#i do not have a lot of experience with piping bags

[monsterbutch]

cupped cakes

[pretzel-box]

Hallo ●♡●

I got a funny request

So basically Sebastian meets a reader/player with a korblox/headless/troll avatar/ wings or horns/cosplayers (maybe one as Seb)

Ect... (You can describe you own avatar too)

Silly prompt cause what if Sebastian could see we (our avatar) clearly don't look human and why we haven't been captured/experimented on

Aka this whole request is just Seb being confused as fuck-

Tags: Comedy, random apperance for reader, gender neutral reader, headless

Words: 1,4k

Authors Note: As someone with real headless, I can confirm that headless doesn't work ingame.

Sebastian watched in horrified fascination as you emerged from the vent. Your movements were nonchalant, as if clambering through air ducts was as routine as taking a stroll. You dusted off your uniform, a completely unnecessary gesture since the dust was clearly imaginary, and adjusted the peculiar floating accessory hovering over what should have been your shoulders.

It took him a moment to process what he was seeing. His three eyes widened, pupils dilating as they locked onto you. Where your head should have been, there was… nothing. Just a void, an empty space that seemed to defy logic. He could see right through you, catching glimpses of the rusted pipes and wires lining the walls behind.

“What the hell—” Sebastian stuttered, his voice filled with shock and more than a hint of repulsion. His fingers twitched at his sides, and he had to resist the instinctive urge to reach for a weapon—though he knew that, logically, weapons wouldn’t do much good in a situation like this. He continued to stare, his confusion only growing with each passing second.

You turned toward him—or at least, your body did, since there was no face to show any expression. “What?” you asked, your voice eerily calm, completely unaffected by the lack of a mouth. “Is there something on my uniform?”

Sebastian blinked rapidly, as if trying to reset his brain to make sense of this absurd reality. “That's… strangely…” he stammered, searching for the right words. “...Disgusting.”

“Rude,” you shot back, hands going to your hips. His gaze dropped, and he couldn’t help but notice the bright yellow rubber duck bag hanging there, comically out of place in this bleak, industrial environment. As if that weren’t enough, a floating picture of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson hovered just above your shoulders, rotating slowly as if it were on display. It was surreal. Completely, utterly surreal.

Sebastian’s mouth fell open. “You’ve got… a rubber duck bag… and a floating headshot of The Rock,” he managed, pointing weakly at the bizarre ensemble. “And no face. How are you even speaking? How do you see? And why in the world do you have a picture of Dwayne Johnson just… floating there?!”

You tilted your non-existent head, a gesture that would’ve looked quizzical if you had any features to display it. “I see just fine,” you replied with a casual shrug. “As for speaking, that’s just a matter of speaking. And The Rock?” You gestured vaguely toward the picture, which continued its slow, mesmerizing spin. “He’s my emotional support human.”

Sebastian let out a half-snort, half-laugh, though his expression remained one of disbelief. “Why am I freaked out?” he repeated, still staring at the empty space where your head should be. “You look like something out of a fever dream! How have you not been captured or experimented on down here?”

You let out a chuckle—an eerie sound given the circumstances. “Oh, I get that a lot. But I think I blend in just fine with the rest of the… what do you call them? Entities?” You glanced around the room, as if to emphasize your point. “Besides, no one wants to mess with someone who looks like they stepped out of a nightmare.”

Sebastian couldn’t help but grin, despite himself. “Yeah, you’ve got that part nailed,” he muttered, still shaking his head in disbelief. “You probably scare off half the things down here just by existing.”

You did a mock bow, your non-existent head dipping forward with exaggerated grace. “Thank you, thank you. I aim to unsettle.”

Sebastian chuckled, the sound coming out lighter this time, more genuine. “You’re definitely good at that,” he admitted, relaxing slightly. “But seriously, next time, give a guy a heads-up before you pop out of a vent looking like… well, whatever this is.”

“I’ll consider it,” you replied with a teasing tone, the rubber duck on your bag giving a little bounce as you shifted your weight. “But where’s the fun in that?”

The tension in the room seemed to dissolve, replaced by an odd sense of camaraderie. Sebastian shook his head, a small smile tugging at his lips as he tried to make sense of the strange being standing before him.

“Only in this place,” he muttered, “could I end up with a faceless, rubber duck-toting, Rock-fanatic as a companion.”

And somehow, despite the absurdity of it all, that was exactly what made it feel… right.

Sebastian was still trying to wrap his head around the sight of you when the sound of frantic scrambling echoed from the vent behind him. He turned just in time to see another figure tumble through the duct opening—a short, pudgy man with wild hair and a permanent look of bewilderment on his face. Berry. One of Sebastian’s more frequent, and certainly clumsier, customers.

Berry landed awkwardly on his feet, nearly toppling over before catching himself against a nearby shelf. His eyes were wide, darting around nervously as if he’d been followed. “Sebastian! AHHHHH—” he began, his voice high-pitched and breathless, but then his gaze shifted to you.

The moment he saw your faceless form with the floating Rock photo and rubber duck bag, Berry’s jaw dropped, his face going pale. He froze, staring at you with a mixture of terror and confusion. “AHHHHHHhhh?!” he squeaked, pointing a shaky finger in your direction.

You raised a hand in a casual wave, the kind that might say “hello” if you had a face to go with it. “Hi,” you said cheerfully, as if your appearance wasn’t the least bit disturbing. “Nice to meet you!”

Berry’s eyes bulged even wider. “Ahhhhhhhh?!” he stammered, taking a stumbling step backward. In his panic, his foot caught on a loose piece of metal on the floor. He tried to catch his balance, but instead, he lurched into a nearby shelf.

The impact was enough to send the precariously stacked items on the shelf cascading down. Jars of strange glowing liquids, bits of rusted machinery, and a few well-loved trinkets that Sebastian had collected over the years came crashing to the ground with a series of loud clatters and splashes.

“Berry, watch it!” Sebastian shouted, rushing forward to try to steady the shelf, but it was too late. One of the jars rolled off the edge and shattered on the floor, sending a bright green substance oozing across the metal surface.

Berry’s eyes darted between you and the mess he’d just created, his panic only increasing. “Ahhhhaheee!” he babbled, his voice shrill with fear. “AHhhhhheeee!”

Before Sebastian could say another word, Berry spun around and bolted for the vent he’d come through. He scrambled up, his limbs flailing as he tried to pull himself back inside. “AHHHH!” he yelled over his shoulder, his voice echoing from within the duct. “AHHHHHHH.”

And with that, he disappeared back into the darkness of the vent, his panicked scrambling fading into the distance.

Sebastian sighed, rubbing a hand over his face as he looked at the chaos left behind. “Great. Another mess,” he muttered, shaking his head. “Berry’s going to scare himself to death one of these days.”

You watched the whole scene unfold with a sort of bemused curiosity. “Is he always like that?” you asked, turning your headless gaze back toward Sebastian.

Sebastian chuckled softly, bending down to pick up one of the trinkets that had survived the fall. “Pretty much,” he said, setting the item back onto the now-empty shelf. “He’s harmless, though. Just a bit… high-strung.”

You nodded—or at least made a nodding motion. “Can’t blame him, I suppose. I do have that effect on people.”

Sebastian glanced over at you, a small smile playing on his lips. “Yeah, well, you’re definitely unique,” he said. “But hey, you scared him off without even trying. Maybe you should hang around more often. Could help keep the riffraff out.”

You gave a mock bow again, this time with an exaggerated flourish. “Always happy to help,” you replied with a hint of playful sarcasm. “Though next time, I’ll try not to make someone pee their pants.”

Sebastian laughed, a genuine sound that echoed warmly through the cluttered shop. “Yeah, let’s keep the cleanup to a minimum,” he agreed, still smiling. “But, hey, thanks. For… whatever this is. It’s been a while since I’ve had a good laugh.”

“Anytime,” you said, your tone light and cheerful. “And if you ever need an unsettling presence to keep things lively, you know where to find me.”

Sebastian nodded, his grin widening. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he replied. And for a moment, in this bizarre, twisted world they both inhabited, everything felt oddly… normal.

Well, as normal as things could get when you had a faceless companion with a rubber duck bag and a floating photo of The Rock hovering by your side.

[thatsmzbitchtoyou]

The Naughty Nanny Chapter 1

Summary:  Bucky had a lovechild from a one night stand.  He barely even remembered it, and was surprised to find a baby on his doorstep 9 months later.  But one look at that little girl and he knew she was his and that he’d die for her.  The only problem was, he knew nothing about babies, and being an Avenger meant he couldn’t just drop everything and be a dad full time.  Then he found the perfect nanny…or so he thought.

**In this universe Steve never left, Tony never died.** **curvy reader** Warnings: talk of sexual harassment, unwanted/non-consensual touching/sexual assault, eventual smut

Next chapter

“Please go to sleep,” Bucky begged quietly as the baby wailed in her crib.  He rubbed his face roughly, his eyes burning from lack of sleep.  He felt a wave of emotion through him and started crying, which surprised him.  He had gone through years of torture, being put on ice, memories wiped, the worst things imaginable done to him and forced on him to do to others, sleep deprivation worse than this and yet here he was crying over a crying baby.

He’d never had a lot of experience with babies.  He had sisters back then, but his mother had always been the one to take care of them as infants.  None of the other Avengers brought their kids around to headquarters.  This baby was unknown to him until four weeks ago.  

“Hey Bucky, uh…you’re needed in the lobby,” Sam’s voice rang through Friday’s intercom.

“Okay,” Bucky answered back up to the ceiling, then headed down to the front of the building.  When he approached the front desk a small group was forming around something on the floor.  “What’s going on?” he asked as he walked up to Sam.

Sam gave him a worried look then pointed to the floor.  It was a baby in a carrier, fast asleep, covered in a blanket, a diaper bag and a box of things next to it.  Steve was holding a note in one hand and reading it over and over again, the other hand holding a small stack of papers.

“Oh cute, whose baby?” Bucky said, smiling softly.  Everyone in the room looked at him uneasily.  

“It’s um…it’s yours,” Steve said hesitantly, handing him the note.

“What?  That’s–” Bucky scoffed then read the note.  It was scribbled hurriedly and he read it slowly.

‘James Barnes,

You won’t remember me but we had a one night stand a few months ago.  I didn’t realize I was pregnant till it was too late to have an abortion.  I’m not cut out for motherhood, and won’t be able to give her the life she deserves.  You’re an Avenger, so I’m guessing you’ve got money or options to make sure she’ll get a fair shot.  I haven’t named her, and I’ve signed away my rights.  She was born March 10.  I’m sorry to drop this on you.

Good luck.’

Bucky stared at the note.  He really couldn’t remember most of the one night stands he’d had.  They had usually been drunken encounters after too much Asguardian mead at one of Tony’s many parties.  “I…I don’t...”

“We should take a DNA sample, make sure it’s actually his,” Tony piped up.

“Oh please, Tony, just look at her.  She looks just like him,” Pepper smacked his arm.  “Let’s get her checked out by a doctor and then we’ll go from there.”

Steve stepped up to Bucky.  “Buck?”  He clapped his shoulder, bringing him back to the present.  “What do you want to do?”

Bucky eyed the papers in Steve’s hand, seeing the “Termination of Parental Rights” in bold at the top of the packet.  His ears were ringing, his eyes wide as he fought off a panic attack.  He looked at the baby again.  She did look like him, a tuft of dark brown hair atop her head and his lips and dimpled chin.  He stepped toward her and knelt down.  He reached forward a finger and softly stroked her cheek.  It made her stir a little and her eyes opened a little, flashing the same blue color of his eyes.  She even shared his birthday.  He smiled.  “My baby,” he mumbled.

Bucky decided to name her Winnie, after his mother.  The entire Avengers team had jumped into action that day, Tony and Pepper calling multiple people and getting baby items delivered to the compound, Bruce coming to take a DNA sample and do a preliminary check up on her until a pediatrician could come do a thorough examination, Steve and Sam standing with him as he held her and stared at her, giving him advice and trying to talk through what to do next.

As time went by he learned a lot.  Tony brought in a few people to teach him parenting skills and how to feed her, change her, bathe her, what different cries could mean, and so much more that it made his head swim.  He’d gotten the hang of it for the most part, getting into a routine with her, but on a night like tonight where the team was gone on a mission, with no one to help him, and it didn’t seem to matter what he did she just would not stop crying, he felt overwhelmed.  Bucky didn’t know how parents did this, let alone with multiple children.  He picked her up from the crib and cradled her against his chest, patting her back firmly but gently as his body bounced to try to soothe her again.  She continued crying but it died down a little at having him close.

“Please, Winnie, I can’t…I don’t know what I’m doing,” he whispered and shushed her.  He quickly wiped his tears, but they kept coming as her head thrashed against his sternum, like she wanted to burrow into him.  He carried her to the front room of his apartment suite in the compound then to the kitchen, grabbing another bottle and warming it in the microwave.  The movement seemed to help calm her a little until she was sniffling, whimpering and only occasionally letting out a little wail.  He made sure the formula wasn’t too hot then sat on the large sectional couch and leaned back against the pillow.  Before she could start crying from the loss of movement he stuck the bottle in her mouth and she immediately started eating, her wet eyes blinking up at him as she drew in a shaky breath.

“There you go,” Bucky breathed.  “See, all that fussing for nothing.  You stinker,” he smiled as he sniffed and wiped his tears again.  He snuggled her against him as he tried to even out his breathing.  She was so tiny against his large frame that it made him smile wider.  He hoped this would be enough to get her to sleep for longer than 45 minutes this time.  He stared up at the ceiling then got an idea.

“Friday?”

“Yes Sergeant Barnes?”

“I need interviews with potential nannies,” Bucky said, looking back down at Winnie.  “Specifically for live-in, night nannies.”

“I’ll compile a list and reach out for preliminary interviews.  Any specific qualifications that you would like to have listed?”

“No, just someone who knows what they’re doing,” Bucky sighed, his eyes getting heavier.

“Yes sir.”

“Thank you,” he yawned as Winnie finished the bottle.  He burped her, thanking whatever higher being there was in the universe for her milk-drunk expression as she drifted back to sleep, joining her shortly after.

**Once again, thank the AI/Photoshop gods for this perfect picture of Bucky found on Pinterest.**

@angelbabyyy99 @capswife @julvrs @bellabarnes1378 @mostlymarvelgirl @mega-kittyglitter-1 @buckitostan @drdbnkl2008 @wintrsoldrluvr @danzer8705

[mysteryshoptls]

SR Jack Howl - Apprentice Chef Voice Lines

Summon Line: I'll make it so that I can make any kind of dish perfectly. It's never a bad thing to get better at cooking.

Groooovy!!: Woah, that one actually came out pretty good. I gotta do it again before I forget how I did it.

Home: I'm getting pumped!

Home Idle 1: These macarons... They're just tiny little pastries, but they take a lot of hard work. I guess I shouldn't just finish them off in one bite without a care anymore.

Home Idle 2: Apparently, there's a new kind of confection at the Mystery Shop. I heard about it from Ace. He's always up to speed when it comes to this sort of thing, huh.

Home Idle 3: I get a little nervous whenever Ruggie-senpai asks me about my cactus. Maybe it's because I learned that some places eat them...

Home Idle - Login: I mean, I've only ever helped out back home, so I don't have much experience, but I'm sure I'll get better if I just do my best. Putting in the effort has never failed me yet!

Home Idle - Groovy: Oh, doesn't it look like it's baked pretty well this time? [sniff, sniff] You smell that? I bet it's delicious!

Home Tap 1: The best time to replenish any lost carbohydrates from exercise is right after your training finishes. Eating a sweet compote will really help that exhaustion melt away.

Home Tap 2: The cafeteria's soup has way too much onions in it... I somehow gulped it all down, but the smell really messed with my nose.

Home Tap 3: Stick it in the oven and wait 5 minutes... I hate wasting time doing nothing. Guess I'll put away the cooking supplies.

Home Tap 4: I bet making the meringue can be a great way to train. I'll just use a whisk and... Hraaaaaah!

Home Tap 5: Urgh, too much batter came out. I keep messing up the amount of force I need to use. This piping bag is hard to use.

Home Tap - Groovy: Was it good? There's still some left over, so eat as much as you like! D-Don't read anything into it, or anything. I just made too much, so it's just what's leftover.

Requested by @sakurakudo.

[sweet-evie]

Satoru & Suguru defending Shoko like…

I have so much brain rot about this, so hear me out and take the imagine/scenario... 😭

TW: Sexual harassment

This also may or may not be inspired by a recent real-life experience of mine where a bunch of guys harassed my friends and I at a bar, but thank God three gentlemen on the opposite table existed and were kind enough to tell the others off and walk us back to our car in the parking lot just to make sure we were safe.

✨ masterlist ✨

Shoko has scary dog privileges... Her "scary dogs" in question being Satoru and Suguru.

The trio had just finished their festival food.

Satoru wanders off to find shaved ice and some crepes, Suguru excuses himself to go to the bathroom, and Shoko willingly stays at their outdoor table, smoking her cigarette while keeping an eye on her friends’ things.

A guy approaches with ill intentions.

He’s hitting on Shoko, trying to engage her in conversation. At first, Shoko entertains him and participates in the casual talk, but when the guy invited her to come spend time with him and his friends (there were 5 other dudes standing not far away, grinning and hollering at their friend).

The guy hitting on Shoko is like, “I promise we’re cool.”

Shoko says ‘No.’ The guy was flirty about it at first, but when she expresses that she’s waiting for her friends, the guy keeps pushing and starts to try and touch her inappropriately. He tried to slide a hand around her waist and Shoko slaps his hand away. He pushes and pushes and leans closer and Shoko’s getting very uncomfortable, but she plays it cool.

Shoko is calm, collected, and plainly tells him something along the lines of, “You’re making me uncomfortable," "Please stop," "Thanks for inviting me, but I’m waiting for my friends. Nice talking to you.”

Unhappy, the guy explains that he’s going to lose a bet to his friends, and grabs Shoko’s arm. He’s manhandling her from the seat, pulling her up, ready to drag her towards his groupies. She struggles and tells him ‘No’ firmly.

People are starting to look…

Suguru is back, sees Shoko’s predicament, and acts immediately.

The guy looks older, a little bulkier, but Suguru isn’t fazed. He closes the gap in three strides, separates Shoko from the stranger and puts himself between her and him. He was just glaring menacingly at first, but the stranger is cocky and flashes a smile.

“This your girl or something?”

“No, she’s not. But even if she is, it’s none of your business. She told you ‘no.’”

Shoko is now just standing casually behind Suguru, taking another drag from her cigarette. There’s tension, and it looked like the stranger was raring for a fight. He’s sizing Suguru up. They’re about the same height… Maybe the other guy was four inches shorter. His friends are closing in now too, subtly.

Suguru looks calm as ever.

“What if we just took her and leave you for dead?” One of the guy’s friends pipes up, grinning and cracking his knuckles, rolling his neck. “Bring it on big boy, I got a black belt.”

He throws experimental aerial punches that look absolutely ridiculous.

Suguru looks dreadfully bored, but he’ll let them talk for the fun… well, until Satoru shows up anyway.

“Five against one, what do you say?” One of the other guys sneered.

Shoko snorts. “If only they knew. Can’t we just go?”

“Satoru should be back any minute now.” Suguru grinned.

“Having one of your other friends won’t save you.”

A guy throws a punch that Suguru effortlessly blocks, dodges, and counters against. It’s at this moment, Satoru shows up with small bags of kikufuku in hand, and he looks surprised for a second, before his face breaks into a shit-eating grin.

“I leave you alone for 5 minutes and you get into a fight.”

“Not like you would have stopped it.” Shoko deadpans. “And they were harassing me. Suguru stepped in before they could.”

“Huh…” Satoru dropped his bags on the table and sauntered up to the ongoing one-sided scuffle between Suguru and four other guys. 

It was a poor match-up. Suguru was alone, but the rest of the men were clearly outmatched. Tired of the bullshit, Satoru uses Amplification Blue to manipulate a pocket of space, pulling all the strangers away from Suguru, sending them crashing against each other. Disoriented, one of the guys get up and try to challenge them again, but Satoru steps up with hands in his pockets and slams his foot into the guy’s face.

Kinda like this...

He was trying to stand, but Satoru kicked him down before he could. One of them tried to touch him but failed (for obvious reasons)...

“That’s for harassing my friend. Can’t even defend yourselves against one guy." (He means Suguru) "You’re embarrassing.” He glowers at Shoko’s assailant over the rim of his glasses. “Think twice before trying to commit a crime, will you?”

SaShiSu, how I love you~ 💔

[vodika-vibes]

For Want of Honey

Summary: You're a beekeeper on Pabu, and Echo is one of your best customers. You like to think you're friends, and a long conversation on a hot summer weekend changes your relationship forever.

Pairing: TBB Echo x F!Reader

Word Count: 1245

Warnings: None

Tagging: @trixie2023 @n0vqni @kiss-anon

You hum a quiet tune under your breath as you carefully set jars of honey out on the table in front of you. And then you set the bags of honey candy in their basket, and turn to pull out some homemade honey butter from where you store it on the trip between your home and the market.

And when you turn back to the stall you’re greeted by a blonde head of hair and dark eyes focused on one of the rolls you made fresh this morning.

“Good morning, Miss Omega.” You greet with a small grin as you lean on the table.

Omega’s gaze sheepishly snaps to meet yours, “Morning, Miss Bee.” She greets, “Your rolls smell really good. Did’ya make them this morning?”

“I did indeed. Would you like one?”

“I didn’t bring any credits,” Omega admits.

“Well, that’s alright. I won’t tell if you won’t.” You hand her a roll and grin as she immediately shoves it in her mouth, “Your brothers not feeding you, kiddo?”

“She’s eating us out of house and home, I swear we go to the store once a day and we never have enough food.” An amused voice pipes up from the side, and you turn and grin at Echo.

“I can’t help it,” Omega mumbles, her face reddening, “I’m hungry.”

You wink at Omega, “You’re a growing girl. Besides, based on how tall your brothers are, you’re going to be a tall woman, which means you need those calories.”

Omega grins, “See Echo, I need to eat so much.”

Echo smiles at his sister, “I heard.” And then he shakes his head as she runs off, “Thank you for humoring her, and for feeding her. How much do I owe you?”

“For my best customer?” You joke as you favor him with a warm smile, and you’re rewarded with him nervously rubbing the back of his neck and his ears burning red, “No charge.”

He smiles at you, a small shy little smile that makes your smile grow wider, and he moves to stand fully in front of the stall, “Well,” He says, as he studiously avoids your gaze, “Do you have anything new for us to try?”

“Just the same stuff, I’m afraid,” You reply, “I haven’t had time to experiment, since I set up the new beehouse.”

“Another new one?” Echo asks, surprised. “How many do you have now?”

“That was number eleven.” You say with a delighted grin, “I’m thinking I’m going to try and make some meade…well, once I figure out how. I would hate for it to be bad.”

“I don’t think anything you make could ever be bad,” Echo says in return, his gaze serious as he looks at you, though when you beam at him, he quickly looks the other way, the blush covering his ears spreading down to his neck.

You giggle, he really is too cute. “Well, thank you for the compliment, Echo. But you should have tasted some of my first attempts at candy. They were awful.”

“I have a hard time believing that. You’re always so sure about everything.” Echo’s gaze flickers to yours, and he flashes a small smile, “I’ve always admired that. You don’t let anything get under your skin.”

You shift some of the jars so that they look a little nicer, “Well, I used to. When I was a kid. And then I moved out and cut out my toxic family, and it turns out that I’m not actually hotheaded. I just react poorly to people digging at my insecurities.” You pause and then flush, “Sorry! I’m not, like, trying to trauma-dump on you or anything! You’re just really easy to talk to-”

Echo laughs and shakes his head, “It’s okay. I don’t mind.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yeah. I am.”

You sigh in relief, “That’s good. Here, have a roll. I made them this morning.”

Echo takes a roll with an amused quirk of his lips, “Thanks.” He takes a bite and is quiet for a moment, “You know,” He finally says, “I was a lot more confident before…well…” He motions to his scomp, “When I was whole.”

You don’t say anything for a moment, thinking on his words, “You know…you still seem really confident to me.”

“Sure, about fighting, and about military stuff. But anything else-”

You’re already shaking your head, “Echo, you come and talk to me week after week. You put up with my flirting and my jokes, and yeah, you blush and get a little flustered sometimes, but you never stop coming. That sounds like confidence to me.”

Echo pauses, and then his gaze snaps to yours, “Wait. Flirting?”

“...ah.” You sit up, and tuck your hair behind your ear, “You didn’t notice that-um…you can forget I said that.”

“No, no. I want to hear more. What’s this about flirting?” He asks, and you watch, amused, as he settles into his skin in a way that you’ve only seen glimpses of in the months you’ve known him. 

“It’s really not that important-”

“I need you to understand that there’s literally nothing more important to me at the moment than this.” Echo says with a grin.

You laugh softly, “Honestly, I thought you knew, and that was why you kept coming back.”

“I keep coming back because I like the way you smile at me.” Echo counters, “You smile at me like…well…like how women normally smile at Hunter.”

“I like you. I think you’re funny, and you’re fun to talk to, and you come to my stall every week.” You pause, and then you favor him with a small smile, “You know, you can always come to my farm. I won’t make you leave.”

He stares at you, surprised, “I…really? I thought that you’d be busy.”

“Oh, I’m always busy, but I can give you a suit, and you can follow me around while I work.” You grin at him, “I wouldn’t mind.”

“I might take you up on that offer.” Echo replies with a small smile. “Although,” He says slowly, thoughtfully, “I was thinking-”

“Yes?”

“Well, you know that the fireworks festival is at the end of the week, right?”

“I’m aware, yes.” You say with a laugh, “The flyers have been everywhere for the last month.”

“Do you want to come to the festival with me?” Echo asks, “Like. As my date?”

You beam at him, “I would love that!”

“You…you would?”

“Honestly, I was going to ask you if you hadn’t asked me. I was just trying to work up the nerve to do it.” You admit.

“You were nervous?”

“I wasn’t sure you’d say yes. Now it’s not a concern.” You grin at him, “Also, aren’t you supposed to be watching Omega?”

Echo blinks at you. Twice. And then he curses, “I have to go!”

You giggle, and press a small jar of honey into his hand, “Here you go, on the house. Maybe you can stop by my place tomorrow? I’m a pretty decent cook, even with things that aren’t honey related.”

Echo twists the bottle between his fingers, and he grins at you, “I’ll be there.” And then he slides the jar into the cloth bag that he’s carrying. He flashes one last crooked grin and a wave, and then he vanishes into the swelling crowd.

And you giggle in sheer delight, before you calm yourself and start humming a delighted little tune. This is going to be the best thing ever!

[paradoxlemonade]

Like a Flower in Bloom; chapter 1/3

Summary: Doc Monster is a many things: he's a tinkerer, a college graduate, a creeper hybrid, and a husband to his wonderful spouse, Ren. Most importantly, he is a father. And he would do anything to make his trans daughter Scarlet happy. Even if it means becoming a Buttercup Scout troop leader and herding a trio of middle school girls.

This is my @mcytblraufest fic, made in collaboration with my artist @watchmewhirl and beta-read my @raivaughn. You can find the masterpost for the art here.

Warnings: minor transphobia

Ao3: Here!

Next ; Last

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Violence does not solve very many problems. It usually just creates newer, more complicated problems. As a rational person, Doc understands this. 

As an animal, however, he wants the Buttercup Scout troop leader in front of him to be eaten by hyenas.

The meeting wrapped up a few minutes ago and most of the girls and parents already filtered out the door. Doc told Scarlet, his daughter, to hang behind and talk with the other girls. She's more than happy to do so, chatting away with the Symmetry twins. 

He has a few concerns about how she was repeatedly sidelined during the badge event and wanted to ask about that. She hadn't yet joined the troop and was only there for a preliminary meeting, yes, but the adults could have stood to be a bit more welcoming to new members. 

Which led to him hunting down the troop leader, tapping her on the shoulder, and asking about her meeting policies. Which led to her trying not to sneer and just dismissing him out of hand.

Ms. Reflecta Symmetry doesn't bother to face him as she gathers up tubes of decorating frosting and glitter sprinkles and returns them to their original packaging. “I'm busy. Could you please wait a moment?”

Doc shakes his head. “I just have a question about how meetings tend to go, and then I'll be out of your hair. Nothing big; it’ll be quick.” 

Reflecta drops the decorating supplies back onto the camp table with unnecessary force and finally turns to face him. She gives him a plastic, simpering smile. “I think I can help you! Were you here to check out our troop and think about joining?”

“...Yes, that's correct.” Something about the way she carries herself sets Doc's nerves on edge. “Scarlet wanted to be a part of the group that was piping frosting onto the sugar cookies. But every time she asked you if she could switch groups, she got ignored or told to wait her turn, but she never got to be a part of the piping group. It seemed like she was… forgotten during the group changes.”

How does he phrase this diplomatically? 

“I was wondering if this was how most of your meetings run, or if you were just distracted. There were a lot of girls to keep from making messes, after all.” He's had long days before. It would be nice if that were the case here; this was the only close option for a troop in the area.

“Uh-huh.” Reflecta’s arms cross, fingers tapping away. She switches her expression to an equally-fake one of hyperbolic sympathy. “You see, I'm just not certain that your… child is a good fit for our troop. I’m concerned that they won’t have very much fun; we have a specific culture here. I'm sure you understand?” With that, she spins on her heel and continues packing up the materials from the meeting into an oversized patchwork tote bag.

Doc stands there for a moment, frozen stiff. “Excuse me?” What exactly did she mean by that? He steps to her side, working himself back into her line of sight even as she works and attempts to ignore him. “I think I misunderstand you. Could you explain what you mean?”

 She glances over to give him another apologetic look, but her lip is curled back just enough to show teeth. “It just takes so many resources for a Buttercup Scout troop to make sure all girls involved have an enriching experience. We've just had a few new girls join, so I'll need our treasurer to reassess the budget. Perhaps you should look into some other organizations in the area? I'm sure there's plenty that they would like elsewhere.”

Doc grits his teeth and wills himself to silence. Budget problems and personality are two different issues. That leaves one conclusion: Ms. Symmetry is full of shit. She just doesn't want Scarlet to join the troop. He'd hoped her earlier curt attitude was just her being busy with other kids—even gave her an out to claim that—but that doesn't seem to be the case.

He clears his throat. “Sure, yeah, I understand.” Before she can get another word in to affirm his agreement, Doc barrels on: “It's just a little surprising to hear, considering how well Scarlet seemed to get along with the other girls. The advertisement your troop posted on Facebook the other week also seemed so welcoming; was that scheduled in advance before your means were clear?”

Reflecta's smile remains, though the bottom of her eye twitches ever so slightly. “Something like that.” It's her turn not to give Doc a chance to respond as she jerks to face the remaining girls in the room. “False! True! Get your things. We're leaving.”

The two blonde girls that Scarlet is talking to perk up at the same time, like prairie dogs out of a burrow. Aside from the longer hair and extremely thick glasses that nearly resemble goggles they both wore, they were spitting images of Reflecta. One just nods without emoting much, while the other brightens and responds, “Yes, ma’am!”

The smiley one clambers to her feet, buttercup guide book clutched to her chest. She waves farewell and says something else before bounding over to her mother's side. The stoic one bumps a silent shoulder against Scarlet’s and follows a moment later.

“Ah, Scarlet,” Doc calls out. “You come on as well. We finished speaking, so it's time to go home.”

She nods and scoops up her cat plushie backpack.“Okie-dokie, dad!” Once it’s on her back and she gets her crutches situated, she’s by his side as he guides her out the door.

“Did you have a nice conversation with the twins?” Doc asks, a bit louder than necessary in the hopes that Scarlet won’t hear Reflecta hissing ‘I don’t want to hear about you two talking to that one again’ to her daughters. He directs Scarlet along a little bit faster.

“Yeah, they were really nice to me!” There’s a bounce in her step as she chatters away. “True didn’t talk very much, but that’s okay since False talked enough for both of them. I think she talks when she’s nervous and when she’s comfortable. And then she asked about my Jellie backpack, and—”

Doc ushers her out the doors of the community center, but his eyes can’t help but fall to the trans flag button on the strap of her bag. 

Truth was, a gnawing sense of dread hollowed out his chest when she insisted at age ten that she was a girl.

It’s an ugly thing to think, but it’s not because Doc doesn’t want her to be herself. The world can be mean, and the people in it even meaner; Scarlet suffering unnecessarily because she’s different from her peers became a regular staple of his stress dreams.

He hugged her worried, helped her pick out a name worried, went shopping for new girl clothes worried, met with her school teachers and the principal worried—

Today he drove her to a Buttercup Scout troop meeting worried.

Beyond the obvious of names and clothes and telling family members, the one thing Scarlet wanted was to become a Buttercup Scout.

Doc pulls his keys from his jacket pocket and unlocks the truck while they walk. Scarlet takes that as a cue to rush ahead and climb inside without assistance—door open, crutches against door, Jellie bag tossed into the seat next to hers, hands on the seat for stability, one foot on the running board, push off and lean forward, wiggle into a seated position, pull the crutches in and close the door. She has it down to a science at this point, though Doc will occasionally still offer her help if she’s having a bad pain day. He doesn’t have to worry much about Scarlet hurting herself.

And yet, now he has to drive her home, worried about disappointing and hurting her.

The air inside the truck hits him like a wall of heat when he opens the door, though he pays it little mind as he slides into the driver’s seat and puts the keys into the ignition. Until the air conditioning fully kicks in, he cracks the back windows just a touch.

A glance in the rear view mirror shows Scarlet looking out the window with a slowly slipping happy mask.

He’s pulling out of the parking lot before he can bring himself to say anything. “Did… you have fun at the meeting?” 

“Oh! Yeah, I did! False and True and me were talking, and they—”

“No, not near the end of the meeting, or after it.” His grip on the steering wheel tightens minutely. He makes sure to take the next turn carefully in spite of that. “I meant all of it—the badge work, the other girls, the adults—how do you feel?”

Another stolen look, and this time she’s pulling her knees to her chest.

“I mean… the girls were nice to me.”

He’s always been worried about her peers ostracizing her. Their parents hadn’t even come up on his radar.

Doc presses down on a sigh. “I’m sorry that troop wasn’t what you were expecting.”

“It’s fine!” she blurts out. “They’re fine! I want to be a Buttercup Scout!”

His heart twists. “I know you do, and we’re trying. It’s just… maybe we should keep our options open, sweetie.” The gentle comfort in his voice sounds fake, even to himself.

“What? No, no!” She leans forward in her seat to grip the passenger headrest. “I’ll make it work! It'll be fine!”

“Scarlet.” He's firm, but so tired, tired, tired. There's no way he's letting his daughter put herself in a situation where she regularly has to interact with transphobes. “I know you want to be a Buttercup Scout, but tonight wasn't fun for you, and it wasn't fun for me to watch you be upset. We'll keep looking, okay?”

Despite herself, she sniffles and hiccups. “But, but, there aren't any other troops in the area that work for us. You said that! I heard you and Papa talking about it!”

Fuck. He didn't think she overheard that conversation. She was supposed to be asleep on the couch after a movie, he and Ren sequestered in the kitchen to discuss in hushed voices.

 “All the others are too far, or they meet when I have physical therapy, or they aren't accepting new members, or, or—” The words seem to flood out of her before abruptly stopping with a sharp inhale of breath and another wet hiccup. “I just want to do what all the other girls get to do. I don't understand why I can't.”

With a grimace, Doc changes lanes and turns into the parking lot of a fast food joint. This isn't a driving conversation. 

Once stopped, he gets out of the driver's seat and opens the back. He slides in next to Scarlet and puts an arm around her shoulders. “Oh, mein Schatzi…”

She sniffles and presses her side into the hug. “S’ not even that bad. I dunno why I'm crying.” 

Doc picks up the Jellie plush from where it fell into the floorboards. Sure, it may have a few notebooks in it, but it's still a plushie and Scarlet sure seems to need one. He sets it on her lap and she has it squeezed to her chest in a blink. 

“This is something you really wanted for a long time. It's normal to be upset when stuff doesn't work out.”

“I wanted it to work out.”

“I know, I know.” He runs a hand through her hair. “Your papa and I will see what we can do, okay?”

“But—” She sniffles again. “I thought that—”

“I know what we said,” Doc murmurs. “We’re going to look into other options so you can be a Buttercup Scout. I cannot make any promises, but I can promise to try.”

She looks up at him with wounded eyes, shining with unshed glass tears. It seems that this cry was a long time coming. “O-oh.” Another sniffle.

She twists to the side and he's suddenly engulfed in a hug. “Thanks, Dad.”

He holds her close.

“Always.”

[scoobydoodean]

I love the juxtaposition between Dean and Cas's reactions to Raphael in 5.03, when Raphael says God is dead and they just want this all to be over. There are tears in Raphael's eyes when he says it, and Cas mirrors him. The empathy he feels for Raphael—despite everything—is evident.

Dean though? Dean is mocking Raphael.

RAPHAEL: Do you think God would have let any of that happen if He were alive? DEAN: Oh yeah? Well then who invented the Chinese basket trick? RAPHAEL: Careful. That's my Father you're talking about, boy. DEAN: Yeah, who would be so proud to know His sons started the frigging apocalypse. RAPHAEL: Who ran off and disappeared. Who left no instructions and a world to run. DEAN: Daddy ran away and disappeared. He didn't happen to work for the post office, did He?

I think a lot of what Dean says is for Cas's benefit. Dean's caught on that god means a lot to Cas by now—he'd be stupid not to (especially after their fight in 5.02). Cas needs to believe his father cares and loves him and will help if Cas can just find him. So even though Dean himself thinks god is a deadbeat who doesn't give a shit, he mocks and belittle's Raphael's perspective and throws in the joke about the post office as an in-joke with Cas, purely for Cas's benefit, to try and lighten the mood. At the end of the episode, Dean encourages Cas not to give up hope. He tells him that if he believes his father is out there, he should follow his convictions and keep searching.

The other component of this though... is that Cas and Raphael are living through something with their own father that Dean has already lived... and Raphael and Michael's solution is to kill everybody about it.

So Dean goes, "Oh, so your dad left you with all of his responsibilities and then just disappeared? Boo hoo so sad." Like he is speaking from the perspective of someone who does know what it's like to be abandoned with the bag, and from the perspective of that lived experience, he is saying their actions are not justified—they are not acceptable. They don't get to take their daddy issues out on the world just because daddy is a deadbeat.

RAPHAEL: This is funny to you? You're living in a godless universe. DEAN: And? What, you and the other kids just decided to throw an apocalypse while He was gone? RAPHAEL: We're tired. We just want it to be over. We just want...paradise. DEAN: So, what, God dies and makes you the boss and you decide you can do whatever you want?

And there's another connection to Dean here in that Raphael says he's tired. When Raphael says that, he is repeating something Dean said way back in 2.09, when the weight of John's last words was crushing him. John left Dean with responsibility for Sam's demonic destiny, which has now actually come to fruition in the form of the apocalypse. Dean has been blamed twice for the apocalypse already (5.01, 5.02) by Zachariah and Cas, because he didn't stop Sam in time.

So Raphael feels chained by his father's responsibilities and orders that are too big, and Dean has felt chained to Sam and Sam's destiny since season 2 (and chained to Sam more generally through parentification before then). They are both sons whose father left them with the bag—with responsibilities they just can't handle. They both just want it to be over (Dean does not want to feel responsible for Sam!!! He says that in 5.02 AND at the end of 5.03). But what Raphael and Michael are doing? Well. They're fucking killing everyone because they can't deal. Raphael thinks they can create some kind of paradise through destruction, but it's a fucking pipe dream. He isn't solving anything at all.

[blues824]

round 6?? i think

can i have silver w prompts 6, 7, 11, and 12?

(i’m sorry LMAOOO atp ill just do the whole prompt list w him 😭😭)

You requested: Making a Gingerbread House, Gingerbread House Competition, Christmas Baking, + Christmas Market from the Fluffcember Prompt List

TW: Shrek references

Silver

Recently, you and Silver had both gone to the Christmas Market in the town below NRC for a date night, and it was definitely a wonderful experience. Sure, it was cold, but the lights as well as the smells and the vendors made it all worthwhile. Anyways, the point is, you saw a vendor that was selling gingerbread house kits, and you came up with the idea of doing a competition with Diasomnia.

You bought two and you both headed back to his dorm, where you asked the group, including Malleus (which made him delighted), if they would like to participate. Lilia said that he would be the judge in your little competition, and Sebek was all too happy to be teamed up with the great Crowned Prince Malleus Draconia of Briar Valley. You were paired up with your boyfriend, as you should be, and you both immediately set out the different items in the kit.

The kit included 6 pieces of gingerbread rectangles, and 2 people. You wanted to design them after you and Silver, and he let you after you finished building the house. To say that the icing was messy would be an understatement. You had it all over your shirt, and you even smudged some on Silver’s nose as a joke.

Surprisingly, Malleus and Sebek were in a pretty similar state, and the latter seemed very close to yelling at the piping bag for daring to smear itself upon the great Waka-sama. However, the former was having a lot of fun with building their house. 

Lilia was walking around and watching both teams, like it was a holiday baking show. He giggled upon seeing that the two knights were taking this competition very seriously, and then he whipped out a fake microphone that he seemingly had in his back pocket to ask both teams questions. He was genuinely trying to make it seem like a holiday baking show.

“So, Prefect, what are you doing to that poor gingerbread man?

“When I was younger, there was a movie I used to watch: Shrek. There was a character that pushed all fairytale people out of his kingdom and was torturing a gingerbread man to get their location. I’m recreating that scene with this extra gingerbread man.”

“Oh, what fun! Although, I do not believe I’ve ever heard of such a film!”

“It’s from my world, but it is a childhood classic.”

~~~~~~~~

After 30 minutes more of frustration, jokes, and interviews, both teams were finally finished with their gingerbread houses. You let out a sigh and stretched your back, making it pop from how long you spent hunched over the cookies. Silver looked at you and smiled, happy to finally be done, and he went over to a chair to take a nap.

Sebek and Malleus’s house looked really good, no doubt from the half-fae’s desire to make it perfect. The lines were sharp and the gumdrops, candycanes, and other candies that were used were meticulously placed to make it comprehensible. You and your boyfriend made a cottage of sorts that had a very homey feel to it, reminding you of Gingy from Shrek.

It came as no shock to you that the other team won, but you shook hands and bid them a ‘good game’ as you turned to Silver, who was still slouched in the chair. You kneeled down to wake him up and take him to his bed so that his back or neck wouldn’t be hurt. He was slightly stumbling, being only slightly awake, but you eventually made it to his room.

Making sure he was tucked in all the way, you gave him a kiss on the forehead as his eyes closed for the night. However, as you turned to walk away, you felt his hand find your arm, and with his strength he pulled you into his bed next to him.

“Stay,” Was all he said, and you smiled as you got comfortable, ready to sleep next to your lover.

[theyhavetakenovermylife]

WE NEED A SEQUEL TO BEAUTY IN THE BODEGA NEOOOWWW

Beauty in the Bodega: part 2 (Fluff)

MM!Leonardo x reader

Part 1

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A/N: And a sequel you get!💙😘

I know this kind of messes up the idea that April is the first human to know about them, but I just really wanted to do this. Also, I know most food displays don't have alarms, but for the sake of the story we just roll with it.

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Warnings: None💙

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Once every week, Leo and his brothers would go on grocery runs, and every week they would change it up a bit. They knew from experience that hitting up the same place too many times in a row, would cause them to up the security. Therefore they would go from bodega to bodega, the further apart the better. That had brought them all over New York City, to places they normally never would get to see. But with every grocery run they went on, Leo couldn’t help but look towards the door, and hoped that you, the beautiful human girl, would walk through it one more time, in a totally different part of the city.

It had been two months since Leo saw you in the grocery store. Two whole months since you had left the party size Doritos bag outside of the sewer for Leo to find. And during those two months, Leonardo continuously thought of you. Lucky for him, no one in his family found it suspicious how fast he had gotten those Doritos. He told them it would be a minute, what else would there be to say?

During the nights in those two months, Leo would lay in bed and stare at the pipes above him, listening to his brother’s snoring, and wonder about you. Who were you? What was your name? How old were you? Did you think about him? And most importantly, if you did think about him, did you think about him just as much as he thought of you?

It was during those nights that Leo would borrow Donnie’s headphones, and look up the song he had heard you sing. It was happy and upbeat, giving Leo some much needed joy in his thoughts about you. And it quickly became the backdrop to his thoughts about you, turning every thought sweet and bright. It even played in the back of his head as he and his brothers returned to the exact bodega he had seen you in.

This time was easier than the last time. The cashier had fallen asleep behind their crossword, giving the boys all the time they needed to collect their things. All they were missing was the junk food and those Doritos their dad had fallen in love with.

As Raph and Donnie was packing everything in the vent into bags, and Leo was looking for the Doritos, Mikey slowly snuck behind the counter to find the good junk food. The good hotdogs they would warm for you, and the good cakes with a lot of filling. But when Leo got the shelf he usually would find the Doritos, he was confused when he saw none, only to realize they were at a different shelf.

Oh no. They had moved around. That meant…

Mikey opened the glass to the hotdogs, only to be surprised by a blaring alarm that rang in their ears. The cashier woke up, causing Mikey to hide the only place he could find - right under the counter. Leo once again hid behind the shelf, heart beating in fear as the cashier grumbled and shouted.

“Where are you?!”, the cashier yelled. "Thieves! Where did you go!?”

Suddenly the bell above the door rang, altering people to a new person in the bodega. Leo squished his eyes shut. Every fear his father ever had instilt him came forward, making him think of the worst.

“They ran that way!” Leo’s snapped open. He knew that voice. He could recognize that voice anywhere. He had been dreaming about it for two months. “Just down the street! I saw them!”

Leo looked through the shelves to see you standing at the counter, pointing out to the street.

“Are you sure!?”, the cashier asked. “What did they look like?!”

“I don’t know! They were those dumb hoods with holes!”, you yelled, creating a sense of urgency. “Hurry! Before they get too far!”, you yelled, pulling the cashier out from behind the counter, before pulling them with you and out the door.

With the coast clear, Leo ran to get Mikey from his hiding spot under the counter, before helping him up into the vent. They hurried to the roof, where they watched you pull the cashier into the opposite direction than the one they would go.

—

“I was scared they would catch us!”, Donnie said as they returned to the alleyway. “I mean, did you see them?! They were about to go ballistic!”

“I was so sure we would get milked!”, Mikey said, running his hand over his face.

“Will you shut up with the milking?”, Raph asked as he opened up the sewer entrance. “You’re gonna make me hurl!”

“Okay, but let’s make one thing clear”, Leo said, using his big brother voice. “We can’t tell dad about what happened tonight”.

“Then how do we explain why we didn’t get all he asked for?”, Mikey asked, nodding towards the bag in his hand.

“We will just tell him that Leo’s girlfriend came by, so we decided to get the hell out of there”, Raph said, pulling the manhole open. “He will understand that”.

“She’s not my girlfriend”, Leo mumbled, kicking his feet against the pavement. At least not in real life. In his head you and him got together long ago, and had been going strong for the past two months.

“Sure, lover boy”, Donnie chuckled, as he climbed down into the sewer. “Don’t act like you don’t talk in your sleep”.

“I do not!”, Leo panicked, feeling his voice crack.

“Whatever you say”, Raph smiled, climbing down after Mikey.

Leo sighed and followed his brothers down, handing his bags to them before closing up the manhole. He was about to climb down, when he heard it.

“Dorito boy? Is it you down there?”

Leo froze. It was you. With that voice, there was no about about it. Slowly Leo looked down to his brothers, checking to see if they had heard you. They hadn’t. They were laughing at something Mikey had said, totally unaware of the fact that Leo hadn’t moved from the top of the ladder.

“Guys”, Leo called out, catching his brother's attention. “You guys go ahead. I’ll be there in a minute”.

“If it’s for those Doritos, I think dad can live one week without them”, Donnie said, crossing his arms.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that”, Mikey said. “Remember the last time one of us ate them? He watched soap operas for a whole week straight!”

Leo sighed once more. Why did his brothers had to be like this? “Just go ahead, please!”

“Okay! Okay!”, Raph said, hands in the air. “We’re leaving! We’re leaving - Damn. Someone’s angsty today!”

Leo waited until he was sure his brothers had left, before slowly opening the manhole cover once more. Trembling, he was met by your feet standing right in front of him. He gulped before looking up, finding you staring directly down at him with a smile.

“Hey”, you said with a warm smile.

“Hey”, he said back. He couldn’t believe it! He was talking to a human! And not just any human, but you! He was surely dreaming. There was no way-.

“Are you going to stay down there all night?”

“Uhm… no, sorry”. Leo fumbled over his words as he climbed out of the manhole. Standing in front of you, he felt his heart flutter a bit. He was taller than you. Not by a lot. Maybe a few centimeters. But it was enough to make his face hot. He had no idea what to do. He was standing in front of a human! A beautiful human of all! This was nothing like his dreams and thoughts had told him it would be like. In those he had been brave, telling you everything he felt.

“You’re really bad at remembering stuff, did you know that?”

Your words caught Leo off guard. He wasn’t sure what you meant, until he saw what you had in your hands. A bag full of party size Doritos and a bag full of warm hotdogs. Leo stared at them, unable to form words.

“They have upped the security quite a bit since last time. They found the bag you dropped and figured you would come back for more. That’s the reason why they moved them”, you explained. “You guys should probably wait more than two months before going back there”.

Leo was careful when he took the bags from your hands, fearing you would disappear the moment you took them. Instead he accidentally grazed his hands against yours, causing him involuntary to tense up. You chuckled, making his shoulders soften a bit.

“Th- thank you”, he managed to stammer out, mentally cursing himself for his voice crack. “It- it’s really nice of you. Can I pay back in some way?”

You shook your head, your eyes twinkling with amusement. "No no, it’s okay. I figured you and your friends needed it”, you smiled, your eyes lingering on his for a moment. “By the way, I'm (Y/N)".

Leo’s hands shook, the bag rustling as they did so. He quickly hid them behind his back, noticing the amused expression on your face. He relaxed his shoulders once again, before managing enough courage to extend you a hand.

"Leo," he replied, a genuine smile playing on his lips. "It's nice to meet you, (Y/N)".

[britcision]

Alright, not a lot for you this WIP Wednesday, I have been doing a lot of spring cleaning! But here you go, just a lil Jason getting out there to keep an eye on his family

Featuring Harper Row for the first actual time, cuz she’s great and she deserves to be here!

First part of chapter 13, the rest is, as always, in the tags. Title is subject to change

———————

Hello Crime Lord My Old Friend

About twenty minutes after dropping Danny off at his dorm, Jason was suited up and ready to go.

Well, he’d stayed outside until he’d seen Danny shut the door behind him first. Jason had some fucking manners, though if pressed he couldn’t name who’d taught him them.

Danny’s dorm was about fifteen minutes from one of Jason’s better safe houses, as it happened. Jason had never been to a dorm, but from Danny’s stories?

A step below Teen Titans’ bunks, and those had sucked. Less privacy, smaller rooms, and more people? Who weren’t even part of the same team?

Maybe next semester Jason could offer to let Danny move in. He didn’t need need the safe house.

Red Hood could always buy the building. There were other apartments and while they weren’t luxurious, they beat half his other spots. The neighbourhood wasn’t bad either.

It’d be nice to pay Danny back a bit. Not have him closer. Just. Repay some of the debt by giving him a place to stay, rent free.

And maybe, just a little bit, the part of Jason that enjoyed the romanticism of his period novels kinda liked the idea. An estate for the king on your lands was a big deal back then.

A slightly more modern part of him thought being a landlord for his ruler would also be pretty funny. He figured Danny would enjoy that side too.

And it wasn’t like the guy could complain, since he’d literally given Jason back himself. Yeah, Jason was gonna pull that one out if Danny tried any familiar “oh I can’t accept this” on him.

Fixing his core was pretty damn god level on the favours spectrum. Jason could do whatever the hell he liked and Danny would just have to deal with it.

It cheered him up a little more, kept him in a good mood on the ride back to his safe house. It was more time where he couldn’t help Cass, but seriously?

Danny could change in a matter of seconds and be at her side not much slower. Walls, cars, goons, Jason had this feeling that none of it would slow Danny down.

And yeah, knowing that helped, but there was still a piece of him that only unknotted as he slid his helmet on and headed to the window.

“Hey, Black Bat. Busy?” He asked as the comms switched from earpiece to helmet display.

Of course he wore both. People kept trying to steal his damn helmet. That was also what the internal explosives were for.

The others all piped up when they heard him, Harper and Steph calling cheerful greetings around an ongoing conversation.

“Shit, Hood’s in, this mean I can go back to bed?” Bluebird teased. Spoiler cut her off immediately.

“Hell no, it can’t be a school night, Robin’s here! Great timing though Hood, we’re planning Red Robin’s eulogy and you have some experience there,” Spoiler chirped brightly, and Jason hesitated.

Sucked in a breath. He wasn’t gonna judge anyone else’s coping mechanisms until they got past “heads in a bag” levels.

Best to ignore it, since she wasn’t actually trying to set him off.

What the hell had Tim done since they’d left the manor?

Shaking his head, Jason settled into Red Hood and hopped onto the fire escape, scaling easily to the roof.

“Black Bat?” He repeated instead of answering, and half smiled when Spoiler groaned dramatically.

Black Bat answered in the considerate group pause.

“Not busy. Why?” She sounded amused, not even particularly tired, and Jason relaxed enough to slip all the way in.

“Thinking of going a little out of my way tonight. Wondered if you’d mind a tagalong?” Red Hood asked, hoping he sounded casual.

It wasn’t like he’d been planning to patrol the Alley anyway; his guys had already been told to handle it. He’d have to run around tomorrow night to keep the creepers scared, but he could have a couple off.

The tiny pause before her answer didn’t quite feel like judgement, but Jason muted before blowing out the sigh as she did. It wasn’t like the others needed to know he’d been stressing.

“Sure. Meet at the library?” She’d had his tracker up. Hood nodded, turning and running for the edge of the roof.

“Sounds good.” And they’d probably wound Spoiler up enough, she’d start plotting vengeance for being ignored soon. “So what the hell did Little Red do?”

“Brought Too Fine to the Bat Cave,” Spoiler told him with relish, not noticeably put out by the delay.

Not necessarily a good sign, since she was also this enthusiastic while actively plotting against him.

Wait.

Too Fine was Tucker’s hacker name.

“But he doesn’t know about us,” Red Hood said with a frown, catching an outcropping and swinging on.

“Oh, now you tell me,” Tim groused while the others snickered, “what a shame you didn’t think to when it’d have actually been helpful!”

News to Hood that he was on, probably still in the cave.

“He knows now,” Nightwing chimed in brightly, probably also travelling from the slight strain in his voice.

Hood paused for a moment, letting that sink in before attempting the next jump.

“Is he on comm?” He asked warily, because if Tim brought Tucker to the bat cave, it was entirely possible that they were all outed.

And that Tucker might tell Danny.

Shit, he still had to text Harley. Resolving to do it once he hit the library, he set back to running, throwing himself across another street.

Cass would probably take a little longer to get there.

“He’ll be back, he’s in the bathroom,” Tim explained with a heavy sigh, shaking his head. “It’s not all bad, he’s given me the full story on what happened in Amity Park. Witness account and all.”

“From a witness you let down to the bat cave~” Spoiler sang sweetly across the air.

Red Hood could hear Oracle rolling her eyes as she cut in.

“Tone it down, Batgirl. Bluebird, if you’re still thinking of heading in, could you swing past one last site on your way?” She said firmly, then lightening her tone for their current guest.

“Batgirl who? I’m Spoiler,” Spoiler grumbled, but didn’t push beyond that. None of them did when Oracle invoked the name she’d had second.

Bluebird snickered at her before answering the question, a hint of exertion suggesting she was on the move too.

“I’m not actually in a rush to go home, O, I got all dressed up so I might as well enjoy one last hurrah.”

Right, because she’d be going back to school probably when Danny did.

Harper had always been a damn good hero in Jason’s books, but she valued her retirement and none of them really wanted to ruin it. Unless, apparently, seven bats just had to stalk Jason’s new friends.

Hood would have apologized, but frankly if she’d said no, some of the others couldn’t have come to the gala to be a pain in his ass.

And then he couldn’t have had so much fun fucking with them.

Fine. One cool fruit basket for the Row household, and some rainbow cupcakes for Cullen. He needed practice on frosting roses anyway.

Although that also reminded him.

“Hey Bluebird, have the others filled you in on Phantom?” He asked, cutting off some more background chatter from Spoiler and Tim.

Nightwing and the girls had had hours by now.

“What, your new boyfriend?” Bluebird asked sweetly, and Hood rolled his eyes.

Probably hit the important shit then.

“Sent you a picture?” He asked instead, decidedly not entertaining that question.

Nightwing and Spoiler snickered. Hood flipped off their general directions, settling himself comfortably on the roof of the library to wait for Black Bat.

There was a short pause, the others now wondering what he was getting at. Good.

“In and out of suit,” Bluebird agreed, curiosity tinging with mild suspicion. Being out of retirement clearly wasn’t good for her.

Hood nodded, pulling out his phone and shooting Harley a quick text. It might be moot now, asking her not to mention Red Hood shit in front of Danny, but he might as well.

He still had to ask if Waylon knew. No reason not to do both, just in case. And see if Tucker knew when he got back.

“I know you’re outta the game, but keep the light show to a minimum if you see him around, okay?” He asked, scanning quickly over the list Danny’d cleared for public discussion.

He didn’t know if Tucker would have mentioned it, but he might as well. Cause of death was good, but Jason personally would veto “and the effects it may have now”.

Because fuck Bruce and his need for everyone to show him their weaknesses.

Bluebird definitely sounded curious now, and possibly like she was punching someone.

“Oh? He not big on the electricity?” She wondered aloud, and Hood grimaced.

Because if they were both at Gotham U in engineering… there was actually a chance Harper and Danny would run into each other.

Danny was older, but Harper skipped a couple years and he had no idea what year Danny was in. Fuck, they might be in the same classes. He couldn’t believe he’d never thought of that.

“Not exactly. You mighta seen him around actually, he’s a techie boy too. But he’s not a fan of the electricity flying around,” he explained, Nightwing making background noises that told Hood he hadn’t put the pieces together either.

Good. At least he wasn’t alone.

Bluebird made an interested hum, and probably a finishing blow considering the satisfaction when she spoke next.

“I thought he looked familiar. But then, he’s total Wayne-bait. Yeah, I can keep the good stuff under wraps if I see him around. Gonna guess he’s had some bad shocks in the line of work?”

Hood hesitated and in exactly the same instant Black Bat landed on the roof. Sam had given them all the warning about talking about a ghost’s death, so he could leave it at that.

But…

The way Danny had looked when he explained about Vlad. Yeah, he’d rather they took this seriously. He didn’t want any of his family to hurt Danny, even by accident.

“It’s how he died. He won’t spontaneously combust or anything, but it’s a bad memory.”

Silence reigned while the others absorbed that particular detail, Black Bat crossing to crouch on the roof beside him. Hood leaned over enough to bump their shoulders together.

He could almost feel concern radiating off her, which was an extra weird experience after literally feeling all of Danny’s emotions half the day.

Guess that was where Cass’s liminality was going. It made sense, kind of; despite her occasional trouble speaking, she was pretty much the clearest communicator in the family.

Having another back up way to make herself heard would only fit.

On a whim, he tried projecting comfort back to her.

—————

Tag list: @welcometosasakiworld @kyrianclawraith @someonebored0100 @stealingyourbones @starkcravingmad @frostedthroughghost @akikkobara @rainbowbunny0159 @littlefeather345 @violet-catsarelife @serasvictoria02 @wolfjackle @blacksea21090 @secretdestinywerewolf @anime-hipster-the-amazing @undead-essence @skitscratched @blackroserelina @snoodly-boop @trickerdi @mayoota-blog @xysidhe @idkmrpianoman @little-apricot-the-writer @chaoticmistake @the-legal-shipper @bun-fish @aroranorth-west @demon-cat-goes-woof @perfectwastelandcreation @onyxlightdragon @larks-and-katydids @peachesandcreamfemboy @jesus-camp-the-sequel @may-rbi @mothman-the-mothman87 @viyatrix @stargirl1331 @idfk-man10 @thedepressedrobin @skulld3mort-1fan @rootsmudge @ravenshadow17 @cankoking @phantom-dc @mentalcarebear @magic-pincushion @redamancyardor @lyra689 @itsparadoxlacuna

[dearbisexual]

i have perfected my method for "lazy" vegetable fried rice and im going to share it with y'all because it tastes good, takes about 10 mins to make, and actually gets me to eat vegetables!! AND THERES NO CHOPPING INVOLVED, IF YOU SO CHOOSE. it also only dirties one pan, one spatula, and one plate and utensil(s) if you do it right, are you sold yet? idc let's go

ingredients:

leftover rice - hard requirement. im told by the internet it tastes the best if it's been refrigerated. but if you want to use fresh rice thats fine too, but that's an extra step and just know that i won't be listing that as a step below. you can use whatever kind of rice you want, ive been using basmati rice because my sister bought a GIANT bag of it and we've been making it for dinner a lot

vegetables - hard requirement. you can use fresh but 1) that requires chopping which is extra steps and cleanup. dad likes to buy these frozen "mixed vegetables" bags and they cook in the microwave in the bag and ive been using those, theyve got corn, peas, green beans, and carrots. you can obviously choose different frozen vegetables, they sell em in different mixes at the store

soy sauce - hard requirement. i don't have any notes for this one. use whatever kind of soy sauce you prefer

butter - soft requirement. recommended because it tastes good and most ppl have it but if you'd prefer, you can use a vegetable oil of your choice

sesame oil - soft requirement BUT EXTREMELY RECOMMENDED. it tastes so good. i know everyone may not be able to splurge for it or may have a sesame allergy but it's honestly what makes this taste so good for me

one egg - optional. fried rice usually has bits of egg in it like traditionally but i tried it and im not a fan of the added eggy flavor. i like the texture though, i might experiment with tofu in the future

hardware:

medium sized pan

spatula or similar

directions:

preheat your pan on medium heat. if you're using frozen vegetables, i recommend microwaving them for like, 2 mins to soften them up. they don't have to be piping hot, but they cook better if they're not totally frozen.

add about a tablespoon or two of butter to your pan. if you want egg, go ahead and fry your egg in the pan and put it to the side when it's to your liking, to be added back in later. once the veggies are softened, add as much or as little as you'd like to the pan. lightly drizzle in some sesame oil and soy sauce and saute for a few minutes, or until the veggies are hot.

IMPORTANT NOTE: if you add too much sesame oil, (or butter) your rice WILL be too greasy and give you a stomach ache (trust me). less is more here.

anyway, when the veggies are hot and have yknow mingled with the sesame oil and soy sauce, toss in your rice and stir fry. add a little more soy sauce if you think it needs it, but remember that you can always add in soy sauce to taste when you're done. add in your egg if you fried one, chopping it up with the spatula.

finally, once the rice has browned to your liking, slap it on a plate. you can wait for it to cool to dig in but i don't

and that's it! if you make this, you're required to tell me what you think, pretty please.

ALSO this is NOT an "authentic" fried rice recipe and i realize that, this is just something tasty i make for myself to eat vegetables.

ok that's it i love you bye

[that-one-enby-ranger]

Experience

Day 4 of Ranger Gathering: Experience

“I think it’ll be a good idea,” King Duncan was saying, “A good chance for you to get familiar with the landscape of the fief so you have some experience here before you really start.”

Baron Arald piped in, “And it’ll be fun.” Duncan, Arald and Horace were sitting in Duncan’s office. Horace had just moved to Castle Araluen to start his new career as a knight. Arald was visiting Duncan for some boring business affairs that Horace didn’t know, but the two seniors had some time off, so Duncan suggested the three of them go on a hunting trip around the fief, posing it as an opportunity for Horace to get familiar with the fief. Horace had a suspicion that the king just wanted to get out of the castle and do something active, and he didn’t blame him.

“I’d be interested in that,” Horace said and Duncan clapped his hands together. 

“Then it’s settled,” he said, “tomorrow we’ll go hunting. We can meet here around midday, get some lunch, and then we’ll go.” Arald and Horace nodded their agreement, showing the king that the plan was all fine with them. They said their farewells to each other, and left Duncan’s office, going off to do their own separate things for the remainder of the day.

← – →

The next day, at midday, Arald and Horace met outside Duncan’s office as they had planned. When Duncan let them enter, they found he already had a meal prepared for them. They ate, engaging in friendly conversation while doing so, collected their gear, and set off for the stables to collect their horses.

They were mostly silent as they followed Duncan to the spot that he said was the best area if you wanted to hunt small prey, which is what they wanted. None of them ever wanted to kill if there was no need to, so they would take the rabbits they were most likely to get and bring them back to the castle kitchens to be used in future meals. 

Duncan stopped the small group when they got to the edge of some trees, leading into a wooded area. 

“We’ll dismount here and carry on through foot,” he said, “the trees are really close together in there and there’s a lot of bushes. It would make too much noise and we’d be too noticeable to any animals.”

“What animals are we talking?” Arald asked.

Duncan shrugged. “Just the normal small prey,” he said. “Rabbits, mainly. A couple birds and pheasants. Maybe a small deer if we get lucky.” Arald nodded, taking in the information. They dismounted from their horses and tied the reins to the closest sturdy looking trees. When Duncan judged the other two were ready, he moved into the trees, moving slowly so they could follow him to the more open area he was planning to go to. 

As they walked, every now and then they would set up a small snare, carefully hiding it behind some leaves. Arald had the good idea of rubbing his hands in some food, and then rubbing his hands on the leaves so that some of the scent would transfer to the leaves and hopefully attract some animals. It wasn’t really something he had tried before, he was just experimenting, but it wouldn’t hurt to try a new method.

When they made it to the area Duncan had originally been talking about, a place that apparently had more game than any other part of the forest, they set up double the amount of traps. When they heard some of the traps go off, one of the three of them would run over to the snare and grab the animal out of it, taking it back to their waiting point to bag it.

At one point when Horace went to clear out a trap, he saw that the rabbit that had been caught in it was still alive. It was badly injured and bleeding out, so if he let it go it wouldn’t survive in the wild. Horace knew that he would have to kill it to put it out of its misery, but he still felt extremely guilty about it. He could kill opponents in the field without a second glance, and skewer anyone with his sword who was a threat to the people he cared about, but seeing a helpless injured rabbi struggling to get out of a trap was an entirely different matter. 

Horace quickly hit the rabbit on the head with the butt of his sword, trying not to think about the fact that the rabbit might had had a family, and could have been trying to get food for them, while him, Arald and Duncan had killed it for their own food source when they already had plenty.

The rabbit stopped squirming and stayed still.

By the end of their trip, the three knights had managed to catch three rabbits, a hare and a couple birds. Duncan and Arald told Horace, who hadn’t been on that many hunting trips that it was a successful one.

“So how was that?” Duncan asked Horace as they rode their horses back to the castle.

“It was fun,” Horace replied, although he was a bit saddened about the rabbit incident, but he waved it aside. 

“The chefs should be happy to see we’ve bought them some more meat for them to use,” Arald said, “In my experience chefs are always happy to have more things to cook.”

“That’s true,” Duncan agreed.

They rode in silence for the rest of the way and Horace thought to himself. The trip had been good for him. It had given him a good layout of the forest surrounding his new home, and it had been fun for him to get out and get some fresh air alongside the kingdom’s two most famous knights. Over all, Horace figured it had been an amazing experience.

Don't like this one very much because I rushing to get it done and pretty much everyone from here on is all going to be rushed to get done. I also hate the moodboard thing but that doesn't matter. Hope you liked it, because I didn't. Now my computer being a bitch and pissing me off so I'm gonna go watch Deadpool and Wolverine finally.

[nocherryblood]

Some of my experiences being undiagnosed autistic as a kid (a very small part of it):

-Did very well in classes, but always got very upset whenever I was even slightly "critized" or told off, and often misinterpreted constrictive feedback or even praise as negative comments. Being told off physically hurt and formed a black hole of shame in my chest. I couldn't think, couldn't breathe and had to try not to cry but it hurt so, so badly- in a physical way, not "in my head", it was a physical, real feeling. I would hold "grudges" (though I wouldn't show it) towards teachers who told me off a lot for something, and back then I thought I was being silly, but looking back on it, I was in physical pain. Yes, not their fault, but I was in pain. Of course I'd feel upset when I'd felt like they'd hurt me. What was a quick "don't talk, please" would have a huge effect on how I felt for the next few weeks, whereas the rest of the class would laugh or shrug it off. I never knew how they could. I was always so behaved that whenever I got told off, the whole class would just go dead silent. Everyone would talk about it- "oh that kid's just got told off, oh my god!"

-I was able to deal with things like an adult ¾ of the time and was very mature for my age (as a child). Always wanted to help and talk to the adults, often being used as a helper or asked to do things because they knew I wouldn't say no. Even in class, if something was hard, I never piped up to say so. Fractured my arm in a P.E. lesson and kept running. They only eventually noticed because I was crying. Parent spoke to them and I cried because I didn't want the teacher to hate me

-Adding to that, I was always a "hypochondriac". That word is the worst word I've ever known. I was always ill, always with a cold, always had "another thing wrong with me". And yes, that was true, I did have a lot of ailments and complaints. Always headaches, migraine, stomachache, etc. But all of that time, I was genuinely not feeling well. Maybe because of school, the stress of unknowingly masking SO MUCH, etc. But I truly felt ill. I knew if I didn't exaggerate, people wouldn't listen. But then it became like the boy who cried wolf. As a kid, I think I felt ill sometimes because I was seeking comfort all the time, and my brain made me ill in order to prompt me to ask for it. And the older I got, the weirder it would seem for me to constantly be asking for comfort and attention, especially when there were really big things going on that people had to pay attention to rather than constantly babying me. So I felt like absolute crap as soon as I left school, because that was one thing that I could do. "There must be something wrong with me... why do I need this much attention? I feel bad... now I feel ill." But alas... boy who cried wolf never got attention after the second time. So I was unwell literally every day

-Adding onto that, one thing I notice with my asd is that I'm very touchy-feely (I prefer to be the one doing the hugging rather than being hugged- but even so if someone comes up to me rather than I come up to them, and wants to give me a hug then I feel so happy). I'm always seeking hugs and reassurance every minute of every second of the day. I feel lonely and rejected even if someone is just genuinely too busy to pay attention to me. I feel bad. I feel guilty for it. But I live on it. I always need reassurance but not everyone can give that or knows that I need it

-Another related thing to that is that I'm often told I "lack common sense". The phrase "smart but no common sense" comes up a lot. Some things just don't occur to me, and it's often interpreted as me being lazy or me being purposefully stupid. And it frustrates me because how can I be being stupid over something I don't know I'm not doing? For example, if you asked me to get ready to go to the shops. I'll get dressed and get my bag on, but I won't remember to pack what I need, to eat something before I go out, I won't want to wear something appropriate for the weather and occasion (e.g. I might wear lots of layers of costume-like clothing- i.e. dressing up/wanting to casual cosplay- on a boiling hot but rainy summer's day just going out for 2 mins to pick up some things at the shop), I'll take hours to get ready and even if I get ready super, super, super early I'll still forget something and/or be super late

-I always try to please people. E.g. if I was writing back and forth with someone, I'd adjust my writing style to match theirs as closely as possible, even going as far as to copy incorrect spellings and grammar. Another example is that I often get myself into things I don't like and force myself to explore all of the things (e.g. books, shows, films, games, etc.) someone wants me to watch or play and make myself miserable just to please them

[practically-an-x-man]

Shadows and Fallen Stars (Nikoletta x Abner)

Summary: Nikoletta and Abner share their experiences in STAR Labs

Tags: post-TSS, established relationship, angst, hurt/comfort, mentions of abusive families, needles, experimentation, happy ending

Word Count: 3k ____

She was cold again.

It happened a lot. Really, she was cold all the time, but sometimes it shifted from the usual disregarded half-chill into something deeper, impossible to ignore. Back in Belle Reve, that had meant nothing at all. She could find herself a cup of coffee if she was lucky, but usually there was nothing to do but wait it out.

The worst of that was that it hurt. Being so cold, for so long, knowing it couldn't kill you but also could never be cured... it wasn't just the cold itself that hurt, but how constant it was.

Here, there was more she could do. Here she could make a cup of tea, a pot of soup, wrap herself up with blankets and a heating pad to try and imbue herself with a little more life. She had a few more options. Finding genuine warmth was still effectively a pipe dream, but at least she didn't have to sit and wallow in the chill like she used to.

Nikoletta picked herself up from the bed, throwing one of the blankets around her shoulders as she stood up.

The apartment was a shoebox. It was hardly bigger than her old cell back in Belle Reve. But at least it was hers, genuinely hers, under her name and paid for in an entirely legal manner. That was new for her. She wasn't quite sure she was fond of it yet. Her life in Belle Reve, even her life on the streets before, were both so much simpler than everything she had to balance in this so-called "real world". More painful, yes, but... simpler.

Still shivering, she ducked through the doorway and squinted at the sunlight that pooled in the living room beyond. It had been darker in the bedroom than she realized. Maybe that had contributed to the chill. The shadows usually did.

Abner was stretched out sideways on the couch, propped up only enough to look at the old TV across the room. The picture was fuzzy and the screen was small, but... it was a TV. Still more than she'd had in either of her prior lives.

"Hey," he mumbled, turning his body to look at her with gentle eyes. Nikoletta offered him about as much of a smile as she could muster, which wasn't much.

If there was anything that coaxed a little more of a smile from her, it was the sight of him sprawled out on the couch like he was. When they'd first arrived here, months ago, he'd taken to perching on the very end of it, knees tucked up tight to his chest like he was afraid to take up space. He'd opened up slowly, little by little, but this was the first she'd seen where he completely, unabashedly let himself be comfortable here. Or... anywhere, really.

He looked healthier, too. The exhausted bags under his eyes had lessened, though not entirely disappeared, and his frame had filled out from malnutrition-gaunt to merely slender. A bit of dark stubble clung to his jaw, drawing attention to his impressive bone structure. And he was smiling. That expression alone contributed to a lot.

"Hey," Nikoletta responded, trying to match his gentle tone. She slid into the armchair at her right and drew her legs up, trying to pull in a little more warmth. "What're you watching?"

"I dunno. Reruns." Abner replied, almost sighing the words. The shift in topic had him looking a little lost in thought, and Nikoletta frowned.

"You okay?"

The Queen of Belle Reve would never have asked a question like that. The Queen of Belle Reve would never have spoken so softly. The Queen of Belle Reve would have told herself she didn't care about the crease that had appeared between Abner's dark brows.

She knew that expression. That was the face he wore when he was walking back through memories - and not all of them pleasant. Nikoletta pressed her lips together. She wondered how many placidities she'd have to stumble through before she could get to what was really on his mind.

"The lab?" she asked, unable to help herself. The crease between his eyebrows deepened for a moment, but Abner nodded.

"My mom used to like this show," he said, his eyes flashing back to the TV for a moment, "We'd watch it all together on the weekends. Me and my brothers and sisters, all piled in on the couch. Mom got her own chair, of course."

"You weren't... locked up?"

"No. Not usually." he answered, seemingly oblivious to how bluntly the question had left her lips, "Only when she took us down to treatment. Otherwise we just stayed in her floor of the building. It was like an apartment. There wasn't a lot to do, so we made up games."

Abner paused, dropping his eyes to the floor. The expression on his face... Nikoletta wanted to reach for him. But she twisted her fingers into the folds of the blanket, unable to move.

"And then they started getting sick." he finally continued. His voice was heavy with emotion. His dark eyes darted around the room wildly before settling on the TV. "And we couldn't play games like we used to. Everyone was so tired all the time... we could barely remember what the rules were. Some of them got really mean, too. We'd have arguments over everything. So eventually we just... gave up and watched TV instead. All crowded in on the couch."

That explained why he'd been so contained when they first arrived. He wouldn't let himself claim space now because he'd never been allowed to before. He got one tiny corner of the sofa, squished in with the rest of his family, and he thought that was what he deserved.

"Sometimes that was all we could do." Abner said, eyes still fixed on the TV like he'd entered some sort of trance, "We were just so... so tired. I still get tired now, but it was worse back then. I don't even know how long we were there, it's just... blurry. I just remember being crammed in with everyone else, watching old reruns of this show none of us really cared about."

It seemed wrong to feel jealous. He'd been through something terrible. So terrible that he still saw echoes of his mother almost everywhere he went.

But at least he hadn't gone through it alone. At least he had something like a normal life while he went through it. A couch, a TV, a family. Dysfunctional or not, it was more than Nikoletta had ever been given.

"And then Sven died. There was a little more room on the couch after that. But nobody moved," Abner continued, still lost in his thoughts. His eyes were distant, staring years into the past. "Then Deanna. And Maggie escaped. Mom was angry for a long time when that happened. I just remember wondering why she hadn't gotten the rest of us out with her. Maybe she thought Mom would come after us if we all went together. But she just left us."

He let out a deep sigh, his breath trembling faintly as if he were holding back a flood of emotion.

"The couch felt so empty with them gone. And my mom just... didn't care. She said the others were weak, and we were better because we were stronger than them. We were better because we stayed. But I... I didn't feel strong. And I didn't want to stay." he admitted, "And I... I burned it down. With the dots. I just wanted to make a distraction, but they- they hit one of the power generators and the whole building went up. They locked me up before I could figure out if any of my siblings made it out of there. I still don't know."

"I'm sorry," Nikoletta finally found her voice, but winced at how pitifully inept the words sounded, "I'm... I'm so sorry."

"It's fine. I'll find out someday," Abner decided, the haunted look gradually fading from his eyes, "How- how was it for you? The lab?"

Nikoletta shook her head with a grimace. Her own set of memories burned behind her eyes, demons awoken and dancing like something out of Fantasia. She wished they'd go back to bed. She still couldn't stop the shivering.

"Not like that." she forced herself to answer. He'd shared his story, after all. It was only fair she shared hers. She took a deep breath, forcing steel into her tone. It was the only way she'd make it through this. "They had me in a cell. Alone. I had a cot, and a toilet, but that was about it. No TV. No siblings. Nothing to pass the time. It was almost like the cells in Belle Reve."

As she spoke, she found herself tucking her limbs more tightly in. It felt as if even speaking the words made her colder - like her memories were even more soaked in shadow than the present.

"They'd take me down to one of the labs for their experiments. I still don't know what all they injected me with. I blocked most of it out. I just know that it... it hurt. And after the first few rounds... I learned to fight back." she continued. The words were stilted, like reading from a teleprompter, but that was the only way she could make herself continue. If she slowed down, even for a moment, the story would never leave her lips again.

"The first time I fought, I landed half the guards in the hospital. Broken arms, scratched corneas. I even bit a guy. From what I heard, he had to get a tetanus shot, just to be safe. That one felt good. I grew up on the streets, I wasn't above fighting dirty," she said, a rare flicker of pride entering her voice before dying out again, "So they started pumping gas into the chamber before they came to get me. So I couldn't fight back."

She still remembered the feeling - just conscious enough to feel afraid, but too dazed to fight back. Just tethered enough to her own body to feel the bruising grip of the guards as they dragged her out of her cell, but hardly able to move her limbs for all the drugs they made her inhale.

"They waited for it to wear off before they started the tests. Said they didn't want to skew the data." she sighed, rubbing at the silvery track marks that ran down her arms like waterfalls against her dark skin. So many needles. She couldn't count all the tests they'd done on her before the shadows finally stuck.

"It was like one big, endless paradox." Nikoletta continued after another moment, "They had a whole team of scientists, used these machines that had to cost millions, but they said they didn't have the funding to feed me every day. They ran tests wondering why my body temperature had dropped almost into hypothermia, but they kept my cell too cold and kept pumping those shadows into me. They complained that I hardly talked, that they couldn't fix my problems if I didn't tell them what they were, but they wouldn't even speak to me by my name. They just called me by this serial number."

She remembered the number, of course, but she couldn't bring herself to repeat it. That would have been too much. She wasn't their little project anymore. She never would be again. That number belonged to a broken girl in a cage, and she was not that girl.

"I was there for... a month, I think?" Nikoletta concluded, "They did tests every few days. Finally the shadows just... stuck, and I learned how to use them, and I got out of there. Never went back."

Her shivers had turned to shudders, racking her body in ripples of chill and pained memories. The room was silent for far too long, save only for the low, tinny crackle of the TV in the background. Nikoletta looked up just long enough to notice Abner's eyes on her, dark and flooded with something like pity.

For the briefest instant, she was hit with a well of hot red anger. She didn't want to be pitied. She'd had enough of that when she first left the lab. There was a reason she'd built up such a reputation for herself. Power was better than pity.

But Nikoletta caught herself bristling and paused. This wasn't pity. She knew this wasn't pity. Abner had never pitied her like the others did. This was... something gentler. Empathy. Concern.

"Are you still cold?" his voice, quiet and hesitant like it used to be, pushed through that silence like a searchlight through a pea-soup fog. His dark eyes danced over her figure, taking in her cramped and trembling frame.

"Always."

"Want to... um, want to come lay down? Here?" Abner offered, shifting on the couch to make room.

"No, it's okay, I was just-"

She stopped mid-sentence. Why was she refusing?

Was it because she thought it wouldn't help? No. Organic warmth was about the only thing that chased off the shadows, she'd learned. It had plagued her for years. It was only recently, very recently, that she could allow herself that luxury.

Was it because she didn't want to be close to him? Of course not. Physical touch scared her as much as it did warm her, but she liked being near him. And he didn't seem to care that her skin was always a little too cold to be pleasant.

She knew it would help, much more than other fixes like a cup of tea or an extra blanket. And she knew she wanted to be close to him, frightening as that thought was. Maybe... maybe that was why she refused. Not because she knew it wouldn't help, but that she was scared of how well it would. She didn't want to rely on anyone else.

Besides, she could see what he was really asking. Behind the initial offer was something else. Something for him. He said "let me warm you" at the same time he said "crowd this empty space for me". He needed it too.

"Nik?"

"Okay," she surrendered, shaking off the last of her thoughts and sliding onto the sofa with the blanket still wrapped around her. Abner shifted a little, sorting out the tangle of limbs when she first laid down beside him, then wrapped her in his arms.

And Nikoletta burst into tears.

It was almost a reflex at this point. She'd been so deprived of touch for so long, years on end, that she didn't seem to know what to do with it when it came. Emotions flooded her with something as simple as a brush of the hand.

And the influx of memories certainly couldn't have helped.

To his credit, Abner didn't so much as flinch when the crying started. Now three months in, he was more than used to this odd little reflex of hers, and didn't let it faze him. He just tightened his grip and ducked his head, surrounding her with his touch.

Nikoletta twisted around and pressed her face into his chest, waiting for her tears to subside. It was more of a nuisance than anything else, by now. Abner ran his hand in smooth circles over her back, all too patient with her.

Moments like this made her feel small. She was still warming up to the concept. There was a part of her that felt scrutinized, like an animal in a glass enclosure, powerless in a way that she never wanted to feel again. There was a reason she made herself so untouchable back in Belle Reve. It was impossible to feel small when she was at the top of the food chain.

But here was something new. She felt small, but she felt safe. Protected. That was... strange. Very strange. Yet she couldn't get enough of it.

"Warming up?" Abner murmured. His voice was quiet, though missing the hesitance she'd begun to grow familiar with. Nikoletta nodded against his chest. She'd been so lost in thought that she'd almost forgotten the cold. And now, finally warm in a way that had seemed impossible for years, she found herself growing faintly drowsy. She wondered how long it had been since she'd last slept peacefully. Far too long, to say the least.

"Maybe we should get a cat," he added after a few more minutes. Nikoletta lifted her head enough to shoot him a confused look. Abner lifted his eyebrows - the impression of a shrug without jostling her. She wondered where he'd picked that up.

"You said organic warmth helps, right? Living things. So I mean... we could get a cat. And it could curl up on your lap when you're chilly. Keep you warm," he explained, then tilted his head, "Or a dog. But I'm more of a cat person."

"We can't afford a cat." Nikoletta mumbled.

"We could find the money. I'm sure we could." Abner insisted, though a note of that familiar hesitance had crept back into his voice. It was better than shutting down entirely. When they'd first begun living together, even something as simple as a discussion over dinner plans or TV channels would send him into a painful silence, and he'd fold in on himself. There was no separation between mild disagreement and total shutdown. He wasn't used to his voice being heard at all. But he'd gotten better.

"And it... it would help. I really think it would," he concluded, nearly whispering.

"A stray for a couple of strays?" Nikoletta replied. A faint smile crept onto her face at the thought. This little... not-quite-family was continuing to grow. She didn't mind it.

"Heh. Yeah," Abner agreed, ducking his head to kiss her temple, "A stray for a couple of strays."

[chrysaliscreatorii]

So, I actually have a little lore for 102.

You see, while I don’t play horror games myself, I do like to watch them and I particularly like somes lore like Poppy Playtime, Joyville, Indigo Park, Bendy, etc. While watching a play through, I heard a comment in which two people mentioned something along the lines of “this place been abandoned for over 10 years, how are the piping still running? How is it so clean?” Which if you think about it, they are right, where is all the dust? Where is all the blood? Where is all the grime?

So I came up with the reason, I give you:

Andy! The chameleon-anteater! (name pending, lol)

So, this character would be specific to Poppy playtime, and their lore is quite simple. Playtime Co made Andy around the same time Swap-imals started production, with the specific purpose of having a handy multi-function janitor that could both play with your child and keep everything clean.

Their body is made of a special rubber so they can move around easily, the soles of their feet contain a sticky material that allows Andy to climb through walls and ceilings without leaving traces, the snout doubles as both a vacuum and a duster tongue (bag from vacuum can be changed from the compartment on back) and lastly the tail it’s a handy duster that can be easily washed.

While Playtime was very proud of such an idea, they couldn’t find a name that could stick with the toy, so Andy was left on the back burner for a long time to the public, but the higher-ups decided they were too useful to scrap so they kept them on the factory as basically a janitor.

And (spoilers) yes, Andy was also indeed a victim of the Big Bodies Initiative. Their file was lost, but the reason Andy was chosen was because the kid used had an aggressive case of OCD, which higher-ups thought would be incredibly useful in a maintenance position.

The trick? Well, fun fact, did y ou know they are different types and levels of OCD? I myself have a mild form of it (it used to be more intense when I was a kid but I digress). But here’s the kicker, mine has more to do with organization, patterns and sometimes repetition, which is some of the things people stereotype with OCD, but not everyone with ocd has those. That’s what Playtime didn’t get when they made Andy, who has one called Contamination OCD. This is the other one OCD is more heavily stereotyped with, in which one is obsessed with cleaning, which Andy IS. But just because you are obsessed with cleaning, doesn’t mean you are obsessed with ORGANIZATION. So you can guess what was the problem with Andy, Andy would CLEAN everything, but not put it back in place. This caused Playtime to put Andy even further back on the back burner, especially since there was not so much information at the time.

After the events of the hour of joy occurred, Andy decided to side with the prototype. But unlike some of the other ones, while Andy was also mistreated by lots of the staff, Andy only wanted to be able to stop all the filth, as in literal filth, from accumulating over and over every day from all of the companies staff daily activities.

You see, due to the BBI experiments, Andy’s OCD was taken to an even bigger extreme, with the hopes of having a super competent cleaner, but that basically erased all other aspects of poor Andy’s personality. So nowadays Andy only thoughts consist of two things, cleaning and anything that will help KEEP things clean. Andy is not LOYAL to the prototype, they just help keep that thought process in place, so if the player keeps messing things up… well… Andy is very good at what they do… so they might clean a certain stain that keeps roaming about at the facilities…