried to make my voice sound as least threatening as possible. It may not have worked, as she hastily nodded and ran off to the shelves behind her. It was a couple of minutes of straight silence as the lobby of the hospital was quiet. The only noise was that of the air conditioner and the ringing of a phone not being picked up. I could feel the nervousness of the staff there.

The old woman returned with a cardboard box labeled, “OMEGA MAN (K,K) [EVIDENCE PENDING RELEASE]”. I chuckled and reached for the box, noticing a paper taped to the top. It was a release form, waiting for my signature. Noticing me looking, the old woman looked horrified. “O-oh, I'm sorry I’ll just take that paper back please don’t be mad it was a- “ “No no,” I say. I reach for a pen in the cup on her counter and sign my name at the bottom of the paper. “Rules are rules, after all.” A large black inked “OMEGA MAN” was branded at the bottom. I lay the paper on the counter, lifting the box with my hands. As I do so, I turn and face the crowd of scared onlookers. “Thank you so much for taking care of me all these months. I am forever in your debt. Tell no one I have left your hospital.” And just before I walk out the door, I turn to face the crowd once more. “I’ll know if you do.” I wink and leave.

It's all behind me now. Only one goal is ahead of me now. And only one step I can complete at this moment. As I'm walking, I open the top of the box and look inside. Neatly folded, and nicely cleaned is the uniform of Omega Man. And next to the black shirt and jeans sits a bronze helmet. The helmet. And when I put it on, It takes me back to the first moment I did this. When I first got my powers.

When I became Omega Man.

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Two weeks since her father died. Shot like a lame horse in front of her by someone the public still adores as a hero. Kiara couldn’t leave her bed for three days, walk away from it for 9. Her fiancé, Katie, took care of her the best she could, but it was like caring for a coma patient. She had just lost all the will to live. Near the end of the two weeks, Katie just left her. She said she couldn’t understand what happened, never could. But that didn’t mean Kiara had to shut herself away from her. She knows people take trauma in different ways, and that it was a traumatic situation, but this was no longer who she loved. She said in her sleep that she just wanted it to end. So, she ended it.

Two things died on Kiara within two weeks of each other. She was waiting for her to join them. But, something stopped it.

In my days laying bedridden, underneath her paralyzed self was a pit of despair. Every pained step she took afterward was a step towards strangling that bastard that shot my father like a sick dog, then falling onto my face in tears because my knees could no longer support my body. Ambition outpaced their ability, and she cracked. When Katie left, the only thing holding her back was gone. Kiara died in a fire along with her father. The last vestige of who she was walked out the door, unable to find her love in the blank heated stare of the shell before her. Her job fired her because her efficiency dropped to the floor, her insurance dropped her because she stopped paying them, her friends haven’t heard from her since the attack. She didn’t even go to her own father’s funeral.

Instead, she sat in a wheelchair, looking out of the window of her apartment she was soon to be evicted from. Kiara had a lot of problems going on for her, it would seem like her life was falling apart. It would be if she were alive. Kiara died in a terrorist attack with her father. Leftover was an empty shell, needing to be filled with purpose and identity. And it was found on the last day. In incredible pain, the shell hauled itself to the top of the apartment building. Defeated by blow after blow, its former life all but ended in the name; it was time to make it a reality. With a pathetic shamble to the edge of the roof, tears falling from its eyes, it looked up into the sky for one last sign that this was not the end for it.

And as usual, the only thing that came was dark clouds and cold rain. A single, bare foot stepped forward from the edge, leaping. Finally, the rest of the body came with it. Spiraling down to the alley where the husk of a woman once stood over, plummeting to its demise. It closed its eyes, thinking it would see salvation in the gray pavement below.

But it didn’t fall.

A step was taken off the roof, gravity was trying its best to bring it down but there it floated in the air, beholden to no cradle of humanity. A few minutes passed by before the shell understood, and when I began to understand. It had the ability. His abilities. It became filled with purpose once more. To hunt down the evil bastards that did this to her. To me. I swore that day to continue the charade just a bit longer. To keep the public under my control for just a minute more. Kiara was dead, but her shell was filled once more.

I am Omega Man.

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I haven’t felt the cool rush of wind against my hair for so long. The blue sky, no longer tinted from through the windows of an asylum underfunded and understaffed. Tormented no longer by a sadistic therapist or a waste of time doctor trying to collect a paycheck. Far above the cloud level, I float while looking down at the town. I had to change my clothes, the old ones no longer important anymore. I didn’t need the pads that made me look bigger, and the shirt I wore over it was far too large for me. I opted for a simple pair of jeans and a black shirt. The only thing I kept was the helmet. My face. Without it, I am only Omega Man in my mind. When I wear it, the whole world can see who I really am. And with it, I can see the world for what it truly is.

Sick.

I am the cure that will cleanse this land of it’s parasites and murderers. Those who would divert a dam for a few thousand dollars, causing a few dozen deaths. False protectors who’d just as soon harm those they are sworn to protect. Icons of public view that use it for twisted reasons. There is no accountability, nothing to police the police. It is left to me. I will go beyond the confines of order. I will become the order. Nothing has stopped me yet.

Nothing will.

The world is safe under the watch of Omega Man. All will be happy. They will get to live the life Kiara never got to.

And it all begins here. Just a few dozen miles away from my self-imposed prison. He will be the spark that ignites the flame of prosperity and peace. The new world, free of crime, starts with death in the city of Boston.

And it will be brutal.