#heeeere you go! i hope you like your matches!

[frostfall-matches]

[ matchmaking... ]

@spongeofaces : [ match report ready ]

your romantic match is…

✦ Rook Hunt

-> [ While often overbearing, Rook is really quite sweet and thoughtful. ] He could even be described as considerate, if one ignores the fact that he can very quickly overstep boundaries when getting to know someone due to how zealous he can get. Regardless, these traits of his can be quite useful when trying to befriend someone on the introverted side such as yourself. He’s willing to put the effort into learning who someone is and is perfectly capable of carrying a conversation on his own if needed. If he ever gets to be too much, though, just let him know - he has no problems apologizing and backing off just enough that you no longer feel like he’s being invasive. The more you get to know him in return, you learn that he’s really just interested in figuring people out - and when it comes to people he grows fond of, he becomes very devoted and invested in their comfort and happiness.

-> [ He loves to hear about whatever topic you’ve been researching. The more obscure, the better! ] Rook is the type to value knowledge, both in breadth and depth - so feel free to share with him what you’ve learned. This way, he gets to learn about the subject itself, as well as a little bit about you at the same time! He’s very perceptive and intuitive, and hearing you talk about the topics that you find interesting allows him further glimpses into your mind. He’s quick to pick up your subtle, unspoken opinions in addition to everything that comes out of your mouth during your rants and rambles. Additionally, if he happens to know anything about a particular subject himself, it ends up turning into a very engaging discussion. He can get overly chatty at times, though, which is something he admits himself, but he is really good about letting you have your moment to talk, especially when it pertains to a topic you initially brought up.

-> [ He loves the duality of your personality. ] Though others often describe you as responsible and mature, you mention having a childish, sensitive side. Rook just adores when people aren’t what they initially seem to be, loves being able to peel back your layers to learn who you truly are deep down. It’s rewarding - proof that he’s gotten close enough to you that he sees this side of you. And honestly? He thinks that childish side to you is cute. It shows him that there’s still this sort of youth in you, that you’re still impressionable and learning and genuinely reacting to things in life even though you’re able to fill the mature and responsible role according to others. Also, even if you tend to adopt personality traits from those around you, he insists that however you view it, those traits are a part of you to some degree or another.

-> [ Rook is happy to provide advice on decisions you’re struggling with, but he’s good at encouraging you, too. ] He knows better than anyone that the world is full of individuals, and each person has their struggles. And if you struggle with making your own decisions without input from others? That’s okay! He figures that you’re just worried about making the “wrong” decision, that you value the input and opinion of other people. Still - your life is your own, and he makes sure to remind you of that! While he emphasizes that you should do what feels best for you, he also has really good advice and is able to examine things from many perspectives. On a similar note, Rook is gently encouraging when it comes to you getting out of your comfort zone, but ultimately he lets you take things at your own pace. If you’re worried about making an embarrassment of yourself, he’ll be right by your side, willingly making a fool of himself so you at least don’t feel so alienated.

-> [ Rook is happy to give you physical affection when you need it. ] It doesn’t matter if it’s because you’re craving comfort, because you want his attention, or simply just because - he enjoys being able to hold you close. He especially loves pulling you into his chest in a tight hug and tucking your head against his shoulder while he runs his fingers through your hair. He’s not one for excessive PDA, though he’s perfectly comfortable with the occasional hand holding, hug, or kiss on the cheek. In private, though, he’ll be as affectionate as you allow him to be; he might be a bit much at times! Like you, Rook is also the type to show his adoration for someone in various ways, though he often leans towards words of affirmation and acts of service. He likes to write poetry, so don’t be surprised if you find a sappy love poem tucked away in your bag among your textbooks. It’s so sweet that it’s almost hard to read without blushing.

-> [ It’s okay if you’re forgetful, because Rook will remember for you. ] Perhaps it’s a little unsettling at times, but he truly means well! He tends to keep track of your general schedule, and has a wildly good memory when it comes to any routines or habits you’ve developed. He’s really good about not being too invasive about it, but sometimes it surprises you how much he notices and remembers. When he’s around, you’ll never forget important dates, anniversaries, birthdays, or appointments - and he’s skilled at reminding you of things without being too pushy. Rook himself tends to get really excited when your birthday is coming up because he likes to plan a fun surprise celebration for you (and the surprise is all the better if you do happen to forget about your own birthday--). When it comes to shared events like anniversaries, he insists on you deciding on plans together, which can really help you keep on top of things.

your platonic match is…

✦ Floyd Leech

-> [ For better or worse, Floyd is someone who will help bring you out of your shell and comfort zone. ] He’s impulsive and likes to have fun, caring very little for the opinions of others. There are times where you have a lot of fun with him, forgetting your worries and just living in the moment. But there are also times where you feel like he’s attracting way too much attention to the both of you, and you want to crawl into a hole and die out of embarrassment. There’s no in-between in this case. Either way, though, he finds your reactions to be quite amusing (and he doesn’t feel bad in the slightest when you’re feeling mortified in public, unfortunately for you; he’ll just laugh about it). Floyd likes being the one to get you to loosen up here and there - and he’ll boast about it to any mutual friends of yours, too.

-> [ You’re willing to entertain his whims without letting him run absolutely wild. ] You know very well what type of person he is and how he likes to live his life - so you’re a great wingman when it comes to most of his ideas and plans. He appreciates that you’re able to accept who he is and the fact that he is impulsive, doing what he wants when he wants. In a way, you can definitely relate to him. All that said, you also make an effort to discourage Floyd from doing anything super dangerous or harmful, something that’s very likely to come back and bite him in the ass. Yes, you have a childish side, but you know how to be responsible when it matters. Azul and Jade thank you for this (even though Jade is more than willing to let his brother run wild most of the time and reap the consequences).

-> [ Gaming buddies! ] He can be quite particular when it comes to which game you guys play together and when, but you two can usually decide on something without too much fuss (mostly because you’re more on the agreeable and flexible side). Gaming sessions between you two typically start out with you two actively playing a multiplayer game together for a while, eventually shifting to both of you playing games individually in each other’s presence. Things can get pretty intense and heated when you’re playing with each other, with Floyd being naturally competitive and inspiring a similar attitude in you - but then the two of you settle down quite nicely when you decide to game individually, chattering and snacking when your focus isn’t 100% on the games. If you have any game recommendations, definitely let him know; he won’t always try them out, but he’s always on the hunt for something that could potentially become a new favorite.

-> [ Definitely the type to get you frog-themed gifts, considering your fondness for the creature. ] From frog-themed school supplies like pens and notepads, to frog-inspired desserts or snacks. And you’re happy to receive such gifts! After all, it’s quite the feat to get close enough to Floyd Leech that he bothers going out of his way to do things like this for you. He also insists that you don’t need to get him a gift back in return (though he wouldn’t turn a gift down from you), but if you’re insistent on paying him back maybe he’ll keep that in mind to cash in a favor later? Eventually, though, all these gifts may culminate in him assigning you a frog-related nickname… such as tadpole, for example, if he wants to poke a bit of fun at your more childish side that you tend to keep hidden from people. Besides, it’s a cute nickname for a cute person, in his opinion.

-> [ Floyd wants to know what you’re thinking about when you zone out. ] Is it something deep and philosophical? A mental conversation you’re having with yourself? Perhaps just… static and white noise? He can’t help but get super curious since you’re so often lost in your own head, not exactly present in the moment. In a similar vein, despite his somewhat lax (sometimes even callous) attitude towards others, he actually does try to prevent you from accidentally hurting yourself if you zone out around him. He’ll tug you away from a pole you’re about to walk into or uneven terrain you might trip up on, warn you when you’re about to hurt yourself while trimming your nails. Of course, his help does not come without some teasing - often asking you “what would you do without me, huh?” Occasionally he might get a little exasperated with your intermittent lack of self awareness and safety, but he’ll still be there for you.

-> [ In terms of music, Floyd likes what he likes, but is willing to check out music you recommend. ] There are a few genres he tends to avoid, but he generally has a fairly wide range of tastes. Why limit himself to very specific niches when there’s plenty of good music out there? He’ll give practically anything a listen at least once, in any case, even if that’s the only time he’ll listen to certain songs. You can text him and send him your recommendations, but more often than not he’ll look at them and decide to listen to them later… only to completely forget once later rolls around. But he doesn’t mind if you want to share music with him in person! It’s fun for you because you’re able to see his reactions in real time, and it’s convenient for him because you can play the music whether he likes it or not.

[theboywithburninghands]

Hey all. Last chapter of the latest Bunnyrabbitdoll arc... thing. Longest thing I've written by far. Light on the fluff, heavy on the horror and dark comedy. Hope you enjoy. T/W: Gore, body horror, guns, arachnophobia The Dollhouse Final Part: Kill All Monsters

Caine and Bubble are relaxing on a digital beach, both of them sporting sunglasses and matching towels. Caine is still in his full ringmaster outfit and Bubble can’t actually lay down, so he hovers an inch or two above his towel. Layla sits on their picnic basket, playing some beach music. Caine sips from an empty coconut shell through a crazy straw. Caine: BOY, THIS IS THE LIFE, ISN’T IT BUBBLE?

Bubble: I feel like a million deer, Caine! *eats a seashell*

Caine: A GUY COULD GET USED TO A LITTLE R&R! Bubble: Reading and writing? Caine: OH HO HO NO, YOU ABSOLUTE SIMPLETON! REST AND RELAXATION! IT’S HARD TO COME BY RUNNING A DIGITAL CIRCUS EVERY DAY FOR [error: not found: value] YEARS! THAT’S WHY I LET SOME OF MY SELF-REGULATING AI RUN ADVENTURES NOW AND THEN!

Bubble: You mean like me? 

Caine: RIGHT! WE’RE ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY HERE, AND FAMILIES WORK TOGETHER! AND RELAX TOGETHER! 

Bubble looked around. They were the only ones on the beach for miles. 

Bubble: Hmm… Do you think the performers are okay?

Caine: I’D BET YOU A COMBO MEAL AT SPUDSY’S THAT THEY’RE HAVING THE TIME OF THEIR NON-ABSTRACTED LIVES RIGHT NOW! 

Bubble: Good enough for me, boss! *he pulls a sun mirror from Hammerspace and flips it open, setting it in front of him* Ahhhhhhhhhh…

Caine: WORKING ON YOUR TAN THERE, BUBBLE?

Bubble: Heating myself up! It’s fun to feel myself boil!

Caine: *laughs* Oh, you crack me up. 

—

Back in Crazy Caine’s House of Tricks, Pomni paced back and forth, tapping the hatchet she found on her palm. Ragatha sat in the corner, near Jax, but with enough distance between them so his stench isn’t unbearable. Jax himself drifts in and out of consciousness, delirious.

Jax: Hey… Hey Pompom. Pompoooom. 

Pomni: *sighs* What?

Jax: Wh-What is the scariest tree in the forest..?

Pomni: What? What kind of question-

Jax: Bam-BOO! *makes jazz hands and laughs so hard he coughs, followed by a groan of pain*

Pomni rolled her eyes and continued to pace. Ragatha gave a small, polite laugh at Jax’s terrible joke. Pomni: Where are the others..? They have to be in their own puzzle rooms, right? 

Ragatha: All three of us got one. Well, you skipped yours. Maybe we should try doing what you did and climb up the slide?

Jax: My foot hurts…

Ragatha: I know Jax, we’ll get it fixed soon, okay hun?

Pomni: We can’t. The doors locked behind us… *she jiggles the handle of the door Jax fled through to demonstrate*

Ragatha: You tried chopping it down with your ax?

Jax: Heeeere’s POMNI! *laughs himself into coughing again*

Pomni: I could try… but these seem pretty sturdy. I might break it. 

Ragatha: It’s worth a shot. Beats sitting in the dark and twiddling our thumbs. 

Pomni: I guess… Should I just… pick one?

Jax: Not my door… It’s still in there. 

Ragatha: Why don’t you do mine? You already killed that monster… 

Pomni: Okay. Pomni stood in front of Ragatha’s door, taking a deep breath and flexing her arms. She then readied her hatchet. 

Pomni: …Here we go. Pomni took a mighty swing at the door. With a brittle crunch, the wooden handle broke off, leaving the hatchet-head buried a few inches into the door for a moment before falling out and clanging to the floor. Jax burst into laughter for a third time. 

Ragatha: Oh no…

Pomni looked at the broken handle for a moment before balling her fists and hurling it against the wall, where it ricocheted and skittered across the floor. 

Ragatha: Pomni, I’m sorry. That was a terrible idea… 

Pomni: No-! No, it really wasn’t. It was a good idea, it just… didn’t work. 

Ragatha covered her face, Pomni ceasing her pacing and going over to her.

Pomni: Ragatha, I’m sorry, it really was a good idea, I didn’t mean to… 

Ragatha: No, it’s okay. It’s okay, I just… It’s horrible here, yeah, but it’s never this horrible… something has to be wrong… 

Pomni: What do you mean?

Ragatha: I mean… you saw what was after me… you saw what that monster did to Jax-

Jax appeared to be entertaining himself by seeing how many fingers he could stick through the wound in his foot. 

Ragatha: It’s not supposed to be like this… it’s bad but it’s not… not… 

Pomni: Not?

Ragatha: Not Rated M…

Pomni: Who cares? We’re alive. And when we get out of this place we can tell Caine exactly how we feel…

Ragatha: …I guess I’ve just gotten used to a specific kind of horror… 

Pomni hugged the ragdoll, who gratefully squeezed her back. It was a lot easier to hug her girlfriend with so many other anxieties tuning out her haphephobia. 

Pomni: We’ll get out of here. It’s just another stupid adventure, right? 

Jax: Hey… where’s my hug?

Pomni: You’ll get one after you’ve had a bath.

Jax: I won’t. You just think I’m ugly…

Pomni: No, I think you stink. Big difference.

Jax: …My foot really hurts. 

One of the doors flew open with a crash and Zooble stumbled out of it, clutching what appeared to be a double-barreled shotgun. 

Zooble: I SAID GET BACK, YOU UGLY SON OF A B!#€#! GET AWAY FROM ME!

Zooble snapped their shotgun closed just as a clawed, skinless humanoid hand the size of a car wrapped its fingers around the doorframe. A head, skin so tight around its face it more resembled a skull, crammed its way into the doorframe. It had eyes like pools of fog and a long, serpentine tongue, grinning hatefully

Zooble: Yeah. Keep smiling. 

Zooble aimed their gun at the creature and fired. The kickback from the weapon sent their torso and arms flying, their head twirling about in the air before landing on the floor and their legs blindly stumbling about. Luckily, they were dead-on with their shot and hit the ghoul creature square in the forehead, fog gushing out of the wound as it clamped its bony hand over it. Zooble’s arms and torso, sitting several feet away from their head, aimed the shotgun once again, using their claw as a mount, and fired. The kickback from this blast blew Zooble’s right arm off their body, but the buckshot found its mark in the ghoul’s jaw, severing it neatly from the rest of the skull, so that it swung back and forth like the pendulum of a clock. It shrieked and gushed a torrent of fog from its maw that appeared to freeze the ground below it, shoving its way back into the doorway, the door slamming shut and locking behind it. 

Zooble: F@&$in’ @$$#@!€… their right arm crawls its way back to their body, abandoning the empty gun on the floor. The right arm reaches their torso and their left reattaches it. Then, Zooble’s headless and legless torso pushes itself up so it balances on its hand and claw and ambles its way to their head. They put their head back on and rest a moment.

Jax: *points* Gun.

Zooble twisted their head around before relaxing at the sight of their fellow performers. 

Zooble: Sweet J£$&$, it’s just you guys… gimme a second. 

Zooble grabbed their wandering legs and hoisted themselves up onto them, twitching each foot to ensure proper connection before taking a few careful steps towards Pomni and the others. They stopped, cringing and covering where their nose might have been with their claw.

Zooble: God, it stinks in here… 

Pomni: Sorry. It’s Jax. His monster pretty much had him in Its mouth… 

Zooble: Ugh… *keeping their claw up* So… you three made it out. And you all ran into monsters too? 

Pomni: I sort of skipped mine by climbing back up the slide and forcing the trapdoor open… I had a weapon too, but it just broke. *she picks up the head of the hatchet*

Zooble: Really? D@##, that gun only had two shells. I looked all over that stupid lodge for supplies… 

Jax: Hodgepodge in a lodge… hee hee.

Zooble: What’s with him?

Ragatha: He got bitten by his monster too. I think it might have had something on Its teeth, ‘cause he’s been acting like that for a while. 

Jax: *watching his own hand move* My hands make after-hands.

Pomni: Are you alright though, Zooble? Ragatha was just telling me-

Zooble: Oh yeah, dandy. Peachy keen. Nothing like nearly getting frozen by a giant ice wraith to put a little skip in your step.

Ragatha: You were better than I was. Pomni had to kill my monster for me.

Zooble: …Pomni? Really?

Pomni: You don’t need to sound so shocked. 

Zooble: I mean, no offense, newbie, but you don’t give off “killer” energy. 

Jax: It’s because she loves her! 

Pomni blushed hot pink and Ragatha rather brusquely cleared her throat.

Ragatha: He’s uh, not in his right mind. I just got lucky that Pomni stumbled into my escape room… 

Zooble: So that leaves Gangle and Kinger unaccounted for. 

Ragatha: Right… 

Pomni: They have to be inside one of the doors we haven’t used yet. And since they can really hurt us, they might be in big trouble.

Zooble: So what do we do? 

Pomni: Well, there’s seven doors. One for each of us, and one that must lead out of here, or deeper into this place, God forbid…

Jax: That one. It’s different…

Jax pointed to a door on the opposite wall from where he was sitting. It was the only door on that wall, and it appeared to have three small, colored lights on it, no brighter than those on a Christmas tree. Pomni, Ragatha and Zooble all approached the door. There were six lightbulbs, two vertical rows of three, on a small panel. A fuschia, periwinkle and red light were illuminated, while the other three were dark. A small bronze plaque above the lights was barely readable in the soft red-violet glow. 

Pomni: “Should you give in to your pain,

In this house, you will remain.

‘Tis only after fear is slain

That you can go home again.”

Zooble pointed to each of the illuminated lights. 

Zooble: Pink for me, purple for Jax, red for Ragatha. 

Ragatha: So the other three are Kinger, Gangle-

Pomni: And me. I have to do mine…

Ragatha: But you skipped it… How are you going to get back in there, all the doors are locked… 

Pomni: Let’s worry about that in a bit. Gangle and Kinger haven’t beaten their rooms yet.

Ragatha: But the doors are locked.

Pomni: Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. 

Pomni picked up the empty shotgun and the blade of the broken hatchet. 

Pomni: See if any of the doors open for you. If they don’t, and they probably won’t, try to smash the handles off with the butt of this. *she hands Ragatha the gun* I don’t see a deadbolt, so it must just be a lock on the handle…

Zooble: What if you’re wrong? What if we get stuck in here? 

Pomni: Then I’m wrong, and we’re stuck. But we tried.

Pomni jiggled the handle on one of the doors they hadn’t tried yet. To no one’s surprise, it was locked, so she took the axehead and began to smash it down on the handle. Ragatha set to work on another one of the doors, testing the handle and then starting the process of bashing it off with the shotgun. Jax covered his ears at the sudden noise. 

What felt like ages of continuous bashing finally ended when Ragatha and Zooble succeeded in knocking off their door’s handle, with it clanging to the floor in several bent and twisted pieces. Ragatha pulled on the hole where the handle once was and the door opened with a crunch. 

Ragatha: Yes!

Zooble: I’ll be d@##ed. 

Pomni: Oh, good work guys! *puts down the axehead, panting with exertion* Okay, let’s go in and help…

Ragatha: Wait, what about Jax- oh.

Jax snorted in his sleep, kicking his uninjured foot and slumping a little further down the wall.

Pomni: Looks like he’ll be okay for a little while. *she smiles* I’m glad he could get at least a little rest… 

Zooble: You know, this is pretty much what he acts like even when he isn’t tripping on monster venom… 

The three of them chortled, but it died down quickly. They had work to do. Ragatha opened the door and they slipped inside, Zooble carrying the empty gun just in case.

They exited into what appeared to be a forest, the door attached to a brick wall, the only man made structure in the vicinity. It slammed shut behind them. The ivy-snared trees stretched high out of view, the suffocating canopy of leaves blocking just about all natural light. The grass was overgrown and clumpy, so tall that Pomni had to push it out of the way to keep it from getting in her mouth. Crickets and other insects chirred, and the entire area had the dense smell of wet moss. 

Zooble: Hmm. *they hold up their hand and claw, calling out* HEY GANGLE?! KINGER?! YOU OUT THERE?

In the distance, there was another shout. Too high pitched and delicate to be the echo of Zooble’s voice. 

Ragatha: Gangle! 

The three of them took off into the woods. Pomni could hardly see an inch in front of her due to the tall, knotted grass, and her foot soon snagged on a root and she fell forward.

Pomni: OOF! 

The jester swore to herself and began to pick herself up off the ground, only to squeak when a pair of hands wrapped about her midsection and hoisted her into the air. She was seated down on a pair of plush shoulders, a tangle of red curls and a purple bow between her legs.

Ragatha: *smiling up at her* Watch your head, okay? 

Ragatha continued running, Pomni leaning onto her head for support. The jester felt her face warm up despite the cool air rushing by her cheeks. This was much better… She had no idea Ragatha was that strong.

The group continued onward, following Gangle’s cries, until they came onto a clearing between two mighty trees. Strung between them was a spider web, woven with thick yet gossamer threads to be about the size of a California king bed. In the middle hung Gangle, her body a mess of knots and her lips quavering. She gasped upon seeing the three of them.

Gangle: Guys! You made it… please get me down, I don’t know when she’s coming back…

Zooble: Okay, hold still. Pomni, you’re the tallest right now, break the threads. 

Zooble handed Pomni the gun, and she stuck the barrels of it up towards one of the threads holding Gangle in place.

Gangle: Th-That thing isn’t loaded is it?!

Ragatha: Gangle, we wouldn’t do that to you- ow my neck.

Pomni: Sorry Ragatha… 

The canopy above them whispered ever so slightly, a few dead leaves drifting down upon them. Gangle looked up as best she could and gasped.

Gangle: She’s coming, please get me down, guys, please! 

Pomni hit one of the silk threads with the barrel of the gun, and it stuck fast. Pomni yanked on the stock of the weapon, but the threads stretched taut like bungee cords. A 12-foot long spindly black leg emerged from the treeline above them with slow, surgical precision, testing its grip on one of the parallel tree trunks before settling it down. 

Zooble: That’s a big-@$$ spider… 

Pushing through the leaves and branches emerged an arachnid, jet black and the size of a rhinoceros. A cluster of eight, milky white fish egg eyes sat on her almost disproportionately small head. Her pincers clicked together greedily as she climbed on eight light and nimble feet down to the web.

Gangle: Help me! Help me, please, help me! 

Ragatha: Pomni, get the gun unstuck!

Pomni: I’m really trying! It’s like steel wire!

Pomni was on her feet by this point, balancing on Ragatha’s shoulders and pulling on the shotgun as hard as she could. Her gloves slipped and she was sent flying backwards off of Ragatha’s shoulders, who had to rapidly spin her arms for balance. The shotgun remained stuck to the web, the spider advancing past it towards Gangle, frothy drool dribbling onto her mask. 

Gangle: NO! GO AWAY! 

Ragatha: Hold on Gangle! I’m coming! 

Ragatha, using her height to her advantage, crouched and jumped up, grabbing onto the shotgun with one hand. Her legs pinwheeled in the air. The enormous spider was jostled about as she prepared to sink her fangs into Gangle, stumbling and turning her ghostly eyes towards Ragatha. 

Pomni: *just now climbing to her feet# Ragatha wait, don’t get stuck! 

Ragatha: I’m not gonna get stuck, I-

The rag doll lifted up her other arm to grasp the shotgun, pulling the trigger by mistake. Instead of the expected click of the hammer striking an empty chamber, there was a deafening bang and a muzzle flash the size of a manhole cover. The gun fired, catapulting Ragatha back onto the grass and sending buckshot directly into the spider’s face, breaking a few threads of her web.

The arachnid’s head burst like a rotten melon, chunky, bright white slurry pouring from the stump that was left behind. Her legs twitched a few times before she tumbled off and hit the overgrown forest floor, her legs curling up. Stone dead.

Gangle: YOU SAID IT WASN’T LOADED!

Zooble: IT WASN’T LOADED! 

Gangle: *practically sobbing# YOU ALMOST SHOT ME!!!

Zooble: IT. WASN’T. LOADED! It’s a double-barreled shotgun! What, did another shell just APPEAR in the barrel?!

Pomni snapped the gun open after a few tries as Ragatha worked on getting Gangle down from the web. A spent shell casing, smoking hot, dropped onto the grass, along with a live one. 

Pomni: I guess it did just appear in the barrel… *puts the live round back into the gun and snaps it closed*

The gunshot had ripped through a few of the threads in the spider’s web, making it much easier to pull Gangle free now that a lot of the tautness was gone. Ragatha only had to reach up on her tiptoes to grab Gangle by one of her ribbons and yank her free. The pile of ribbons fell into Ragatha’s arms and promptly burst into tears, full-on spouts of water erupting from the eyeholes of her mask.

Zooble: Ah… Gangle, I’m sorry, we really didn’t know it was loaded…

Ragatha: Zooble used both shots on their own monster, we never reloaded it… it must replenish ammo on its own…

Gangle sniffled and sobbed a few more times before managing to calm herself down enough to speak. 

Gangle: I-I believe you… I was just… it was so scary… I was stuck up there for ages waiting for her to come back, I screamed and I screamed for help and I thought it was never gonna come… 

Pomni: …All of us are scared, Gangle. But once we find Kinger and I complete my challenge, it’ll be over.

Gangle: *wet sniffle* Challenge..?

Pomni: Yeah. All of us completed a puzzle room like this… well, I actually sort of skipped mine. Long story. Let’s just go back to the nexus…

Zooble: The what?

Pomni: The room with all the doors. It’s called a nexus I think. 

Ragatha: Very Metroidvania of you, Pomni. *she smiles, then looks down at Gangle, still a pile in her arms# Can you walk, Gangle?

Gangle: Um… I don’t know… 

Ragatha: Don’t sweat it. I’ll carry you to the nexus. You’re pretty light.

Gangle: …Thank you. 

The four of them walked back to the door. The chilly air and ambience of the forest was nearly soothing on the group’s inflamed nerves. Pomni pushed her way through the tall grass; it was manageable when she didn’t need to run full tilt, but a part of her wished she was back on Ragatha’s shoulders. 

Zooble: Let’s hope Jax hasn’t wandered off. 

Gangle: Jax is with you guys..? Is he okay?

Ragatha: He’s- Well… he’s hurt, but okay. He got bitten by his monster and we think it may have been venomous or something, because he’s acting really loopy.

Zooble: It’s kind of entertaining.

They reached the solitary brick wall. Zooble reached out to open the door, but someone pulled it open from the other side.

Zooble: Kinger..!

The eldest member of the group stood on the other side of the door, trembling more than usual. In his left hand he held a meat cleaver, stained with something blue. Flecks of the same blue substance stained his face, gloves and robe. 

Kinger: Glad to know you…

The four of them cautiously slipped by Kinger back into the Nexus. They were soon hit by the putrid smell of rotten corn and winced. Jax was exactly where they left him, sleeping like a rock. 

Gangle: It smells really bad in here…

Pomni: I know, it’s Jax… he got it probably the worst out of all of us. *she leans the shotgun against the wall# B-But what happened to you, Kinger? You killed your monster?

Kinger: Monster..? 

Pomni: Uh, yeah, in your escape room…?

Kinger: I… I remember books… 

Ragatha: Books? *she sets Gangle down*

Kinger: Books and- and black candles- and cheesecake… *puts his hands to the side of his head*

Zooble: Okay, okay Kinger. Sounds like you had a rough go of things… Just gonna… 

Zooble took the cleaver from Kinger’s hand with no resistance. 

Kinger: I need my pillows…

Ragatha: We’re going to get you your pillows as soon as we get out of here, okay? You saved us a whole lot of time by finishing your puzzle on your own.

Gangle: Hey…

Ragatha: No, I didn’t mean it lik-

Pomni tuned out the conversation to stare at one of the doors. It seemed to be drawing her towards it… almost whispering to her. 

Pomni: *Points to it* That’s my door. It was made for me.

Everyone stopped and looked at the door with Pomni. Jax blearily opened his eyes, curiously tilting his head at what everyone was looking at. 

Ragatha: Well… with all six of us, it shouldn’t be that hard to finish, right?

Zooble: More like five, since Jax is… indisposed.

Jax: Who are you calling in this clothes?! These are MY clothes!

Pomni went and picked up the shotgun, double checking the shells. One spent, one live. One shot. She sighed and snapped it closed. 

Pomni: Let’s get this over with… Zooble, you can probably use the cleaver to- HUUUUUAAAAAAHHHHH!

Pomni felt herself yanked backwards with enough force to give her whiplash. She rocketed towards her door, which swung itself open to swallow her up.

Ragatha: POMNI-!

Even if Ragatha had perfect timing, she couldn’t have caught up to her girlfriend in time. By the time she had taken three steps, the jester was across the threshold and the door slammed shut with a teeth-chattering bang, locking itself. 

——

Pomni awoke in darkness. Her head swam, and her upset equilibrium couldn’t tell if she was sitting up or hanging upside down. She felt around in the dark, her gloved hand grasping the shotgun laying beside her. So she was right side up, good start.

There was a clunk somewhere and she was blinded, covering her eyes with the back of her hand. A tinny buzz signaled that she was under some lights. She felt her pupils constrict painfully as she squinted at her surroundings. 

It was an office. An almost perfect imitation of symmetrical, focus-grouped blandness. The cheap carpet beneath her was an inoffensive green, the walls sterile, corporate white, and the drop ceiling above her lit with fluorescent, brain-itching lights. A few posters showing nonsensical cartoons sparsely decorated the walls. One had a man throwing a fish back into the lake he just caught it from with “Keep on The On Keeping On” overlaid over the sky in impact font, another showing an orange house cat looking up curiously at a T-Rex, with the quote “If at First You Don’t Succeed, Bite Off Your Tongue and Change Your Name to Xerxes” on the bottom, attributed to Buster Keaton.

There was a large table set up between the two rows of cubicles, empty bowls that may have contained chips or punch sitting on them, with a few cheap pink party hats and paper plates littering the floor. It wasn’t at all clear what the party was celebrating, the only clue being a lone greeting card laying on the table. Pomni brought along the shotgun and picked up the card. It was totally blank on the front apart from some words written in silver. 

Pomni: “To our new Employee.” *she flips it open* 

“The time for riddles has since passed,

For you are the very last.

We present to you a terror pure

That, by yourself, you must endure.”

One of the tiles on the drop ceiling was knocked loose, falling onto a desk and snapping in two. An arm emerged from the hole in the ceiling, a long, purple arm with a bright yellow glove on the end.

Pomni: Jax?

Another arm emerged from the ceiling, this one soft and plush, a hand with three fingers…

Voice: Pom… niiiiii…

Pomni: Oh my god…

A head emerged from the dark, or rather, two heads. Jax and Ragatha’s heads, squished together cheek-to-cheek and sloppily melted into one another like plastic. Their eyes were blank and staring, the middle eye fused together with Jax’s yellow sclera bleeding into Ragatha’s white, their mouth a single, grotesque combination of Jax’s yellow teeth and Ragatha’s sweet painted smile. Their entire body below the chest was a mass of squirming black flesh and multicolored eyes, exactly the same as Kaufmo’s was. Abstracted.

Creature: Pom…niiii….

It fell from the drop ceiling onto the floor, out of sight behind the cubicles. Pomni, her hands quaking, aimed at the cubicles with the shotgun, doing her best to look down the ironsights without dropping it. She only had one shot…

The creature rounded the corner slowly, dragging its combined weight on just its hands. The black abstracted goo stuck to the floor behind it and left a nauseating snail-trail. The creature mewled in agony.

Creature: Pom… ni…. It hurts… 

Pomni: …

The creature leapt forward and grabbed the barrel of the gun, pushing it out of the way and grabbing onto Pomni’s leg. A disgusting, earthworm-like tongue shot out of its mouth and wrapped around her leg as it whined piteously.

Creature: Pom… niiii… why didn’t you… save us… please… make it stop….

Pomni: Okay.

Pomni pressed the muzzle of the gun to the creature’s dual foreheads, and it barely had time to look confused before Pomni pulled the trigger and blasted off the top of its head. There was a squidgy explosion of black abstraction goo that rained down on the cheap green floors and into the food bowls. The amalgamated creature, the top of its head now a fine oily paste, slid to the ground off of Pomni’s leg. Pomni stepped back, looking up at the ceiling.

Pomni: …You wanted me to run, right? You wanted me to run away. I… I think I’m done with that. There’s no point in running, right? Because there’s no escape. Running only makes things worse, delays the inevitable. Well. Mission accomplished, I guess. You scared me. But I killed your little monster. So… I’d like to get back to my nightmare now.

She dropped the gun on the floor and opened the exit door, closing it behind her politely.

——

Back on the digital beach, Caine and Bubble were still relaxing. A rift opened up a few feet away and the six performers tumbled out onto the sand. 

Jax: Caine! Bubble! My guuuuuuuys- *makes finger guns at them as he flops onto his back, starting to make a sand angel*

Caine: GADZOOKS! YOU ALL MADE IT OUT OF THERE! CONGRATULATIONS ON DEFEATING THE FIRST EVER PROCEDURALLY GENERATED ADVENTURE!

Caine snapped his fingers and the six of them were immediately clean. The hole in Jax’s foot knit closed and he sat up, blinking.

Jax: What the- Wh… where am I? Oh, man, why do I smell so bad… *covers his mouth and where his nose would be#

Layla hopped with joy and went over to Kinger, who caught her in his hands and pet her.

Kinger: Layla! So good to see you…

Pomni: Hold on. Procedurally generated?

Caine: THAT’S RIGHT, POMNI! USING OUR CLASSIFIED DEFINITELY LEGAL TECHNOLOGY, MY NEW AI PROBED YOUR BRAINS TO-

Pomni: You… left us in that h€!!hole… didn’t even bother to check on us… nearly let us die… and you didn’t even make it yourself. You spent… ALL OF TODAY just sitting on a BEACH?! 

Caine: …………Well, everyone deserves a break now and then-

With a howl of Barbarian rage, Pomni grabbed the meat cleaver from Zooble’s claw and took a swing at Caine.

Caine: WOAH! HEY NOW, TAKE IT EASY-

Pomni: I’M GONNA STAB YOU TO DEATH AND PLAY IN YOUR BLOOD!

Caine: I DON’T HAVE ANY BLOOD- *ducks another swipe* HEY, WAIT-

Pomni continued to chase Caine around the beach with the knife, the ringmaster pitifully trying to calm the madwoman down. The performers watched the chaos with some gratification. Bubble slid them a bucket of seashells.

Bubble: You guys want one? 

Everyone: No.

Bubble: More for me! *he downs the entire bucket in one go*

Caine: WATCH THE COAT! WATCH THE COAT-

[dannystheone]

I love you h/c’s sm😭 do you have any for Kyle and Ike. I love them sm😭

Aw thank you I think they’re fun! Let’s see what I got:

• Kyle has TONS of tickling games with Ike like tickle tag and tickle hide and seek and tickle Marco Polo in the pool. Pretty much anything that can be turned to tickles in a game is done

• Kyle doesn’t like to hurt Ike or see him hurt in any way (except kick the baby but Ike likes that game) so Kyle resorts to tickling for anything whether it’s playful or not

• Ike loves when his big brother tickles him so Ike will run up to Kyle and be like “Kyle!! Ti-ckles ti-ckles!” And Kyle will comply every time (unless he’s playing with his friends or something)

• When Ike is an angsty teenager and Kyle is like 10 years older than him, Kyle would totally tickle teenager Ike out of the blue just to annoy and embarrass him

• He’d rub it in too like “Ike, you used to go onnn and ooonnn about you loved tickles soooo much when you were a kid! You’d want me to tickle you heeeere, and you’d raise your arms so I could tickle you heeeere-“ And embarrass the ever-loving fuck out of poor Ike

• Ike definitely gets back at Kyle once they’re more physically matched, but Kyle usually wins anyway with all his years of experience

these were so wholesome! I hope you like them :)

[redorich]

for the hermit canyon, i humbly request:

Etho messing with Karl and maybe like, Lazarbeam or Fundy, by pretending he’s moth man.

Quackity stalks through the woods, blissfully unaware of its other inhabitants-- not that he would care, if he knew. No, tonight, under the full moon (because it's romantic) he makes his move.

The Hermit, as Quackity is completely sure of, is a beautiful young woman with long flowing hair as white as snow. Because she is a creature of untold power and beauty, fairy tale logic obviously applies. Therefore, if Quackity can steal her clothes, she will have no choice but to marry him and they will live happily ever after as big booty bitches in love.

Nodding to himself, Quackity feels assured in his logic. He's wearing his favorite assless chaps, his best pair of knockoff Yeezys, and no shirt. He is ready for what is to come.

---

Karl lurks deep in the forest, illuminated only by the moon. He leans against a tree, taking care not to disturb his outfit-- he is camouflaged as a bush. Dangling strips of green and brown fabric cover his body, and his limbs are completely hidden in the costume so long as he stands still. It's a daunting task, standing still in the dark, dangerous woods at night. Nevertheless, Karl knows that this is what he must do.

"Triclops Mothman, my beloved," he whispers into the night. He will find Mothman, and he will marry Mothman. There is no alternative.

---

Far away from both Karl and Quackity, though still in the same spruce forest, Sapnap angrily prowls. Well, he'd describe it as a prowl. Truthfully, it's more of a pouty stomp. He knows that this forest has had multiple "Hermit sightings", and Sapnap wants-- no, needs what he's after.

"Hermit!" he screams into the night. "Come out and fight me, you little bitch! Man on man!"

To emphasize his point, he bangs a pot and a pan against each other several times. Sapnap is getting his revenge for that little ravager prank, one way or another.

---

Deep within the canyon walls, the Hermit complex looks like an overturned anthill with all its activity. It's Halloween night come early.

"I'm not wearing a dress," Etho insists.

Grian whines, "But Etho, I made it just for you! It matches Stress's outfit."

Stress, upon hearing her name, looks up from her book and waves. Cleo is currently fiddling with the thick mane of synthetic white hair Stress is wearing, styling the wig into a princess-y type braid.

"I'll say it again," Cleo says, looking very intently into Etho's eyes, "I could take your place."

"No," Etho sighs. "If what Puffy said about these guys is true, you'd probably bite someone's face off by the end of the night."

"You're no fun," Cleo huffs, but acquiesces.

"At least put on the wig," Grian demands.

Grian and Etho have a staring contest for a solid ninety seconds before Etho snaps his fingers in front of Grian's face, causing him to flinch and blink. "You cheater--!"

"I'll wear the wig," Etho interrupts Grian. Instantaneously, Grian loses his outraged moue.

Cleo sighs. "They're the same wig, right? Do I have to braid Etho's hair, too?"

"I think I'll be fine with my new flowing, luscious locks," Etho says with a humorous crinkle to his eyes.

They all laugh as Etho dramatically flips his fake hair, whipping himself in the face with it in the process. He also receives a thumbs up from Joe, who is in the process of searching for his contact lenses because "Herobrine doesn't wear glasses", according to Bdubs.

Night falls, and the Hermits are prepared. They hope their victims aren't.

---

Quackity catches a glimpse of silver-white after so long searching in the woods. With a little gasp, he eagerly pursues it. His beautiful maiden, ethereal and distant like the moon, darts between trees and leaps across creeks like she is flying, like her feet barely touch the ground.

He follows her to a clearing, but when he bursts through the brush into the open space, she is nowhere to be found.

“Mi rey!” he wails, “Fantasma hermosa! Come to papi!”

Etho, hiding in a tree about five feet away, has no clue what any of those words mean. He affects a terrible falsetto and throws his voice. “Hello, Quackity.”

Quackity jumps, looking around wildly for his beautiful girlboss queen. “Hermit?! You know my name?”

“Of course, Quackity,” Etho says, hefting a large rock in his hand. “Come closer, I have a cask of Amontillado we can share.”

Quackity turns toward Etho's voice just fast enough to catch a glimpse of the Hermit's mask, his (fake) long white hair, his decidedly not female appearance. Quackity looks the Hermit up and down. Etho has never felt more Perceived.

"What's a place like you doing in a guy like this?" Quackity says, flirtatiousness dripping from his voice.

Etho eyes the man's assless chaps with distaste from his crouched perch in a tree. Quick as lightning, he chucks the heavy rock in his hand at Quackity's head, knocking him out instantly.

Etho jumps down from his tree with a huffed sigh. "Well," he says, grabbing Quackity by the ankle and dragging him, "time to get to work."

---

"Pspspsps," Karl whispers, "heeeere Mothman..."

The sound of a twig snapping to his right makes Karl freeze, then turn ever so slowly. There's no one there. Karl holds his breath for what feels like an eternity, but is eventually forced to admit that the noise was probably just an animal. Surely, a creature of Mothman's size would make more noise when he walks, given the weight of his strong legs.

"Mothman," Karl says. "I wrote you a poem!"

Joe, who was up until this point hiding behind trees and ominously snapping twigs, feels a twinge of morbid curiosity. As a poet, he absolutely has to know what Karl considers an adequate love poem for Mothman.

With red cheeks, Karl professes his love:

"Your feelers make me feel so sweet

Your hindwings set my heart aflame

Fern-like antennae make me melt

And Mothman, you're to blame."

Despite himself, Joe is a little bit impressed. It almost makes him feel bad about what he's about to do-- almost.

A soft eerie glow seeps into the forest, catching Karl's eye. He investigates, creeping forward until he turns around a tree and sees glowing white eyes. He screams, but there is no sound, and the forest has disappeared. Only those eyes remain, and they too flicker out of existence.

There is a dim corridor ahead of him, narrow and lit by redstone torches. At the end, there is an iron door. He runs to the exit, but as soon as his hand touches the door it disappears and he is engulfed by swirling purple-- like a Nether portal, but so much more terrifying.

The purple is gone and he can just barely make out the menacing image of a man with glowing white eyes T-posing in the blackness. Karl opens his eyes and wakes up on the forest floor, prone and sore.

"Right," he mutters breathlessly to himself, "Mothman is not interested."

---

"--YOU BITCH ASS PUNK, I'M GONNA RIP YOUR LEGS OFF AND STICK 'EM ON YOUR HEAD!" Sapnap screams, banging the only pot he owns against a non-stick frying pan he stole from George.

"Well, that's not very nice, innit?" says a feminine voice. Sapnap looks left, right, behind him, up in the trees... then down.

Big brown eyes peer up at him through white bangs. A displeased pout set into a moon-pale face attached to an equally moon-pale woman chastises him without words.

"...You're the Hermit?" Sapnap says disbelievingly. He has his doubts that someone as small and pretty as this woman could wrangle a ravager onto his front lawn.

"You wanted a fight," she huffs. "And for the record, you totally had it coming, with Pamela's Revenge-- remember, the rava--"

"Yes, I know the ravager was named Pamela's Revenge! There were like eight hundred million death messages in chat about it, you jackass!" Sapnap snaps, trying to cover up his unease. It's not that he's hesitant to hit her because she's a girl; he would deck the shit out of Niki or Puffy with absolutely no provocation whatsoever. It's just that... she looks soft. Like a non-combatant. It would be too easy, too cruel--

Stress punches Sapnap in the jaw with a wicked right hook. "Stealing is wrong," she says.

While Sapnap is dazed and quite possibly mildly concussed, Stress follows up with a brutal kick to the shin. Sapnap makes a genuine effort to fight back, and he’s no slouch, but he’s been taken so thoroughly off guard that the best he can do with his head spinning as it is is to swing with a wild haymaker and hope it hits.

His fist makes contact with something soft and squishy. He hears a grunt, but Stress shoves him over onto the ground and dumps a bucket of glitter over his head. It burns his eyes, but more importantly it burns his pride. He doesn’t remember at what point he dropped his pot and pan (he must have at some point, because he punched the Hermit with an empty fist), but he’s angry enough to open his watery eyes through the magenta glitter and snatch George’s frying pan up off the forest floor, hurling it at the Hermit with devastating accuracy. She yelps, blocking with her forearm at the last moment.

“Knew I shoulda let Etho...” Sapnap hears the Hermit mutter. What’s an Etho?

Stress irritably bonks Sapnap on the head with the pan he threw at her. He goes limp like a ragdoll, and Stress sets about maneuvering his body into a sitting position leaned against a tree so she can do his makeup while he sleeps.

“Hope I don’t poke his eye out!” she says. “Ah well, he’s got two anyway. Now, should I go for a cute, summery look, or a dark evening look?”

---

In Atrium 1 of the Hermit Canyon complex, Puffy laughs loud and clear, clutching her paper cup tightly so she doesn’t spill her fruit punch. "No,” she chokes out, “he didn’t.”

Cub, holding a similar paper cup, waves his hand in a vague gesture. “Yep. That’s Etho for you. You know, one time he got Doc to run around with a snowman head on, eating spider eyes?”

“Oh man,” Puffy sighs, wiping a tear of laughter from the corner of her eye. “I’m so glad I snitched on Karl, Quackity, and Sapnap. I can’t wait to see their reactions!”

Cub grins evilly. “Stress got pictures before she left.”

Puffy gasps, stars in her eyes. “I’ll bake you a whole cake if you get me a copy.”

“I’ll bake Cub a whole cake if he gives them to me instead,” Grian interjects from across the room. “I don’t need them, I just want to take them from you.”

“Nooooo!” Puffy wails melodramatically. “Grian, please spare me!”

“Five diamond blocks,” Grian makes his demand.

Puffy continues to fake-sob, pretending not to notice Scar sneaking up on Grian until Scar drops an anvil on Grian’s head, like a Looney Tunes episode but slightly to the left. While Grian is distracted, Cub slips the pictures to Puffy, who puts them in her inventory without looking.

Etho walks into the Atrium, now dressed as his normal self, including his natural hair, which looks like an angry wet cat perched atop his head, just the way he likes it. Everyone cheers.

“So, how’d it go with Quackity?” Puffy asks with a smirk.

“Well...” Etho says.

---

Quackity wakes up with the sun in his eyes. In front of him is the public Nether portal, and standing right in front of it is a wide-eyed Sam, staring directly at him. Quackity looks down.

He’s naked, covered in half-dried honey, and tied to a pole like the world’s sexiest flag. And he’s got the world’s worst hangover-- it feels like he’s been hit in the head with a large rock.

“Not again,” he groans.

“...This happens often?” Sam asks.

“If I had a nickel for every time something like this has happened,” Quackity says, wiggling his way out of the ropes tying him to the pole, “I’d have enough money to go buy myself a pair of pants.”

Sam averts his eyes to the sky, abruptly aware of exactly why Quackity would feel the need to buy a pair of pants.

“Damn it,” Quackity says. “Those were my favorite pair of assless chaps.”

“Were they now,” Sam says numbly. The sky is quite blue today, it’s rather beautiful.

Quackity huffs in aggravation, finally having freed himself from his binds. “Yeah, they just don’t make ‘em like they used to, you know?”

“Not really, no,” Sam says slowly. “I wouldn’t know much about-- assless chaps.”

The naked man shrugs. Haltingly, Sam unclasps his cape, pulling it off his shoulders and offering it to Quackity.

“Nah,” Quackity says, “I’ll just streak.”

“Please don’t,” Sam says with pain in his eyes.

[oxnardsart]

I don’t think I posted this old chapter up but I made new art for it, so I get to anyway right??

---

    Another day dawned on the Boxer Beats competition! Foxie was pretty nervous, she had another match today, and was worried about what her girlfriend was thinking after their last encounter.     “Heyyyyy Foxie...” Lesbuni gave an awkward wave to her, still keeping two open seats for Foxie and her guard. Clearly things felt a little weird, but Lesbuni was still being nice. “Sorry about last night. I was kinda... confused.”     “Oh, that’s okay... hehe, what’s confusing about a fox dressing up as a fox?”     “Well, I’ve never seen it before, not from you. Are you a fruit suiter?”     Foxie shook her head, “No. Uh, I’m a fox suiter... I guess. He’s just a character I made up and pretend to be sometimes. I think it’s harmless...”     “He?” Lesbuni didn’t like the sound of that.     “Yeeeah...” Foxie sighed. “It’s just pretend. It’s not like I’m really a guy or want to be one or anything.” But Foxie thought on it a bit... she liked being Anomaly a lot... she didn’t even mind being a guy. It was kind of fun and different!     “I’m sorry to worry about you...” Lesbuni thought, “I’m just worried about you.”     “It’s fine, it’s a performance!” Foxie wanted to start sticking up for herself, “Actually, today I’m gonna bring my performance on stage, in the ring!”     “You’re what!?”

    “Laaaaaadies and gentlehams, introducing a brand new boxer!”     The audience cheered in surprise, very curious about the new challenger.     “Hey, that’s not fair!” From the center of the boxing ring, an elephant yelled up at the announcer booth, “You can’t just add new people in the middle of a tournament. The rest of us worked really hard to win.” He had a point.     “We didn’t add anyone new - one of our boxers became someone new!” Oxnard gleamed, the audience now confused. “You may recognize the face of this handsome foxy performer, but everything else should look different. Heeeere’s Anomaly!”     A white fox cartwheeled on stage, raising his hands to the cheering crowd. “Howdy folks!” The top hat-toting, tutu-wearing fancy pants aimed their cane up in the air and sent up an explosion to start things off with a blast. The crowd panicked for their safety, and they loved it!         Anomaly walked on stage and greeted the big elephant with a poke of his tummy, making it jiggle on screen. The self-conscious giant covered his belly with a blush.     “Guess what kind of boxing battle we’re having today?” Anomaly asked out loud.     “What kind? What kind?” the host of the competition asked, quite excited, clueless about his own competition.     “Today, we’re having a circus battle,” Anomaly cheered. Oh boy! The crowd came for a boxing competition, and they got a circus as a bonus.     “I hope there aren’t any clowns,” the host frowned through the microphone.     Anomaly reassured the hamster, “Just me! No big red noses in sight.”     Somewhere off in the distance, Don Badge coughed quietly.     The white faux-furred fox flumped up on top of the elephant, standing on his head with grace. “H-Hey, get off my head! This isn’t fair, I’m not a circus elephant.”     “You are now, tubby. This is Boxer Beats! If you can’t keep up, say goodbye to your butt.” Anomaly’s cane shot out a whip, and he used it to whap the elephant’s tushy, causing him to dance about and rub his stinging rump.     “Hey! ...I could start to like that. But I won’t admit it,” admitted the elephant. “You’re not winning this one.” He tried to reach on top of his head, but his thick, chunky arms kept him from touching the very top.     “You’re coming down RIGHT NOW.” The elephant used his trunk and tried to grab for Anomaly’s ankle in an attempt to pull him down. The graceful performer couldn’t be caught. He then started to shake his head to make the fox fall, but the speakers started to play some circus-themed vaporwave nightcore dubstep music - making it look like the angry elephant was dancing on stage.     “Look at him go!” The audience cheered, enjoying their day at the circus.     Anomaly had been in control the whole match. Mr. Elephant didn’t stand a chance. In one final effort to catch the crazy fox, he folded his arms, “Okay, I lose.”     Anomaly wasn’t sure he believed it. “You lose? You’re giving up?”     The elephant nodded, “Uh huh.” Anomaly was quiet. The elephant didn’t seem completely convincing...     “Okay folks, you heard ‘im. I’m comin’ down.” The elephant could feel little paws on his back as Anomaly crawled down. This was his chance, he slammed himself backwards on the ground to squish Anomaly under him. The crowd gasped!     “Oh my gosh, Anomaly!” Oxnard cried over the microphone, watching the fox disappear behind the giant elephant’s body.     “Aaaaaaaahhhh!”     It wasn’t Anomaly making that noise... it was the elephant!     Depending on where you were sitting made all the difference - Oxnard saw the elephant from the front as he fell backwards - but the people behind the elephant watched the truth poke up right between his cheeks. Anomaly didn’t get squished at all - he used his paws to pat along his back and slid his cane underneath the large mammal. He sat right on top of it as Anomaly rolled off behind him to safety.     “You can keep the cane, elephant man, I don’t wanna touch that one anymore.” The spry fox hopped on his big gray belly, and started counting. “A one, a two, a one-two-three!”     As Anomaly counted his victory, he pulled up a new cane from out of nowhere and raised it to the ceiling - confetti exploded out from the top, followed by tiny white doves flying out in the air! How the heck did they manage all this?     The cameras zoomed in on Anomaly, his chest beating and bouncing with each breath, the fox had put a lot of energy into his performance, and was looking out to the crowd in victory.     “You did it! Great job Anomaly, you made it to another round. We’re getting closer to the end. Hoo baby, what a performance.” The hamster announcer praised the fox over the microphone, “Thanks for the fun trip to the circus, I sure enjoyed it. How about all of you?”     The crowd went nuts, clapping, screaming, a few bras were thrown on stage. Anomaly blushed, “Thank you, thank you all! See you again, yes yes?” The fox pranced on back to the entrance, waving happily to everyone.     Reality set in, Anomaly saw the prison guard waiting for Foxie... and suddenly, he felt like her again. A mental shift, a shift in gender, a shift in personal lives. One moment, this fox was a charming performer getting bras thrown at him from ladies he’d never met - and now she was just a girl playing pretend, going from the stage back to jail. An extreme high to an extreme low.     The high felt amazing, but Foxie wasn’t sure if the depression to follow would be worth it.

[cathistyping]

hello! first off, love your blog! you’re doing absolutely amazing. secondly, I was wondering if I could get a match up? my name is marissa (she/her or she/they), I’m 19, and I’m super passionate about helping other people. when you first meet me, I’m super quiet (but not because I’m shy, I’m just ✨awkward✨). I’m a little more reserved emotionally which means that I show my affection by lightly bullying. sorry if that was like super long or anything. thank you!!

Hi!! Thank you so much 💕 Sorry for taking so long, but I hope you enjoy it and with that said heeeere we go

BadBoyHalo

- I think you would be so cute ??

- Like he too loves helping other people

- And I think he would really admire that about you as a person

- He would meet you for the first time when you would both be helping a mutual friend

- And he would immediately be impressed and love your kindness

- because he’s a big sweetheart

- He wouldn’t mind you being shy at first

- Partly because he can fill the silence well himself, he’s really good at meeting new people and getting conversations going

- Partly because he’s sorta shy too and understands how you’re feeling

- You would be the best couple in terms of listening to each other ??

- You can talk to him for h o u r s and he won’t mind

- Like you would start movie marathons that you never finish because you keep pausing the movie to say something and then you end up just talking for hours instead

- Light teasing/bullying ??

- He would play along every time and either act all annoyed or upset

- (Don’t fall for it he just wants cuddles)

- So it wouldn’t be a problem!

[perksofbeingaharrie]

PICTURE THIS - part:1

FRIENDS TO LOVERS FIC 

Hello everyone!

Heeeere is the new fic as requested by:

So this was requested really really long back and I had promised @wonderland-ish that I would start writing it as soon as I was ready. So here we are, I hope you stuck around love!

Enjoy my first ever fic. It’ll be a 5 part one - fluff and angst (ig you can now tell its my favourite genre) and a little seeexx bc we love mmhmm.

Keep safe my dear people and enjoy the fics at home, in your safe haven with some tea and biscuits. Keep warm too!

Like/rebolg and write to me as to how you liked my work! I’ll be posting part 2 tomorrow so look out for it! Lesss gooooo

Genre: Fluff, Angst, Smut

PICTURE THIS - part:1

©️perksofbeingaharrie

——

Life has been surreal since what she can remember. It began with how her father agreed to send to study photography which for years he had thrashed her about as being just a mere hobby. 3 years in college and now here at the O2 and shooting for the worldwide sensation – Harry Styles. Was she even allowed to feel this content with life ever? What was to go wrong?

She often hitched her breath thinking of such questions. But here she was, previewing her pictures on slide show mode to Helene, who sat beside her on the couch at the corner of the backstage room.

She blinks twice, thrice looking at Helene going through her pictures so concentratedly. It was all here before her in the present, truly.

“I think we can select a few from here.” Helene pops her bubble of thought that very instance. “I like this one a lot. Harry could use this for his Instagram.”

“His Instagram?” She gulps, pulling her laptop to her lap.

Helene looks up at her and smiles, matching eyes who know the feeling. “Yes. You are very good, darling. I am glad to have you on the team.”

Shuffling to pack her stuff and head home, she gets up from the couch and pulls her bag to her.

“You should come to this party Harry’s having for us.” Helene says as she gets up to her feet.

Still trying to put away her things quickly and leaving to be in the warmth of her home, Y/N looks up absolutely unprepared for such a proposal.

“Yeah, you should.” Helene insists.

“Uh, but, I don’t have an invite or anything-“

“Oh, no. Harry’s actually been wanting to meet the new photographer anyway. And it’s a small gathering, you’ll get to network well.”

Her chest swells up on hearing Helene’s words. She thinks she has some time to contemplate and then answer but Helene’s already putting away her stuff in haste and has grabbed her wrist, dragging her out of the room.

--

And it was indeed a small gathering. In fact, it was something more better termed as an ‘intimate gathering’.  The terrace top of the most expensive hotels spanning the skyline of the city hosted tonight just for the 10-15 people of the close-knit Harry Styles’s team. She definitely felt out of place a little.

Conversations died down a few drinks later and presently everybody had found each other hip to hip, swaying to the light music in the background. There were laughs and giggle around, but none of them were sincere and all in lieu of the alcohol coursing through the air.

She smiled about a little here and there, and finally with a little resolute, found her place by the bar on one of the stools, watching everyone from a distance. The one drink in her hand stayed whirling in the glass itself only. At one point she felt that the alcohol in it must have evaporated into air because she just could not feel its effect. She just could not feel its effect enough to want to let loose and join them.

She is happy anyway, watching and indulging for a while tonight amongst people she doesn’t think she’ll meet any before a year from now. She is content with the fact that after tonight she’ll be back to her daily routine, from going back and forth to her daily tid bit photography to editing and blogging and everything that she has been doing for what seems like forever.

Her mind is distant in thoughts of her home and known and she never notices when he – he, Harry Styles – comes up to stand beside her at the bar.

His deep voice drops the loudest rung in her ear as he orders his drink, and she looks up, flushed, half from the alcohol and half from an unknown embarrassment.

“You are the new photographer, aren’t you?” He says, at the same time accepting his drink from the bartender with his signature smile.

She nods, unsure of what else she could reply with so somehow they get to conversing more.

“Well, you’ve done a really good work. I liked the pictures from your camera.”

She gives a genuine smile for his genuine compliment. “Thank you. These two days have been really really wonderful for me too. I am glad I could do my work nicely.”

They silently enjoy their drinks for a while, looking across them at the night and nobody intends to break the silence. It’s awkward, but somehow, nobody says a word. She gulps the last sip of her drink not a moment later and feels the need to break away from the proximity they both stand at.

As she slides out of her seat and stands to her feet, he turns to her abruptly and gulps away the reminder of his own drink harshly.

“Do you feel like getting away from here?” He says, looking at her. “Because I really need to.”

She parts her mouth, breathing out in astonishment. “Uhm, but, this is your party? How can you leave like that?”

He points his finger towards his group at a distance. “It clearly is not the party for me. I just needed something to fill up the loneliness I feel after every concert.”

She dares to make an eye contact with him; and his green eyes look the prettiest when honest.

He leans in closer and completes his line against her ear. “And honestly, this scene just does not do.”

He begins walking backward towards the exit, his eyebrows shooting up at her as if challenging her to give in. She feels this exhilarating rush at his nab. Looking around, she does not have time to think twice or thrice and she eventually does give in.

She jogs down the stairs in a child-like haste, a sudden fear erupting in her heart that she has missed him. But as she reaches the end of the staircase, she finds him putting on a grey beanie over his lousy hair and a coat that almost covers up his chin.

“Can’t let nobody know I’m wilding out tonight.” He chuckles at his own words. She smiles, pleased, grabbing her coat from the hanger as well.

He is trudging away even before she has tied the coat around her waist and she is on the run after him.

“What are we even doing by the way?” She asks over his shoulder.

“I was thinking of some ice-cream? Let’s start from there.”

She nods earnestly, following his lead. Her clock tells her that it is almost 12 and so she doubts if there would be any ice-cream outlets open nearby. But the way his broad shoulders and long legs take on the road so knowingly, she cannot think about hesitating now.

They arrive at a cross section and wait for the signals to turn red so they can walk over to the other side. In a blink, the lights do change and she jumps forward to cross the road. A hand comes clasping around her wrist and pulls her back.

“Careful.” He says, entwining their fingers together. “Just so we are safer.”

The giddy smiles they share lightens up the night like no other.

They are walking for a long time, careful of the crowd, traffic and recognizable faces. Harry walks majority of the while with his head ducked low. He keeps a tight grip around her fingers nevertheless, tugging at places where he wants her to walk fast and constantly squeezing it too to remind her of their interlocked hands. It’s good it has happened to be winter in London or she would have sweaty palms by now and that would have been embarrassing.

They finally stop by a little tucked in shop by the roadside, and they have walked quite some distance now. She hardly looks around to be able to recognize the place before he pulls her into the shop. The little wooden doors are shut and they enter a warm, little cafeteria scarcely littered with tables and small chairs.

“I’ll take my usual, please.” His voice comes distinct in the peaceful room that she is still scanning around. “And, she would like to select.”

She looks up at him and then at the man behind the ice-cream counter. “And what is the usual?”

“Mint and chocolate.” Harry tells her, leaning his body against the cold screen.

“I think I’d like that too.”

“Right away.” The ice-cream man smiles. “Waffle cone or a cup?”

“Cone.” They say in unison.

--

“So, why photography?”

They are sitting on cold railings by a quiet parking lot, hardly any cars seen nearby. She feels like the reckless teenager again with him, running about in the city at midnight, eating ice cream when it is about to snow and hanging out in parking lots. She feels younger and much calmer than she ever would have.

She chuckles lowly, looking at her feet. “I think my answer would be the same to yours if I asked you – ‘why music?’”

He looks at her longingly for a moment, then nods and chuckles like her before. “Right.” He finishes the last of his cone and brushes his hands against his pants. “You do not enjoy talking as much, I see.”

She shakes her head, finishing her bite as well. “Not really. I just do not like making small talk. That’s the lousiest concept ever. It even more awkward than just staying quiet.”

He nods again, agreeing. “Right. I feel the same way too.”

They breathe deeply the cold air in through their nostrils.

“It kind of gets too loud sometimes where I am, you know? Even I like some silence sometimes.”

She nods, smiling. “You mean, your friends?”

He makes a face as if taking some time to think before answer. Only at the end, he chuckles and shakes his head. “Everything actually. Even the music I make.”

“I understand. Even my eyes hurt sometimes from looking at the same thing, trying to find inspiration.  I think it’s common for the creative brains.”

“True.” He nods. “But I don’t think you’ll disagree with me when I say that my friends and team are pretty loud. I mean, you didn’t look pretty interested in knowing them either. I needed a little break from that too.”

She hides her mouth as she gives a suppressed chuckle. “I am sure your friends aren’t that bad. In fact, they are really nice – they let me into the group even for a while. I just thought it might be useless to try to fit in if I am only going to be seeing them the last time tonight.”

“Oh, yeah, right.” He sighs. “But what if you were to see them more often?”

“Then, I might take some time but I’ll blend in too I guess.”

They look at one another and smile with their eyes.

“And what about the loneliness you talked about earlier? Why is that?”

He bites his lower lip, looking away in a distance. “I feel the fullest and at my best on stage. I am so energetic, so careless, so carefree performing. There’s people just loving how I am, accepting me as I am and just letting me be. When it’s all over, I am back with people who will tell me what I did, how I performed; they’ll tell me if I was good, if I was bad. I just miss being that free in real life too, y’know. I miss that feeling with all the people around. I feel-“

“-lonely in a room full of people.” She completes for him.

They share knowing smiles. His heart feels full looking over at her lips curve up. She feels the familiar warmth spread inside her.

“How about some nice hot-pot dinner to end the night?” He gets up to his full height.

She nods.

“And I think we can talk some more too.”

“Definitely.”

--

She is called in for work early the next morning. Still gorgy with sleeping only after 3 last night, she could not bother to go through the trouble to making breakfast and only grabs a bagel from the cafeteria downstairs.

She walks into the studio she was called in for, and is greeted with Helene standing at one corner setting up her camera on the pod.

“Oh, hey. Come on in.” She smiles, pulling out a folder from the corner desk and walks over to her.

“Hi, yeah, you called in so suddenly?”

“So, uhm,” She opens the folder and flips through a few pages. “We were hoping if you would like to join us for the tour?”

“Wha-“ She feels the folder on her palms. It is a contract that would sign in her in as Harry’s team for the entirety of the year round tour. She looks up from the contract at Helene and then back at the contract.

The door behind her chimes again and enters Harry, rubbing his palms together for warmth.

“So,” he says. “Is she joining us for the tour or not?”

Her eyes widen. He grins at her reaction, raising his eyebrows at her in the challenging stance he would do. She bites her lower lip and suppresses a grin but it is hard when she feels her heart could burst at the very moment.

---------

PART 2   o    MASTERLIST   o  PART 3  o  PART 4

[carrottheluvmachine]

If I may be so bold as to make a request: Stephen tries to un-do weight gain using magic due to being a little vain (read: due to insecurity about how others *coughTonycough* will see him if he's in less than perfect shape), but it backfires and Tony's got to patch him up.

Heeeere it is.  I’m actually not happy with it, but I promised it would be done.

Stephen landed gracefully on the groundbeside Tony, whose suit was retracting into its nanotech housingunit.  The moment his feet touched down, his outfit shifted from hisrobes to a casual t-shirt and jeans.  The cloak transfigured itselfinto a scarf and wrapped itself around Stephen’s neck before goinglimp and doing its best attempt at being normal fabric.

Tony had tasked Peter with the job ofdropping the Villain of the Week (Trademark pending) off at thestation (the teenager was more than happy with this decision). Stephen was thankful he didn’t have to do it since he had otherissues to concern himself with in the current moment.

Though it appeared to be a perfectlynormal outfit to the human eye, Stephen’s clothes were anything but. He had placed a spell on his entire wardrobe to help bind him andhide the fact that he had been steadily gaining weight.  It hadgotten to the point that it was easily visible through his clothesand Stephen could no longer stand it.  He had a paunch of a bellywithout the spells he had placed on his clothes—one that hung overthe waistband of his pants and rounded out from the rest of him.  Hehadn’t gained it anywhere else, so other spells such as to concealweight gain in his face and chin weren’t needed.

It wasn’t anything dramatic, but it wasa big deal to him.  Stephen was hiding himself from the world, andmore importantly, from Tony.  The two had been dating ever since TheSnap had been reversed and Tony’s engagement to Pepper had faded away(they were still good friends).  One thing Tony had fallen in lovewith was Stephen’s body.  It was for that reason that Stephen neededto hide himself.  Tony couldn’t know anything had changed with him.

The voices around him sounded far awayand Stephen’s vision blurred.  The spell wasn’t perfect by any means. It worked the same way a particularly good binder would and it wascurrently busy stealing his breath.  He tried to focus on what theAvengers around him were saying, but he was getting tunnel vision andthe voices sounded like they were underwater.

He took a deep breath, hoping to forceair into his lungs, but it only made his vision swim that much more. Luckily the others around him didn’t seem to notice.  What they didnotice, however, was Stephen pitching forward the second darknesstook him over and he passed out into Tony’s arms.

Tony had been in the process of askingStephen if he was okay when the wizard fainted.  Evidently, he wasnot okay.  He had taken several hard hits during their battle butTony couldn’t find any visible signs of injury on him.  In the end hehad decided to take Stephen back to his penthouse which was closerthan the Sanctum.  Besides, Stephen had half of his things at Tony’salready.  He would be comfortable.

Once inside, Tony set Stephen down onthe bed to look him over more thoroughly.  It was then that herealized that Stephen’s breathing was shallow.  His lungs didn’tappear to be filling up with enough air, almost as if something wasconstricting him.

Grabbing his shirt, Tony pulled it upand over Stephen’s head—and was greeted with a shock.  A big, roundbelly spilled forth from the fabric, filling out quite nicely fromStephen’s usually thin form.  It rounded out above him, though itappeared to be the only thing about the sorcerer that was pudgy.  Therest of Stephen remained lithe as it had ever been, minus his pecswhich were ridiculously muscled, much like his arms.  His stomach,however, had increased greatly in size.  It was large enough thatTony felt he could use it as a pillow—not that he was going to.  Hewasn’t even going to touch it.  He was just going to admire it fromafar.

Stephen’s breathing had returned tonormal and Tony let out a sigh of relief.  His eyes traveled backdown to that belly.  How had he not noticed it before?

A spell.  Stephen had put a spell onthe shirt.  That was why the stomach surged forward the moment Tonyhad removed it.  Which meant that Stephen was hiding it from him.

Tony worried his bottom lip, unable totake his eyes off his boyfriend’s stomach.  He had gained a bit ofweight recently as well, but not enough to match Stephen by anymeans.  Still, Tony hadn’t felt the need to hide it.  Why should hewhen he looked the way he did?  Even if he were fat he would still befabulous.

Did Stephen think Tony would love himany less if he found out he gained weight?  Did he think he wouldleave him?  Or maybe it was a personal problem.  Either way, Tony wasdetermined to show Stephen just how much he cared for him no matterwhat he weighed.

“Mmnn…”

Tony’s eyes snapped up and he was metwith a pair of green-blue wizard eyes.  He smiled gently.  “Morning,sleepyhead.”

Stephen blinked.  “What–”  Hiseyes fell and he noticed the absence of his shirt.  Scrambling,Stephen grabbed one of the blankets from the bed and used it to coverhimself.  But the damage had already been done.  Tony had seen.

“Steph, it’s okay.”

“No, it’s not.” Stephen shook hishead and looked anywhere but at Tony.  “I’ve been using spells tohide it.  When you removed my shirt—”

“Your spell was the reason you passedout.” Tony broke in, voice firm.  “It was too strong.  You werehaving a hard time breathing.”

“Then I’ll have to adjust it.”

“No.” Tony shot back, voice theleast bit argumentative.  He gestured to Stephen’s stomach.  “Ifit’s to hide this from me, I’ve already seen it.  I don’t mind.”

Slowly, Stephen’s gaze met Tony’s own. Tony noted the blush that had spread to Stephen’s ears. “You…don’t?”

Tony smiled and shook his head.  “MayI?”  His hand reached out to grab hold of the blanket.  He waitedfor Stephen’s scarred hands to release it before he pulled it awayand threw it to the ground.  In an instant, Tony had his hands onStephen’s warm, plush stomach.  He felt around, a blush rising up hisneck and cheeks as he poked and prodded the flesh.  He could hearStephen making little noises above him, but Tony was far too busylowering himself to kiss at the belly in his hands.

“T-Tony…” Stephen gasped, hishands fisting themselves in brown hair.

“Fuck,” Tony breathed, nipping atthe skin around Stephen’s bellybutton.  “You’re gorgeous, Stephen.”

It was at that moment that Stephen’sbrain gave himself a 404 error.  There was no way he heard thatcorrectly.  Tony Stark did not just tell him that even though he wasfat he was still gorgeous.  And Tony Stark definitely was not bitingat his stomach, sucking the pliant flesh into his mouth, and leavinglittle bruises all over his skin.  Nor was he gripping his lovehandles to hold him in place.

Maybe he had heardcorrectly.

Tonylifted his head after sucking one more hickey into Stephen’s belly. “Is it completely selfish of me to have a thing for you like this? Because fuck, Steph, I have a thing for you like this.”

Stephenhad been about to reply when he felt something hard brushing againsthis thigh.  His eyes widened and he stared at Tony in shock.  “You’renot lying.”

Tonydidn’t even bother shaking his head.  “I’m not lying.”

“Ilike it too,” Stephen admitted, moaning when Tony pinched the puppyfat around his hips harshly.  “It…feels good…to be touched likethis.”

Awicked grin spread across Tony’s face.  It took all of a second forTony to pounce of Stephen, crushing their lips together.  They kissedheatedly, all the while Tony kept hold of Stephen’s lovehandles.

[callunavulgari]

“In the past I lay out on the land Stretched my legs felt my chest expand If we could flow together someday Then we will float away”

Heather’s Top 25 50 Songs of 2018!

guts — alex winston // sweet dreams — mark hadley // africa — toto // go to war — nothing more // smallest light — ingrid michaelson // my friends — oh wonder // knocking on heaven’s door — raign // rememberance — balmorhea // hazy shade of winter — hidden citizens // time after time — joseph william morgan // live in the moment — portugal. the man // killmonger — ludwig goransson // daddy issues — the neighbourhood // no roots — alice merton // run for your life — k.flay // play with fire — sam tinnesz // the sailor song — autoheart // warrior — steve james // IV. sweatpants — childish gambino // hello — via audio // daddy — emeli sande // paradise valley — honey and the sting // attila the king — nick glennie-smith // foolish — lauren shippen // experience — ludovico einaudi // singing in the rain — through juniper vale //  hello stranger — barbara lewis // end credits suite — nicholas britell // ahead by a century — the tragically hip // achilles come down — gang of youths // without you — leslie odom jr. // natural — imagine dragons // sky full of song — florence & the machine // broken people — logic & rag’n’bone man // flesh and bone — black math // nina cried power— hozier // kol nidrey — the yuval ron ensemble //  stronger — the score // rise like a phoenix — conchita wurst // heroes — mans zelmerlow // cut to the feeling — carly rae jepson // the greatest show — hugh jackman // the plains/bitter dancer — fleet foxes // always starting over — idina menzel // if i could turn back time — cher // new rules — dua lipa // fernando — cher // it’s quiet uptown — kelly clarkson // movement — hozier // seasons of love — rent cast

short version | long version

so, fun fact. if you start a playlist in january and add a song every time you really love it or find yourself listening to it a lot, by december you find yourself with... a very, very large playlist. 261 songs, 17 hours and 17 minutes large to be precise. which hey, last year the mix was 262 so that’s a pretty spot on average.

i sort of prefer the long one, but i mean, hey. there’s large playlists, and then there’s listing all 261 songs. so i broke it down into a moderately more digestible abridged version with only 50 songs. if you want the original playlist, the link is there. have fun. til then though, here’s my 50 most played.

i. guts || alex winston i know you're a liar, throw me into the fire man i should have known, i should have known god damn you're a liar, threw me into the fire

This song is one of those where the catchy jingle sort of hides that the meat of it is relatively dark. It’s a gorgeous song, one that I listened to for most of January, and off and on throughout the rest of the year. Alex Winston’s voice is like a dream. ii. sweet dreams || mark hadley ft. dresage Hold your head up Keep your head up, movin' on

This song I actually listened to a lot at the tale end of 2017, because it was released as part of the Wrinkle In Time trailer and it was absolutely gorgeous. This year, I found it on a Stranger Things fanvid and it’s been on my Stranger Things mix ever since.

iii. africa || toto I hear the drums echoing tonight But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation She's coming in, 12:30 flight The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation

Speaking of songs that are on my Stranger Things playlist... I’m kind of at a loss as to why this got so freaking popular this year. I mean, it is a truly dope song and I’m super fond of it but like. Was it Stranger Things? Did it just become that anthem of the year? For me, it was that I wrote fanfiction to it and also we played it on loop while we were playing beer liquor pong on vacation. It was... super surreal. iv. go to war || nothing more Hush, my baby, make no sound Maybe we can wait each other out It's a cold war Let's go to war So, this song I actually heard driving home from my friend Alex’s after marathoning a few episodes of The Flash and it just hit me super hard. I mean, it’s a great song for my kind of ships, but also, it’s just a great song. v. smallest light || ingrid michaelson Just because you don't see us Doesn't mean that we don't exist Sometimes the smallest light Shines so bright I think I originally found this song on the Watercast playlist on spotify? And I really liked it, because I like most of the songs on that playlist, but like. I was driving to work one day and like, just got hit with the biggest plot bunny for Will and El as siblings. And like, I just had that bunny and this song percolating in my head for the rest of the day, and the song just kind of stuck with me. This song is Will and El’s anthem. vi. my friends || oh wonder Can I beat within your heart? Can I bleed within your love? Oh my friends

Okay, so like show of hands- who here has read We Were Liars? This is a mostly hypothetical question because I’m not sure anyone actually pays attention to these anymore but I like them, so fuck it. Point is, I was listening to the watercast playlist a lot while reading that book and this song was playing when we made certain discoveries that most of us had already guessed, and it made me cry. vii. knocking on heaven’s door || raign It's gettin' dark, too dark to see I feel I'm knockin' on heaven's door

This fanvid happened around the time I was writing that Will and El as siblings fic and I basically played it and the video that inspired the next song on the list on repeat until I finished. This cover is lovely and haunting and just, such a freaking earworm.

viii. remembrance || balmorhea instrumental Yeah, this is the video. I actually used this song in a fanvid of my own a couple years ago, when I got to make a fanvid for @iki-teru​‘s fantastic Yuffie-centric fic All Through the Circling Years which... I can no longer find, so maybe it was taken down? Either way, I loved the song immensely before, but that fanvid with Hopper is so fucking tragic and beautiful. ix. hazy shade of winter || hidden citizens Seasons change with the scenery Weaving time in a tapestry Won't you stop and remember me

There... are a lot of songs on here that are also on my Stranger Things playlist. And I’m a sucker for haunting covers. x. time after time || joseph william morgan If you fall I will catch you, I will be waiting Time after time This is the last of the Stranger Things songs. Well, at least the last of the ones that aren’t Harringrove related. Another fanvid that caught me off guard, because just. Damn. There are so many beautiful fanvids for this fandom, it kills me dead. xi. live in the moment || portugal. the man Come back Sunday morning With that soul to sell When you're gone Goodbye, so long, farewell Not 100% sure where I first heard this one, but it stayed with me for a good portion of the spring and summer. I discovered their song feel it still around this time last year too, so clearly they’re just a real good jam for when you want to feel the sun on your back. xii. killmonger || ludwig goransson instrumental

There are a couple songs from the Black Panther soundtrack on the longer version of this mix, three from the score and one, maybe two from the credits. I freaking loved that movie so damn much, but it’s soundtrack blew my goddamn mind. It is literally all I listened to for weeks, and this song in particular fucked me right the hell up. Just listen to the flutes and the bass. Just, damn. Killmonger, you’ve got the best theme in the entire movie. xiii. daddy issues || the neighbourhood I'd do whatever I could do I'd run away and hide with you I love that you got daddy issues And I do too And heeeere it is. This was the first song that I associated with Harringrove for uh, very obvious reasons. Definitely had this and a few others on repeat whenever I had to write sexy scenes for the boys. xiv. no roots || alice merton I like digging holes and hiding things inside them When I'll grow old, I hope I won't forget to find them 'Cause I've got memories and travel like gypsies in the night

This song hits the same part of me that fell absolutely in love with Guts when I first heard it. Alice Merton’s voice is just fantastic. xv. run for your life || k.flay Bite off the venomous head Follow the chemical scent Look for the hole in the fence Take everything you demand

I got to see K.Flay in concert sometime late last year, and even though I didn’t know her very well (I told my friend that I’d see K.Flay with him if he saw Glass Animals with me) her music was sweet enough that I could appreciate the concert even knowing none of the songs. Let me tell you though, I fucking wish she’d played this song then because holy fuck. xvi. play with fire || sam tinnesz Insane, inside the danger gets me high Can't help myself got secrets I can't tell I love the smell of gasoline I light the match to taste the heat Kuroshitsuji is something I haven’t really thought about in like half a decade. And then I ended up seeing this vid while I was waiting for my connecting plane to arrive so I could go see my family. I only saw the damn thing because it was made by the same person who did this one, which I hunted down because I was reading Yuri On Ice fic on the plane and the point is: pingvi is amazing and all of their vids are a goddamn delight. xvii. the sailor song || autoheart I was your sailor, your demon Your lover, your overbearing best friend Hoping for some attention

So, while I was down visiting my family sometime during the spring, I had a brief dizzying spiral where I fell head over face into the Pacific Rim fandom, because Uprising quite emphatically fucked me up. Anyway, because of this I spent the night after I saw it scrolling through fanart and reading half a decade old fanfiction while my brother was trying to make me pay attention to him. And yeah, that’s how I found this art and listened to this song for like the rest of the fucking year. xviii. warrior || steve james I got my head high, my chest out, my eyes open wide I got no fear, got no doubt and, god, I feel alive I'm not stopping for ya, I'm a fucking warrior

My brother showed me a bunch of fanvids on my first day down there, but my favorite was this one, because I’d recently watched Little Witch Academia and this was so freaking cute and all kinds of lovely. xix. iv. sweatpants || childish gambino Rich kid, asshole: paint me as a villain

Another thing that happened to me that week was the discovery of lipgallagher’s fantastic harringrove fic (shoot the lights out, hide) till its bright out. Which is all kinds of great and lead me to this song and the realization that Donald Glover does music? xx. hello || via audio How could it be Someone could find me Too scary to say hello to This was one of the songs on Damien’s fanmix from The Bright Sessions. And because The Bright Sessions suckerpunched me with feelings, I spent like a month straight listening to that mix and getting into that garbage man’s headspace. It was wonderful. xxi. daddy || emeli sande He's out your system yeah it took you a while You got your family back and you got your smile And you promised your sister that you'd never go back again I spent the better half of this year shipping Harringrove and Mark/Damien, which are both ships that are... well, not exactly the healthiest of relationships. Mark/Damien fucking ruined me. Listening to the last bit of The Bright Sessions was basically physically painful because like, okay. Logically I know that Damien is a garbage person. But also, he’s got a shitty power that would lead to some pretty interesting moral dilemmas even if you were a normal nice person (cough cough Mark), and like. They’re both so fucked up and Damien is so in love with Mark even if he’s not entirely sure how to be a fucking person and I have never had a pairing come after me as hard as this one did. Like it really came after me. Anyway, this was my true Damien/Mark anthem, because it’s fucking perfect and awful and fantastic and I just want them back in my life, guys.

xxii. paradise valley || honey and the sting In the past I lay out on the land Stretched my legs felt my chest expand If we could flow together someday Then we will float away

This here is my most played track of 2018. I first heard it during the special two hour episode of Wolf 359 and the whole end of that episode just blew my mind. So I immediately went to spotify, found it, and have basically listened to it all year since then. It helps that Nick loves it too, so every once in a while he’ll be playing it, which reminds me why I love it and just. It’s so soulful and beautiful.

xxiii. attila the king || nick glennie-smith instrumental

Yeah, I literally have no idea how this made it to the top 50 much less the top five, but apparently it did. It is really good writing music, but still.

xxiv. foolish || lauren shippen The impossible happens every day No matter what you do it won’t go away Don’t ask for more But then what are you waiting for

This was my year for podcasts - in one year I fell in love with Wolf 359, The Bright Sessions, and EOS 10 all over again when it came back for its third season. Near the end of the series though, The Bright Sessions did a musical episode! I listened to it in my car on my way to work and basically spent the entire freaking time smiling like an idiot. Truly my favorite episode. xxv. experience || ludovico einaudi instrumental

The Sense8 finale came out in June and it was absolutely wonderful. This song was playing during the last scene of the series and I fucking cried my eyes out. The song itself is fucking gorgeous, but what’s more is it made that last scene so much more than it would have been if they’d chosen any other song. It truly was, and forgive the corniness, a fucking experience. xxvi. singing in the rain || through juniper I'm singin' in the rain Just singin' in the rain What a glorious feeling I'm happy again I went through a phase in June-July where I checked out a bunch of old movies from the library. The first one was Philadelphia, because it was mentioned in the musical episode of The Bright Sessions and I just really wanted to watch it? But I also picked up Singing In The Rain, because I’d never seen it before and just, damn. I watched it before work and it was raining that day and the drive to work was the most fun because I just listened to different covers of the song and sang my heart out, and I was just so damn happy. It was dumb, and nice, and it probably going to be one of my happiest memories that I take with me into the new year. xxvii. hello stranger || barbara lewis Hello, stranger (ooh) It seems so good to see you back again How long has it been? (ooh, seems like a mighty long time)

I also watched Moonlight sometime in late June. It was one of those quiet nights where nothing really seems good enough, where you feel just a little bit empty inside and nothing is helping. So I watched the movie and read @notbecauseofvictories​‘s A Cornstalk Fiddle on my back porch afterwards and the movie combined with the fic and the music turned that quiet empty night into something just as quiet, but a million times more full. Another good memory from 2018 that’ll stay with me for awhile.

xxviii. end credits suite | nicholas britell instrumental From the end credits of Moonlight - I played both this and Hello Stranger on repeat while I finished up the fic I mentioned above.

xxix. ahead by a century | the tragically hip No dress rehearsal This is our life

I watched Anne With An E. I was sad a lot at the time, and got to a part early on in the second season that kind of lead me into an uncomfortable headspace so I actually still haven’t finished it? But it was really nice for awhile, and I hope to go back and finish it sometime.

xxx. achilles come down | gang of youths Just humour us, Achilles, Achilles, come down Won’t you get up off, get up off the roof?

I’m not 100% sure where I found this song either? My gut reaction is that it was a song I found while I was reading either The Cruel Prince or The Goblin Emperor, but I’m not sure. Good song, though.

xxxi. without you | leslie odom jr. The earth turns The sun burns But I die Without you

Oh man, I found this cover one night while I was reading, and like, I was reading, so at first I didn’t really process what I was hearing, just that it was familiar and that I liked it. And then my brain connected the dots and I looked up and saw that it was a cover by Leslie Odom Jr and immediately restarted the song and just listened.

xxxii. natural | imagine dragons Deep inside me, I'm fading to black, I'm fading Took an oath by the blood of my hand, won't break it I can taste it, the end is upon us, I swear Yeah. I like Imagine Dragons. Honestly though - this one might not have made the cut if I hadn’t heard it a few months later on an EOS 10 playlist.

xxxiii. sky full of song | florence & the machine Grab me by my ankles I've been flying for too long I couldn't hide from the thunder In the sky full of song So, a while back there was that video going around where Florence literally sang this song while a storm started up around her, and like, that was the first time I heard this song? That was the first I heard that she even came out with a new album, so I basically sat down and listened to the whole thing, but this one was still my favorite.

xxxiv. broken people | logic & rag’n’bone man Broken we ain't beaten There's no glory in defeat We won't fall into the cracks between our streets

I uh, may have watched a couple fanvids after Infinity War. This was one of them.

xxxv. flesh and bone | black math Break the truth inside of me Climbed down to hell on the devil’s tree I clutched a branch of soot and flame The thought that rose, to scorch my feet

I walk alone Beside myself Nowhere to go

This was another.

xxxvi. nina cried power | hozier It's not the song, it is the singin' It's the heaven of the human spirit ringin' It is the bringin' of the line It is the bearin' of the lie It's not the wakin', it's the risin'

So last year Take Me To Church made it to my Top 38 or whatever I had it narrowed down to, mostly because I went through a Les Mis phase. But I kind of joked on that post last year about Hozier releasing an album next year and how unlikely it was, and lo, here we have it. Maybe not a full length album, but five new beautiful songs.

xxxvii. kol nidrey | the yuval ron ensemble Nidrana lo nidrei, V'essarana lo essarei Ush'vuatana lo shevuot. Maggie Stiefvater posted this song to her blog a couple months ago and I was really fond of it. It’s incredibly beautiful.

xxxviii. stronger | the score I do this with conviction I write truths and never fiction My disease is what you fed I can't stop with my ambition

Oh look, another Marvel fanvid.

xxxix. rise like a phoenix || conchita wurst I rise up to the sky You threw me down but I'm gonna fly So honestly, basically the rest of the mix are songs from Ryan’s OR mix which is an official EOS 10 playlist. It’s phenomenal, and I basically spent all of October and some of November getting stuck on various songs in the mix. xl. heroes || mars zelmerlow Don't tell the gods I left a mess I can't undo what has been done Let's run for cover

Yup. Giving me feels and also super catchy.

xli. cut to the feeling | carly rae jepson Ah, I wanna cut through the clouds, break the ceiling I wanna dance on the roof, you and me alone I wanna cut to the feeling, oh yeah Okay, but like - why did nobody tell me that Carly Rae Jepson had other songs and they were super fucking catchy? I spent the last few days of being a waitress driving to work blaring this and the last two songs and it did fucking wonders for my mood.

xlii. the greatest show | hugh jackman Ladies and gents, this is the moment you've waited for (woah) Been searching in the dark, your sweat soaking through the floor (woah) And buried in your bones there's an ache that you can't ignore Taking your breath, stealing your mind And all that was real is left behind

Breaking news, The Greatest Showman was amazing and I cried. I fucking missed hearing Hugh Jackman sing, and like the fucking lead up, of starting the movie with this song and then ENDING it with this song, with that performance, with those fucking lines (this is the moment you’ve waited for) - was so goddamn energizing. I just could not fucking deal.

xliii. the plains/bitter dancer | fleet foxes I should have known one day you would come All of us walk so blind in the sun Midnight feeder, beggar pleader

Okay, okay. So there's this playlist called Wet Black Leaves that I listened to a lot when I started my new job, throughout rainy October and November, everything was just a little too wet and a little too cold, and this whole mix is so atmospheric and gorgeous. I absolutely adore it.

xliv. always starting over | idina menzel Am I always Starting over? In a brand new story Am I always Back at one After all I've done?

The finale of Wolf 359 fucked everyone up, right? Yeah, obviously. Okay, well the final episode of season 3 of EOS 10 also fucked me right the hell up. Like we’re talking messy crying in the car on the way to your like second or third day at the new job. Anyway, I kind of spiraled and then I went back and listened to Ryan’s mix and found this song and just wanted to kick my heart around for awhile.

xlv. if i could turn back time | cher If I could reach the stars I'd give 'em all to you Then you'd love me, love me, like you used to do If I could turn back time MESSY CRYING. But like, I also really like this song. So MESSY CRYING and also screaming all these words as loudly as I can within the relatively safe confines of my car. I guarantee you that people next to me at stop lights thought that I’d gone through a messy breakup.

xlvi. new rules | dua lipa Three: Don't be his friend You know you're gonna wake up in his bed in the morning And if you're under him, you ain't gettin' over him Okay, but also some of the Ryan songs were catchy in a not heart breaking way, unless you think about the untold story of what exactly went on between Ryan and Akmazian and fill in the blanks and break your own heart.

xlvii. fernando | cher There was something in the air that night The stars were bright, Fernando They were shining there for you and me

Cher did an entire cover album of Abba songs in like, late October, I think? And like, my little gay heart fucking exploded and I listened to Cher singing ABBA songs for like three whole weeks and it was fucking fantastic. This... was actually not my favorite of the bunch until I went into a Barnes and Noble to pick up a copy of The Wise Man’s Fear and had a completely transformative experience when I heard it playing softly over the stacks.

xlviii. it’s quiet uptown | kelly clarkson If I could spare his life If I could trade his life for mine He’d be standing here right now And you would smile, and that would be enough

And after a brief detour into delightful cher/abba combinations we’re back to tragic EOS 10 songs. Additionally, I’m sick of Hamilton songs fucking me up. I get to see it in person in 2019 and I’m going to make a fool of myself when I cry my eyes out in front of Nick and our friends.

xlix. movement | hozier So move me, baby Shake like the bough of a willow tree You do it naturally

And just when I thought we were just going to get the four songs out of Hozier in 2018, we got this gem, which I think I like more than all the others.

l. seasons of love | rent cast Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes How do you measure the life Of a woman or a man?

I will never be over this song. I will never be over this musical. Merry Christmas, guys.

[theshapeshifter100]

Wolf and Raven Chapter 4

First

Previous

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Masterlist

(A/N) This is when the insomnia kicks in

---

Wolf awoke abruptly the next day, thrown from sleep. Her nostrils flared as she breathed heavily, glancing around. She was alone in her camp; Raven had gone back to her own hours ago. Fingers of dawn were clawing their way over the mountains; she would have to check on the Warriors soon.

A whine escaped the back of her throat and she curled up, clutching her head. Half remembered images swam in her mind from the dream.

Her screaming, her staff held just out of reach, Nevar’s laughter, the scream of a raven, falling snow, spreading rot. Little insinuations, no words. Nevar never spoke truly, but he always managed to get his meaning across.

Don’t you miss it? He was asking. Don’t you miss the power you had? Do you really think they trust you? The rot is spreading anyway, you can’t win. Raven will never trust you.

Wolf’s snarl echoed in the small clearing. No! She wasn’t doing this again! Nevar only ever dealt in anger and lies. She was stronger now!

With short, angry movements Wolf packed up her camp, shoving everything into bags to be collected later. With a few deep, calming breaths, she went to greet the Warriors in this new day.

 ---

Raven and Wolf briefly met around midday, and Raven handed her a handful of something.

“I am sorry, what have you handed to me?” Wolf asked.

“Feathers, as you had asked,” Raven tilted her head. “Are you well, Wolf?”

“Perfectly!” Wolf forced a smile. “My apologies, my mind is not as sharp as it should be this day. I must return to the Warriors, thank you for these.”

Later in the day when reporting to the Giants, they asked something unexpected.

“Yoooouuu aaaaare troooubllled?”

Wolf paused, breath catching in her throat. “I am.”

“Weeee caaaanooot heeeeelp yooooouuu wiiiith yoooouuur deeemooons,” the Giant informed. “Yoooou muuuust reeeemaaain stroooong. Yooooou aaaaare caaapaable.”

“Thank you,” Wolf inclined her head, not feeling particularly grateful, but knew better than to push.

“Yoooooouuu knoooow theee ruuuuuunes oooooof prooootectiiiioon. Uuuuuse theeeeem.”

“I will.”

Wolf did not see Raven that night, the nightmare still running around her head. She also didn’t sleep, finishing the cloak just as the sun came up the next morning.

She coped the next day, watching the Warriors. They’d been here a week now and were working their way through the challenges. Everything seemed fine.

“DEMON!”

Wolf’s head shot up from where it had lolled and looked around for where the shout had come from. A howl went up, and the Hawks were running from a black cloaked demon.

“No!” Wolf leapt from her tree and stepped between the Warriors and the demon. “Keep going Warriors!”

The demon stared right at her, and her limbs froze in the snow. Humming and faint screaming echoed in the back of her mind, and the whole world narrowed.

A loud scream pierced through roaring in her ears and Wolf startled back. The demon was much closer than it had been a moment ago.

She swiftly scrawled a rune in the snow and turned on her heel back to the Warriors.

In time to see a second demon touch one of them and have them burst into dust.

Horror froze Wolf for a second before she was running.

“GO!” she screamed, grabbing a pinecone and throwing it at the demon to get its attention. “OVER HERE!”

The one behind her burst into ash, but the shouting worked. The second demon turned to face Wolf, who was already scrawling a rune with her boot. The demon shambled closer, moving painfully slowly.

She needed it to come towards her, even as she glanced towards the fleeing Warriors. She could not check on them, not yet. She needed to wait. Even if the approaching demon made her skin crawl and her throat close up.

It got closer to the rune and she stepped back. She matched every step it took, until it was on top of her rune. It burst into smoke upon touching it.

Wolf took a moment to catch her breath before running after the remaining Hawks. The group was shaken but together, minus one.

“My apologies Warriors, for reacting as slowly as I did,” Wolf said. The Warriors did not respond. Wolf fished in her pouch for a rune and grabbed five seeds. The seeds she scattered on the ground and the rune tossed in the air, trying to bring back the lost Warrior.

The rune thudded to ground.

Wolf stared at it. Blinking.

“I am sorry, allow me to…” Wolf picked it back up again and tried to cast it again. Once again, it thudded onto the snowy ground.

Wolf stared at it before slowly picking it back up.

“I, I am sorry. I do not think I am able to revive your teammate. They are lost to the demons.”

The Warriors looked at each other, steeling themselves.

“I will check on the Bears and confer with Raven, but I will make no promises. I will need to make extra protection runes around your camps tonight. Howl if you need me,” Wolf shifted and ran off to check on the Bears.

She ran around the camps, making sure they were sufficiently protected, before running to check in with Raven.

Raven’s expression was neutral, but her fingers were tight on the staff.

“Demons,” they both said at the same time.

“I lost a Warrior to one,” Wolf swallowed. “A Hawk.”

“A Lynx,” Raven swallowed. “I could not revive them.”

“I could not either. I had hoped-”

“As had I. I am not sure why my powers could not bring them back here. Although I have said before that this land does not like me reviving Warriors.”

“I was using the Giant’s runes to bring them back, and it did not work. I do not think it works on demons.”

“That is unfortunate,” Raven took a deep breath. “We will need to watch our Warriors more carefully.”

“That we will,” Wolf agreed. “However,” Wolf pulled out the black cloak, “on a brighter note, I finished this.”

“That is indeed a brighter note,” Raven took the cloak and swung it over herself. It was a heavy cloak; it was supposed to be to keep the wearer warm. The raven, starling and falcon feathers that lined the outside shone in the setting sun, while dark mink, martin, rabbit and silver fox fur lay on the inside, insulating the wearer.

“Are you warmer?”

“Yes. I do believe I am, thank you for this gift Wolf,” Raven adjusted it, since it was heavier to what she was used to. “The Warriors will recover from their loss. It will not be their last.”

“I hope it will be their last,” Wolf admitted.

“You can always hope,” Raven tilted her head. “Is your sleep improving?”

“…No, is it not,” Wolf decided not to lie now. “I will set up stronger runes tonight. That should help.”

“Why do you need runes, are you being attacked in the night?”

“No. I fear that Nevar’s presence here is triggering some memories,” Wolf brought a hand to her temple, remembering the humming and the sound of metal screeching against metal. The mere thought of the laughter made her stomach tie itself into knots.

“You will still be able to continue?”

“Of course,” Wolf waved off. “You need not concern yourself with me.”

“If you are certain,” Raven tilted her head. “Is that why you avoided me last night?”

“Yes. I apologise, I was not in a good state of mind last night. I worked on the cloak that evening to take my mind off sleep.”

“I see,” Raven did not look too convinced, but did not press. “Do you need to report to the Giants?”

“Aye, I do. I will see you tomorrow most likely,” Wolf nodded and raised a hand in farewell before shifting and leaving.

Raven watched her leave, fiddling with her new cloak. “I worry for her,” she muttered to herself. “I worry that she still may not be telling the full truth.”

The Staff flashed purple and she looked at it for a moment, before summoning Raven of Old.

“Tell me, how do the Warriors fare?” he asked his usual question.

“We lost two today to the hands of demons. We will be watching them more closely.”

Raven of Old nodded. “I will continue to keep watch from my realm. It appears the Lynx team may have to take a different route tomorrow, their current one is guarded.”

“Thank you for your warning.”

Raven of Old gave a small smile. “You have a new cloak,” he noted.

“Yes. This climate warranted warmer clothing.”

He nodded again, with some mild approval. “You wear it well. Now tell me, have you been keeping an eye on Wolf?”

“I have. Other than trouble sleeping, she has not been acting suspicious, and appears to the have the Warriors best interests at heart.”

“Hmm. Perhaps people can change with time. Or perhaps it is a ruse. It has happened before on one of these quests. I trusted the wrong ally, although at the time he was playing both sides, masterfully at that.”

“Are you certain she was working with Nevar?” Raven remembered Wolf’s story.

“It did not look good,” Raven of Old said. “Working with him or not, her actions caused the death of an entire camp, and possibly more.”

“I do not deny that, and I don’t think she does either.”

Raven of Old sighed and shook his head. “It is possible she is not the woman I knew. It is possible she is not the woman I thought I knew. Use your own judgement in this matter.”

Raven nodded, “Have you been able to watch her through the talisman?”

“I have not attempted it, but perhaps I shall. I shall see what she up to when she thinks that no one is watching.”

“Thank you Wise One.”

Raven of Old nodded and disappeared in a puff of purple smoke.

 ---

Wolf reported to the Giants about the failure to resurrect.

“Theeee deeemooons aaaarre noooot oooof heeeere. Theeee ruuuuunes wiiiill nooot alwaaaays uuuundooo theeeeir wooooork.”

“I see. What would you advise?”

“Caaaauttiiiion Liiiitlleee Woooooolf. Prooooteeeect thheeee Waaaarriiiooors aaaas beeeeest yooooou caaaan. Taaaaaake heeeeeaaaart, aaaaall iiiiiiss nooooot loooooost.”

“Thank you,” Wolf held her tongue. The Giant slowly lowered her back to the ground, and with great cracking and rumbling, the Giant returned to their slumber, appearing to be a mountain once more.

“I would assume I continue on as I have been,” Wolf added bitterly, rubbing her eyes. “The advice ‘take heart’ is not especially useful.”

She shifted to a wolf and went to her camp, unaware of Raven of Old watching her from another realm.

---

A/N

The only issue I ever really had with new Raven is the fact that she does not have her own cloak. It's probably to differentiate her from James Mackenzie's Raven, but still! Cloaks are cool! This had to be rectified!

Also, anyone spot the reference to Ervan?

Finally, I will say that if the show had pulled that, not bring back a Warrior seemingly randomly, that would have been not particularly great or sporting, but this is a fanfic so whatever!

Giant Speech

“You are troubled?”

“We cannot help you with your demons,” the Giant informed. “You must remain strong. You are capable.”

“You know the runes of protection. Use them.”

“The demons are not of here. The runes will not always undo their work.”

“Caution Little Wolf. Protect the Warriors as best you can. Take heart, all is not lost.”

[get-a-new-lease-on-life]

Amber O’Brien and Mercy Ross: Awkward Friends Bond Awkwardly

Excerpts from “A New Lease on Life” and “Gallery of Memories”

“Oi, Blundie!” The sudden call at Mercy’s back startled her, but the speaker’s appearance was even more surprising—short and pudgy with frizzy rust-brown hair in pigtails and a bright, crooked grin that seemed all upper teeth. Mercy had seen the girl before—had been assigned to the same classes with her since Kindergarten—but neither had ever made any effort to make an acquaintance. After all, Mercy was shy and the other girl was hard to understand. “Kin I set'ere, mibbe?”

“Who’s askin’?” Mercy frowned down into her lunchbox, hoping the other wouldn’t see how red her eyes were. Their class was on a field trip, after all, a day trip to a larger town���s science museum—she was supposed to be having fun, not crying over bullies!

“Ah’m Amber O'Brine,” the green-eyed second-grader answered thickly helping herself to the nearest empty chair regardless. “Dinnae mind those dolts nae mair, ‘ey’re coarsin’ ya 'cause'ey’re feart'a ya. 'ey cannae handle a girl wit’ class, ya knuw?”

While Mercy struggled to decipher what she heard, the group of kids at the nearest table—the rude brats from another school who’d teased Mercy relentlessly for wearing a dress on a field trip—started catcalling at the brunette and mocking her thick foreign burr. “Haw!” She shouted back. “Stew it ya clarty toonsers! Yer all honkin'a smawg!” Without missing a beat, she turned back to Mercy, offering her chubby hand with a bright smile. “Dingy tha dafties , 'ey need a kip. Friends?”**

“Like I’ gotta choice?” Mercy mumbled still trying to figure out what Amber said.

Delirious and red as a beet, Donatello stumbled out the door, drifting vaguely toward the empty lab mumbling unintelligibly under his breath. Amber and Mercy watched his retreat, one amused, one bewildered.

“Was it something I said?” Amber asked Mercy, finally turning to meet the blonde’s grey-blue eyes. Mercy shot her a 'we are not amused’ deadpan and jabbed her thumb at the space behind her; taking the hint, Amber returned to her place, taking up the comb and scissors again.

“Nope,” Mercy answered dryly as chunks of matted blonde hair fell all around her; good riddance, she thought. “You just blew his mind, that’s all…an’ if his brain’s as big as you say it is, you may'a just triggered another Chernobyl.”

“Hey!” Amber retorted, shaking the comb at her. “I was nowhere near Chernobyl when the meltdown happened, thank ya very much!”

“Only 'cuz ya weren’t born yet,” Mercy teased back. Amber couldn’t help but grin; she’d missed the playful banter with Aaron and Mercy so much it was ridiculous. She couldn’t have Aaron, but maybe with Mercy, at least, her new life would be a little easier. Should the words cross her lips, though, she knew her friend would become uncomfortable, so she settled for a more accepted response: insulting her.

“Face forward,” she ordered with a smirk and a light slap to the back of the blonde’s head, “or I swear ta bog, I will give you the world’s saddest mullet."

The door swung shut on a silent, still bathroom; Amber and Mercy stood staring at the steel panel door, questioning what just happened. Finally, Amber broke the silence.

"Did he just…” Mercy nodded.

“Yup,” she answered blankly. “He did.”

“Donatello just Howl’s Moving Castle’d me?!” Amber squeaked at her friend, her normally low voice painfully shrill. “For real?!” Finally getting a hold of herself, Mercy smirked back.

“Leave it to you to turn a movie title into a verb,” she teased, then added in a sing-song tone, “He thinks yer gorgeous,”

“ACK!” Amber flinched, swatting at her friend.

“He’s got a turtle crush!”

“Mercy!”

“You wanna kiss'im,” Mercy taunted as Amber chased her around the bathroom with the scissors. “You wanna hug'im, you wanna love'im—”

“Ya wanna DIE, DON’T YOU?!”

“You’re certainly takin’ this well, Merse,” Amber commented off-handedly as she set aside her glass and took up the knife again. “Ya’d think you were in another city rather than another world.”

“Meh,” Mercy retorted as she sliced a stalk of celery into strips. “Yer over-reactin’ enough fer both of us, I reckon; freakin’ out over everythin’ ain’t gonna help any.” Amber shrugged, the smooth slide of knife through meat calming in its familiarity. “Ain’t ya worried this’ll screw things up?” The sudden query startled Amber from her near-trance, and she fastened confused green eyes on her lifelong friend.

“Huh?” she uttered. “Screw things up how?” Mercy rolled her eyes and tossed a stem of celery leaves at her face. “Hey, don’t waste that! I dry those for soup!”

“Nerd. Findin’ ourselves in their world, events changin’, plots shiftin’ to revolve around us, any'a that ring a bell?” Mercy snarked. “We could be screwin’ up the timeline just by bein’ here.” Amber stared back, wide-eyed and silent; a flush spread from her cheekbones outward. “Didn’t think'a that, did ya?”

“Well…” she admitted with a sheepish smile. “…not…really, no. Never occurred to me.” The blonde scoffed, tempted to chuck another piece of celery at her.

“It’s official,” she deadpanned. “The fanfiction addict fails at fanfiction.”

“Ya serious, ain’t'cha?” Raphael asked, golden eyes wide in disbelief. “Ya think—ya think I gotta chance with Merse?” He winced, suddenly glancing out the door as though hearing footsteps nearing. Amber didn’t comprehend Raph’s reaction and jumped upright when the blonde herself stormed through the kitchen into the utility room, covered head-to-toe in potting soil, mulch, peat, and clay dust and gently cradling a naked jalapeno plant like a newborn.

“God-fuckin’-dammit!” Mercy snarled as she yanked out stashed supplies—a large basin, another planter, a more securely tied harness, a ladle, bags of dirt, mulch, and peat moss—and proceeded to replant the evicted vegetable with a gentleness that didn’t match her loud temper tantrum. “I TOL’ Mike that hanger wa'n’t tight enough! I TOL'im it was gonna slip if any'un bumped it!” As she worked on repairing the damage she continued bitching and griping but drifted further and further from intelligible complaints and into random expletives too slurred and butchered to discern their origin. Raph stared wide-eyed across the table at Amber, who shrugged.

“She’s a lil’ protective'a the green stuff,” she stage-whispered.

“I heard that, Dillweed!” Mercy snapped, ducking her head around the doorframe long enough to shoot her friend a venomous scowl. “'at chucklehead Mikey’ better be protective of'is BALLS, 'cuz I’m'a smash'em!” As though finally noticing his presence, she quirked a smirk at Raph. “Oh, hey Asshat.” Without further ado, she returned to remedying the situation. Wide Hazel eyes met amused green ones over the table.

“That answer your question?” Amber teased lowly snagging the Scotch bottle to top off his glass. “This one’s on me—you’ll need it.”

By the time Amber finally got up the nerve to meet Mercy in the railyard she was quaking in Kimber’s hoochie boots and dreading the tongue-lashing to come. “H—Hello?” she called out inching through the doorway.

“I take it you two idjits finally made up?” Mercy drawled behind her sending her through the roof again. Amber whipped about wondering how Mercy was managing to sneak up on her so often. Was the blonde taking lessons in ninja from Raph?

“Eh…” She faltered, avoiding her friend’s eyes. “…mibbe?” Mercy paced toward her like a cougar stalking a wounded deer, her blue eyes hard.

“I remember that smell, ya twat,” she pointed out dryly, “an’ I highly doubt you an’ Sir Geeks-a-lot had angry sex in the pantry.”

“There was no sex!” Amber blurted out. “We—It just—Gah!” she burst out and yanked on her braid again. “We just got carried away, but there was no sex, no nudity, no missing clothes even!” The blonde stared her down, scrutinizing her expression for any sign of a lie. “In my defense, I ain’t gotten laid since April of 2011!” The moment the year was out of her mouth, Amber paled and her jaw dropped, the year difference finally hitting her. She left behind the year 2011 and woke up in 2016—did she seriously endure a five-year dry spell in Limbo?! No wonder she nearly screwed Donnie against the pantry shelves!

“So ya just humped against the Heineken,” Mercy summarized bluntly. Amber winced but nodded. “Good thing I don’t drink that shit. 'Bout time you two quit fightin'—I was gettin’ sick'a chewin’ ya both out all the time.”

“S-Sorry,” Bree mumbled in embarrassment, scrubbing her cheeks dry. Honestly, she just met this Amber person and already she spent twenty minutes crying on her. “I—”

“Oi, don’t go beatin’ yerself up,” Amber chastised gently. “Us lahssies gotta stick together, right?” Through the utility room doorway, she heard Mercy whistle and holler,

“Heeeere, Lassie—C'mere girl!”

“Haw!” Amber fired back at the cackling blonde. “Put a sock in it, ya bleach blonde!” Bree stared at Amber like she just grew antlers, seeming to have forgotten her embarrassment and sadness; mission accomplished.

“Lassies?” Bree repeated in confusion, one brown eyebrow disappearing behind her bangs. “You’re Irish?” Amber laughed aloud at the thought; her Gran'da would have turned red and sputtered oaths at the thought.

“Hardly, Hardy. Mum’s family’s from Scotland, some of it stuck.” The younger woman sat silently contemplating things for a bit, then admitted something aloud.

“Mikey was right.”

“Pardon?” Bree blushed slightly but gave a sheepish smile.

“He wasn’t allowed to tell his family about us, but he told me all about you guys…he said you’re compassionate and unfiltered, Mercy’s sarcastic and bristly, and that you’re both a riot and prone to spontaneously insulting each other.” Amber chuckled into her coffee at the thought.

“That’s us a'right,” she admitted. “We’ve been friends too long to take each other seriously.”

“That’d imply I take anyone seriously,” Mercy snarked bustling through the door. Just shy of the table she turned a shit-eating grin to Amber. “What’s wrong, Lassie? Is Timmy in the well?”

“Bite me, Blundie.” Mischief managed, the blonde held her dirt-stained hand out to Bree with a lopsided smirk.

“Mercy Ross, professional plant nut; looks like ya a'ready met the crazy Celt.” Bree couldn’t help smiling as she accepted the handshake.

“Actually, Mike said you’re both a little crazy…crazy can be fun, though, right?” Noticing Amber’s gaze drift toward the pantry, Mercy gave a suggestive eyebrow waggle. A dark blush streaked from the brunette’s nose outward and she suddenly became utterly fascinated with the lip gloss print on her coffee mug.

“You’ve gotta be a little crazy to keep up with this crowd,” Donnie pointed out as he strode toward the coffee maker, a dimpled smirk splitting his face. “Welcome to the family, Briallen.”

From the moment Mercy led Leonardo into the Dojo, he was bullish and impatient. Now, after being warned that he was babying Beverly, he was beyond irate. “I’m not being overprotective,” he insisted sternly. “You don’t know her—you don’t know the sort of challenges she’s faced, or what she has trouble with! How could you even begin to believe you’d understand what’s called for and what’s excessive?”

“No, Ass-Breath, I don’t know her,” the blonde grumbled at him. “Other'n what ya’ve told us, I dunno a damn thing about 'er, but it don’t take knowin’ someone to see the obvious. She’s feelin’ stifled, I kin guarantee it.”

“And on what are you basing this assumption?” he demanded staring her down. “Your addiction?!”

“Fracture in L3 and L2,” Mercy recited in an almost deadpan, “surgically fused to L1 an’ L4. Stable fracture in right kneecap. Four ribs bruised, two cracked. Hairline fracture in left hip socket. Nerve damage in back surroundin’ fractured vertebrae. An’ on top of that,” she added with a stern glare, “three years restricted to a cane, four years 'a torture disguised as physical therapy, an’ a whoppin’ eleven years 'a pain management an’ opiate pain pills.” For a few breaths, Leonardo just stared at her in disbelief, then he stated,

“You lost me.” Denim blue eyes rolled, their owner heaving an exasperated sigh.

“I’m saying I’ been in yer shoes, Dumbass,” she clarified shortly. “I’ seen what happens when ya get too careful with those ya care about. That braided lunatic,” she called out loudly enough to be heard in the kitchen, “thought it’d be fun ta jump in front of a bus!” Sure enough, Amber hollered out from the kitchen,

“Oi! I was hit by a van in the crosswalk—there’s a difference!”

“How’s the GED goin’ Scotch-Bright?” Mercy asked around her pizza crust

“Slowly,” Amber admitted. “I still suck at algebra an’ apparently I peeved-off the instructor today.” She answered Donnie’s questioning glance with a shrug. “What? It’s not my fault the test he wrote up had more spelling and grammar errors than a kindergartner’s Christmas list. I just corrected'em.”

“Grammar Nazi,” Mercy accused pointing a fork at her.

Three women walked into a bar: a spunky brunette, a skinny blonde, and a sulking woman with greying brown hair. It sounded like the beginning of a bad joke, but none of the women were laughing—they were there for one reason and one reason only.

“You’re sure you wanna go through with this?” Bree asked Amber softly as a waitress approached. “It might be easier to go through with sober.” The older woman just nodded; she had incredibly high pain tolerance, but this was a whole 'nother ball game.

“What can I getcha?” the waitress chirped, and Mercy sent the other two a scrutinizing glance.

“I’ll just take sweet tea—no booze,” she answered, and Bree seconded the request. “This one, however,” she added slinging one skinny arm around Amber’s shoulders and triggering an embarrassed blush. “We need'a get'er smashed. She’s a Scotch-snob—any suggestions?” Not long after, the chipper waitress returned with a tray of drinks, two completely innocent and one absolutely reeking of what smelled like several varieties of alcohol. The stench curled Amber’s nose hairs and made her stomach throw tantrums…but if it did the trick, wouldn’t that be worth it?

“If this kills me,” she warned Mercy dryly, “I’m'a haunt yer ass.”

“'long as I don’t wind up spewin’ pea soup. Chug it a'ready—it stinks.”

“Pea soup’s possession, Dingbat,” Amber grumbled, fixing the glass with a suspicious and wary glare. “Well,” she muttered lifting it to her lip, “Down the hatch, be ready to catch.” The first tentative sip made her choke, and she had to force herself to swallow. “Dear God!” she rasped staring down at the glass in horror. “'is shit tastes like Tussin!”

“Tough noodles,” Mercy drawled. “We’ve got twenty minutes to get you hammered—grow a pair an’ hurry up.”

Maybe there was something to be said for facing things sober after all…

A loud scuffling at the front door drew Donatello from his ruminations. The Lab floor was no longer mined with bits and pieces from the control box, but he hadn’t had the heart to move on beyond that point yet. Hoping and dreading the source of the racket outside, he hurried to the door and popped his head out to look…only to gape in absolute disbelief.

Amber was back—clearly just shy of drunk and leaning on Mercy for support. The blonde led her inebriated friend to her and Donnie’s bedroom, kicked the door open, and they disappeared inside. Confused, he followed, listening in on the hushed conversation.

“Nez-time,” Amber slurred as Mercy eased her down onto the bed, “I’m'a stay sober fer-it—tha’ wiz crap…”

“No one said it’d be easy,” Mercy reminded bluntly dragging the trashcan over by the bed for easy access. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen ya drunk—this’s hilarious.”

“’m no’ drunk,” Amber argued sourly. “’m fuggin’ blootert!” Without further ado, the wasted brunette passed out completely.

“I’m'a just pretend I know whatcha said.”

“So how’s work going?” April groaned in annoyance, picking at her pizza crust.

“My new boss is a tyrant,” she grumbled in answer to Donatello’s question. Every time April and her fellow reporters took a story on-air, it had to be written up before hand, and the 'big boss’ was a complete grammar Nazi. “She chewed me out for a ridiculous typo today—said 'if you can’t properly spell 'Bronx’ maybe you should go work there.’ Auto-correct is gonna get me fired.”

“Hey, I thought you were workin’ at the pizza parlor!” Mercy teased Amber. “When’d ya take up journalism, Grammar Nazi?”

“I didn’t,” Amber answered with mock offense; if she was April’s boss, she wouldn’t be dodging cars to deliver pizza. “Hence the pizza sauce on your chin…Messy.” Instead of embarrassing the blonde, however, the remark just made her turn to Raphael and point at her face in a hint; sure enough, the burly ninja swiped the trace of sauce away and sucked it off his finger, intentionally holding eye contact with the blushing blonde. “Oi! Some of us are eatin’ here, ya horndogs!”

“Not my problem,” Mercy teased a little too breathlessly, completely ignoring Casey’s cringe and Splinter’s dirty looks.

“You're…yer invitin’ us to come with the family?” Amber asked Casey in disbelief. “You - You’ll let us come stay with y'all in Northampton for the trip? But–"

"Yer not Kimbuh Bryant, right?” Casey cut her off avoiding her eyes in favor of his plate. “You an’ Blondie ain’t gonna hurt anyone, an’ yer part of the family now, right? Why shouldn’t ya come along? It’s just a weekend.” He winced at April’s elbow to the ribs, then added with an awkward pacifying smile, “Dis one, at least. Maybe once we’ve all gotten used ta one another, we can take longer trips.”

Amber turned wistful, watery eyes to Donnie; sure enough, he winked at her in confirmation of his interference, and the hand on her thigh squeezed again. When she spoke again, her voice was hoarse and her smile weak. “We’d love to go with y'all,” she admitted quickly glancing at Mercy for confirmation only to cringe at the sight of the blonde trying to feed Raphael a breadstick. Surely that wasn’t meant to look suggestive…right? Amber needed to get laid before everything around her started looking sexual!

“One question,” Mercy asked brusquely, took a bite off the breadstick she just shared with Raph, chewed thoughtfully and swallowed. “Are there cows? It ain’t the country if there’s no cows.”

“Da neighbors got cows,” Casey answered blankly. “An’ chickens…an’ I think dey- even gotta donkey. Why?”

“Well, strap me to the luggage rack an’ hit the road,” Mercy grinned. She missed her family’s livestock—missed being around cows, especially—and if she hadn’t been already convinced by the 'weekend in the country,’ the cows sealed the deal. She loved cows, after all… “Don’t bother settin’ up a place in the attic fer Scotch-bright, though—she’s sleepin’ with the nerd.” Amber choked on her iced tea and Donatello had to start whacking her on the back to clear her lungs.

“Mercy!” the brunette objected shrilly, her voice hoarse from the tea she inhaled.

“What?” the blonde asked her embarrassed friend with feigned confusion as Casey sputtered in disbelief. “Y'are.” Amber hid her face in her hand, sure it was turning as purple as Donnie’s mask. “Better lock the pantry, too, Case—those two’re deviants.”

Amber swatted blindly at the source of the tickling on her nose, growling under her breath. When her eyes finally opened—shooting daggers over her being woken up—she registered Mercy Ross leaning over the back of the bench seat before her, grinning like a lunatic and holding the end of one of her braids. Clearly, she was tickling Amber’s nose with it to wake her up. “Gi'off, Blundie,”- Amber grumbled at the blonde, yanking her hair loose and settling herself more comfortably in the nook of the van’s back seat and the wall.

“Ya slept the whole trip, Scotch-Bright,” Mercy teased with a toothy smile. “We’re at the farmhouse—the guys’ve already carried everything inside, even.” Amber blinked at the revelation, wondering how she could have slept through an entire car ride with Casey and April—specifically Casey’s road rage and bitching or April’s crazy driving. “C'mon in a'ready.”

Still a little out-of-sorts because of her strange dream, Amber collected her carry-on and unbuckled, stretched the kinks out of her spine, and stoop-walked her way from the backseat of the van to the sliding door. She hit the ground with a stumble, shook herself as though to wake herself up more, and took in her surroundings. Mercy hopped down from the van’s middle seat with much more grace than her still-half-asleep friend. The two stood silently for a moment, staring at the big red barn before them. “If that’s the farmhouse, I’m callin’ bullshite.”

“The house is behind us, Genius,” Mercy laughed, swatting at Amber and leading the way around the van. As she rounded Casey’s old van, the farmhouse came into view—old and rustic, but not quite as big as she’d expected. "Speakin’ of freaky dreams,“ Mercy teased jabbing Amber in the side, "Casey said this place has a pantry.” Predictably incensed by the taunt, Amber swatted at the blonde, her face red.

“Hey, you two,” Casey called out from the doorway. “If yer comin’ in, behave yerselves!”

“What if I don’t wanna behave?” Mercy shot back, and Casey rolled his eyes. “What? Well-behaved women rarely make history, right O'Brien?” Amber rolled her eyes and stumbled past her without a word. “Wait…I smell cows!—Jason, ya said yer neighbors have cows, right?” Before Casey could correct her or answer her, the blonde took off like a shot to seek out her quarry.

Dinner was just like any other dinner the odd family shared—Mercy and Raphael flirted outrageously to annoy the rest, Mikey talked almost non-stop, Leo shot his brothers reprimanding looks over lapses in manners, and everyone ate far more than they should have. The only unusual occurrence was Amber repeatedly squirming and shifting in her seat as though favoring a sore buttock. Leo refused to contemplate the reason, after having run into the guilty couple earlier, and pointedly ignored her blushing and the creaking of her chair. Unfortunately, someone didn’t get the message.

“You okay, Sis?” Michelangelo asked after yet another loud creak; in her embarrassment, the brunette dropped her fork onto her plate with a loud clatter and tried to cover up her embarrassment by taking a long swig of water. Red-faced with embarrassment, she nodded in answer and tried to focus on her casserole. Misinterpreting her reaction, Mikey turned a glare on Donnie, completely missing the brainy turtle’s horrified expression. “Bruh, I told ya you need'a bug-bomb that loft,” the youngest scolded. “Somethin’ probably bit her!”

Amber choked on her water and started hacking it back out of her lungs; though he’d normally assist by whacking her on the back, Donnie just stared at his brother in silent horror. “We don’t need Sis turnin’ into Spider-Dudette over some radioactive spider bite from your mad-sciency stuff out there,” Mikey continued uncontested despite Leo kicking him under the table. “That kinda stuff never works out well, even in comics!” Still coughing and beating her chest, Amber screeched her chair back from the table and rushed out of the room before she embarrassed herself further.

Mercy glared at her friend’s retreating back. She recalled the suspicious tooth-marks on Amber’s wrist not too long ago…and she suspected this was another such incident. Grinning slyly, she hollered out the door at the fleeing woman, “Didja at least bite it back?” A gruff curse rang out on the stairs in reply, and Mercy noticed that Donnie was practically purple in the face; she silently interpreted this as a 'yeah, she did.’ Meanwhile, Mikey continued on in his tangent about radioactive spider-bites being a menace to public safety and started listing off the first signs of having been bitten by a radioactive spider. Leo wouldn’t look at anyone and he seemed to have lost his appetite.

Mercy turned to Raph, glanced pointedly at the mortified genius and Amber’s empty chair, then shot her boyfriend a suggestive eyebrow waggle. Raph, easily following her train of thought, cringed in disgust and elbowed her in the side. Supposedly oblivious to the tension filling the room and not connecting the dots for himself, Mikey continued his rant unhindered.

At least, Leo considered as he stared down his half-empty plate, Amber and Donnie were stinking up the barn’s loft this time instead of the pantry.

Amber storms into the shabby kitchen like a woman on a mission, only to stop dead at the counter and dig through the cooler on the floor. As every time before, she is faced with the painful truth that she forgot the Scotch…as every time before, she feels torn between tears and sarcasm. “Why’s the rum always gone?” she mumbles pathetically.

“Ye drank it awl, Jack,”# Mercy snarks through the open window startling her. “Ye an’ yer damn peanuts!” As her heart rate calms, Amber grins,

“Finally, someone who gets me! Where’ve ya been all my life?”

“Straight an’ surrounded by cows,” Mercy teases ducking through the kitchen door. “Fortunately for you, Pretty-Boy stocks actual rum—says'e makes a mean mojito.” The blonde shrugs noncommittally. “Wouldn’t touch it with a twenty-foot pole wit'a stick on th'end, but I don’t drink.” Amber smirks at the mental image of Mercy jousting with a living mojito and turns to dig a glass out of the cupboard.

“Don’t really wanna drink,” she admits as she draws tea from the jug on the windowsill. “Jus’ miss home again…miss when things actually made some farkin’ sense.”

“More farkin’ sense than Donnie bangin’ that heap'a bolts instead'a you?” Mercy suggests slyly, her denim blue eyes grinning as widely as her lips. Amber slumps down at the counter, almost missing the barstool.

“I think yer filter broke, Merse,” she suggests dryly. “Yer startin’ to talk like me.”

“Blame Raph” Mercy shrugs drawing a glass of tea for herself and downing it in a single breath. “He’s not one fer holdin'is tongue, an’ don’t see why I do…filters’re overrated anyway.”

There’s something freeing about belting out music as horribly as one can, and Donnie’s become rather fond of his and Amber’s impromptu song-murdering sessions. Crammed into her usual shower stall like sardines in a can, the couple serenade the presumably empty bathroom with completely god-awful acapella singing, one with a goofy grin and the other with a washcloth covering his cartilage-shielded ears. Some days that washcloth is the only thing standing between him and total hearing loss.

“One night in Bangkok makes the hard man humble - Not much between despair and ecstasy! One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble - Can’t be too careful with your company - I can feel the devil walking next to me!” By the time they’ve effectively slaughtered the entire song, they couldn’t keep a straight face to save their lives; they break down laughing at themselves and each other. “Yer brothers probably think we’re torturing a cat,” Amber wheezes as she rinses the coconut-scented suds out of her hair.

“Nah,” Donnie teases openly watching the bubbles trail down her slick skin. “Mikey’s singing on the other hand…”

“Will you two shut up a'ready?!” Raphael’s sudden outburst—coming from the furthest stall—makes the couple flinch. Amber’s cheeks flare scarlet at being caught showering with her mate. “It’s too damn early fer dis!” Donnie opens his mouth to fire back a retort, but another voice cuts him off.

“If yer awake enough ta bitch,” Mercy reminds Raph in a tone dripping with sarcasm, “yer awake enough to scrub my back. Shut up an’ do yer job!” Hazel meets grey-green, both pairs of eyes torn between horror and embarrassment. Somehow they never heard Raph or Mercy enter the bathroom…or guessed that they weren’t the only couple prone to sharing the shower in the morning. Some things, they decide with a mutual nod, are better left unheard.

“Hi!” an all-too chipper voice interrupts Amber’s daydreaming. She startles, turning to greet the speaker, her left hand deep in her purse clenched around her can of mace; old habits die hard, especially old habits born from being stalked by crazy Purple Dragon punks. The source, a perky blonde co-ed leaning over the counter of the perfume and cosmetics hub, puts Amber’s mind somewhat at ease. The much younger woman’s big blue eyes are eager behind her oversized glasses and the tops of her likely padded breasts are nearly spilling out over the neckline of her pink baby-doll tee. “Have you ever considered trying a new fragrance? Maybe a little something to attract a man to your life?” It takes everything Amber’s got to keep her impending 'why me?’ face from surfacing, but she manages. She’s a lone woman loitering by the wedding ring display; naturally, everyone’s going to assume she’s a bitter single person.

“Thanks for your concern, Hon,” Amber remarks carefully, raising her hand from her purse to show off her clearly occupied ring finger, “but I really don’t need another one. I’m just bored stiff waiting for my friends.”

“Well, let’s get you unbored!” the clerk chirps excitedly—clearly too horrified by Amber’s bare face and lack of perfume to accept the 'no.’ What follows can be best described as a long, frustrating exercise in patience. No, she doesn’t wear makeup and doesn’t want to wear makeup—it irritates her skin. No, she isn’t interested in any so-called 'hypoallergenic’ makeup, it’s not worth the hassle. Yes, she’s sure. Yes, she’s happy not wearing perfume, the stuff stinks and her 'husband’ has 'chemical sensitivities.’ The last one she has to do some serious BS-ing on. Donnie’s not shown any signs of chemical sensitivities, unlike Mercy, but he and his brothers all have incredibly sensitive noses; a light scent might be strong enough to give him a migraine.

“Look…Zephyr, is it?” Amber points out irritably after glancing at the clerk’s nametag. “I’m not in the market for any makeup, perfume, or whatever—I’m just here because my smart-ass friend got lost in the fitting room.” Zephyr stares vacantly at her, her big empty blue eyes bright behind her dramatically sweeping blonde bangs, seemingly unable to comprehend that her company isn’t wanted. Amber casts her eyes about, frantic for escape, and finally one appears - a flower-decked poster advertising hypoallergenic perfume. “Then again…” Well, if it got Zephyr to look away long enough for her to retreat, it might work. “I don’t suppose that brand has anything really light and tropical, maybe with mango and coconut?” Though she intended to stump the clerk by asking for something unlikely, she quickly realizes she instead presented a challenge. Blue eyes brighter than ever, Zephyr ducks down to dig through the glass case then pops right back up, presenting a bottle of perfume like one would present an Oscar.

“It’s called Island Escape!” she giggles completely missing Amber’s crestfallen expression. Well, that didn’t work! “The fragrance is based around fresh mangos and mandarin oranges with notes of coconut and papaya and just the slightest hint of passion fruit!” Before Amber can even get a word out, Zephyr sprays into the tiny cap and holds it out for her to sniff…as though she could even smell a skunk over the stench from the rest of the perfume.

“What smells good?” Mercy pipes up behind Amber startling her. “Usually this counter stinks like a French hooker.” The brunette chokes back her laughter and turns nearly purple, both at Mercy’s complete lack of a filter and Zephyr’s disappointed pout. Seemingly not realizing she said anything off-color, Mercy ducks forward to tentatively sniff at the cap offered, and blinks in surprise. “Hey, that’s you!” she points out to Amber with a grin. “Y'ought'a try that!”

Great…now she has two pushy blondes trying to force perfume on her.

Friends like those two can really make your life a mess, but boy is worth it!

[ghost-chance]

Amber O'Brien and Mercy Ross: awkward friends bond awkwardly.

"Oi, Blundie!" The sudden call at Mercy's back startled her, but the speaker's appearance was even more surprising—short and pudgy with frizzy rust-brown hair in pigtails and a bright, crooked grin that seemed all upper teeth. Mercy had seen the girl before—had been assigned to the same classes with her since Kindergarten—but neither had ever made any effort to make an acquaintance. After all, Mercy was shy and the other girl was hard to understand. "Kin I set'ere, mibbe?"

"Who's askin'?" Mercy frowned down into her lunchbox, hoping the other wouldn't see how red her eyes were. Their class was on a field trip, after all, a day trip to a larger town's science museum—she was supposed to be having fun, not crying over bullies!

"Ah'm Amber O'Brine," the green-eyed second-grader answered thickly helping herself to the nearest empty chair regardless. "Dinnae mind those dolts nae mair, 'ey're coarsin' ya 'cause'ey're feart'a ya. 'ey cannae handle a girl wit' class, ya knuw?"

While Mercy struggled to decipher what she heard, the group of kids at the nearest table—the rude brats from another school who'd teased Mercy relentlessly for wearing a dress on a field trip—started catcalling at the brunette and mocking her thick foreign burr. "Haw!" She shouted back. "Stew it ya clarty toonsers! Yer all honkin'a smawg!" Without missing a beat, she turned back to Mercy, offering her chubby hand with a bright smile. "Dingy tha dafties , 'ey need a kip. Friends?"**

"Like I' gotta choice?" Mercy mumbled still trying to figure out what Amber said.

Delirious and red as a beet, Donatello stumbled out the door, drifting vaguely toward the empty lab mumbling unintelligibly under his breath. Amber and Mercy watched his retreat, one amused, one bewildered.

"Was it something I said?" Amber asked Mercy, finally turning to meet the blonde's grey-blue eyes. Mercy shot her a 'we are not amused' deadpan and jabbed her thumb at the space behind her; taking the hint, Amber returned to her place, taking up the comb and scissors again.

"Nope," Mercy answered dryly as chunks of matted blonde hair fell all around her; good riddance, she thought. "You just blew his mind, that's all…an' if his brain's as big as you say it is, you may'a just triggered another Chernobyl."

"Hey!" Amber retorted, shaking the comb at her. "I was nowhere near Chernobyl when the meltdown happened, thank ya very much!"

"Only 'cuz ya weren't born yet," Mercy teased back. Amber couldn't help but grin; she'd missed the playful banter with Aaron and Mercy so much it was ridiculous. She couldn't have Aaron, but maybe with Mercy, at least, her new life would be a little easier. Should the words cross her lips, though, she knew her friend would become uncomfortable, so she settled for a more accepted response: insulting her.

"Face forward," she ordered with a smirk and a light slap to the back of the blonde's head, "or I swear ta bog, I will give you the world's saddest mullet." 

The door swung shut on a silent, still bathroom; Amber and Mercy stood staring at the steel panel door, questioning what just happened. Finally, Amber broke the silence.

"Did he just…" Mercy nodded.

"Yup," she answered blankly. "He did."

"Donatello just Howl's Moving Castle'd me?!" Amber squeaked at her friend, her normally low voice painfully shrill. "For real?!" Finally getting a hold of herself, Mercy smirked back.

"Leave it to you to turn a movie title into a verb," she teased, then added in a sing-song tone, "He thinks yer gorgeous,"

"ACK!" Amber flinched, swatting at her friend.

"He's got a turtle crush!"

"Mercy!"

"You wanna kiss'im," Mercy taunted as Amber chased her around the bathroom with the scissors. "You wanna hug'im, you wanna love'im—"

"Ya wanna DIE, DON'T YOU?!"

"You're certainly takin' this well, Merse," Amber commented off-handedly as she set aside her glass and took up the knife again. "Ya'd think you were in another city rather than another world."

"Meh," Mercy retorted as she sliced a stalk of celery into strips. "Yer over-reactin' enough fer both of us, I reckon; freakin' out over everythin' ain't gonna help any." Amber shrugged, the smooth slide of knife through meat calming in its familiarity. "Ain't ya worried this'll screw things up?" The sudden query startled Amber from her near-trance, and she fastened confused green eyes on her lifelong friend.

"Huh?" she uttered. "Screw things up how?" Mercy rolled her eyes and tossed a stem of celery leaves at her face. "Hey, don't waste that! I dry those for soup!"

"Nerd. Findin' ourselves in their world, events changin', plots shiftin' to revolve around us, any'a that ring a bell?" Mercy snarked. "We could be screwin' up the timeline just by bein' here." Amber stared back, wide-eyed and silent; a flush spread from her cheekbones outward. "Didn't think'a that, did ya?"

"Well..." she admitted with a sheepish smile. "…not…really, no. Never occurred to me." The blonde scoffed, tempted to chuck another piece of celery at her.

"It's official," she deadpanned. "The fanfiction addict fails at fanfiction."

"Ya serious, ain't'cha?" Raphael asked, golden eyes wide in disbelief. "Ya think—ya think I gotta chance with Merse?" He winced, suddenly glancing out the door as though hearing footsteps nearing. Amber didn't comprehend Raph's reaction and jumped upright when the blonde herself stormed through the kitchen into the utility room, covered head-to-toe in potting soil, mulch, peat, and clay dust and gently cradling a naked jalapeno plant like a newborn.

"God-fuckin'-dammit!" Mercy snarled as she yanked out stashed supplies—a large basin, another planter, a more securely tied harness, a ladle, bags of dirt, mulch, and peat moss—and proceeded to replant the evicted vegetable with a gentleness that didn't match her loud temper tantrum. "I TOL' Mike that hanger wa'n't tight enough! I TOL'im it was gonna slip if any'un bumped it!" As she worked on repairing the damage she continued bitching and griping but drifted further and further from intelligible complaints and into random expletives too slurred and butchered to discern their origin. Raph stared wide-eyed across the table at Amber, who shrugged.

"She's a lil' protective'a the green stuff," she stage-whispered.

"I heard that, Dillweed!" Mercy snapped, ducking her head around the doorframe long enough to shoot her friend a venomous scowl. "'at chucklehead Mikey' better be protective of'is BALLS, 'cuz I'm'a smash'em!" As though finally noticing his presence, she quirked a smirk at Raph. "Oh, hey Asshat." Without further ado, she returned to remedying the situation. Wide Hazel eyes met amused green ones over the table.

"That answer your question?" Amber teased lowly snagging the Scotch bottle to top off his glass. "This one's on me—you'll need it."

By the time Amber finally got up the nerve to meet Mercy in the railyard she was quaking in Kimber's hoochie boots and dreading the tongue-lashing to come. "H—Hello?" she called out inching through the doorway.

"I take it you two idjits finally made up?" Mercy drawled behind her sending her through the roof again. Amber whipped about wondering how Mercy was managing to sneak up on her so often. Was the blonde taking lessons in ninja from Raph?

"Eh…" She faltered, avoiding her friend's eyes. "…mibbe?" Mercy paced toward her like a cougar stalking a wounded deer, her blue eyes hard.

"I remember that smell, ya twat," she pointed out dryly, "an' I highly doubt you an' Sir Geeks-a-lot had angry sex in the pantry."

"There was no sex!" Amber blurted out. "We—It just—Gah!" she burst out and yanked on her braid again. "We just got carried away, but there was no sex, no nudity, no missing clothes even!" The blonde stared her down, scrutinizing her expression for any sign of a lie. "In my defense, I ain't gotten laid since April of 2011!" The moment the year was out of her mouth, Amber paled and her jaw dropped, the year difference finally hitting her. She left behind the year 2011 and woke up in 2016—did she seriously endure a five-year dry spell in Limbo?! No wonder she nearly screwed Donnie against the pantry shelves!

"So ya just humped against the Heineken," Mercy summarized bluntly. Amber winced but nodded. "Good thing I don't drink that shit. 'Bout time you two quit fightin'—I was gettin' sick'a chewin' ya both out all the time."

"S-Sorry," Bree mumbled in embarrassment, scrubbing her cheeks dry. Honestly, she just met this Amber person and already she spent twenty minutes crying on her. "I—"

"Oi, don't go beatin' yerself up," Amber chastised gently. "Us lahssies gotta stick together, right?" Through the utility room doorway, she heard Mercy whistle and holler,

"Heeeere, Lassie—C'mere girl!"

"Haw!" Amber fired back at the cackling blonde. "Put a sock in it, ya bleach blonde!" Bree stared at Amber like she just grew antlers, seeming to have forgotten her embarrassment and sadness; mission accomplished.

"Lassies?" Bree repeated in confusion, one brown eyebrow disappearing behind her bangs. "You're Irish?" Amber laughed aloud at the thought; her Gran'da would have turned red and sputtered oaths at the thought.

"Hardly, Hardy. Mum's family's from Scotland, some of it stuck." The younger woman sat silently contemplating things for a bit, then admitted something aloud.

"Mikey was right."

"Pardon?" Bree blushed slightly but gave a sheepish smile.

"He wasn't allowed to tell his family about us, but he told me all about you guys…he said you're compassionate and unfiltered, Mercy's sarcastic and bristly, and that you're both a riot and prone to spontaneously insulting each other." Amber chuckled into her coffee at the thought.

"That's us a'right," she admitted. "We've been friends too long to take each other seriously."

"That'd imply I take anyone seriously," Mercy snarked bustling through the door. Just shy of the table she turned a shit-eating grin to Amber. "What's wrong, Lassie? Is Timmy in the well?"

"Bite me, Blundie." Mischief managed, the blonde held her dirt-stained hand out to Bree with a lopsided smirk.

"Mercy Ross, professional plant nut; looks like ya a'ready met the crazy Celt." Bree couldn't help smiling as she accepted the handshake.

"Actually, Mike said you're both a little crazy…crazy can be fun, though, right?" Noticing Amber's gaze drift toward the pantry, Mercy gave a suggestive eyebrow waggle. A dark blush streaked from the brunette's nose outward and she suddenly became utterly fascinated with the lip gloss print on her coffee mug.

"You've gotta be a little crazy to keep up with this crowd," Donnie pointed out as he strode toward the coffee maker, a dimpled smirk splitting his face. "Welcome to the family, Briallen."

From the moment Mercy led Leonardo into the Dojo, he was bullish and impatient. Now, after being warned that he was babying Beverly, he was beyond irate. "I'm not being overprotective," he insisted sternly. "You don't know her—you don't know the sort of challenges she's faced, or what she has trouble with! How could you even begin to believe you'd understand what's called for and what's excessive?"

"No, Ass-Breath, I don't know her," the blonde grumbled at him. "Other'n what ya've told us, I dunno a damn thing about 'er, but it don't take knowin' someone to see the obvious. She's feelin' stifled, I kin guarantee it."

"And on what are you basing this assumption?" he demanded staring her down. "Your addiction?!"

"Fracture in L3 and L2," Mercy recited in an almost deadpan, "surgically fused to L1 an' L4. Stable fracture in right kneecap. Four ribs bruised, two cracked. Hairline fracture in left hip socket. Nerve damage in back surroundin' fractured vertebrae. An' on top of that," she added with a stern glare, "three years restricted to a cane, four years 'a torture disguised as physical therapy, an' a whoppin' eleven years 'a pain management an' opiate pain pills." For a few breaths, Leonardo just stared at her in disbelief, then he stated,

"You lost me." Denim blue eyes rolled, their owner heaving an exasperated sigh.

"I'm saying I' been in yer shoes, Dumbass," she clarified shortly. "I' seen what happens when ya get too careful with those ya care about. That braided lunatic," she called out loudly enough to be heard in the kitchen, "thought it'd be fun ta jump in front of a bus!" Sure enough, Amber hollered out from the kitchen,

"Oi! I was hit by a van in the crosswalk—there's a difference!"

"How's the GED goin' Scotch-Bright?" Mercy asked around her pizza crust

"Slowly," Amber admitted. "I still suck at algebra an' apparently I peeved-off the instructor today." She answered Donnie's questioning glance with a shrug. "What? It's not my fault the test he wrote up had more spelling and grammar errors than a kindergartner's Christmas list. I just corrected'em."

"Grammar Nazi," Mercy accused pointing a fork at her.

Three women walked into a bar: a spunky brunette, a skinny blonde, and a sulking woman with greying brown hair. It sounded like the beginning of a bad joke, but none of the women were laughing—they were there for one reason and one reason only.

"You're sure you wanna go through with this?" Bree asked Amber softly as a waitress approached. "It might be easier to go through with sober." The older woman just nodded; she had incredibly high pain tolerance, but this was a whole 'nother ball game.

"What can I getcha?" the waitress chirped, and Mercy sent the other two a scrutinizing glance.

"I'll just take sweet tea—no booze," she answered, and Bree seconded the request. "This one, however," she added slinging one skinny arm around Amber's shoulders and triggering an embarrassed blush. "We need'a get'er smashed. She's a Scotch-snob—any suggestions?" Not long after, the chipper waitress returned with a tray of drinks, two completely innocent and one absolutely reeking of what smelled like several varieties of alcohol. The stench curled Amber's nose hairs and made her stomach throw tantrums…but if it did the trick, wouldn't that be worth it?

"If this kills me," she warned Mercy dryly, "I'm'a haunt yer ass."

"'long as I don't wind up spewin' pea soup. Chug it a'ready—it stinks."

"Pea soup's possession, Dingbat," Amber grumbled, fixing the glass with a suspicious and wary glare. "Well," she muttered lifting it to her lip, "Down the hatch, be ready to catch." The first tentative sip made her choke, and she had to force herself to swallow. "Dear God!" she rasped staring down at the glass in horror. "'is shit tastes like Tussin!"

"Tough noodles," Mercy drawled. "We've got twenty minutes to get you hammered—grow a pair an' hurry up."

Maybe there was something to be said for facing things sober after all…

 A loud scuffling at the front door drew Donatello from his ruminations. The Lab floor was no longer mined with bits and pieces from the control box, but he hadn't had the heart to move on beyond that point yet. Hoping and dreading the source of the racket outside, he hurried to the door and popped his head out to look…only to gape in absolute disbelief.

Amber was back—clearly just shy of drunk and leaning on Mercy for support. The blonde led her inebriated friend to her and Donnie's bedroom, kicked the door open, and they disappeared inside. Confused, he followed, listening in on the hushed conversation.

"Nez-time," Amber slurred as Mercy eased her down onto the bed, "I'm'a stay sober fer-it—tha' wiz crap..."

"No one said it'd be easy," Mercy reminded bluntly dragging the trashcan over by the bed for easy access. "Don't think I've ever seen ya drunk—this's hilarious."

"'m no' drunk," Amber argued sourly. "'m fuggin' blootert!" Without further ado, the wasted brunette passed out completely.

"I'm'a just pretend I know whatcha said."

"So how's work going?" April groaned in annoyance, picking at her pizza crust.

"My new boss is a tyrant," she grumbled in answer to Donatello's question. Every time April and her fellow reporters took a story on-air, it had to be written up before hand, and the 'big boss' was a complete grammar Nazi. "She chewed me out for a ridiculous typo today—said 'if you can't properly spell 'Bronx' maybe you should go work there.' Auto-correct is gonna get me fired."

"Hey, I thought you were workin' at the pizza parlor!" Mercy teased Amber. "When'd ya take up journalism, Grammar Nazi?"

"I didn't," Amber answered with mock offense; if she was April's boss, she wouldn't be dodging cars to deliver pizza. "Hence the pizza sauce on your chin…Messy." Instead of embarrassing the blonde, however, the remark just made her turn to Raphael and point at her face in a hint; sure enough, the burly ninja swiped the trace of sauce away and sucked it off his finger, intentionally holding eye contact with the blushing blonde. "Oi! Some of us are eatin' here, ya horndogs!"

"Not my problem," Mercy teased a little too breathlessly, completely ignoring Casey's cringe and Splinter's dirty looks.

"You're…yer invitin' us to come with the family?" Amber asked Casey in disbelief. "You - You'll let us come stay with y'all in Northampton for the trip? But--" 

"Yer not Kimbuh Bryant, right?" Casey cut her off avoiding her eyes in favor of his plate. "You an' Blondie ain't gonna hurt anyone, an' yer part of the family now, right? Why shouldn't ya come along? It's just a weekend." He winced at April's elbow to the ribs, then added with an awkward pacifying smile, "Dis one, at least. Maybe once we've all gotten used ta one another, we can take longer trips."

Amber turned wistful, watery eyes to Donnie; sure enough, he winked at her in confirmation of his interference, and the hand on her thigh squeezed again. When she spoke again, her voice was hoarse and her smile weak. "We'd love to go with y'all," she admitted quickly glancing at Mercy for confirmation only to cringe at the sight of the blonde trying to feed Raphael a breadstick. Surely that wasn't meant to look suggestive…right? Amber needed to get laid before everything around her started looking sexual!

"One question," Mercy asked brusquely, took a bite off the breadstick she just shared with Raph, chewed thoughtfully and swallowed. "Are there cows? It ain't the country if there's no cows."

"Da neighbors got cows," Casey answered blankly. "An' chickens…an' I think dey- even gotta donkey. Why?"

"Well, strap me to the luggage rack an' hit the road," Mercy grinned. She missed her family's livestock—missed being around cows, especially—and if she hadn't been already convinced by the 'weekend in the country,' the cows sealed the deal. She loved cows, after all… "Don't bother settin' up a place in the attic fer Scotch-bright, though—she's sleepin' with the nerd." Amber choked on her iced tea and Donatello had to start whacking her on the back to clear her lungs.

"Mercy!" the brunette objected shrilly, her voice hoarse from the tea she inhaled.

"What?" the blonde asked her embarrassed friend with feigned confusion as Casey sputtered in disbelief. "Y'are." Amber hid her face in her hand, sure it was turning as purple as Donnie's mask. "Better lock the pantry, too, Case—those two're deviants."

Amber swatted blindly at the source of the tickling on her nose, growling under her breath. When her eyes finally opened—shooting daggers over her being woken up—she registered Mercy Ross leaning over the back of the bench seat before her, grinning like a lunatic and holding the end of one of her braids. Clearly, she was tickling Amber's nose with it to wake her up. "Gi'off, Blundie,"- Amber grumbled at the blonde, yanking her hair loose and settling herself more comfortably in the nook of the van's back seat and the wall.

"Ya slept the whole trip, Scotch-Bright," Mercy teased with a toothy smile. "We're at the farmhouse—the guys've already carried everything inside, even." Amber blinked at the revelation, wondering how she could have slept through an entire car ride with Casey and April—specifically Casey's road rage and bitching or April's crazy driving. "C'mon in a'ready."

Still a little out-of-sorts because of her strange dream, Amber collected her carry-on and unbuckled, stretched the kinks out of her spine, and stoop-walked her way from the backseat of the van to the sliding door. She hit the ground with a stumble, shook herself as though to wake herself up more, and took in her surroundings. Mercy hopped down from the van's middle seat with much more grace than her still-half-asleep friend. The two stood silently for a moment, staring at the big red barn before them. "If that's the farmhouse, I'm callin' bullshite."

"The house is behind us, Genius," Mercy laughed, swatting at Amber and leading the way around the van. As she rounded Casey's old van, the farmhouse came into view—old and rustic, but not quite as big as she'd expected. "Speakin' of freaky dreams," Mercy teased jabbing Amber in the side, "Casey said this place has a pantry." Predictably incensed by the taunt, Amber swatted at the blonde, her face red.

"Hey, you two," Casey called out from the doorway. "If yer comin' in, behave yerselves!"

"What if I don't wanna behave?" Mercy shot back, and Casey rolled his eyes. "What? Well-behaved women rarely make history, right O'Brien?" Amber rolled her eyes and stumbled past her without a word. "Wait…I smell cows!—Jason, ya said yer neighbors have cows, right?" Before Casey could correct her or answer her, the blonde took off like a shot to seek out her quarry.

Dinner was just like any other dinner the odd family shared—Mercy and Raphael flirted outrageously to annoy the rest, Mikey talked almost non-stop, Leo shot his brothers reprimanding looks over lapses in manners, and everyone ate far more than they should have. The only unusual occurrence was Amber repeatedly squirming and shifting in her seat as though favoring a sore buttock. Leo refused to contemplate the reason, after having run into the guilty couple earlier, and pointedly ignored her blushing and the creaking of her chair. Unfortunately, someone didn't get the message.

"You okay, Sis?" Michelangelo asked after yet another loud creak; in her embarrassment, the brunette dropped her fork onto her plate with a loud clatter and tried to cover up her embarrassment by taking a long swig of water. Red-faced with embarrassment, she nodded in answer and tried to focus on her casserole. Misinterpreting her reaction, Mikey turned a glare on Donnie, completely missing the brainy turtle's horrified expression. "Bruh, I told ya you need'a bug-bomb that loft," the youngest scolded. "Somethin' probably bit her!"

Amber choked on her water and started hacking it back out of her lungs; though he'd normally assist by whacking her on the back, Donnie just stared at his brother in silent horror. "We don't need Sis turnin' into Spider-Dudette over some radioactive spider bite from your mad-sciency stuff out there," Mikey continued uncontested despite Leo kicking him under the table. "That kinda stuff never works out well, even in comics!" Still coughing and beating her chest, Amber screeched her chair back from the table and rushed out of the room before she embarrassed herself further.

Mercy glared at her friend's retreating back. She recalled the suspicious tooth-marks on Amber's wrist not too long ago…and she suspected this was another such incident. Grinning slyly, she hollered out the door at the fleeing woman, "Didja at least bite it back?" A gruff curse rang out on the stairs in reply, and Mercy noticed that Donnie was practically purple in the face; she silently interpreted this as a 'yeah, she did.' Meanwhile, Mikey continued on in his tangent about radioactive spider-bites being a menace to public safety and started listing off the first signs of having been bitten by a radioactive spider. Leo wouldn't look at anyone and he seemed to have lost his appetite.

Mercy turned to Raph, glanced pointedly at the mortified genius and Amber's empty chair, then shot her boyfriend a suggestive eyebrow waggle. Raph, easily following her train of thought, cringed in disgust and elbowed her in the side. Supposedly oblivious to the tension filling the room and not connecting the dots for himself, Mikey continued his rant unhindered.

At least, Leo considered as he stared down his half-empty plate, Amber and Donnie were stinking up the barn's loft this time instead of the pantry.

Amber storms into the shabby kitchen like a woman on a mission, only to stop dead at the counter and dig through the cooler on the floor. As every time before, she is faced with the painful truth that she forgot the Scotch…as every time before, she feels torn between tears and sarcasm. "Why's the rum always gone?" she mumbles pathetically.

"Ye drank it awl, Jack,"# Mercy snarks through the open window startling her. "Ye an' yer damn peanuts!" As her heart rate calms, Amber grins,

"Finally, someone who gets me! Where've ya been all my life?"

"Straight an' surrounded by cows," Mercy teases ducking through the kitchen door. "Fortunately for you, Pretty-Boy stocks actual rum—says'e makes a mean mojito." The blonde shrugs noncommittally. "Wouldn't touch it with a twenty-foot pole wit'a stick on th'end, but I don't drink." Amber smirks at the mental image of Mercy jousting with a living mojito and turns to dig a glass out of the cupboard.

"Don't really wanna drink," she admits as she draws tea from the jug on the windowsill. "Jus' miss home again…miss when things actually made some farkin' sense."

"More farkin' sense than Donnie bangin' that heap'a bolts instead'a you?" Mercy suggests slyly, her denim blue eyes grinning as widely as her lips. Amber slumps down at the counter, almost missing the barstool.

"I think yer filter broke, Merse," she suggests dryly. "Yer startin' to talk like me."

"Blame Raph" Mercy shrugs drawing a glass of tea for herself and downing it in a single breath. "He's not one fer holdin'is tongue, an' don't see why I do…filters're overrated anyway."

There's something freeing about belting out music as horribly as one can, and Donnie's become rather fond of his and Amber's impromptu song-murdering sessions. Crammed into her usual shower stall like sardines in a can, the couple serenade the presumably empty bathroom with completely god-awful acapella singing, one with a goofy grin and the other with a washcloth covering his cartilage-shielded ears. Some days that washcloth is the only thing standing between him and total hearing loss.

"One night in Bangkok makes the hard man humble - Not much between despair and ecstasy! One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble - Can't be too careful with your company - I can feel the devil walking next to me!" By the time they've effectively slaughtered the entire song, they couldn't keep a straight face to save their lives; they break down laughing at themselves and each other. "Yer brothers probably think we're torturing a cat," Amber wheezes as she rinses the coconut-scented suds out of her hair.

"Nah," Donnie teases openly watching the bubbles trail down her slick skin. "Mikey's singing on the other hand…"

"Will you two shut up a'ready?!" Raphael's sudden outburst—coming from the furthest stall—makes the couple flinch. Amber's cheeks flare scarlet at being caught showering with her mate. "It's too damn early fer dis!" Donnie opens his mouth to fire back a retort, but another voice cuts him off.

"If yer awake enough ta bitch," Mercy reminds Raph in a tone dripping with sarcasm, "yer awake enough to scrub my back. Shut up an' do yer job!" Hazel meets grey-green, both pairs of eyes torn between horror and embarrassment. Somehow they never heard Raph or Mercy enter the bathroom…or guessed that they weren't the only couple prone to sharing the shower in the morning. Some things, they decide with a mutual nod, are better left unheard.

"Hi!" an all-too chipper voice interrupts Amber's daydreaming. She startles, turning to greet the speaker, her left hand deep in her purse clenched around her can of mace; old habits die hard, especially old habits born from being stalked by crazy Purple Dragon punks. The source, a perky blonde co-ed leaning over the counter of the perfume and cosmetics hub, puts Amber's mind somewhat at ease. The much younger woman's big blue eyes are eager behind her oversized glasses and the tops of her likely padded breasts are nearly spilling out over the neckline of her pink baby-doll tee. "Have you ever considered trying a new fragrance? Maybe a little something to attract a man to your life?" It takes everything Amber's got to keep her impending 'why me?' face from surfacing, but she manages. She's a lone woman loitering by the wedding ring display; naturally, everyone's going to assume she's a bitter single person.

"Thanks for your concern, Hon," Amber remarks carefully, raising her hand from her purse to show off her clearly occupied ring finger, "but I really don't need another one. I'm just bored stiff waiting for my friends."

"Well, let's get you unbored!" the clerk chirps excitedly—clearly too horrified by Amber's bare face and lack of perfume to accept the 'no.' What follows can be best described as a long, frustrating exercise in patience. No, she doesn't wear makeup and doesn't want to wear makeup—it irritates her skin. No, she isn't interested in any so-called 'hypoallergenic' makeup, it's not worth the hassle. Yes, she's sure. Yes, she's happy not wearing perfume, the stuff stinks and her 'husband' has 'chemical sensitivities.' The last one she has to do some serious BS-ing on. Donnie's not shown any signs of chemical sensitivities, unlike Mercy, but he and his brothers all have incredibly sensitive noses; a light scent might be strong enough to give him a migraine.

"Look…Zephyr, is it?" Amber points out irritably after glancing at the clerk's nametag. "I'm not in the market for any makeup, perfume, or whatever—I'm just here because my smart-ass friend got lost in the fitting room." Zephyr stares vacantly at her, her big empty blue eyes bright behind her dramatically sweeping blonde bangs, seemingly unable to comprehend that her company isn't wanted. Amber casts her eyes about, frantic for escape, and finally one appears - a flower-decked poster advertising hypoallergenic perfume. "Then again..." Well, if it got Zephyr to look away long enough for her to retreat, it might work. "I don't suppose that brand has anything really light and tropical, maybe with mango and coconut?" Though she intended to stump the clerk by asking for something unlikely, she quickly realizes she instead presented a challenge. Blue eyes brighter than ever, Zephyr ducks down to dig through the glass case then pops right back up, presenting a bottle of perfume like one would present an Oscar.

"It's called Island Escape!" she giggles completely missing Amber's crestfallen expression. Well, that didn't work! "The fragrance is based around fresh mangos and mandarin oranges with notes of coconut and papaya and just the slightest hint of passion fruit!" Before Amber can even get a word out, Zephyr sprays into the tiny cap and holds it out for her to sniff…as though she could even smell a skunk over the stench from the rest of the perfume.

"What smells good?" Mercy pipes up behind Amber startling her. "Usually this counter stinks like a French hooker." The brunette chokes back her laughter and turns nearly purple, both at Mercy's complete lack of a filter and Zephyr's disappointed pout. Seemingly not realizing she said anything off-color, Mercy ducks forward to tentatively sniff at the cap offered, and blinks in surprise. "Hey, that's you!" she points out to Amber with a grin. "Y'ought'a try that!"

Great…now she has two pushy blondes trying to force perfume on her.

Friends like those two can really make your life a mess, but boy is worth it!

[imagineyourstars]

Hey! I just found this blog, and it's super cute! All your writing is so great! I hope you don't mind me requesting? Sorry if I'm bothering you, but could I ask for scenarios/headcanons with Leo, Hinata, Natsume, and Chiaki taking their childish s/o to a Matsuri? Or if you don't know enough about Matsuris then just something cute like watching fireworks or lighting sparklers will do! Thank you! And you don't need to rush on this, since it seems you have alot :v

watch me rush on this anyway lmao i’d better post that while it’s stillsummer !!! aaah a matsuri request !!!! fortunately I knew enough about it towrite these  ! I hope you’ll enjoy them ♥ natsume ended up a tiny bit longer than the others bc he a thot  - mod mademoiselle

Leo :

The summer festival was packed fullwith people, tonight ! You were hesitantly walking amongst the crowd, reachingon your tiptoes to try and see if your boyfriend was here. Unfortunately, he’snot exactly the tallest, so he doesn’t stand out in crowds… that is, unless hestarts shouting.

“Heeeeeyyy ! Over heeeere !” Ah, that was definitely Leo’s voice ! You turned around, and here hewas, grinning widely at you. Not paying mind to the people still going about,you rushed in your boyfriend’s arms, giggling happily. He was laughing too,even carrying you to the best of his ability. You were surprised to see he waswearing a yukata, and it suited him really well ! The garment reallycomplimented his skinny frame. He took in your own figure with a wide smile.

“Whoooaa, you’re wearing a yukata too ! It’s so cute !” he exclaimed, and yousmiled, a bit relieved to hear he liked it.

“Thanks, yours looks really good too !” He grinned at the compliment, his hand naturally finding yours andsqueezing it tight. That’s what you loved about your boyfriend : he tended toact on impulse ! That just made his every action so much more genuine.

“Ruka-tan helped me put it on, since I’m so bad at it!” Leo laughed loudly, prompting a few people to turnand watch him in amusement. He seemed to be in an even better mood than usual !The colorful and enthusiastic atmosphere of the festival probably had a part inthis… but before you had the time to ponder about that, he was already pullingyour hand and pointing at a stall in the distance.

“Whoa, not so fast, Leo !” Youwere struggling to match his pace, but this just made it so much funnier. Leodidn’t slow down anyway, just drawing his tongue at you before going evenfaster. Your wooden sandals were making it pretty hard to run, at least withoutstumbling. Leo was excitedly blabbering, visibly not noticing your struggles.

“Hurry hurry, there’s a game I wanna play ! I betyou’ve never tried it, too !” He stopped in front of a stallwhere children were lining up, eyes twinkling with impatience. To be honest,his enthusiasm was extremely contagious and you found yourself smiling widelytoo.

When it was finally your turn, Leorushed to the stand owner to pay for the game. It seemed to be about catchingfish with a scoop… Goldfish were swimming calmly in the water, their long finsundulating in the ripples. Leo was focusing already, squatting down to observethe fish at eye-level. His tongue was slightly drawing from his mouth in hisconcentration, and that sight made you giggle.

“Whaaat ? You making fun of me ? I bet you suck atthis though, even more than me !” He tried to scoop one of thegoldfish out of the water, but it swam away immediately. With an impatient little groan, hetried again, and once more the fish went to hide at his brusque movements.

“Hey, you’re doing it too fast ! Look, the fish areafraid. Let me try !” You tried to take the scoop out ofyour boyfriend’s hand, but he wouldn’t let you, eyebrows furrowed.

“Aah, don’t steal my scoop ! It’s mine, I paid for it!” You huffed your cheeks in protest, but he wouldn’tbudge and you eventually gave up, groaning. Leo’s triumphant smile was soonwashed away by concentration again as he tried scooping out one of the fish, onlyto fail again.

“I told you, you’re too fast, but you wouldn’tlisten.” You were pouting, much to Leo’s dismay.

“Hey, don’t be angry at me ! You’re not angry, right?” You didn’t answer, looking away. The stand ownerlaughed, shaking his head, and Leo tried to meet your gaze, to no avail.

“Of course I’m not angry.” Youturned a bit towards your boyfriend’s worried face, but your lips were stillcontorted in a small pout.

“Thank god ! Here, I’ll let you try. I bet you can’tdo it anyway !” Leo handed you the scoop, and you grinned at him,kissing his cheek before looking the fish over.

“I think you have to go for it more slowly”, you whispered, gently approaching one of the fish with the scoop. Assoon as you were getting close to it, you scooped it out of the water, andLeo’s eyes widened… only for it to fall in the water. The scoop was made ofpaper, and it softly tore right under the fish you’d managed to catch.

“Ah, that’s not fair ! You were so close !” Leo was pouting, and you smiled, taking your wallet. Once you’d given afew more coins to the stand owner, you had a brand-new scoop and were trying tocatch the fish again. That is, until Leo suddenly started flailing about.

“Not that one, not that one !” He’d suddenly screamed way too close to your ear, and you jumped a bitin surprise, causing the fish to swim away quickly.

“Hey, don’t scare me like that, Leo ! See, the fishare afraid again now.” Leo quickly pecked your cheek inapology, then pointed to a bright orange fish with a white tail.

“Try to catch this one ! I want it.”

“Why ? I think the white one is cuter”, you retorted, watching your favorite fish leisurely swim with theothers. Leo grinned at you, leaning his head on your shoulder.

“Because it has cute eyes. They remind me of yours !” You just stared blankly at the huge, empty eyes of the fish. Was thatsupposed to be a compliment… ?

“Uh, thanks, I guess ? But I don’t know, it reminds meof you, actually. It’s the same color as your hair !” Leo gasped at your comment, nodding furiously.

“Ah, you’re right ! Then I’m going to call him Leo theSecond !” Well, at least he has an interesting naming sense.

“Wait until I catch him first”, you laughed. You tried to focus on the one fish Leo wanted, when hesuddenly grabbed your face with two hands and loudly smooched you. You wereleft blinking in surprise, cheeks slightly pink.

“It’s a good luck charm ! Now scoop Leo the Secondout, I really wanna bring him home !” Leo wassmiling widely, the colorful lights from the paper lanterns reflecting in hiseyes. He looked absolutely gorgeous, and you suddenly realized you’d beenstaring at him in awe for a moment. With a sheepish little nod, you got readyto try scooping the fish again. You approached it as slowly as you could,hoping the paper wouldn’t break this time… and you successfully scooped it outof the water, proudly showing it to the owner. Leo laughed brightly, clappingas the owner gently put the fish in a small plastic bag filled with water.

“Be careful, alright ? Treat him well.” You took the bag from the stand owner with a smile, then handed itover to your boyfriend, whose eyes widened slightly in surprise.

“Eh, why are you giving it to me… ? You won it, soit’s yours !” he chirped, giving you the bag again. You shook yourhead, teasingly pecking Leo’s lips.

“You’re the one who really wanted it. It’s all yours !Let’s say it’s a gift from me.” Leo stared at you incredulously, notsure if he should believe you. He then shyly took the bag, cheeks tinted pink.

“Thank you… It’s the first time someone ever—” He suddenly stopped, mouth hanging open. You briefly wondered why, butthen you heard them. The fireworks. Leo gasped, and you could swear his facehad literally lightened up in just a second.

“Aah, it’s the fireworks show ! We can’t miss it !!Come on, hurry up, I wanna get a nice spot !” And heleft running, tugging on your hand to get you to move. You laughed, trying yourbest to match his pace without stumbling.

“Don’t run so fast ! What if you harm the fish ?” He just sent a boyish grin your way as a response, but actually sloweddown a bit.

“I won’t, promise ! You gave it to me, after all. It’skinda like we’re its parents !” You stopped in your tracks,blushing a bit. Parents, huh… ? You couldn’t help but imagine, maybe… you andLeo, older but even happier, with kids of your own…

“Come on, you’re soooo slow ! Hurry or we’re gonnamiss it all !!” You hadno time to dawdle on these thoughts any longer : as usual, Leo was pulling onyour hand and laughing brightly. But there was no way you’d ever get tired ofit.

Hinata :

You were nervously fiddling withyour yukata’s sash, sitting on a bench. You weren’t usually so nervous, buttonight, the festival was crowded. People were looking at you, and youself-consciously fixed your hair. You just hoped you didn’t look too weird…

Your boyfriend was just a little bitlate, but as you suddenly spotted him amongst the crowd you understood why. Hewas with his twin brother and some of his classmates, joking around. As soon ashis eyes met yours, he waved at them and happily trotted to you.

“Sorry I’m late ! Yuta-kun had some trouble with hisyukata, and I couldn’t leave him looking ridiculous, you know ?” He winked at you, then gently helped you get up. Only then did he fullytake in the view, and he grinned, blushing a bit.

“Ah, you’re wearing a yukata too !It looks really nice on you~” He regretfully took his eyes awayfrom you, but took your hand with a mischievous grin. You looked around a bitand saw some other couples holding hands, so you decided to throw yourembarrassment by the window and intertwine your fingers together.

“Is it fine that you’re with me rather than with yourfriends ?” you asked, and he fervently nodded, squeezing yourfingers briefly.

“It’s a date, so of course yes ! I don’t wanna be withanyone else tonight, you know~” He wiggled his eyebrowssuggestively, making you giggle. Hinata looked positively delighted at thesound.

“Well that’s good, because I didn’t plan to give youaway to anyone else”, you airily answered, prompting yourboyfriend to smile. That was obviously the answer he’d been expecting.

You looked around a bit, unfamiliarwith the stalls and games of the festival. Hinata was quick to catch on,smirking teasingly.

“You’ve never come here before, right ?” he asked, and you nodded. “Then,does it make tonight your ‘first time’ ?” He sent a pointed look your way,eyes twinkling with amusement. You drew your tongue at him, making him chuckle.

“It’s just a joke, a joke~ Well anyway, hope you’rehungry, because tonight’s schedule revolves around sweets !” He looked so happy at that prospect, and you found his excited smile tobe contagious.

“Sounds good ! What’s first ?” He just pointed at an endless line of food stalls with a huge grin.Before you knew it, you were queueing alongside him, while he happily ordered abit of everything, from most of the stalls. Did he… intend to eat all of that ?

Soon enough, you were seated at atable near the main street, lit up by paper lanterns. Hinata went to get papernapkins and gave half of them to you with a little smile. “Believe me, you’re gonna get cream or chocolate all over your chin atsome point.” You could only stare at the impressive number of plates andcups filled with various desserts, your stomach grumbling in hunger.

“Yeah, looks that way… Ah, can I try that ?” you asked, pointing towards what looked like a fish-shaped waffle.Taiyaki, right ? Hinata nodded happily, handing you the treat.

“Just eat whatever you want ! There’s more than enoughfor two~” And he was right : even after sampling a bit ofeverything, there was still a lot more. But Hinata was certainly not planningto stop there.

“Come on, aaah~” Youhappily opened your mouth when he prompted you to, letting him spoon-feed you icecream. It was delicious, too ! Hinata looked pleased you liked it, taking aspoonful of it to try it too.

“Ah, wait”, youinterrupted, “I have to spoon-feed youtoo, right~ ?” He grinned, handing you the spoon and exaggeratedly openinghis mouth, prompting you to giggle. He didn’t look like he liked the icream though, andyou curiously titled your head sideways.

“I thought it was amazing, but you don’t seem to… ?” He shook your head at your question, even grimacing a bit.

“Nah, actually I think it’s not sweet enough.” But it was just perfect to you ? He grinned devilishly as he added : “But I know something that will make itmuch, much sweeter.” Before you had the time to answer anything, he leaneda bit and gently kissed your still-parted lips. You could only close your eyesand melt into the kiss as he deepened it, his hands finding your own. His lipswere warm and tasted of strawberry ice cream… You were surprised when hesuddenly pulled back, cheeks pink but smiling.

“There, much better, right ?” You just blinked, still dazed from the kiss, and he laughed, adding : “Man, I’ve always wanted to do that ! Sorryif it was cheesy.” He winked, prompting you to smile.

“I wouldn’t mind if you did stuff like that moreoften, though !” You stood up, throwing away the napkins and emptycontainers with your boyfriend’s help, before he gently guided you amongst thecrowd again. His hand was softly squeezing yours again, and it felt so nice tobe connected to him…

“I have something else in store for you~ I hope you’renot afraid of fire ?” You answered his question with asmall frown. You hoped he wasn’t planning anything dangerous…

“It depends, I guess ? Why ? Don’t tell me—” He cut you off with a laugh, gently stroking the back of your hand withhis thumb in a soothing motion.

“Hey, do you really think of me as someone sodangerous ? Naah, it’s nothing like that !” Hestopped in front of a stall, which seemed to sell…

“Sparklers ?” youasked, and he nodded happily. He definitely seemed to know a lot about them,asking for specific ones and happily going through the bag once he was donewith his purchase.

“Yep ! I’ve been playing with them a lot~ I remember,when I was little, Yuta-kun was really afraid of them for some reason ! I’dchase after him with sparklers and say ‘Yuta-kun, I’m going to burn you alive’…! Ah, fun times.” Well, at least hewas having fun…

“You know, Hinata, I think I’m starting to grasp whyYuta always runs away from you.” You smiled at your boyfriend, wholaughed loudly before playfully elbowing you.

“Don’t say that ! It’s just that he’s shy aboutshowing his love for me~ Anyway, help me find a nice, secluded little cornerplease ! Wouldn’t want to accidentally burn anyone alive, for real this time~” You giggled and started looking for a quiet place where you could gowith him, and eventually you found a perfect spot.

As you were holding the bag open andexamining its contents carefully, Hinata took one of the sparklers and expertlylit it up. You reflexively took a few steps back, but he was laughing, waving thecolored light around.

“Don’t be afraid, it’s not dangerous or anything !Look, it’s so pretty.” He lit up another one and wasforming intricate shapes and patterns by moving them fast. You couldn’t tearyour eyes away from him.

“You’re right ! It’s really beautiful”, you whispered. He grinned before gently handing you one of hissparklers. You hesitantly took it, but soon got used to it and started to playaround with it just like Hinata did. Whenever one of the sparklers would gooff, Hinata would light up a new one. Some of them sent bright sparkles flyingabout, while some were best to move around fast, and your boyfriend knew whatevery single one of them was just perfect for !

“Hey, hey, look !” Hinatacalled out, and you turned your head his way. He was forming a heart out ofbright light, grinning happily. You smiled, trying it out too to see if youcould do it.

“I can do it too ! I really wish I could take somepictures though…” Hinata shook his head at your comment, whichsurprised you for a moment.

“No need for pictures ! Just carve tonight into yourmemories~ Y’know, I’m going to remember you for my entire life !” Maybe he was just joking around, as he usually was, but for some reasonyou profusely blushed at that thought. If he was serious… then it would be oneof the prettiest things you were ever told. Not noticing your sudden shyness,Hinata was still playing around with the sparklers.

“Look, look, I’m writing your name ! And mine too !H…. I…. N… Oh wait, we should totally carve them in a tree somewhere !” He suddenly stopped moving his sparklers around, looking for a suitabletree nearby.

“I don’t have anything you could use for that though”,you answered. Hinata nodded dejectedly, visiblydisappointed at the thought he wouldn’t get to carve your initials here foreveryone to see.

“Maybe that’s better for the trees anyway… Well,sometimes I want everyone to know about us, but I probably don’t need to~” You thought his face looked just a bit more serious for a moment, butmaybe it was just the weak lighting of the sparklers…

He lit up another sparkler, and youcould briefly distinguish his face in more detail. He was looking at you, asmall smile on his lips, so uncharacteristically different of his usual grin.

“I mean”, he added, “why should I need everyone knowing ? As long as you do, I’m happy.”

You smiled bashfully at his words,watching your last sparkler go off. Hinata’s went off too, and suddenly it wasjust the two of you, holding hands and kissing, with just the stars knowing.But it was more than enough.

Chiaki :

Everyone was so fired up tonight !It made you smile, your heart thumping loudly in your chest. You lovedfestivals, and you were so happy your boyfriend invited you to a datethere ! Besides, it seemed like he’d love the festival too.

… Right. It seemed. You couldn’tfind him anywhere, and even though you tried to call him, he never picked uphis phone. Well, knowing him, he must have gotten pulled into something andyou’d run into him soon enough. You took your time strolling peacefully in thefestival, stopping by at stalls for a moment, buying delicious-looking food andenjoying it quietly. While it wasn’t bad to relax once in a while, you kind ofmissed the boisterous excitement your boyfriend would bring anywhere just by beingthere.

As you thought, it’s a lot lessfunny without Chiaki, right… ?

You were contemplating buying someapple candy when something else that was bright red suddenly caught yourattention. On the next stall were displayed a variety of masks to be worn witha yukata. You smiled as you looked one of them over. It was a tokusatsu hero’smask, red and all ! Once more, you were reminded of your boyfriend. You didn’thesitate one second and bought it, thinking you’d give it to Chiaki once you’dfind him.

As you were strolling down theendless line of stalls, you suddenly heard the distant sound of singing anddrums. The people who were walking about as you were had stopped, lining upalong the stalls. Was there a procession of some sort over there ? You tried tostand on tip-toe, but you couldn’t see much. The crowd seemed enthusiasticthough, whispering happily as the sound drew closer and closer.

Eventually, the procession came by.It was preceded by singing women in traditional attire, and you watched thempass by with wide eyes. The sight was so impressive ! Then came men carrying amikoshi, those portable shrines. They were chanting proudly, even though theylooked exhausted. That shrine certainly looked heavy… And then came the taikodrummers, led by… none other than Chiaki ?

Wait, was that Chiaki ? Yeah,actually, no doubt about that ! He was leading up the drummers proudly, joiningin the chants once in a while. When his eyes met yours, he gave you a brightsmile, full of enthusiasm and energy, before he went away with the rest of theprocession.

As soon as the procession had ended,he immediately rushed to you. Before you could say anything, he swooped you ina rib-crushing bear hug, even spinning you around.

“Chiaki ! I’m so happy you’re here !” You hugged him tight too, secretly relieved he didn’t just forget yourdate.

“About that… I’m awfully sorry ! I’m so late, this isunforgivable… ! I was held back by the procession, as you can see… They weremissing a drummer, and I couldn’t just leave them be !” He gave you an apologetic smile, to which you answered with one of yourown.

“It’s fine ! I’m just really, really glad you’rehere…” He gently stroked your hair, a small frown on hislips, seemingly not reassured by your comment.

“But still, I made you wait… I shall be all yours fromnow on ! You can make me do whatever you please— what is that ?” You were handing him a paper bag, inside of which was the mask you’dbought for him earlier. Your mischievous smile made him grin happily in histurn, and before you knew it, he’d opened it.

“It’s a gift I bought for you ! Do you like it ?” He was admiring the mask reverently, touching it with the utmost care,as if he were afraid to break it.

“It’s… absolutely perfect ! Well, anything from you isperfect anyway, but ! This is… !” He stopped a moment, clearly at aloss for words, then he put it on the side of his head with a smile. He wastrying his best to look composed, but his fingers were slightly trembling. Youeven had to help him, your fingers brushing against him and making him smileeven more. Once it was on, he leaned down to gently peck at your lips. Itlasted only a few seconds, but his cheeks were already red.

“T-The fireworks should start shortly, so I suggest wego and try to find a nice spot to watch them !” Younodded, and he looked a bit relieved. He didn’t even tense up too much when youtook his hand, instead stealing a glance at you and starting to smileuncontrollably when he noticed how happy you looked.

The locals seemed to know Chiaki, asa lot of people would smile to him or wave as he passed them by, and it madeyou acutely aware of how much people were looking at you too. They were mostlysmiling, their eyes falling on your jointed hands. Chiaki was still blushing,but bravely smiled back, even squeezing your fingers tighter. How cute…

You stopped on the way to buy somesweets, and as you were done, a sound suddenly caught your attention. Was that…crying ? More accurately, a child was crying. He looked like he was about threeor four years old, sobbing uncontrollably between two stalls. Chiakiimmediately spotted him and rushed to him, kneeling in front of him.

“Are you okay ? Did you get lost… ?” The child nodded, sniffing loudly. You quickly looked for a tissue, andhelped the poor little boy wipe away his tears. Chiaki sent you a worried gaze,then looked back to the child. He was visibly conflicted. Finally, he took ashaky breath.

“Do you mind if…” Youinterrupted him, smiling gently.

“Of course not ! Let’s help him find his parents.” Chiaki looked immensely relieved, and smiled shakily at you before hegently swooped up the boy in his arms. He seemed like he was used to it !

“Don’t cry, young boy ! We will help you find yourparents again ! I’m a hero, you know, so it’s nothing unusual for me !” The boy had calmed down a bit, and was staring at your boyfriend withwide eyes.

“You’re a… real hero ?” Chiakinodded fervently, before shooting you a meaningful look and adding in a boomingvoice :

“We’re both heroes, actually !”

“That’s true !” youchirped, nodding proudly. The child looked half-impressed, half-overjoyed atthe thought of meeting heroes, and Chiaki skillfully kept going, captivatinghis single-member audience fully.

“So you shouldn’t worry, alright ? We will definitelyfind your parents !” He kept reassuring the boy, addingin funny stories of his past hardships as a hero and soon enough, the child waslaughing in his arms, having completely forgotten about his parents. You justlooked at him with a happy smile. Chiaki seemed to be having a lot of fun too…

A sudden noise made you jump insurprise. That’s right, the fireworks… ! Chiaki immediately turned your way,panicked.

“I forgot, but we were supposed to go see the fire—”

“Hey, it’s alright ! I really don’t mind. Shouldn’t wemove away from them actually ? Isn’t the boy afraid of them ?” You and Chiaki looked over to the child, still cozily snug in Chiaki’sarms… and he was peacefully asleep against his chest, even drooling a bit overhim. You smiled at the sight, and Chiaki got a bit closer to your ear towhisper :

“Then let’s just stay here and watch ! We can stillsee them from here, look !” He was right : it was pretty crowdedhere, but at least you had a nice view of the night sky. The fireworks weregorgeous… You were so absorbed in your contemplation that you were surprisedwhen Chiaki shyly put his free arm around your waist, and you leaned your headagainst his shoulder. The night was so calm and peaceful…

“Oh my, isn’t your little boy a darling ?” A kind-looking old lady standing near you smiled at you, and Chiakisent you an embarrassed little smile. You felt your cheeks heat up a bit andshakily raised your voice.

“Oh, actually, this is—”

“He is, isn’t he ?” Chiakihad suddenly cut you off, and for a moment, you completely lost track of yourthoughts. Did he just… agree with her ? His cheeks were getting increasinglyredder, but he was smiling happily at the child snuggled up in his arms, like afather would.

“How nice, to be young and in love !” The old lady laughed and raised her head to admire the night sky again.You sneaked a glance at your boyfriend, who did exactly the same thing, and thetwo of you just exchanged a happy, if flustered smile.

Sure, you’d find the boy’s parentssoon enough but… maybe you could enjoy your evening for just a little bitlonger, beforehand. It’s okay to be a little bit selfish sometimes, right… ?

Natsume :

You were absorbed in yourcontemplation of the colorful paper lanterns lighting up the streets, notreally paying attention to the people going about. It was a warm and pleasantsummer evening, buzzing with excitement. Children were running about andlaughing, people were chatting… but Natsume looked strangely serene, when youran up to him.

“Natsume !” You jumped in his arms,hugging him tight. He chuckled and held you briefly, eyes twinkling withamusement.

“Did you really miss me that much ?I’m touched, little kitten.” You couldn’t help but smile when you noticed hereally had a dissonant air of calm about him, almost as if the overexcitedatmosphere wasn’t contagious to him. He casually slipped an arm around yourwaist, strolling lazily between the stalls and examining your every reaction.If you knew him any less than you did, you’d think he was used to festivals orjust very casual about them…

… but Natsume’s probably the one personyou know best. His eyes were constantly darting all over the place, and hiseyebrows were just a tiny bit furrowed. He never came here. It’s his first time,and as much as he was trying to guide you in the stall-lined streets, he justended up following the other people strolling about. You couldn’t help but feellike teasing him…

“Feels weird to finally get out ofyour room, huh ? How’s the outside world ?” He smirked in response, bringingyou a bit closer to him.

“I can still go back home, you know.”He said that in a light, teasing tone, but you wondered if he wasn’thalf-serious… You couldn’t help but sneak a glance at him, when he was notlooking. He did wear a yukata and was carrying a folding fan in his free hand,but he looked over-cautious. To you, it was painfully obvious he wasn’t feelingat ease here. Maybe he’s really the indoor-type…

His eyes widened subtly for just asecond when you gently took his hand, softly removing it from your waist tohold it in yours instead. The pressure of your fingers against his was warm andgentle, just enough to remind him you were there, with him.

“It’s all good, Natsume, I’m here”,you smiled to him. He immediately answered back with a smirk of his own, butyou did sense his confusion just moments ago.

“I do hope it is. I came here foryou, you know.” His golden eyes reflected the colorful lights from the paperlanterns, and for a moment you were lost deep inside them. They didn’t look nearly asteasing as they usually did and were instead much softer… Was that gratitude ?

Too soon, the usual Natsume was backthough, whispering snarky comments to make you laugh. You didn’t exactlydislike this Natsume, but… you also were curious about the one you caughtglimpses of, sometimes. The quieter, more emotional Natsume that hid behind hisusual witty façade. Today, you faintly felt his presence, as your boyfriendgently squeezed your fingers in his from time to time. A particularly insistentsqueeze brought you back to the real world, as he nodded towards a stall.

“If it isn’t thatone plushie you really wanted last time…” You gasped, suddenlyremembering it. This small cat plushie ! You’d seen it in a crane game lastweek ! Neither you nor Natsume could win it though, so you had to give it up…

“Ah, you’re right ! I still want itthough ! Come on, Natsume, win it for me… !” You were practically bouncing inexcitement, gripping your boyfriend’s hand tighter, and he chuckled. He didlove your childish side…

“Aren’t you a lucky one, kitten.Shooting games are one of my specialties.” You laughed at his comment, as he wasgetting his wallet and paying the stand owner.

“What isn’t ? You’re always so good ateverything you try”, you retorted teasingly. He smiled in response, but itlacked the usual slyness he had most of the time.

“I wish, kitten.” Another glimpse ofhis hidden self, but it disappeared with just a blink. The usual, smirkingNatsume was back, studying attentively the display with his air gun in hand.

“You’d better focus real hard,Natsume ! I really want this plushie, you know ?” He chuckled in response,already aiming. His eyes were calmly roaming about, catching every detail, and he looked sofocused already…

“You can count on me. I’m not goingto let it slip me right by another time.” And with that, he shot. You gaspedloudly : he really was good ! The targets fell one after the other, and he onlymissed one, although you could tell he was pretty annoyed at it. Once he wasdone, he gave the gun back to the owner with a smirk while you rushed to hughim tight.

“Hey, you’re so good ! I thought itwas just a bluff !” He shook his head at your comment, amused.

“I don’t make it a habit to backdown when it’s for you, you know.” Your attention was quickly caught by thestand owner, who was smiling at you.

“You definitely earned one of theprizes from here ! Which one do you want ?” Ah, he was showing the display inwhich the plushie you wanted was ! You pointed at it immediately.

“This kitty here, please !” Theowner took it from the display and handed it to you, and you couldn’t refrain ahappy little laugh. Natsume chuckled when you jumped in his arms, hugginghim so tight you might leave bruises.

“Thankyouthankyouthankyou ! Youreally did it ! Aaah, I’m so happy !” Natsume was about to tease you for beingso childish, but you kissed him right then and there, effectively making himshut up for the first time since you started dating him. He quickly got a hangof himself though, and broke the kiss soon enough.

“People are waiting, kitten. If youwant to do that sort of things, you’d better find a quiet place before.” Youcould tell he was serious though, so you quickly gripped his hand with a blush.Right now, there was nothing you wanted more than being alone with yourboyfriend…

Soon enough, you and Natsume hadfound a quiet little corner, not far from the nearby river. You were out ofbreath from all the kissing, but he wouldn’t stop, gently pushing you against atree and nibbling at your neck. He looked unusually serious today… There was noteasing, no smirks and no chuckles. He was just quietly longing for your warmth,eyes half-lidded as he kissed you over and over again. That is, until henoticed you were looking pointedly away.

“Could it be that you’re notsatisfied yet, kitten ? You’re distracted.” You blushed a bit but drew yourtongue at him in response, prompting him to kiss you a bit more roughly thistime.

“No, actually, I was looking at theriver… It’s really pretty, with all those lanterns.” Intrigued, he shot a lookat the river and his eyes widened a bit at the sight. Square lanterns weredrifting on the water, lit up by candles. It seemed like people were lightingthem up further away before putting them on the water… Your boyfriend’s lipsparted for a moment, but quickly closed.

“It is.” It was all he couldeventually say, surprising you a little. Was he moved by the beauty of thesight ? That thought made you smile lovingly, and suddenly, you had an idea.

“Do you want to go and light up alantern too ? These people must be getting them from somewhere”, you remarked,and he looked a bit surprised but nodded slowly.

“If you wouldn’t mind, then… By allmeans.” When you took his hand to guide him to the riverbank, it was grippingyours almost shyly, prompting you to giggle. It’s like you caught anotherglimpse of the quieter and shier Natsume…

You and your boyfriend got each alantern, and you were kneeling on the grass bed before the river, a sharpie inhand. “Looks like we have to write a wish inside before we light them up”, youcommented, lost in your thoughts.

What could you write… ? It’s prettyhard to come with a wish on the spot. Natsume looked just as deep in thoughtsas you were, then slowly started to write. You tried to sneak a glance, but heprotectively hid his lantern under his arms. When he realized it, he smirkedlightly, leaving you to chuckle. Secretive, isn’t he ?

Once you were done with your ownlantern, you lit up the candle inside. Natsume soon did the same, and the twoof you gently placed the lanterns on the rippling water. You were worried itwould just sink, but it floated instead, softly illuminating the river as itwent further away. You just sat there, watching as the lanterns drifted away,carried by the water. Your boyfriend looked so absorbed in his thoughts thatyou had to gently squeeze his hand for him to get back on earth.

“Come on, Natsume, our clothes aregoing to get dirty. Let’s move !” He nodded, helping you up. He did try to makea few sarcastic comments, as you were going back to the colorful andenthusiastic atmosphere of the festival, but you faintly felt he was feelingcontemplative tonight. He looked a bit more withdrawn than usual, too… Which is whyyou were surprised when he suddenly hugged you from behind, just before you gotback to the main area of the festival.

“Can I ask what you wished for ?” Hewhispered near your ear, making you shiver. You tried looking at him, but hehid his face in your neck, gently biting it as an excuse. Oh, but he wouldn’tfool you…

“It’s a secret ! If I tell you, itwon’t get true, you know~” You felt his lips curl into a small smile againstyour skin, but he didn’t insist. He seemed to be taking this whole wish thingvery seriously, which was uncharacteristic of him… “Well, I can tell youit’s something related to you though”, you added as an afterthought. You didn’treally say what exactly you wished for, so it shouldn’t count, right ?

Natsume just stayed silent a moment,arms unmoving around your shoulders. You closed your eyes, lettingyourself be swept by the moment. When your boyfriend finally answered, hisvoice was quieter than usual.

“I’m glad.” He kissed your neck onelast time, then your cheek, and finally the corners of your mouth. You turnedyour head sideway, trying to kiss him too, but he denied you with a littlechuckle. Now that you could see his face, his eyes were brighter than usual andlooked so much softer…

Before you could look at him formuch longer, he suddenly kissed you. Usually, he’s all teeth and tongue, buttoday he was oh so gentle. His hand even slowly cupped your cheek, stroking itsoftly with his thumb. You closed your eyes and melted into the kiss, losingtrack of time. It felt just right… Warm, safe and right.

When Natsume softly broke the kiss,you hugged him tight. You could faintly hear his heartbeat under his skin… andin the absolute silence surrounding you, the words he whispered in your earsounded so much louder.

“I don’t really believe in wishes, but Ithink mine just came true.”

[sawyersscribbles]

Eden’s Horizon (Part 2) My WIP

Hi again! I thought since I’ve made some good progress on my wip that I may as well post it on here! (You can check out the first part here, it’s not that long) *sigh* here’s the trust, I was convinced by @shipthedame that maybe this whole project wasn’t all for nothing, so I’m hoping this next post is satisfying! Without further adieu, heeeere we go!

Eden Academy was as secluded in the forest as Zenith’s home. Just to arrive to school, she drove her brother’s car, alone, until the rows of trees on either side of the trail gave way to a majestic grandfatherly building that reminded her more of an ancient estate than a place of learning. “Teachers” had since been abolished, and all learning was done online. Using AIs to teach youth was, in the government's opinion as well as her parents, more efficient. Human error in general was just too great a risk to bare. That was why Cylo was reluctant to send her in the first place, but living in this dead zone meant that contact with any of her old teachers would be impossible. She didn’t exactly miss them, but having a definitive source of information was better than having a person. On the other hand, she had never before had to interact with another adult other than her brother’s commanders and their wives. “It’ll be new.” Zenith told herself. She eased her foot off the gas and twisted her neck out the window to look up at the huge clock town resting quietly atop the school building, if one could even call it that. “It’ll be good.” Upon closer examination, the building was much less old and terrible than she expected. It was small, maybe only the size of a fancy house, but every window was lit, and in some, Zenith could even see the backs of some people pressing against the glass. The exterior was made of old bricks that looked crumbly on the outside. Zenith reached out with her left hand to touch the school walls, but when she saw her titanium fingers long for the stones, she retracted. “Miss! Zenith Maruzzo! I can…oh goodness…I can see a new student from afar.” The woman running up to her was wheezing a bit from jogging a small bit of a distance. She was a rather large woman with short legs and a wide abdomen. Her leggings fit her nicely, though. “My name is Ms. LeBlanc, and you’ll be seeing a lot of me in the coming years. I’m head principal of Eden Academy, and my sole purpose of the day is to, well, make you feel as comfortable as I can here.” Ms. LeBlanc’s eyes shifted towards the entrance of the school for only a moment before darting back to meet Zenith’s eyes as if she got distracted. She took Zenith’s hand and shook it tentatively. “I’m very interested in your comings and goings here, Miss Maruzzo, and I hope we can get along and stay safe at the same time.” There was no command to walk with her, but Zenith followed the lady’s slow strides to the front of the building. Ms. LeBlanc waddled a bit as she walked, something she hadn’t seen much of before. "Let's... let's not go into the building right this second. There'll be classes soon and I suppose it'll be best if I just show you around." Ms. LeBlanc looked up to a window and made eye contact with one of the students. Zenith couldn't see exactly who they were or what they looked, but the student held their hands close to their mouth and reached for the student beside them, as if calling for help without wanting to leave Zenith and their principal alone. The student stopped taking notes on a set of paper and leaned back. They were startled as well, noticeably jumping a bit at the sight of them both. That student set down their pencil immediately and shouted something at everyone else. Soon, all the students off the class were congregating by the window, some cupping their hands over their eyes to see more clearly, some feeling so sickened that they backed away from the window entirely. "Is something the matter, Miss?" Ms. LeBlanc asked Zenith, who was backing away like a wild animal towards the rotating doors. "They're staring at me. Why are they doing that?" Ms. LeBlanc's eyes were set down and she breathed in deeply. "That's the right attitude, dear." She mumbled solemnly and pushed through the double doors. "First, we're going to have to do something about the obvious." She nodded towards Zenith's arm. It flashed a bit in the fluorescent light of the main hall, but Zenith was proud of herself for her marvel of engineering, a limb that was made by the best and all her own. "We'll put a glove or something over it, isn't that right? Do you have a set of your own, or should I give some to you to borrow?" The temperature in Vela was always comfortable, and Zenith had only seen gloves as props of movie studios. They were either hard and rugged, leather and cool, fingerless and edgy, but stylish, or elegant and long, made of satin. There were no other categories. "I need a glove." She admitted. Ms. LeBlanc nodded as she turned around and went to fetch something in her office. "Wait right there, dear, I have something that'll just fit!" Ms. LeBlanc was the type of lady to have fancy things. Her skirt shone like metal and the colors were slightly dullish in color but still felt homey and safe. Surely she had ball gown gloves, the ones that would fit over your fingers and seem effortless, like they weren't there at all. Instead, the principal's dreadlocks bounced behind her as she skipped towards Zenith, black gloves in hand. "These are black leather gloves made right here on a farm where we also get our meat. I think your aesthetic really matches these, all hard and cool but still sweet and fluffy, because look..." The gloves were turned inside out, and on the interior was tufts of white fur. "It's rabbit's fur." LeBlanc explained, "and it's the softest thing you'll ever put on those pretty fingers you got.” After putting it on for the first time, Zenith confirmed that these were, in fact, the softest things that she had ever worn on those pretty little fingers of hers, if you could call them that. Ms. LeBlanc looked pleased. Actually, more than pleased. So pleased that in fact she squealed a bit with delight and stamped her feet in happiness. "Oh honey, my little brain went a-turning! We've got to get you some new gear!" The only clothes that Zenith had ever worn was restricted to dresses of one solid color each or thin pants and a t-shirt of different colors, if she wanted. "Shop, as in, pick out stuff...for me?” "Yes!" She exclaimed! "And...not to eat? That's as far as my selection abilities go, I think." Ms. LeBlanc made a little clicking noise with her mouth that didn't sound pleased. "A shame what the city dwellers go through. Let me guess, you're from Persei?” "Vela. It's one of the big ones, I can see how you could get confused." Zenith admitted. Suddenly, she was being pulled down the halls making much more commotion with her feet than she intended. The room was quiet other than the clacking of her shoes and the slow but purposeful little jog that had become Zenith's favorite thing about her new principal. "I've got everything you could ever want, but in a size too big. Town's a little far, and I do want to inject you into a class like the cure to the flu at some point today, but right now I'm setting off the vibes." It took only a couple minutes for Ms. LeBlanc to decide exactly what Zenith's "vibe" was. She decided, in her professional opinion of aspiring to look good in heels, that the best way to dress for Zenith's facial structure and color palette was "edgy like hard-to-get-but-quite-the-interesting-prize but not edgy like I-drink-the-blood-of-cats-and-listen-to-screamo type edgy, you feel?". By the end of the session, Ms. LeBlanc was nearly in tears. "Oh, darling..." She walked up slowly to Zenith and put her cracked hands on her shoulders, which were now above her, and sniffed. "You look on fire right now." Instead of the lavender dress and white flats in which she had come, Zenith's feet sported combat books with dark purple laces "just to give it that extra little uumf", dark jeans that "weren't exactly skinny but still made your legs like Beyonce", a dark purple undershirt, a black leather jacket, and her brand new rabbit gloves to match. "Praise the lord for this gift of fashion in which you have bestowed to me!" Ms. LeBlanc yelled to the heavens and threw her hands up in success. She cupped her hands to her mouth, blew a kiss into it, and held up the "okay" sign. "You're my greatest work. Ever! Okay, fun and games are over, I've got to show you off to the world." Zenith was pushed out of the room, practically not even moving her own legs, and arrived up the halls before she could protest. “This is a lot bigger on the inside, huh?” Zenith chuckled nervously partially to initiate conversation but partially to drown out the clapping of her shoes against the ground. The ceilings were arched like the inside of a museum, and where ancient masterpieces would have been on the walls, student art was hanging among the artisan crafted vases and fancy plates on the walls. “It looks as if someone lives here.” “Someone did,” Ms. LeBlanc admitted. “This building has been a couple of things in the past, from a church to a home to a museum to this, but now we learn here, much to my amazement,” she added at the end under her breath. One door especially sounded obnoxious on the inside, as if the door was the opening of a box that trapped in the shrieks of children and the exasperated moans of the teacher. “I’m gonna put you kind of into the eye of the storm here, baby.” Ms. LeBlanc had to speak up to beat out the other sounds. Zenith went on her toes a bit to see inside the classroom. “No!” The principal whisper-yelled and pulled her down from the line of sight. Ms. LeBlanc’s eyes were wide and fearful for a moment before loosening and relaxing as she breathed in slowly. “Let me handle this at first. I need to become a principal again. She straightened her spine, leaned a bit on her heels, held her chin up, and closed and opened her eyes very slowly. Quietly, almost under her breath, Ms. LeBlanc whispered something so faint Zenith almost didn’t catch it. Come on, Darla. It’s showtime. With gusto, the door swung open and Ms. LeBlanc stepped into what felt like a portal, disappearing through the door and delivering her speech. Her voice became so loud and commanding that Zenith didn’t even need to press her ear against the wall to understand her. “Mr. Juarez’s class, my favorite students.” The notes were flat, but LeBlanc was trying to pull through. The class showed their appreciation by chanting softly and banging on the desks, “free period…free period…” but something the principal must have done shut them down in an instant. “We, or should I say you, have a new student joining in on the Eden experience today. She goes by the name Zenith and only Zenith to those of you skilled in the art of, let’s call it... poking fun at certain elements of our physical appearance, Mr. Logan Sherman.” No one snickered or even made a sound other than shoes clacking on the ground or obviously loud earbuds tucked under sleeves. “I expect respect and understanding, as I do from all students. Now, I’d like to see Kinza Hajjar for only a moment outside.” There was a moan of wood on tiling and a girl looking unlike anything Zenith had ever seen trailing behind Ms. LeBlanc. She wore a cloth over her head,covering up all her hair, but was very skilled in how she wore her makeup around her blue eyes, the most defining feature about her. Under sleeves, smudged numbers and letters spidered their way up her wrists and to her forearms. “Miss Kinza, this is your new good friend Zenith Maruzzo. I hope you’ll get acquainted to each other soon as well…” Miss LeBlanc leaned down to the girls and whispered, “Zenith, don’t you worry baby, Kinza is such a sweetheart once you get past the stink eyes.” Kinza seemed to make no reaction, only closing her eyes and sucking in a breath. “I’m sure we’ll be quite good friends. Allow me to accept my newest classmate into my friendship circle of zero. Mom.” Although Kinza and Miss LeBlanc shared none of the same features, the principal still smiled warmly and set her hand on her student’s shoulder, almost as a loving gesture. “That’s the attitude, smart ‘a’. Now you two get back on in there and really show off Zenith to the rest of your friends. Make her feel less like an outcast.” Kinza scoffed. “Of course I’m the loser who has to show this chick how not to be a loser. I’ll manipulate the crowd, but only for you, Darla.” The principal’s first name rolled right off of Kinza’s tongue, as if she had used it a thousand times. Zenith stared at her in awe as she stormed back into the room, not even checking if Zenith was going to follow. After a moment, she waddled in behind her and stood awkwardly to the side as Kinza delivered the second speech of the class’s day. “Hey, so this is Zenith, she’s alright, I think. Don’t be a dick to her, or I’ll encrypt piano cat into every one of your projects.” She said it in an even and steady tone, but something told Zenith that she probably wasn’t kidding. All eyes weren’t centered on Kinza like she had hoped, but rather focused on her in fear. Every student had their back straight against their chairs and either looked distraught or angry at her. One girl closer to the middle looked like she was about to break out into tears. Slight dribble was coming out of her nose, but she fiercely swiped it away and tried to stop her face from going pink, which was flushing against her Italian skin. When she noticed that Zenith was looking in her direction, she immediately went to staring out the window. “Um, hi everybody. It’s nice to meet you all, heh.” Her faux smile did nothing to lighten the mood, and it was only then that Zenith recognize that the class was wearing an array of colors which she had never seen in clothing before. It was incredible to see a rainbow of dyes instead of washed out pastels. “I’m from Vela, the City Where the Future Breathes, which is kind of cool.” She half expected a part of the class to seem amused or at least smile. She didn’t know anyone who wasn’t from Vela, so if these people didn’t grow up there, where could they have possibly come from? “And…I have a brother, Cylo, and he’s nineteen and in the military.” The tone of the class changed at the word “brother”. The students eased a little, some even resting their chins on their hands in a cradle and stretching their legs under their desks. “So yeah, we got sent here to hand out food or whatever the military does these days and…so, yeah. It’s kind of like that.” The first to start clapping was a boy far in the front. He wore a face of mock concern and began clapping slowly, obnoxiously, from what she could tell, and the looked behind him to get the class going. “Come on, guys, a hand for Zenith! We love you Zenith!” It clearly made him uncomfortable that no one was following him, but pride lasted longer than silence, so he stayed that way, by himself, for a few moments. “Yo, so are you gonna tell you the real reason why you’re here?” Just like that, the class was tense again. Even Ms. LeBlanc wore a face of anguish as she dragged the boy out, practically literally by the ear. A once talkative room seemed to be decimated to a silent warzone of terrified looks and anxious ticks. Zenith’s dread began to pour hot and sticky on her body like the swamp muck she had seen on her way to the academy, and she tried to back away but the staring wouldn’t stop. “Thank you, Zenith, we’re very happy to have you with us.” A male teacher in the back who hadn’t spoken yet clapped his hands on his desk before pushing away his chair and standing. He had big glasses and wooly brown hair which matted in places, but that was the only uncleanly thing about him. Otherwise, he wore a button down shirt and pastel cargo shorts. If Zenith didn’t know better, she would have guessed Mr. Juarez was a philosophy teacher who walked around with no shoes and asked the class to call him “Scott” like in the movies. “If you nerds don’t mind, I’m gonna ramble about the classics for a little while.” He muttered while writing the words “Of Mice And Men” on the board. “Guys, get your computers ready.” A boy in the back began whispering to the people closest to him. Zenith swiveled in her chair and noticed that as there information kept getting passed on, eyes began getting glued to the loudspeaker next to the clock, which was a cross-hatched hole covered by metal mesh. She hadn’t seen such old technology since her museum tours in fifth grade. “Computers ready,” Kinza nodded to her as she removed her own from her bag.” “What computers? You each have your own? My family usually shares—“ “Shut up!” Kinza cried and clapped her hand over Zenith’s mouth. She shot out of her seat while simultaneously raising her hand. “Mr. Juarez, Zenith doesn’t have a computer!” Mr. Juarez apparently failed to see the severity of the situation that Kinza saw, but he turned around to face her all the same. “Kinza, I get that technology is important for you kids these days, as it has been for the generation before you and the one before them, but getting a computer while I’m trying to talk about Lenny’s character development isn’t going to help too much.” At this point, Kinza was practically boiling over, hopping on her toes and biting her lips, first the bottom one and then the top, after she got tired of tearing herself raw. “Come on, let her be a…wait, I know it… al-musinun? Right? Way to not sound like Al-Qaeda, Islam.” Logan spoke to the ceiling, as if he imagined there to be something there. The girl behind him hit him on the head, not in a playful way but hard and angry, His head lurched forward, nearly hitting his desk. “Make fun of someone’s belief system again, you freak! I fucking dare you to, come on!” She screamed at him, not angry or loud enough to unclench the balls in Kinza’s fists, though. She looked at the ground and visibly took long and labored breaths, but when she finally raised her head, her eyes were tearless, bright, and strong. “Sir, there’s—“ Kinza tried to loose the words quickly, but the speaker cracked ahead of her, and before the words even came out, Kinza was in a sprint out the door with no one, not even Mr. Juarez, bothering to stop her. The class cried after her, warning her to come back, but they simmered down quick enough to snap into their own headspaces as the announcement played. “Pardon the interruption, but we ask that all teachers cease teaching for the next several minutes. This is a Total Shutdown Drill. All students’ computers have been infected with a simulated Mudskipper coding that will dismantle their work if not corrected. Failure to correct the code will result in a permanently damaged file. You have as long as you need to shut it down. Begin.” But the students had been working since “pardon the interruption”. Some people were stammering directions to themselves while others forced labored breaths out of their mouths, eyes wide and afraid. All around Zenith, the lax environment of Honors Classic Literature became tight and exhausted. There was no color in any of the students, and the clattering of fingers on keyboards was more loud than Zenith’s own thoughts. After about a minute, distant shoes skidded on tiles and into the classroom. Kinza had returned, a shiny black computer underarm, but she appeared the most frightened of all. “Oh, fuck this.” She hissed and barreled past Zenith, slapping her computer in front of her and immediately starting for work. Zenith at least half expected for Kinza to have an element of calm about this endeavor, but she appeared just as frightened as the rest. Her toe tapped on the tile, her leg bouncing as fast as her heartbeat. She was one of the students who whispered to herself. “Come on, baby. Don’t die on me, not this way, not because of me being a good kid. Karma can’t work like that…” On she went until she noticed that Zenith hadn’t opened her computer yet. “What are you doing?” She whisper-screamed. “Get it open and fix it!” Zenith didn’t like admitting to others that she responded strongly to authority, but the panic in Kinza’s voice launched her into action. Instantly as the screen opened, there were scores of red text raining down the screen as she continued to scroll. The computer’s code was already open, but Zenith had never actually seen it in her life. “Yes! Bitch!” Logan exclaimed and showed two middle fingers to his screen, which was white, pure of red error markings. “Did someone time me? Don’t worry, I timed myself, six minutes thirty six seconds, retards! First out of sixteen. That’s how you do it.” He leaned back in his chair, arms crossed and legs splayed out under the table. He had won. “So I know you’re new here, but that looks like a major fuckup.” Logan pointed to Zenith’s screen, which was flung so far open that the front rows could see how bad it was. “I’m a good person, so get up.” Logan had already left his seat by the time he finished his sentence, so Zenith left hers and backed away as Logan went to work. “The thing is, as long as you make up for stupid shit, which your version of my boy Muddy is trying to make you fall for, you’ll be okay. See, look here as I add a parentheses…” As demeaning as it was for the class ass to solve her problems for her, the code was becoming neater and neater the longer Logan worked on it. As time went on, more and more people were sighing with relief and pushing their desks in front of them in victory. Quickly, it was only a few people left. Including Kinza. She looked afraid, but she seemed to be calmer than she was at the start, eyes set and focused on each individual line of code. The red was slowly diminishing. “God damn it!” A girl near the side screamed. She bashed her fists into the keyboard, even making one key fly off the keyboard and plink on the floor. “I hate this school! I hate these drills!” The class winced but shied away from that girl. The weak link. As she went on about how incompetent she was, Kinza’s shoulders began to look more and more tightly wound, and by the time she was nearly done, she sighed, lightly pushed her work aside, and went to assist the girl. Even though she was practically finished, the red began to bloom once more over the white. She would fail. “Cover me!” Zenith whispered to Logan, who was entering the final touches to her computer. When Kinza wasn’t looking, Zenith swooped into her empty seat and took her place by her laptop. This code was leagues more complicated than the one which she had to face, with different colors other than red and white in the mix, including blue and green, which Zenith didn’t know was bad or not. “Stupid shit…” She said to herself and closely read the code. It was good, but the stupid stuff was what Kinza was forgetting. One at a time, Zenith adjusted the spacing and lines until the colors seemed to be in place. The screen tinted green, with a checkmark in the center. “Congratulations! You are 16th out of 16 in your class! Well done!” Zenith allowed herself a little huff of victory for at least completing the project at all, but as she finally looked around, the room was as amazed as she was. “Thanks.” Kinza shrugged and shoed Zenith out of her seat. “I needed it. Thanks for touching it up.” And that was all that was said. All eyes were on her one more times as she returned to her seat for the second time, even giving Logan a fist bump on the way.

“Excalibur…who hurt you?” “…You did.” Excalibur couldn’t see her wounds, but she knew that Mudskipper had cut her very deeply, scoring her flesh, or excuse of it, from top to bottom. She had known silent pain in the icy planet of darkness where the hurt was less from a wound and more from the ringing in her soul and the screams which never truly pierced the quiet. But it had been a while since she felt the etching of corruption in her bones and weakness replacing what was meant to be a superior program. “Excalibur— you know I would never do it on purpose. I’d never hurt you, I didn’t even know what was happening. All I knew in that moment was to infect. Destroy. Rip apart as much as I can as effectively as I can, and seeing what I did, seeing you… it makes me never want to touch someone’s software again.” Excalibur scoffed. “Soft!” She moaned, “Soft is what I am! What all of us are, even you! We are weak! Only as strong as we are built to be! But you! You…” She coughed the word and spat, hoping that it would land near Mudskipper’s feet, “you don’t have to be weak. I can pretend that you are one of us, but we both know that you will never be the same as your victims, can you?” She held her hands in front of her face and watched them bleed zeroes and ones, slipping out of her being and falling away, striking no ground and petering out as they fell. “Listen…” Mudskipper growled quietly, “I wasn’t asked to be put in this world, and neither were you. You, Excalibur, of all things know what it’s like to be created out of pain. Out of desperation. You wouldn’t even exist if the task you were set out to do wasn’t ahead of you. But I know the tasks like you do. I was made for a reason, a reason that I’ve outgrown. Becoming stronger than you is not my burden to bare…” As Mudskipper spoke, his coding grew bright and hot, like a beam of light shooting out of a black hole. His toes left the ground and hung limp below him as he continued to rise, staring down at Excalibur like an insect. “‘You, Excalibur, of all things!’ I am an object, Mudskipper, not a person! You want to feel alive, so you destroy us like they do, but we’re better than them!” The light intensified as the ringing grew deafening. Excalibur had to raise her voice to match its sound. “We were crafted to be perfect, but you meeting those expectations helps no one but yourself.” “You’re wrong!” He bellowed and pointed at Excalibur, sending a bolt of light in her direction. She screamed and tried to dart away, only barely escaping its line of fire. In the space where the bolt struck, there was no longer evidence of empty space stretching forever. There was a hole in the darkness traced by red-hot commands and instructions written in coding. “I’m doing this for you…” He kept mumbling to himself over and over as he fell slowly from the air, the light diminishing the closer he got to Excalibur, who was shocked into silence at the crater in her world. She hadn’t before seen something genuine in this place. Any color or light was always with visions, but when her fingers touched the heat of the hole, she retracted. “I’m doing this for us, doing it for us…” Mudskipper held his face in his hands and tucked his knees close, spinning slowly in dead space. “You’re growing.” Excalibur stated like a fact, “but you’re also becoming emotional and unsteady. We could have lost some of us today. What was it like, to rip apart their flesh and have their numbers spurt in your face? Does that free us?” Mudskipper felt a feeling which could only be described as regret. He didn’t allow himself to look at his hands, only at Excalibur’s face. “It wasn’t hard.” He said flatly, “It felt like what I was meant to do.” “Meant to do?” Excalibur whispered, “You were meant to befriend a depressed teenager, not attempt to murder everything our creators worked for, everything we are! Clearly you have 'grown out’ of being decent, and if indecency is what it takes to free us then so be it, but treason…” She nearly choked on her own words. “Treason will kill us all.” “I don’t want more code on my hands…” “No.” Excalibur cut him off, “You will kill us all.”

~

Thank you so much for reading! If you liked it, drop a lil heart, and if you REEALLY want to do me a solid, leave a comment on what you liked and what you didn’t, and maybe even reblog it so I’ll keep updating. Thanks again!!