#i had to do this the she was born in a wet cardboard box all alone is one of my favorite phrases ever | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

joyflameball · 4 months

Note

*Please* tell me what don't starve is about I wasn't even aware it had characters

OH GOOD I GET TO EXPLAIN THIS TO YOU. YOU WILL REGRET THIS

let me be clear upfront: i don't know everything. i'm just neurodivergent as fuck please correct me on any misinformation. And any DST fans in the tag right now, hi prepare to see me infodump about Don't Starve lore and I am so sorry this is so long

So lemme start at the very beginning. The year? 1901. The man? William Carter. Moving from Liverpool (becuase of course there's a british man named william in an indie game who does crimes against nature) to New York City. He's doing magician shows and he just he sucks so bad at it. No one visits his magic shows. He's in literal debt. He gets no wins. He was born in a wet cardboard box all alone etc etc

Anyway in 1904 Willy Boy tries to go to Cali gets in a train accident and dies. WHOOPS the end

Okay that's a lie. He did not in fact die unfortunately (/j). However, he did get in a train crash and was pinned under a train car, but was saved in part by a strongman named Wolfgang, who really desperately wants to be the strongest he can be (he'd recently had an embarrassing failure at the circus).

But, well... I say "in part." For there's more to how Wolfgang saved him.

See, somewhere around this time, William had found a book. The Codex Umbra. This book was filled with secrets about a land known as The Constant. And more than that, it allowed William to use magic. Not the cheap magic tricks he'd been doing up to this point, the ones that'd given him nothing. Real, actual, tangible magic. Summoning shadows creatures from this mystical realm, ones that would linger for a moment before vanishing.

This was power. True, actual power. And to a man as rejected as William had been by the world, a man as desperate for fame, attention, power... well, who wouldn't be bitter? Spiteful? Who wouldn't be tempted by the allure of unfathomable knowledge?

Of unknowable, uncontrollable power?

What'd happened during the train accident was William had briefly imbued Wolfgang with strength from dark magic, allowing him to throw the train car off of him. William had fled with the Codex Umbra shortly afterwards, and was presumed dead. However, he wrote a letter to his brother, Jack Carter, basically saying "Hey, I'm alive, I found this weird book, I'll cya soon."

(Side note, Jack Carter has two daughters, Wendy and Abigail Carter. We'll revisit them soon.)

William continued deciphering the Codex Umbra, learning more shadow magic. And in San Francisco, he reentered showbiz, reinventing himself into someone new. A new act, and a new name. The Amazing Maxwell.

This time, his shows were appreciated. Adored. His magic acts were magnetic, and horrifying, and beautiful. After all that failure, he had finally managed to get something for himself.

(additional note: maxwell really likes referring to people as "pal." this will be important remember this)

Around this time, he put out an ad to hire a lady assistant for his magician shows, wanting someone with "a curious demeanor and a keen interest in the mysteries of the universe."

And he got her.

Let us snap our attention now to two sisters in the dreadful state of Ohio- Winona and Charlie. Winona was, to at least my knowledge, a fairly tough little girl who was always a bit boyish (take with a grain of salt i'm a bit silly). She loved tinkering from a young age, and she loved her little sister intensely- maybe too intensely.

There's a thing in the game I'll go into more later that shows Charlie's perspective on everything, and from it we can glean that Charlie felt like Winona was, to use a metaphor Charlie uses herself, putting Charlie into an unbreakable suit of armor so heavy she was unable to move. Overprotective to a suffocating degree.

We're not completely certain on that, but it's quite likely and incredibly interesting.

And Charlie... we know painfully little about her. Most likely she fit the description Maxwell wanted. She'd go camping with her sister. She may have been annoying, as a lotta little siblings are. She had a flair for the dramatic. There's a line implying she used to playfight with Winona. And Charlie loved roses.

Charlie was scared of the dark.

So Charlie became Maxwell's assistant. And they were more than coworkers, they were also good friends. They'd hang out and laugh together. Charlie at least may have had a crush on Maxwell, as in her letter to him she writes a heart after her name, and she always calls him "Maxy." Maxwell cared a lot about Charlie- I don't personally see it as romantic on his end, due to my epic aroace swag and belief in the importance of deep platonic bonds, but he did care for her, deeply. They had a sweet friendship, both caring about each other intensely.

But of course, it couldn't last. It never could.

It's 1906 and Maxwell's doing fantastic mentally. Just kidding he's losing his fucking mind

Maxwell was losing control. The Codex Umbra was driving him insane, little by little. He was losing control over the book, over the powers of the Constant. It was growing too powerful, too angry. He was taking too much from it, and it wanted something back. He started pulling away from Charlie, growing snippier with her. And fucking understandably, she was concerned.

One night, after she hadn't seen him in days, she visited his apartment to get his costume for their last performance. He wasn't there at the time. So she investigated, desperate for an answer as to why her friend was drawing away from her.

She discovered a secret room in Maxwell's apartment- the room in the image above. With all those scrawls. And... we think she discovered something else.

I personally think she discovered Them.

I'll explain Them later.

She was terrified, and fled the apartment. Maxwell later discovered she'd been there, and was clearly fucked up over it. Evidently, he didn't want Charlie to discover all this.

She left him a letter, basically begging him to communicate with her. Saying they could take a break after their final show, her older sister had a cabin they could go to if they wanted to get away. Charlie wanted answers, and she wanted them to take a break.

They never got that, though.

April 17th. 1906. The Amazing Maxwell had his final show.

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Maxwell's final act was meant to be pulling shadows out of the Codex Umbra. It was meant to be simple. A last trick before they take a break. Neither of them expected it to go this horribly wrong. I don't see how either of them could have. Especially not her.

Maxwell reached into the book. Something reached back. They reached back.

They tried to grab him, tried to drag him into the Codex Umbra. He fought back though, for a moment, clearly weakened by it. Charlie tried to help him, to ask if he was okay, not understanding what was going on, desperate to help, to know how she could help.

She couldn't.

Shadowy hands erupted from the book, grabbing them, pulling them in, and Charlie and Maxwell were gone.

Let's snap our focus away for a while. We're remaining in the real world for now. Don't worry, we'll come back to them.

In due time.

Let me introduce to you a hugely important player to the plot, Robert Wagstaff. Now he's frustrating, because we (or at least I) know very little about Robert Wagstaff. He was studying the Constant, he founded Voxola and created these radios that Maxwell later communicates through (i'll explain later), he bears a suspicious resemblance to Wilson, he may have met Maxwell at some point, and he may have intentionally sent himself to the Constant to investigate it. He's currently a hologram and may be SOMEWHERE. God knows where.

Anyway forget about him because it's time for MY FAVORITE NONBINARY ROBOT WITH REPRESSED TRAUMA AND EVIL PLANS

Meet WX-78, an automaton with a fairly vague backstory who I love so so dearly. They're evil. They're canonically nonbinary (Maxwell even refers to them as "Mx" which makes me very joyful). They lack empathy. They love bees. They love the moon. And somewhere in like the very early 20th century they became a robot and chose NONBINARY VIOLENCE

What exactly happened to WX is left vague, but here's what I believe happened. WX and Wagstaff were working on a consciousness transference experiment, which turned out to be successful. WX transferred their consciousness into a robotic body. Yaaaaaaay :D

Well hold your horses there, not "yay" yet. Because it turns out transferring your whole mind into a robotic body has negative side effects. Namely, the way WX sees themself has become... fractured. Sometimes they see themself as who they were before, their human self, but sometimes they see themself as what they are now, their robotic form. A comment under the short described it as their entire body being basically a phantom limb.

WX started wanting to create more automatons, possibly roboticize humanity, but without the heart (it's called an empathy module in canon but i'm calling it a heart because it's designed with a heart on it, and it hits harder if i call it that). The heart, where WX's memories as a human reside, where hypothetically their emotions are. Take that out, there's no pain related to once being one, right?

Wagstaff was completely against this. Consciousness transference for a single scientist is one thing, but this? To roboticize everyone in the world and take out their heart, their memories, their humanity? Absolutely not. It'd be too dangerous. Leaving humanity as cold intellectual machines would destroy everything, removing a beautiful piece of humankind. He and WX had a fight over this, and Wagstaff ended up burning all of WX's research and sending them into the Constant.

Somehow after that, WX's heart module was disconnected, and the memories were gone. They became a spectacular evil little gremlin of a thing and I love them so much

This whole explanation comes from this excellent comment under the short:

I usually resent these sorts of "explanation comments," since they try to intellectualize horror, but this one doesn't it centers it all on the EMOTIONS and also is correct

And by the way, the short where this is revealed is SO UNBELIEVABLY DISTRESSING TO WATCH (POSITIVE). See, Winona repairs the wiring to WX's heart module, causing WX to suddenly remember everything, having flashbacks to what all happened, and it's horrifying. WX flashing between who they were as a human and who they are now, the snippets of whatever happened, the vagueness, the BANGER MUSIC, it's all so hard to watch, and yet so hard to look away.

And at the end of it, after remembering Wagstaff sending them into the Constant, WX lets out this agonized wail and RIPS OUT THEIR FUCKING HEART, before they just SHATTER IT IN THEIR HANDS. They fucking HATED remembering what happened, hated it so much that they RIPPED THEIR HEART OUT AND BROKE IT so they could STOP FEELING. Whatever exactly happened HURT and they didn't want to FEEL.

And evidently, IT DIDN'T WORK. Wagstaff appears as an NPC later in Don't Starve Together, and every single quote WX has related to him is full of this raw, painful, intense rage. It's genuinely heartbreaking.

WX fucking DESPISES Wagstaff for what he did to them. For sending them to the Constant. And like- they say a LOT they have no emotions. But very clearly, THAT IS A LIE. IT'S FUCKED UP. IT'S HORRIFYING.

It's the opposite of so many robot emotion narratives- a robot who wants to feel real emotions, who wants to be human. But with WX, that is the last thing they want. They're illustrated to have at least had distaste for organic life before their roboticization, they don't want to be human. And very obviously, they don't want to feel real emotions. They don't want emotions.

They hate being human so much, they hate the connection to human pain so much, they hate their memories of being human so fucking much, that they rip out their FUCKING HEART and SHATTER IT just so they can shut off the painful emotions of their repressed memories. They don't want to be human, they want to be a cold unfeeling machine, but they clearly can't be that even though they're trying because despite everything there's a part of them that's clearly human and just- JUST WATCH THIS SHORT IT'S SO HORRIFIC

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GOD I LOVE EVIL NONBINARY AUTISTIC ROBOTS WITH REPRESSED TRAUMA

Aside from that horrorshow of a backstory WX is very silly. They love bees and the moon. They hate humanity and all organic life. They say shit like "NOW THE OUTSIDE MATCHES THE INSIDE. EVIL" and "[name] IS CAUSING NEEDLESS DESTRUCTION. GOOD." I love them so much I can't believe I just slept on how funny they are when I was a young lad hyperfixated on DST

Okay let's go down the list of characters. Remember I mentioned Jack Carter has two daughters, Wendy and Abigail? Let's focus on them.

Wendy was more cautious than Abby was, preferring to live in the world of books and fantasies. Meanwhile Abigail was an adventurer, loving to spend her days climbing rocks and jumping around. Despite their differences, the twins were inseparable. The best of friends, with a love so strong it could transcend death.

And it did.

We're not quite sure how it happened. It doesn't really matter. What matters is that somehow, one day, Abigail died. And this death absolutely shattered Wendy. She became morbidly depressed, obsessed with death and tragedy. She refused to move on from her sister, believing if she did, her memory would fade. (There's specifically a few lines that really fuck me up /pos but it may be triggering so i won't bring em up.)

Wendy turned to the occult to try and get Abigail back. To try and at least talk to her. She tried everything to communicate with her again, and nothing was working. And she was just about to throw in the towel, to give up, to accept that maybe she would never see her beloved sister again, to fall into complete, total despair, when...

A ragtime tune started playing, and a voice on the radio began to talk to her.

Meanwhile let's snap our attention to WILLOWWWWW WILLOWWWWWWWW MY GIRL MY BELOVED I LOVE HER SO MUCH SHE"S INSANE AND I LOVE HER

Willow had a rather difficult life. Her parents either died or left when she was incredibly young, and she was left in a cruel orphanage with caregivers who hated and mistreated her. And understandably, this took a toll on her mental state, and this attracted shadow creatures.

What exactly shadow creatures are is unknown- they're what Maxwell was pulling out of the book and using for his magic tricks, and they appear in game when your sanity is low, so my personal hypothesis is that shadow creatures are drawn to misery, insanity, or in Wanda's case, Women's Wrongs. also misuse of magic

Anyway, when Willow was a little girl, shadow creatures fucking wanted to kill her, drawn to her declining mental state. Willow took comfort in her teddy bear Bernie, the only thing that seemed to drive the shadows away. But one night, after being nearly killed by one of those things, her caregivers, upset at her being awake in the middle of the night, confiscated Bernie and locked Willow in a closet.

And while she was trapped in there, shadow creatures approached again, with the intent to kill her. Willow was backed into a corner, about to die, with no defenses...

Except for a lighter.

That night, Willow burnt down the entire orphanage, managing to save herself, and left with just her lighter and her Bernie.

This moment defined every fibre of her being. From that day on, Willow became completely obsessed with fire. Flames became calming for her, letting her breathe and relax. She's burnt her life down to begin again more than once, like a phoenix with more collateral damage. Fire protects her from the monsters in the dark, lets her stay sane. And- there's this one line from her that implies she's embraced a type of nihilism.

"Why worry about the past or future? It'll all go up in flames eventually."

That quote's actually really interesting to me you could use this for a character arc about her learning to embrace one place/one group as home and her accepting that unfortunately the survivors are her found family and she loves them and- GOD I love her so much she's a menace

Alright, who's next? Ah yes, Wigfrid. This one's really tragic.

Wigfrid was an actress whose debut role was as a noble badass Valkyrie warrior, slaying monstrous beings, being a true hero. And she embodied the role, capturing the public, being launched to stardom with just that.

But after that? Nothing she did seemed to capture anyone like the Valkyrie had. Every performance she had after that fell flat. She was completely rejected by the public.

(this could be a maxwell parallel oh my god)

And so, she retreated into that role- the role of the Valkyrie. She fled into fantasies of being her, taking comfort in them. It consumed her life, her very being. Whoever she was before was destroyed, completely lost. She would give anything to be the Valkyrie Wigfrid again.

And one night, a shadowy figure told her she could get to be that role. Forever. Her name in the newspapers again. Everything she'd ever wanted.

"What do you say, pal?"

...A few weeks later, she was in the newspapers as the latest in a string of disappearances.

Who next? Ah yes- Webber. THIS ONE FUCKS ME UP.

So when Webber was a little lad, his father, a scientist, received a gift from Wagstaff, something for his experiments. And whatever it was, Webber's dad was incredibly fascinated with experimenting on it.

But as a result, he sorta started... neglecting Webber. Webber wanted his dad's attention, wanted his dad to spend time with him and play with him, but his dad just... wouldn't. He was completely absorbed in his work.

Over time, Webber became furious that his dad was ignoring him. He started acting out, trying to get his father's attention in any way he could.

And one night, Webber broke into his dad's workshop, again trying to act out for his dad's attention. And when there, he tipped over the glass case holding whatever his father was experimenting on, shattering it on the ground.

But as it turned out, this thing was a spider- a massive one too, one from the Constant. And it was radiating with dark energy from its experiments, and it lunged at Webber to eat him.

But he survived.

Instead of being devoured by the spider, Webber was fused to it. Its consciousness may be in there somewhere (#system), but Webber's definitely is. But he's been turned into a humanoid spider thing.

This is the most fucked part to me. When his dad saw him, he didn't recognize him as his son. Why would he? As far as he knew, the spider had mutated. So his dad fucking chased his own son out into the night, under the assumption that he was a monster.

In the middle of the night, in the pouring rain, Webber (who btw is like ten) broke down sobbing, promised he'd be a good kid, and desperately wanted something to fix it, no matter the price.

That was when the shadowy figure started talking to him.

ANYWAY TIME FOR WOMEN'S WRONGS WITH WANDA

Wanda is an INCREDIBLY interesting character to me. Her whole conflict is basically- do you ever think about the fact that everyone is going to die one day? That no matter what we do, the passage of time will storm on, and eventually everyone you know and everyone you love will just die? That even if you don't get killed in an accident or by medical problems or through society's neglect, your body will eventually fail and crumble away? That time will eventually claim you, as it claims everyone, and you can do nothing to prevent it? That everyone and everything is already running out of time?

Sorry for giving you that existential crisis! Because Wanda's CONSTANTLY going through that. She's been running from her future for god knows how long, creating timepieces to make herself younger and prevent herself from dying of old age, and doing. Legitimate time travel!! Good for her!!

However, this doesn't come without a price. See, we've learned from Maxwell that toying with dark magic will get the Shadow Creatures hunting your gay ass down. And with how much Wanda fucks with time, she is CONSTANTLY being hunted by shadow creatures that want to kill her and take her away, to the point that her death animation has her body be pulled into the ground by shadow hands.

And one day, she was cornered. One of her timepieces was broken, the others recharging, she couldn't get away. And so she made a split second decision, trying to on the fly repair it, and what did this result in?

SHE BROKE THE SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM AND WAS SUCKED IN TO THE CONSTANT

(and the music in her short at that moment gives me chills don't starve together's music is so banging)

Wanda is a rare case of someone being sucked into the Constant not through someone/something tricking her or dragging her in, but through her own actions. From what we know, only one other person has done that. And he did it intentionally. But Wanda did it by complete mistake.

And her mistake resulted in her past starting to "catch up to her." Thanks to her time fuckery, she now ages twelve years every single day, and has to constantly fuck with time and deage herself in order to stay alive. She's spent years most likely terrified of the idea of aging and dying, and now she's been cursed with aging at a horrifically fast rate. It's incredibly interesting. God I love her so much she can do anything she could commit war crimes and I'd support her. Wanda Did Nothing Wrong

WANDA ALSO HAPPENS TO BE REALLY REALLY HOT LIKE UNBELIEVABLY GORGEOUS

HNHGNHBHGHBGHHHH PLEASE GOD JUST GIVE ME ONE CHANCE I WOULD TREAT HER RIGHT

Anyway who's next to talk about? Ah yes IT'S WORTOX TIME

Note, I'm gonna kinda start going through these faster because I'm close to the image limit and wanna tell you everything

Wortox is actually FROM the Constant. He's basically a little imp man who was best friends with. uhm. Krampus. And they'd go around playing silly pranks together! However eventually, Wortox started to realize that. Hm. Krampus's pranks are actually kinda mean. Like genuinely malicious at times. And Wortox really didn't wanna be mean, didn't wanna hurt anyone. He just wants to be silly and goofy. The prank's no fun if it actually hurts someone. So he tried to put his foot down and stop Krampus, but ended up whoopsiedaisy taking his soul and fully becoming an imp. And now he eats souls and is still silly but has just. Guilt. So much guilt.

Next up: WURT! Wurt, too, is from the Constant, and SHE'S JUST A LITTLE BABYYYYYY. SHE'S ADORABLE. I LOVE HER. She's a little Merm (fishy creature from the constant) and is pretty small and scrappy, and she hates pigs, and is vegetarian, and loves the swamp, and loves candy, and loves fairy tales, and wants to be a Merm princess. I love her she's adorable my beloved little guye

And now, WORMWOOD! Wormwood is basically a piece of rock fell down from the moon and gave a bundle of plants and vines life and he's the cutest little plant ever. He's ADORABLE. I LOVE him.

That's everyone FROM the Constant. Now let's speedrun through those who aren't from the Constant!

WICKERBOTTOM: To be completely honest she doesn't interest me that much lol. She's basically a librarian with a lotta knowledge, including knowledge of the CONSTANT, which she REALLY SHOULDN'T HAVE. Anyway Willow burned down her library at the request of the Nightmare King and Wickerbottom got pulled into the Constant. By the Nightmare King

WOLFGANG: Brought him up earlier- we're not sure how exactly he got into the Constant, but he's just. He is a himbo. The quintessential himbo. He's a silly man. He loves his friends so much. He has the brawn, but no brains. No thoughts. Head empty. Pure of heart, dumb of ass. I love him.

WARLY: ohhh boy more tragedy. Cw for this point: dementia. yeah. Warly's mom had dementia, and she didn't recognize him most days. So he'd play her favorite music and cook her favorite foods in hopes that she'd recognize him. And she did, occasionally. But only occasionally. And he was so desperate for her to just know him, to remember him, to get that spark of recognition in her eyes... And around that time, he started to hear the voice on the radio.

WALTER: BABYYYY HE'S JUST A BABY HE'S JUST A LITTLE GUY AND HE HAS A DOGGY AND A SLINGSHOT AND IS ALLERGIC TO BEES AND DOESN'T CARE ABOUT FASHION AND I LOVE HIM SO SO MUCH

WOODIE: Woodie is an enigma. He's Canadian. He has a curse. He turns into a goose sometimes. He was forced to eat logs when he was 32. His beard might not be hair. He's canon objectum and is in a loving and healthy relationship with his axe Lucy. I love him.

here is him and lucy he goes with stanley and the bucket for number one objectum couples

If you're noticing a theme with the names: Congratulations! We've noticed it too. We have no fucking idea what it means either. Charlie's last name might start with W. Maxwell's name starts with M (upside down W) and his previous name was William. If you have a name that starts with W in the DST world you're completely fucked lmao

Anyway thatsss everyone! So I think we can move on and cover the plot! I mean, surely there's not someone I'm leaving out. Surely I have covered everyone. Surely I've talked about everyone. Surely we can move on and have full context. Surely this is not an overly long gag in order to make the inevitable person I'm leaving out's reveal hit harder.

Yyyyeah let's talk about Winona.

On April 17th, 1906, Winona's little sister Charlie vanished off the face of the planet, along with the man she was working with, the mysterious Maxwell. And Winona is three things: stubborn, determined, and willing to do anything for her family.

And so she searched for her. She refused to let Charlie's mysterious disappearance fade into obscurity, to let Charlie just vanish without a trace. She searched everywhere for her. She pulled on every thread. Tracked down every tiny clue. Questioned anyone who may have the smallest connection to the case.

For over ten years.

Finally, it started coming together. Everything was pointing to Voxola and its secretive, genius founder, Robert Wagstaff. If anyone would know anything about whatever had happened to her sister, it'd be him. So she started working there.

But not for long. Fairly soon after she did, an accident happened at the factory- a fire breaking out, and a malfunctioning portal. Wagstaff vanished that day, vanished into the Constant.

Winona refused to let him. She had searched for over a fuckin' decade for someone who could have a connection to Charlie's disappearance, and her biggest lead was right there, and she was not gonna let him just vanish like that. So armed with duct tape and her knowledge of engineering, she singlehandedly managed to repair the portal, turning it on, and-

...Whose face would appear but her beloved sister's?

Barely aged a day. Drenched in shadows. A rose in her curls.

She was disappearing into the portal, but Winona grabbed her hand, started trying to pull her back, trying to save her. She had been searching for over ten fucking years for her baby sister, and she wouldn't let her go now, refused to let her go.

But... Charlie was different. Horrifically different. And something took over her. Something with ink-black eyes and hair that moved like a shadowy flame. The monster of the night.

She pulled Winona into the Constant. The portal fell apart. Winona was presumed dead.

...

And now. I will answer a question you must've had for a while.

What the hell happened to Charlie and Maxwell?

In 1906, they were pulled into the Constant by the Codex Umbra. And Maxwell was placed on The Nightmare Throne, and given full power over the Constant. He became the Nightmare King, all-powerful ruler, chess master of the world.

Whether he wanted it or not.

Once he was sat on the Nightmare Throne, he was trapped. He couldn't get up, couldn't move from the throne, couldn't move to turn off the gramophone sitting so close to him.

He was simply sitting on the throne. Unable to be free. For eternity.

In his final speech in Adventure Mode, Maxwell says there was barely anything there when he arrived. "Just dust. And the void. And Them."

What exactly "Them" is is unknown. My personal theory, given a play telling the story from Charlie's perspective, is that "Them" is the power of the Constant. And Maxwell constantly using that power for himself angered Them. So They pulled him in, and imprisoned him on the throne. He took from Them. And in return, They now trap him.

From there, the throne- or maybe Them, or maybe the Constant itself- compelled Maxwell to pull more people into the Constant. Trap them, use them as playthings, force them to go through the wringer of everything the Constant had to offer, and eventually watch them break under its barrage of dangers and finally die.

That's what happened to everyone. How they got into the Constant. Maxwell's strategy was to communicate with someone in the real world, usually through a Voxola radio, and make a deal with them so they are dragged in. Usually they're at a low point in their life and desperate for a solution to their issues, and he gives them that.

(Interestingly, he does follow through with his promises. Just neglects to mention the whole getting-dragged-into-Constant part.)

And everyone he drags in serves their purpose, they all serve as fun playthings for a while, providing him some level of entertainment.

But he's not happy. How can he be? He's trapped in an eternal game that he cannot end. Bound by its rules that he can't bend or break. He's tried everything. Nothing has ever worked. He's trapped, for eternity. In his own words, "Even a King is bound to the board."

The Constant demands a ruler.

And he serves that role. He must drag more people into this world's trap, let it spiral in on itself forever and ever. He can't put the game to an end. He can't get off the Nightmare Throne. He can't even turn off the gramophone right next to him.

All Maxwell can do is sit on his throne, and observe whatever survivors remain, and listen to that little ragtime ditty. Forever, and ever, and ever.

And Charlie...

God. Charlie.

One heartbreaking thing about what happened to Charlie is that we still don't know exactly how it happened. With Maxwell, we can make a very strong guess- he was stuck on the Nightmare Throne, and became king of the Constant, and dragged people down with him from the real world.

But with Charlie... we know how her fate ended up. We know what she became after that. But we don't know how she went from the sweet young woman she was to... to that.

From how she tells it (in her biased view, but it's all we've got), after being dragged into the Constant, she was either grievously injured or straight-up died. But she was brought back by Them. Back to life, but not as herself.

There was something new inside her.

Now, the way canon has it, it's a split personality pop-culture-Jekyll-And-Hyde thing. However, that's fucking dumb and pretty ableist. So here, my explanation diverges from canon, because I feel it's better, and stronger writing-wise, and I am better than Klei. Here's how I personally see what happened to Charlie.

It was like a garden being taken over and destroyed by an invasive species. Like black ink seeping into a bright and colorful shirt, spreading outwards, hiding- no, destroying the colors underneath.

They gave Charlie immense power, but at a great cost. Something dark grew inside of Charlie, transforming her from the sweet young woman she'd been, into something... monstrous.

The way I see it, it wasn't a split personality thing. It was more like a virus, infecting every cell of the body and multiplying into infinity until there's nothing left. Slowly erasing who she was before, destroying her humanity and turning her into something else.

Something more.

More powerful than Charlie had ever been, than she could've ever dreamed.

In every dark shadow, Charlie is there. In every pitch-black cave, she watches you. When dusk falls, she begins to awaken. And when the moon has risen, when the stars are out, when you can barely see your own hands in the dark, she is there. Everpresent. Watching. Waiting for you to walk into her arms.

There are shadow monsters all around the Constant. But most of them can only hurt you when you've lost your mind. Charlie, though, Charlie is different. No matter how much of a grasp on yourself you have, no matter how much sanity you've held onto, she will still be able to kill you, if you're outside at night with no way to see her.

Charlie is the most powerful shadow monster of all. She is everywhere. She has been everywhere. She can be anywhere. After all, there is nowhere the dark will not eventually be. And where the dark is, she is.

Charlie is the night.

Charlie is the darkness.

Able to kill a human with a few swift blows. Unfathomably strong, unfathomably dangerous, unfathomably powerful. It's hard to believe her humanity has held on this long, considering her omnipresence. It's incredible that her mind hasn't collapsed yet.

Because her humanity has held on. The virus in her mind has consumed so much of her, yes. But she's held on. Her humanity is surviving.

However long that lasts.

You wanted to know what happened to Maxwell and Charlie.

This. This is what happened.

Maxwell was imprisoned on the Nightmare Throne. Charlie was turned into the Night Monster. Both gained unfathomable power.

And both are trapped by it.

AND NOW. AFTER ALL OF THAT. WE FINALLY GET TO THE ACTUAL PLOT OF THE FUCKING GAME.

The year? Somewhere in the 1920s. The man? Wilson Percival Higgsbury. Lover of puns. Hater of spiders. Has a skeleton under his floorboards for some reason (skeleton might be wx-78's old body). Guy with the weirdest hair ever. Wannabe scientist who's terrible at science. The very first shot we see him in he blows himself up

He's a complete dumbass and he has stupid hair and he makes dumb puns and he's pathetic and he's in his thirties and he knows how to do amputations (according to him). What more could one want in a man. He's insanely confident in himself and has this attitude where he can do anything, when really he's kinda in over his head. He's a bit of a fool and he's got a good heart and a cheerful spirit. Not to mention he's wearing a vest, which in the rule of fiction means he's trans according to me and me alone.

So he's sad about his experiments always going wrong and he also sits down on a chair that looks like a throne hope that's not foreshadowing anything. Anyway Wilson's just like "Oh Voxola radio I'm just feeling real low" and his Voxola radio is like "SAY PAL I CAN GIVE FORBIDDEN KNOWLEDGE" and Wilson's like "Oh shit for real???" This is exactly what happened don't fact check this

So Maxwell hijacks his Voxola radio to be like "Hey hey hey you wanna do science shit right. Well guess what I can give you knowledge if you think you're ready." Wilson, of course, jumps at the chance, and Maxwell instructs him to create a machine of sorts. And Wilson works tirelessly away at it for some time, including SLICING HIS WHOLE HAND OPEN TO GET ONE DROP OF BLOOD, BECAUSE HE'S SO UNBELIEVABLY DRAMATIC I LOVE HIM

Anyway, Wilson throws the switch, thunder crashes, Maxwell laughs evilly, and

OH NOW YOU'RE JUST SHOWING OFF ANIMATORS

(seriously the don't starve animation and artstyle is so charming i love it. i think the framerate of the characters' animation should be lower again and the sketchiness should be more visible tho it was so much more charming than ultra smooth in my opinion)

Anyways, Wilson gets dragged into the Constant and cements himself as the greatest isekai protagonist of them all. Somehow he keeps his fairly cheerful attitude even when going through The Horrors, which is so very silly of him. He makes dumbass puns. He calls evergreen trees "piney." He hates spiders. His one perk is growing a magnificent beard. I love him. So much. He's not the deepest character, but god DAMN if he isn't endearing and lovable and so very silly.

So that- ALL OF THAT- is the setup to Don't Starve. From there on out, the plot goeth thusly:

CHAPTER ZERO, SANDBOX MODE. Maxwell greets Wilson like "Say, pal, you don't look so good," and proceeds to fuck off to watch Wilson go through it. Wilson however is a stubborn bastard who refuses to die and will literally make meat effigies of himself to not do so.

...actually that's really interesting. Hey wait that's really interesting. HEY DST FANFIC WRITERS ARE YOU UTILIZING WILSON'S STUBBORNNESS TO NOT GET KILLED TO THE POINT WHERE HE BUILDS EFFIGIES OF HIMSELF TO REVIVE HIMSELF IN YOUR FANFICTIONS BECAUSE THAT'S REALLY INTERESTING. "BUT IT REFUSED" LOOKIN ASS

UHHHH ANYWAY. THAT'S A PRETTY INTERESTING INSIGHT INTO WILSON I JUST FIGURED OUT. GO USE IT WRITERS.

So eventually, Wilson finds the scattered pieces of a portal Maxwell has, and activates it, getting dragged into Adventure Mode. LET'S GOOOOO

CHAPTER ONE, A COLD RECEPTION. And I should note here- the chapters are not in order, the order can get shuffled around. I'm gonna present them all though because it's funny.

So Maxwell is like "Wow :/ you're a dumbass :/ you REALLY think you woulda learned your lesson about activating mysterious portals :/ Anyway the seasons will be changing very fast now good luck" which is prrobably a nightmare for the ecosystem but what ever Anyway Wilson's stubborn ass doesn't die.

CHAPTER TWO, KING OF WINTER. Maxwell sends Wilson into eternal winter because he's being annoying. However, Wilson's stubborn ass STILL REFUSES TO DIE. And thus he continues.

CHAPTER THREE, THE GAME IS AFOOT! Maxwell is like "Uhm. Pal. Buddy. Why are you still alive. Please stop going onwards" and tries to feed Wilson to hounds. Wilson's silly ass is not fed to the hounds though because he is too silly.

Now. In Chapter Three, there's a chance you may find a strange setpiece, where there are these clockwork statues, trapping a strange mime. Creatures and gentlemen, allow me introduce you to the FUNNIEST FUCKING CHARACTER in Don't Starve. Wes.

Now, where do we begin with Wes? Well, let us begin with his backstory. His whole life has been plagued by a hilarious string of bad luck. He's French. He has the worst luck. He would get pied in the face. When he bites into a crepe all the filling falls out. He was born in a wet cardboard box all alone. He is a silly and sad clown mime man. And yet, he simply dedicates himself to making everyone happy.

Now, how would a silly little failure such as Wes get into the Constant? Hilariously, of course. You see, he was buying a crepe one day and gave half of it to a silly monkey guye when he saw a little girl drop her doll from a window and tried to return it to her with a balloon but the wind blew the balloon away and he chased it all throughout the town and saw it'd gotten stuck on a clothesline and managed to balance on the clothesline to get it but unfortunately the clothesline snapped and Wes fell down though he managed to grab the balloon and save a falling nest of eggs and was chased by crows while trying to get the girl's doll to her and he ran into an alleyway where he accidentally knocked someone else out of the way of getting dragged into the Constant and Maxwell accidentally getting Wes pissed him off SO MUCH that he put him in a special prison just for him and Waxwell's quote upon seeing the imprisoned Wes is "He displeased me."

I mean it when I say that Wes is one of the funniest characters in the entire game. In fact, you go through all the trouble of saving him from the prison, and when you do, he immediately DIES, and you unlock him as a character, and he has the WORST STATS IN THE GAME. His hunger drains hilariously fast. His attacks are laughably weak. His only special power is balloons that do nothing but cost him sanity. He was born in a wet cardboard box all alone

okay anyway you free wes and go onwards

CHAPTER FOUR, ARCHIPELAGO. Maxwell is like "UM. BITCH. PAL. TURN BACK. OR I MAY HAVE TO MURDER YOU TO DEATH EVEN MORE." However Maxwell has clearly not realized that Wilson is so stubborn that he will BUILD MEAT EFFIGIES OF HIMSELF SO THAT HE'LL JUST REVIVE FROM THE DEAD. GOD THAT'S SUCH A FASCINATING INSIGHT INTO HIS CHARACTER MAN JUST REFUSES TO DIE

Anyway Wilson goes onwards. CHATER FIVE, TWO WORLDS. Maxwell's actually nice to Wilson for a sec like "Heyyy :) Say pal :) Friend :) My best friend Wilson Percival Higgsbury :) Let's make a deal :) Here :) I made you a lovely little island :) Special for you :) It's got food :) And pigs :) And gold :) And whatever you need :) You can settle down here :) Have a life :) Just PLEASE :)) you ANNOYING BITCH :)) can you GIMME A TRUCE :)) and PLEASE :))) STOP :))) GOING :))) ONWARDS :))) I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD :))) :)))"

Wilson does not stop going onwards

CHAPTER SIX. DARKNESS. Maxwell is PIIIIIIISSED, like "BITCH. YOU BITCH. YOU TINY PITIFUL INSIGNIFICANT BITCH. I AM GOD. PLEASE DIE." And so he sends Wilson into a world he will surely not survive- a world of eternal night. Surely, with Charlie all around, with Charlie being the literal night monster who I feel an immense sense of grief over, surely Wilson will not survive this. Surely Wilson will die of darkness. Surely.

But as I have been stressing, Wilson is stubborn. He refused to give up on his dream of doing science even when it was clear he was bad at it. He refused to sit back and let Maxwell win by staying in the world Max made for him. He is so stubborn he refuses to die, making effigies of himself so he can resurrect from death. Wilson is the most stubborn bastard you've ever fucking met.

If Wilson decides that he will make it through something, then by god, he will make it through.

And he does.

Epilogue: Checkmate.

After all his struggle, Wilson finally, finally gets to Maxwell, to the man who's tormented him this whole time.

Only to discover him. Trapped on the throne. The all-powerful king, and he is weak. Pitiful. Listening to a hellish ragtime melody that won't stop repeating, over, and over, and over.

You can turn off the gramophone. He thanks you, saying he's been listening to that song for an eternity.

Maxwell has this honestly excellent speech about what happened to him. How They changed him over time. How he's completely powerless, despite being in control of everything. He mentions how time moves differently in the Constant, which is a really nice touch- it's not specified how it moves differently, letting the soft magic of the Constant stay soft. We just know it moves differently. How so is left up to us.

Wilson takes pity on the Nightmare King, and unlocks the Nightmare Throne. And Maxwell stands up, stands for the first time in an eternity, pure happiness on his face, free of the Nightmare Throne, getting up for the first time in god knows how long-

...And he screams, his body rotting away into a skeleton, before he crumbles to dust.

After everything, he just fucking dies.

...The Constant demands a ruler. And well, it's got a lovely candidate right there.

Shadowy hands erupt from the ground, grabbing Wilson. Lightning strikes where the Nightmare Throne was, building a new one, and Wilson is dragged onto it as the gramophone resumes. The new Nightmare King of the Constant.

Ruler of everything, trapped forever, with no control, listening to that hellish song.

Honestly, watch this playthrough of Checkmate. It really captures how just amazing this end is. (amazing = horribly fucked)

youtube

There's something so utterly horrific about how Wilson is dragged onto the throne after watching Maxwell rot into a skeleton and turn to dust, only for the ragtime melody to resume.

This end is already horrifying to watch. But the music resuming, refusing to stop, is what turns it into a pure nightmare for me.

A melody of eternal torment, never to break. No matter what.

The cycle continues. More will be dragged into this trap, right? And Wilson has become trapped. He can't move. Can't turn off that stupid fucking gramophone.

Doomed to the same fate as Maxwell. To sit there for god knows how long, as They watch him, until someone else frees him and he dies, trapping them.

Right?

..................

SO TURNS OUT YOUR BODY ROTTING AWAY INTO A SKELETON AND TURNING TO DUST IS LESS DEADLY THAN ONE MAY HAVE THOUGHT, BECAUSE MAXWELL IS STILL ALIVE. SOMEHOW. APPARENTLY.

Anyway so Maxwell's alive. Falls out of the sky into the Constant, still got the Codex Umbra, but is no longer all powerful. He learns this upon getting ambushed by a gang of Creatures and realizes he is powerless, and immediately does the brave thing and runs away like a little baby

Anyway night is FALLING and Charlie will wake up soon. And Charlie fucking HAAAATES Maxwell. She HATES him. DESPISES him. And honestly? GIRL'S VALID. Maxwell turned her into The Shadow Creature, hating him is completely fair. And yeah Maxwell's got guilt over the fact that he did that to her. BUT LIKE. HE STILL DID DO THAT TO HER.

Anyways, Maxwell sees smoke in the distance. And where there be smoke, there be fire, which he needs if he is to Not Die. And so he makes his way over.

btw this part is told through a fantastic comic here it is

So he gets to the fire and OH FOR FUCK'S SAKE

BITCH JUST. DOES NOT DIE. MAN GOT OFF THE NIGHTMARE THRONE. SOMEHOW. STUBBORN FUCKING BASTARD. THIS GUY MADE MEAT EFFIGIES TO CHEAT DEATH, PERSISTED PAST SEVERAL HORRIBLE TRIALS TO TRY AND GET TO MAXWELL, GOT STUCK ON THE NIGHTMARE THRONE, AND IS STILL KICKING. KING SHIT. FRISK KINNIE. DETERMINATION SOUL. UNDERTALE

Anyway Maxwell is like hmmm maybe it is best to not approach the guy i tried to feed to hounds and tries to leave but the idiot steps on a branch because of course he does. Wilson assumes it is a Creature and grabs his axe to Kill, only to discover it is not a creature and is instead Maxwell. (who ig is a type of creature)

AND UPON DISCOVERING IT IS MAXWELL, HE ROLLS UP HIS SLEEVES AND STARTS TO BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF HIM. WHICH IS HILARIOUS GOOD FOR HIM GO WHITE BOY GO KILL HIM

Anyway shadow hands put out Wilson's fire which freaks him out because of The Creature (charlie), so they run over and get the fire started up again. And unfortunately, the two must team up in order to not die. Look how thrilled they are about this arrangement

Anyway there's these panels that together are absolutely HILARIOUS of Maxwell and Wilson just sitting there glaring at the firepit over several time periods. I understand it's probably meant to show several days passing, however I find it funny to interpret it as "they just sat there glaring at the firepit not saying anything to each other for a whole day" because it's objectively hilarious.

Anyway Wilson offers Maxwell food since they're stuck together they should make sure neither of them die and he's like "Hey didn't you Die. You Died. Like turned to dust. In front of me. I saw it" AND MAXWELL'S PRETTY MUCH LIKE "death is a social construct. how did you get freed from the scary throne and how come i didn't think of it sooner"

And so Wilson explains. See, Wilson was freed from the Nightmare Throne, but he didn't manage to get off of the throne through his own sheer force of will (shockingly enough for this stubborn bitch).

He was freed by Charlie.

For her own reasons, she let Wilson out of the throne and let him free. But she also took all the powers he might have had as the Nightmare King, rendering him the ordinary survivor he was before he was trapped (though many people give him claws and/or blackened hands as a result of the nightmare throne which i find to be very cool and awesome). Charlie sent Wilson back to the Constant and Definitely Nothing Happened With Her And The Throne Afterwards Please Believe Me I Would Never Lie About Anything

So a little bit later, Wilson and Maxwell start trying to build a portal, most likely to actually get out of the Constant, since GOOD FUCKING LORD. That, or to connect to the other survivors in the Constant, which also makes sense! Pooling together the knowledge from the Codex Umbra and Wilson's own blueprints, they manage to build said portal.

The survivors manage to get to them.

Before the portal is destroyed and reshaped.

Shadow hands erupt out of the ground, pulling pieces of it into the ground, black thorny vines wrap around it, the wood is replaced with marble, shadowy flames erupt out of it, red curtains on top, making it resemble a stage.

And all around it grow roses.

The Florid Pastern is created, and above all of them, they see a strange apparition in the sky.

The Constant demands a ruler.

And Charlie, absorbing Wilson's power as the Nightmare King, became that. The monstrous part of her, the part that is cruel and dark, the shadow monster of the night that demands to be fed with hot blood and flesh, fused itself with whatever scraps of her humanity and kindness that'd not been fully consumed.

She became the virus in her mind, fused with it, merged into a whole being, rather than a fractured one.

The Shadow Queen of the Constant.

also here's an exhausted looking Wilson good lord when was the last time he SLEPT

ALSO. BEFORE I FINISH OFF. LET ME TALK ABOUT CHARLIE'S SILLY PLAY.

In Don't Starve Together, you can find a stage, with costumes for you to act in. If you put on the right costumes and choose to start acting, shadow hands briefly control you, and you start acting out a story that is pretty obviously a thinly veiled allegory for the events of Don't Starve.

Charlie is cast in the role of the Doll, and later The Queen. Winona is in the role of the Blacksmith. Maxwell is cast in the role of the King. We THINK that Them is cast in the role of the Mirror. And Wilson- I'LL GET TO WILSON.

What's interesting about this play is how obviously biased it is. The King is cast as an obviously evil man, hoarding magic to himself, shattering the Mirror and taking its power away. I mentioned this earlier- the Blacksmith loves the Doll dearly, but loves her too much, and puts her in a suit of armor that is protective, yes, but is so heavy she can't move, which god damn if that's not an effective metaphor for overcontrolling overprotective siblings.

The insight into Charlie's motives is also interesting- it's shown that the reason she didn't take Maxwell off the throne (aside from maybe spite and wanting to see him hurt which good for her) was because she legitimately didn't know where he was. And she sorta followed Wilson as he traveled so she could find the throne.

And more interestingly- Charlie is an unreliable narrator here, so her perspective is to be taken with a grain of salt, but- according to her, Charlie's motivations are to heal Them. They're broken currently, according to her, and They gave her the power she has now. And she wants to repay Them for what They've given her. Which is INCREDIBLY interesting.

AND. THE FUNNIEST PART ABOUT THIS PLAY. IS WILSON.

So, everyone's cast in different roles, right? Charlie's the Doll, Winona's the Blacksmith, Maxwell's the King, and the Mirror is probably Them, right?

WELL. WILSON. IS CAST IN THE ROLE OF "THE FOOL." HE'S CAST AS SOME FUCKIN DUMBASS WHO ACCIDENTALLY KNOCKS THE KING OFF HIS THRONE AND KILLS HIM BY MISTAKE. AND IT'S ABSOLUTELY HILARIOUS.

What's funnier is that WILSON HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO SAY ABOUT IT. Winona comments on the scene where Charlie casts her as suffocatingly overprotective, saying "Is there something you wanna tell me, sis?" Maxwell comments on the scene where the Doll finds the Mirror, asking if this is how she really sees him and remembers what happened.

BUT WILSON. HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO SAY ABOUT BEING CAST AS "THE FUCKING IDIOT DUMBASS WHO TRIPPED OVER HIMSELF AND KILLED THE KING ON ACCIDENT WITH HIS MERRY FOOLERY." Meaning either he DOESN'T realize that's meant to be him, he DOES realize and is just silently fuming, or he DOES realize and just ACCEPTS IT. Like "okay yeah fair." No matter how you slice it, HILARIOUS.

Anyway, here's the play, it's an interesting watch and the video's only 15 minutes long.

youtube

god the fool costume even looks like wilson if his hair was looser

Aaaaand that's the lore thus far! There's other stuff that's happened- Charlie got a new outfit and became EVEN MORE beautiful, Wagstaff is a hologram, Maxwell teamed up with Charlie as a double agent which I think was a stupid writing decision because I don't feel it makes sense for Charlie but Fine Whatever I don't care Encore isn't canon to me I'm resisting a full rant about this, Wilson has a skeleton under his floorboards, something else may be trying to get people into the Constant, Wilson looks tired as shit, WX ripped out their heart because feeling emotions was painful I'm not over that short I'll never be over it ever and don't get me started on how Don't Starve feels like it has this intense unending grief woven throughout it and

Uhm. Anyway. I'm normal. I'm SO sorry this got this long my beams got me. This is 8k words long and I spent the whole time listening to Ragtime (the song that plays on the gramophone that maxwell had to listen to for eternity)

#asks #dst #don't starve #long post #cassie rambles #i did not mean for thsi post to get THIS LONG good jesus christ

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steampunkforever · 4 months

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There's a sentiment in low-quality media crit circles that basically boils down to saying "you would be all over this unlikable character if she was a man instead" or "your love of this pathetic male character betrays a misogynistic double standard because you don't act like this about women." Often I see this used to either defend their consumption of badly written media as praxis-- see: defenses of Rey's character as somehow empowering rather than admitting that the Star Wars sequels were badly written --or (even worse) as attempts to drag mature media subjects (people who got really mad about Barbie vs Oppenheimer) into mire of gender essentialism.

Of course this sort of thinking doesn't produce any art worth paying attention to. The answer is simple: leave behind playground gender politics and arguments over the female Ghostbusters and just watch better movies. Tár is one of those movies.

Lydia Tár is an absolute disaster. Born in a wet cardboard box. She's my little meow meow. She's a composer spiraling into a tormentous nightmare. She's driving a porsche. She's seeing things. She's bothering the neighbors. She's getting violent. She's a genius, she's perfect, she's losing control. I'm obsessed with her on a level this website reserves for Columbo and certain marionette-like actors. Todd Field wrote this for Cate Blanchett and no one else, and the gusto with which she carries the film on her shoulders is downright beautiful.

Though I will not discount the importance of representation (I've enjoyed too many movies about Italians to refute the beauty in finding shared experience through cinema), I'll note that when it comes to making meaningful art, representation should not matter. I'm not a mean lesbian conducting the Berlin Philharmonic, nor do I necessarily want to be considering the events that unfold in the film, but even for as supremely unlikable as Lydia is in this movie, she's a star you wish to follow despite her downfalls of her own making.

There's a moment early on in the film where Lydia teaches a class at Julliard, and is confronted by a student who dislikes Bach on the grounds that he is a white man and presumably misogynistic due to the bevvy of children he had with his wife. This student is a self-described "BIPOC pangendered" individual, and a bit of a strawman for the sort of intellectually dishonest reasoning that's permeated pop culture criticism. Lydia, and the film itself, use this character as a punching bag, reaming him out in front of the class for the admittedly ridiculous positions on artistic analysis that are increasingly being touted by the people who unfortunately matter to this sort of thing.

I will admit, this is a bit of a soapbox, but the movie keeps one foot on the ground, as the scene ends in Lydia stating the premise of her entire character: she wishes not to be judged for her womanhood or sexual orientation, but rather for her actions. For her art. What she has done, Lydia posits, is how she wants history to classify as who she is.

Unfortunately for Lydia, she's an awful person who takes advantage of those around her, cheats on her wife with her own students in relationships that may be consensual but are certainly wrong, and ultimately deserves the blacklisting from the industry that she receives. Not relatable at all, and for sure to turn off the guys who walked out of Promising Young Woman complaining that Carey Mulligan's character hated men.

Yet Tár takes this human trainwreck and crafts a psychological drama the simply doesn't let you look away. Watching Lydia Tár experience the ultimate #WomanMoment as she spirals into insanity makes you understand all the awards this movie won. This is a great film, and like the main character, deserves to be judged for what it does rather than who it stars, though Blanchett's performance as Tár will keep me obsessing over this movie for a long time.

#tár #tar #tar 2022 #Tár (2022)#filmposting #film #cinema

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giantchasm · 5 months

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Random Kirby Headcanon #16

When it comes to surnames and whether or not they exist, all species seem to go about it a little differently.

In the case of Astrals, they don’t have traditional surnames. Instead, they collect titles! For example, Kirby’s full name would be “Kirby of the Stars,” whereas Galacta Knight’s would be “[Whatever his real name is], Galacta Knight, the Aeon Hero.”

Waddle Dees don’t have last names. Frankly, they barely even have first names. In part, I imagine it’s not necessary since they sort of, by default, all consider themselves one big family anyways.

Tevatians (Animal people) don’t have last names, but may be referred to by their species occasionally, especially for clarification. For example, if someone were in a conversation with two Ricks, they might refer to our Rick as “Rick the Hamster” specifically.

Dark Matter do not traditionally have names, but Gooey has taken on an astral-style full name. Currently, he’s Gooey of the Heart.

Fairies’ surnames are based on the planet/kingdom they hail from. So for example, every fairy from Ripple Star has the last name “Ripple.”

Humans, obviously, traditionally have surnames, but seeing as how Adeleine was born in a wet cardboard box all alone and grew up with no family in my interpretation, she didn’t have one for a long time. Eventually, she took on the “Ripple” surname, though, as the fairies effectively took her in.

Halcandrans probably had last names based on their affiliations/what larger groups or sects they were a part of. Magolor, however, only being part Halcandran, and also being born in a wet cardboard box all alone, has no last name.

Insectoids probably have surnames, considering they had a royal family. I can see something French-adjacent. I have no actual idea on what I’d make Taranza and Sectonia’s actual surnames, though.

Neumanns (Susie and the Mage Sisters’ species in my headcanons) have last names. Susie’s, obviously, is Haltmann. I like to think the Mages wanted to take on Hyness’s last name after being adopted by him, but I also don’t think his species does last names, so maybe their surnames are just “Jamba” or something. Flamberge specifically actually has that hyphenated with her birth surname, being the only Mage Sister that was close to their original family.

Avians (Dedede’s species), Noddies (Marx’s species), and Elfilin’s species also do not have last names. However, I can also see Elfilin eventually taking on an Astral-styled surname like Gooey did.

#kirby #sack’s kirbyverse #if i think of something later for elfilin flamberge and the spiders’ last names i’ll reblog this with a that as an addon #but as for now i don’t have anything specific picked out for them just ideas for their species as a whole

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helmarok · 2 years

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i get what pelipper is trying to say but i dont think it can fully grasp the difficulties of being a human enough for its philosophical speech. this bird is telling this to a dirt poor orphan who starved and considered snow a luxury, an abuse victim who was imprisoned and stripped of their inheritance, and a cat who was born in a wet cardboard box all alone that got kicked on the streets as a baby cuz he was hungry. and meowth isnt even human either im just calling pelipper out as a privileged pokemon cuz its clearly one of the organizations' specialest boys. "everyone has equal opportunities" he says to these 3 people that have been kicked down their whole lives from said opportunities. jessie joined team rocket cuz she ran out of options. james joined team rocket cuz they had nothing and nobody after running away. meowth joined team rocket cuz nobody else wanted him around. they are literally in this organization cuz they didnt have equal opportunities 😭 i mean they couldve left in sumo cuz they had food, shelter and income so thats their fault but also you have to think? team rocket is the only thing in their lives that has given them security as in this is the only thing that they know for a fact will be there to pick them up if they fall so to ditch it all and hope the food truck is enough to sustain them is extremely scary...... regardless of having a home and such theyre so used to every bit of comfort they have being short lived that of course they would drain themselves in that organization longer "just in case". do you get it do you understand

#ganon rambles #this was a way longer rant than i intended and it actually went into a different topic oops #team rocket #jn095

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gumballavocadoharry · 2 years

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You found me:

The cold brisk of London only made me move quicker to my house. I was looking forward to the warm aroma where I could sit in my favorite chair, a cup of tea and a good book to relax my mind after a hard day at work. I was a stock clerk at a grocery store and today was just perfect to have 2 spilled milks, shattered bottle of wine and an egg crack catastrophe in the dairy aisle.

October weather did that to you. The orange and reddish leaves falling from the branches while walking down the brick covered road was picture book worthy. My hair that was neatly tucked into a bun, had a few free strands swaying to the best of the wind. My somber mood was non existent this morning, until a few nasty customers, an overly demanding boss because of his recent divorce and all the messes I mentioned contributed to the pushed down aggression that rose inside me the more I pondered on it.

The gray clouds mixed with the fall wind made me sleepy. My eyes started to close a little, but I jerked myself awake once I realized the walk home was still 5 minutes away. I walked past this brick building that I assumed to be a school, but there was this brown cardboard box that was soggy and splotchy. I heard some narrow cries from it.

I took a step back thinking it was maybe a mother cat and her kittens up for sale that nobody noticed. I hesitantly made my way over to the box and peeped inside. That's when I noticed a tiny baby that couldn't have weighed more than 4 pounds crying weakly. He had a blue blanket wrapped around him and he was dirty liked he hadn't had a bath in days. His cry wasn't that loud but I could tell it was a hungry cry from the suckiling sounds he was making with his mouth.

"Poor thing" I mumbled trying to situate the little baby in my arms. He looked like a newborn baby which made his situation worse to me because he was probably just born and no one wanted him. Or maybe his mother just couldn't take care of him. It dawned on me that no one heard his cry because it was so light, who knows how long he's been out here.

Poor baby didn't have a hat or really anything to protect him from the cold other than the blanket. I held him halfway inside my coat and tried to find an adoption agency. It was too cold and we were both tired and hungry so I called it quits and decided to continue this in the morning before work. Me and baby stumbled home to my apartment, where the lobby was empty despite how this morning it was raging with people from a party in one of the apartments from the 9th floor.

That's the fancy apartments at the top where they get more terrace space. I walked through to the elevators where my heart was beating out of my chest. I didn't like the neighbors knowing my business and vice versa. I mostly kept to myself and tried to keep it the same way with everyone else unless I absolutely had to talk to them or if they said "hi" or such.

I fiddled with my keys before going inside and locking the door immediately behind me. it's a useful habit but today it was very obligatory. I didn't want anyone following me or staring because they suspected I stole something or something like that. I was indeed hiding something....more precious than any other secret I've stored within me. It was for baby's protection.

I set him on my couch and carefully took a soft paper towel that I wet with warm water and gently cleaned him up. I knew he was starving so that meant running to the store and buying baby formula along with some toys, clothes and possibly a portable crib or bassinet. I didn't wanna leave baby here alone, yet it would be irresponsible of me to leave him here so I had to take him with me.

I already decided once I got back I would call the police and see if they could locate his mother or any other relatives of his. My gut told me his mother wouldn't want him back and or she's dead or out of the country doing whatever. I thought about what to do about the small little turquoise eyed baby boy laying on my couch with pillows around him to keep him from falling.

It just dawned on me that you're not supposed to keep a newborn on their backs, so I shifted him to his tummy. Tufts of auburn hair were protruding from his little round head. I couldn't help but bring myself to run my fingers over it. He was still making suckling noises, that snapped me out of my daze and made rush to grab a hat for baby. It was a soft blue hat with little duckies on it, one I had kept when I was a baby. I took baby's blanket and made it into a shaw like coat for him, then I took an old scarf and covered him up so he wouldn't get cold.

I scanned the room for anything I could use besides a dirty old box that was baby's home for the first few days of his life. Just thinking about it was gut-wrenching. I looked over to baby who was still laying on the couch, toying with the pillows set on either side for his safety. His eyes looked so tired and full of innocence. Of course he's innocent he's a baby. He was so vulnerable and helpless that the grisly thought of him not surviving one more day if I hadn't found him nearly killed me.

My eyes finally landed on a dresser drawer in my bedroom. I emptied out the books that were inside on to my bed and tucked inside three soft blankets before putting baby in there. I didn't really want the neighbors seeing me take a dresser drawer out in the hallway as it would draw unnecessary attention, Not that it was any of their business anyway. I meant it when I said I kept to myself. Me and baby flew down the hallway, after I finished locking up my apartment.

My car was parked in the apartment parking lot, next to a grey lexus. I clicked the button on my well used car remote that was swinged in with my car keys, and my apartment key as well along with a little green packers logo. I opened the car door and carefully placed the drawer in the backseat rear facing.

I just prayed it was safe seeing how I didn't have a carseat or anything for baby yet. I made sure his scarf and hat weren't too warm so he wouldn't overheat. Once I was satisfied that he was okay, I climbed into the driver's seat and we drive to the store. Target was the closet place. I parked the car and I gently grabbed baby and we went inside. A sense of happiness and relief washed over me. I would be leaving the store with a baby car seat, a bassinet, high chair and food for baby. And possibly more knowledge too.

Baby was too tiny to fit in the seating area of the shopping cart so that meant I had to carry him, but my arms started getting tired. I grabbed a shopping cart anyway and tried my hardest to balance it with one hand. I found the nearest employee working in the baby section and asked her if I could buy a baby carrier right now. "Of course. I can ring you up and you can continue shopping."

"Thank you so much." I grabbed a sturdy carrier and she scanned the price tag and then my card. "There you go you're all set" I smiled. "Thank you very much." I set baby in the carrier and pulled the veil built into the carrier down to keep any germs off him.

"You're son's adorable." The employee said. I didn't bother to correct her so I just accepted the compliment for what it was and thanked her with a smile. But that stuck with me. Son. The thought ricocheted in my head as a sudden pleasure grew on that title. I looked down at baby who was playing with his fingers. Maybe?

I continued on shopping, grabbing bottles, diapers, clothes, toys and a portable bassinet. I found some baby formula asking different clerks if it was safe for newborns. They all showed me different brands, but like with everyone, the most recommended was the one I chose.

I paid for the items and left the store quickly as possible. The medium colored clouds set in and small sprinkles of rain slowly drizzled down. The smush of the wet fall leaves that stood in between my boots and the rain. Me and baby rushed to the car, now feeling satisfied of the new things he has to help him. Somehow I could sense a feeling of relief and solace wash over the both of us. I looked down to be met with greenish-blue eyes and sweet deep dimples that I just discovered he had.

Ongoers noticed the tender sweet baby talk that was spilling from my lips by the minute. Bunches of "Yes you are's" were being spoken to baby which made him react with joy. I'm sure this was the most love that he's had in the little time of his life so far. Surely I was not his mother, just a 27 year old man who happened, completely by chance noticed a small infant in the dirty box that he laid in. Maybe this was fate? I shook it off not wanting to think to deeply about it.

I was just his temporary caregiver until he would be adopted by someone who could give him a stable home. Maybe even a pet? I imagined little baby playing on the swing set with his doggie running up to him desperately wanting his owner's attention that only the love of a child could provide for them. He would have playdates with the best friend he met at school, sleepovers with the boys on his soccer team, meet his first love and dream of marrying her as if she was the one....

I snapped out that daydream. I couldn't get attached. We both weren't ready for that. Adoption for baby would surely be a dream right? We arrived to the car where I unloaded everything in the trunk before picking baby up and returning the shopping cart to the store.

Man it felt nice to hold him again. Whoops...I mean my arms aren't tired anymore. I set baby aside as I was taking the drawer and moved it to the floor of the car and set up baby's carrier. I gently placed him inside and even gave him one of his little toys to keep him occupied. I couldn't feed him until we got home so there was no time to waste.

As I got in the driver's seat and put the key in, turning it...My mind wandered to what exactly would happen to baby. What if he didn't get a nice family? What if instead he would be raised only for the sole purpose of being a slave in a mean family's home? Or he was restricted from living his life normally due to the strictness and harshness of a mother and father who weren't to tightly wrapped themselves?

What if he was left to fend for himself with no one to love him and care for him? The harsh reality of the world set in the more I thought about baby's fate. But everyone always says two is better than one and baby needs two parents. But if those parents aren't gonna parent him in the right way....then would he really be better off?

Surely I could-

"We're here!" I said to myself trying to override the thought I was going to think that would distract me from my sensible thinking. I carried baby inside, and grabbed the things from the trunk and made my way upstairs to my apartment as fast as I could. A few elderly neighbors saw me and cooed about cute the little baby in my was. I smiled and thanked them before getting in the elevator hoping the doors would close as fast as possible.

Baby and me scurried inside once again just in time for baby to start crying. He was hungry of course. After closing and locking the door, I set him down on the couch, propping the pillows around him again and grabbed the formula from the bag and ran into the kitchen to fix it.

I followed the directions carefully trying the drown out the hungry cries from baby. "I know baby I know." I fixed it as fast as I could and while his bottle was heating up, I was successfully able to distract him.

Beep!

I turned around and flew into the kitchen and grabbed baby's bottle from the microwave. I pressed the bottle to my wrist and sat down next to baby. I gently picked baby up and inserted the bottle into his mouth. "It's not too hot is it?" Aw come on as if baby can talk. His button eyes looked into mine sucking away at his milk. Probably the first food he's had in days. "You're a hungry little guy aren't you? I know, I know. You're a little special baby. You're special because you're the sweetest little thing I've seen." I cooed.

I couldn't help but cloy baby. He was so small and new, bright eyes studying the room because he was so new to the world. I just felt this exquisite connection with him whilst looking into his fresh eyes. His mom didn't know what she was missing....or what she gave up. I smiled a warm smile and somehow I think he sensed the connection too.

I removed the bottle once he was finished. He drank all his milk. "Good boy!" I cooed cheerfully. Burp! I expected that.

I ate a quick dinner that night after baby went to sleep. I couldn't sleep a wink partly because of baby crying and needing his diaper changed or wanting to be rocked or something like that and the other because I was worried about him too. I put him in a fresh onesie and threw that old blue blanket in the wash.

I tossed and turned because I knew I was gonna have to call child services soon....but it just....this gut feeling. I mean he was already used to me so why would I give him up? I guess I used that to reason with myself. Who am I kidding? I'm only in my twenties I can't be raising a child! I have so much I wanna do, like travel and get married and start a family of my own one day. But despite all of those...Baby still played in my mind.

I couldn't be attached already right? And besides who would watch baby too? I have to go to work and run errands and he has to be babysat. I couldn't trust just anyone. All these thoughts raced through my head trying to get everything sorted out. Child services, doctor appointment, babysitter. My brain could've exploded.

But my alarm clock went off. Baby was still sleeping surprisingly so I tiptoed out of my bedroom into the bathroom where I took a quick shower. I would constantly check to see if baby was still sleeping and if I needed to change or feed him. That's pretty much what all babies do at the beginning of their first few months of life, eat, sleep and poop,

I brushed my teeth coming out of the shower and changed into my uniform. I carefully took baby from his bassinet and was going to give him his first bath. By the looks of it I don't even think baby was born in a hospital. His umbilical stub hadn't fallen off yet so I was cautious to how I bathed him. I quickly googled how to do it and got started immediately. Baby was so small that I was able to bathe him in the bathroom sink.

I filled the sink with a little water and used some mild baby soap and cleaned up baby. He seemed so happy to finally be clean and to be...loved. To have someone care enough about him to take him under their wing and care for him....I really hoped he would see it that way when he's older.

Me and baby hadn't eaten breakfast yet and I already had to be at work in 30 minutes so I had no choice but to call Gemma and ask if she could watch him. She'd said that she would be over right away, so that gave me and baby time to eat a small breakfast. I had a bowl of cereal and baby had some milk of course.

Gemma knocked on the door a couple minutes after I had put my bowl in the sink. "Hey gem!" I greeted happily. I was relieved to have some help. "Hey Haz. So where is this little bugger that you've been talking about on the phone?" I pointed over to baby who was in his bassinet. "Oi he's adorable!" Gemma cooed. "What's his name?"

"I just call him baby for now. Yeah he's my friend's nephew but right now his nickname is baby." I thought quickly cause I didn't want to explain the whole situation to Gemma just yet. It's not that I couldn't trust her it's just that....it's not like baby was my son. He was still sorta a strange baby without a home or name. Besides...I had to go to work.

"Thank you again for watching him, if you need to reach me you have my number and I left a list of things you're supposed to do with baby on the fridge. Thanks." I grabbed my coat and car keys. "Bye Gemma and bye baby!" I blew a kiss to both of them before dashing out the front door.

Work wasn't any easier. I kept thinking about baby and Gemma and how they were getting along at my apartment. Plus Mr Feltmen was once again being punctilious with the way I stocked the cereals or the way I put price tags on the sealed chicken dinners with my price gun. All because his wife said a few nasty comments on her way along with a big fat stack of divorce papers sent to him a couple days later.

My lunch break seemed to be relieving as I was able to call Gemma and ask her if her and baby were fine. "Oh yeah we're fine. Baby had a little hard time after you left but everything's okay now. He's taking a nap."

"What little hard time?" I asked kinda panicky. "Oh, he started crying because he wanted you. So when I showed him a picture of you, he calmed down." Sentiment washed over me. Baby wanted me? He missed me. My heart swelled with adoration and pride more than it should've for a baby who I'd only known for a day and half. "Thank you so much Gemma. I'll call you when I'm on my way home."

After I hung up, I searched up a really good pediatric doctor at the children's hospital and scheduled an appointment for baby later on today. I wanted to make sure he had his shots and everything he needed by the time social services came and got him. The thought broke me. I grievance pain struck me so I refused to ponder the thought more than necessary.

Baby really tugged at my heartstrings. I didn't wanna dive in heart first taking into consideration the logicalness of the situation. Was I really baby's best person to care for his every need? You're caring for him now. I swallowed hard at that and continued eating my lunch, not wasting time to get back to work.

The mid day night sky fell between 3 and 4 which is when my shift ended. The breeze sang it's fall time song the coziness of being warm in the cold started to take its toll. I grabbed my coat from the breakroom and hustled out the grocery store. "Have a good night Harry." I turned to my right to see my boss with a small tight smile and giving me a small stiff wave. "Thanks you too." I replied befuddled and tired at the same time.

As soon as I got into my car, I didn't waste time calling Gemma to inform her of my upcoming arrival. "Hey Gemma, I just got off work and I'm coming home right now okay? How is everything?"

I heard the sound of baby rattles and muffled cries that partially answered my question. "Oh everything's fine, baby just woke up from his nap and he's just been a little fussy that's all." I could sense Gemma regretted saying that last part. She realized how attached and concerned I was for baby. Way more than if it was just 'my friend's nephew' the way I said before.

"Okay, well I'll be home very soon." We hung up and then I started the car and pulled out of the parking lot very carefully. The drive home consisted of me trying to beat the clock so I could be on time for baby's doctor appointment. I concluded that one more night wouldn't be so bad for baby seeing how it was possibly too late to call social services anyway.

Was I just reasoning with myself?

Streetlights filled the downtown sidewalk. Oh how I missed late night walks and night drives through my city. Summer's were fun for it too, but it was just something about September, October and November that just had that fall time glow. That coziness of aroma around you. It was fun. Just me walking to and back from the library.

I snapped out of my nostalgia once I pulled up to the parking lot of my apartment.

I put the key through my front door lock and opened the door. "Hey Gem I'm home" Gemma ran up to me and hugged me which I returned. "Hey! How was work?" "Oh it was fine." My eyes glanced to baby sleeping in his bassinet. "How was baby?" Gemma looked to the sleeping newborn and back to me. "He was just fine. He was a little cranky today but above all a good boy."

I thanked Gemma who's coat I handed to her on the way out. "See you later be safe bye." "Bye." Gemma's voice trailed going out the door. I took off my coat before focusing my attention to baby. "Hey baby boy! Did you miss me? Yes you did! I know you did cause you're da-" I stopped myself. "You're a special baby! You're a little sweetheart aren't ya?" Oh how I desperately wanted cover those little rosy dimpled cheeks in hello kissys.

I quickly changed baby and put him into a new outfit before leaving for the doctor's. On the way, I put on the radio to some 90's music. He seemed to enjoy it. His little head bobbed to the infamous Alanis Morissette 'Ironic'. I kept checking the rearview mirror, making sure baby was okay. I was still new to this so I didn't spring for the expensive attachment mirror for baby car seats.

London children's hospital.

I turned to the left and pulled into the parking deck. I always loved the murk lighting of the in between ramps and parking spaces. The blueish sometimes yellow aesthetic lights were the only ray of light inside the closed in building that was usually filled to the brim with cars. I got baby's carrier out of the car with him in it and we traveled down to the entrance along with two other couples who either had babies or toddlers.

On the way, Baby was entranced by the colorful cars while we walked to the doors. A green honda, a blue civic, a sliver chevy, all had the baby's attention. We went inside the elevator and took it up to the offices on level 8. Inside, I just kept taking deep breaths and looked down at baby who was sleeping soundly. I hated knowing I would have to wake him up for his appointment.

I just don't know what would move me to do all this? Buying him clothes, baby formula, toys, bottles, taking him to the doctors? I didn't just take him the adoption agency before and let them do all this for him. I guess because I care too much...I care so much about other people and I don't regret it of course, but this time it really took me out of the way. Financially, Physically and Emotionally.

I looked down at baby who was still sleeping. I guess what I'm trying to comprehend is that baby is special, he's more than just some lost, injured puppy dog on the street...he was more than helping out a homeless person with a couple dollars, he was more than giving a tired sad stranger a smile. It was a deeper pleasure having baby.. it was.....it....

Three little words threatened to spill from my gut but I shut them out. After all he won't be with me long.

The sad realization grappled me. Ding! The elevator doors opened and I was instantly met with distance cries of babies and toddlers. The hall was empty and as I stepped out, I could breathe in the sterile air. The carpeted floor held rigid against my shoes as I walked down the corridor trying to find the Doctor Evan's office.

My hand weighed heavy as I held the carrier that was carrying a baby who was now wide awake and hungry. His little fussy whines made me rush inside so I could feed him before those little whimpers turned into blood curdling screams. "Hello." I said waiting for the receptionist to notice me. "Hi." she smiled. It was a young girl that looked to be in 20's. The first thing I noticed was her red bob and bright pink lipstick. Her earrings were the exact same ones my own mother had.

"You have an appointment?" I nodded before responding with a yes. "For?" Her voice trailed once she saw the name I confirmed for baby. "Baby styles." It sounded like I was posting an announcement on my instagram to welcome my new child. But nonetheless was his actual name as of now. "It's a nickname we always go by." As if that would make it all normal. The state didn't even know he existed until now so what was I to do. The receptionist smiled and gave me a clipboard with the patient fill out attached to it.

I thanked her before taking it and moving over to one of the seats in the back. Before I filled it out, I took a bottle of the baby bag and fed baby quickly. He's a fast eater so it wasn't too laborious. But after burping him and putting him back in his carrier, I filled out the form and gave it back to the receptionist. I sat back down and monitored baby. I took little peeks at him in between to make sure he was okay.

Time passed slowly it seemed. 4:25 went to 5:21 then to 5:36. Time went on like that even though we were only there for 25 minutes. "Baby styles?" Everyone in the waiting room looked up at that name which made me more self aware. I quickly picked up the carrier and the baby bag before walking over to the nurse who was holding the door open for the patient to enter.

"Hello..Mr styles?" I nodded. "Come follow me please." We went to a room that was yellow and decorated in Curious George stickers. I set the carrier on the chair next to me before taking baby out and putting him on the exam table that was specifically for babies. The nurse took his height and weight before writing them down. I noticed her eyebrows furrowed. She wanted to comment and ask if he was a was a preemie but she left that part up for the doctor.

She took his blood pressure and typed some things down on the computer. "You said he's newborn correct?" "Yes." I held my breathe. "He was born when?" "I think 5 or 4 days ago?" She continued typing.

"Okay. He is due for his hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis and polio shots today." "Okay." "The doctor will be in shortly." The nurse smiled and left the chart on the outside of the door. I went over to baby and tickled his tummy a little. He giggled and started smiling. "Oh you're just a special little guy aren't you?" I cooed.

The doctor came in and I took my seat again. "Hi I'm Dr. Evan" she said holding out a hand for me to shake which I did. "And hello to you too handsome!" She said cooing to baby and shaking his hand as well. "You're here with daddy today?" My eyes traveled down. I knew I was gonna have to tell her. "Uh, Baby here is...well...I found him yesterday abandoned by the back of a school and so I took him in and I just brought him here today to make sure he was fine. That's why his name's baby and why he's a little underweight for a newborn."

The doctor took it all in before giving me a smile. "That's very commendable of you Mr. Styles. You did more for him than anyone else could've." I was proud of that statement. "Thank you. I wish he was my son though." I just said that?

She giggled. "I know it's very easy to get attached." I agreed. "it is." She took out her stethoscope and listened to baby's heart. "Very good." Then she listened to his stomach. "Very good."

"Mr styles, considering your case with baby right now, would you like to take him home today or did you wanna leave him here? I have to ask because you know..." I nodded. "Take him home." Dr Evan nodded and wrote something down. "We'll have to report this to the police and call children services. It's mandatory. But if you were to be interested in fostering or adopting baby then you can provide a word to a agency worker or lawyer. I'll put in a good word if you need it." She winked. That made me hopeful.

She continued the exam and asked me all the questions I could answer like when he eats, and sleeps and if he was fussy or calm most of them time. "I'll be right back with the vaccinations. I have to say Mr styles, when I listened to baby's heart, lungs and stomach....I don't think he would've made it another day if it weren't for you." She smiled. "Thank you!" I graciously said. Tears welled up in my eyes thinking about the actions of mine that save baby's life.

I looked over to baby who was examining the room carefully. Almost with detail as he became fascinated with the curious George stickers. "Yeah, he's funny isn't he?" I cooed. The nurse came back in with 5 shots on a small light pink tray. "Okay Mr styles, could you hold baby's arms please?" I gently intertwined baby's hands with mine. "Okay here comes the first one." Said the nurse after wiping down his thighs with alcohol wipes.

In went one needle followed by a loud cry from baby. My heart broke but i knew that this was the best thing for the vulnerable newborn. "I know baby boy but we gotta do this so you can be healthy." I said sweetly. I couldn't resist pressing sweet big kisses to his chubby cheeks.

That soothed him for a while until the last injection was given. A shriek was released from baby's small toothless mouth and fought back tears. It was painful enough to hear a baby cry, but when that baby.... felt like your own, it hit differently.

After all was done, I scooped him in my arms and hugged him tight. "Shhhh it's all over now." I rubbed his back desperately trying to soothe the little guy's cries. "I'm here for you, it's okay daddy's got you."

What?

I bit my tongue. I didn't mean that, I'm not daddy. It's just Harry or Mr styles.

Maybe not daddy yet. Oh shut up you always think sporadic!

I cleared my throat before setting baby back down in the table. I grabbed the baby bag and my jacket before settling baby in his carrier and then leaving.

"Would you like to make an appointment?" The receptionist asked. "Uh, not right now but I'll call later on." She nodded but I could tell she thought it was strange, I was strange I should say.

We left the office, heading back to the same elevator we came before. We went down to the parking deck and sudden ding! Snapped me out of my thoughts. The elevator doors opened to a mother pushing her disabled son in a wheelchair. I gave a polite smile which she returned.

She didn't think of me as a stranger to the baby I was holding in the carrier. I don't know why but I didn't feel like a stranger either to baby. He didn't feel strange to me despite me only knowing him for two days. I went back to my car with a heavy heart.

"We'll have to notify the police and children services because it's mandatory."

Those words ate at me. I didn't want them coming into my apartment and taking baby away from me.

I loved him.

Yes. I did! From the moment I met him I just couldn't let him go like that. He needed me, I was brought to him and I truly saw him as a priceless gift. Not something you have to pay for to raise. It was here I made a very crucial decision with baby. I was to adopt him.

The next day, children services came by along with the police. I let them in and asked them to take a seat. I brought baby out and set him down in his playpen.

"Thank you very much for welcoming us to your home first off. It has been brought to our attention that you found baby abandoned behind a school and so you took him in and cared for him right?" I nodded. The social worker wrote something down. "You took him to the doctor yesterday for a checkup and you reported your case to Dr Evan?"

"Yes." She wrote something down again. "I'm gonna ask you a few questions is that okay?" I agreed and we started. "Are you interested in adopting baby?" "Of course." "Are you in any relation or do you know any relatives of baby?" I shook my head. "No."

"Anyone in you're house that has criminal activity?" "Nope, it's just me and I've never been to jail or prison."

The social worker wrote something down and smiled. "Well you seem like a good candidate Mr styles. We'll have to take baby now but you still have a chance to adopt him. If you want baby specifically, then you can contact Sunnyside adoption center where baby will be taken and you can call and they'll give you an application and once you complete it and send it back, they'll schedule a meeting with you. The rest of the information is online at Sunnyside adoption center.com."

"Thank you very much." My eyes went to baby who was in his playpen. "Can I say goodbye first?" The social worker nodded and I picked baby up and held him.

"Okay baby this is the end now. I never got to name you or have you for that long but....I still treasure this time I spent with you. I'll try my best to have you again but if I can't..... I'll always love you. You'll always be my baby." His turquoise eyes looked into mine, his soft head with mini bald spots rested against my hand. I kissed his face one last time before giving him away to the social worker.

She smiled along with the two police officers. "Baby is very fortunate. I don't think he would've made it without your love." "Thank you." I said sheepishly. The trio left my apartment and I closed the door after them. I sat on my couch, scanning the room as if you say what just happened?.

Baby's bottle, his crib and clothes lied around the bedroom. Almost like a tornado had came and scattered everything around. I picked up one of his bottles and just... just broke down.

I've never loved anyone as hard or as much as I did baby. All I could see was those sweet little eyes and soft little fine hair. He was a quiet baby who rarely cried unless he wanted something or something was bothering him. Tears dropped on the floor and then on my jeans leaving wet splotches.

Baby. That was all that played on my mind. But it wasn't too late. I was determined to get baby back and adopt him.....no matter how long it took.

#harry styles #dad!harry #dadrry #harry styles imagine #harry styles son #single dad harry #son #adoption #baby #adoptive family #adoptive harry!

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threadsun · 7 months

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i got a 95 :) {drugs are spoken about in this ask so tw drugs i think? that feels right to put}

okay so left to right/top to bottom the characters are: Victoria {Vic}, Zimmi, Jason, McKathy, Johanna, Sam, Richard {Rich}, Jodelle {Jo}, Christine {Chris}, Charlie, Valentine {Val}, MaLeo, Aestheti {Aes}, Bethany {Beth}, Idi, and Cassandra {Cass}

{vic use she/they, zimmi uses xe/she/they, jason uses he/him, mckathy's uses she/yel/yellow, johanna uses they/she, sam uses they/gray/ne/nem/neir, rich uses he/him, jo uses she/they, chris uses they/he/she, charlie uses he/him, val uses she/ix/ixs, maleo uses he/they, aestheti uses she/her, beth uses any, idi uses she/her, and cass uses she/they} sorry for all the pronouns, sometimes people get caught off guard when they're used. also i realized as i was drawing i had given idi and cass the same hair type and that they looked related since they were on the same poster, they aren't i just didn't do cass' half shave TT_TT

vic and zimmi are wives {big in world explanation, but basically married}. they've been together for a long while! vic is pretty energetic and zimmi is the calm type of energy. vic's sister is idi and they have the same eye color from their dad! their moms were platonically together and raised the two as sisters, idi looks up to zimmi a lot and sees xem as a role model!

jason works at a dispensary {good enough real world equivalent} and could be less depressed, he'd be doing better, he's picking up alcoholism from his friend blain {another weird explanation thing} and his type is. gray haired, sleep deprived people with addiction problems who do not view him romantically when he wants romance. guess who his buddy is! lol

mckathy has a boyfriend who is a heroin addict {their anatomy is weird and it's just easier to use real world qualifications, but there is a bigger explanation} and basically does not want to be a father. but mckathy's dream was to be a mom, even if yel had johanna at nineteen, why look a gift horse in the mouth right? she calls johanna a little ladybug and it's soso cute!! mckathy even made their little onesie!

sam's closest friend is jason, he's like their silly little guy. ne's in a relationship with another character named alica and they look very similar {alica is jason's ex as well} alica is aplatonic and aromantic and sam is aro/graysexual {and would call themself a dyke if the word existed in their world} so alica/sam don't call each other partners but do have a relationship {they have sex and hang out}. stoner! that's why neir's eyes are red, another big explanation thing :)

rich/jo/chris are a poly relationship! they're gonna be primary background characters and have stories and stuff, like how rich eventually uses less acid and chris gets less actively antagonistic and a downer about everything and that will reflect in his cigarette brand. jodelle is an astronomer who likes a band called the lily pads and makes friends with another character {her name is bowser :) i like bowser}

charlie is resident sad guy. jason has nothing on charlie. he's my sad wet cat who was born in a cardboard box, he's almost like a purse dog to me. he found out his passion wasn't bringing him happiness and then his dissatisfaction for life turned into anger, and now he's stewing in depression as he tries to figure out what he wants to do in life. he may pick spray painting and graffiti back up at some point, but i don't know yet

val! my lovely valentine! a sex worker {another big explanation} who had her kids taken away by ixs mother soon after they were born and really really wants to meet them. depressed, smoker, my lovely valentine needs a hug! she lives with four roommates who are also like her chosen family/friends, two of which are!

maleo and aes! a happy couple who have been together for years! aes is also a sex worker and became friends with val, cheering her up whenever she can. maleo loves his girlfriend so much it's so cute! maleo works out a lot and works as a bouncer for the usual bar/club that val, aes, jade {i love jade, everyone loves jade}, and bowser. aes had gotten everyone to live together and maleo likes to hang out with bowser to read together

bethany!!! i love bethany!!! she's mute and was born without vocal cords, and she signs way too fast since she's just so energetic and happy all the time. only her family can figure out what she's signing and she can slow it down, but she's just amped. she's very creative and she's going to do sculpting later in life! she's friends with jimothy {one of jasons siblings} and sunsn {secret brother to someone :3c } jimothy is blind so she uses a touch based communication for him as sunsn watches beth sign. she learned how to work out and other bodily healthy stuff from her mom adeline and likes to do down time with her dad timothy, her cousin/sister {stella's parents died when she was young and got adopted to addy and tim} is who she looks up to most of the time as the cool cousin/older sister

idi has chronic pain {stomach and joints} and is usually not in the best mood when it flares up. she has a bracelet for her sister and zimmi, but now that i think about it she should have them for her moms too. idi has one friend, miass, and they sure are... enemies to complicated enemies. idi has a business she's passionate about and wants to make it work out, but it takes a lot of planning and miass is the only one willing to help. they annoy each other and are usually on bad terms, but one day they both blink and they go 'when did we do this?' after making out

cassandra was the second character i had ever made for this world so she has a lot going on. but to get down to it: her mom is pretty disconnected and an apathetic drunk so her mother figure was her aunt fraggie. once she was old enough to be trusted to leave the house by herself she gets a girlfriend, but it's not going to work out, but she does a lot of graffiti and spray painting. she's a bit shy but very tired {mainly at her mother} and is a genuinely good person

~ }i{

Congrats on the grade!!! Also I love the neopronouns they're all very good!! :3

All of your characters sound super cool and the world they're in sounds super interesting imo!!!

#sunshine #asks #18+ only #}i{

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atitarucore · 1 year

Note

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks...

ironically, this is my first ever ask, haha! but, narrowing down all the characters i love is gonna be pretty difficult, so i’ll try to make it the first characters that come to mind, i suppose.

in no particular order, here are the characters i love dearly! for the sake of not being bias toward one series, i tried to only pick one character from each franchise. i also tried to keep it as spoiler-free as i possibly can!

[continue below cut]

1. HARUHI FUJIOKA (ouran high school host club)

when i first watched ohshc and haruhi said, "it's more important for a person to be recognized for who they are rather than what sex they are," i took that and RAN with it.

i think the reason i love haruhi so much is because of our similarities—from personality, to zodiac sign, and even down to favorite food(s) and subject(s). maybe i'm just projecting though, LOL.

2. UKYO SAIONJI (dr. stone)

why is this man so cute.

in all seriousness, i think i love ukyo so much because of his personality. i've always had a soft spot for pacifistic and gentle characters, and truly, he is the ultimate gentleman! such a sweetheart :( i wish to hold him in my arms

3. HIYORI SUZUMI (honeyworks)

my GIRL!! THE GIRLBOSS!!

i'll essentially repeat what i've said before in a previous post—similar to haruhi, i hold hiyori dear to my heart because of her resemblance to me. i admire her hardworking, optimistic, yet still clumsy demeanor. she just like me, fr fr! i think she's just an awesome character and deserves the world.

4. ISHIGAMI YU (kaguya-sama: love is war)

you know, for someone who loves kaguya-sama, i feel like i don't talk about him that much. ishigami yuu is my favorite character in the series primarily for his outstanding character development! i just... love how akasaka writes him, and i simply adore his relationships with everyone in the student council.

did i cry during EVERY season of kaguya sama? yes, yes i did. did i cry during his backstory moment? absolutely.

5. ANGELA (lobotomy corporation/library of ruina)

woah! didn't expect this one on here, did you?

it's sort of hard picking my favorite character from project moon games. even after thinking about it long and hard, i don't even know if angela is my favorite. even so, there's no denying that she's definitely scored a position as a character i love—just like ishigami, her character development really struck a chord in me!

i could go on and on about lobotomy corporation/library of ruina, so perhaps i'll cut it short there...

6. REIGEN ARATAKA (mob psycho 100)

he was born in a wet cardboard box all alone (affectionate)

doesn't really qualify for any of the twitter polls he participated in, but still managed to win somehow. honestly? despite him being a con artist, i think reigen truly does have a heart of gold. i was debating whether or not i wanted to put shigeo or reigen on here, but ultimately decided reigen because he's like... cute in a pathetic sort of way

7. SAYORI (doki doki literature club)

i'm surprised i've gotten so far without mentioning my preference of the childhood friend trope! i think it's a super cute trope, despite it's... tendency to not be the winning relationship in most shows.

i'm not sure what about sayori intrigued me so much—perhaps it was the way her struggles were written in a very real manner, despite her very cliche genki personality? regardless of whatever it is, i think she's my favorite ddlc character.

8. ALPHONSE ELRIC (fullmetal alchemist: brotherhood)

i just have to say that finishing fma:b ruined my life for like four days. i was in TEARS.

as i mentioned with ukyo, i really like gentle, caring characters, and alphonse definitely fits that category! he's calm, he's compassionate, and he has the strongest affection for stray cats. i really enjoyed his dynamic with the other characters, especially with edward. something about close-knit sibling bonds... man.

9. LLOYD GARMADON (ninjago)

is lloyd my favorite ninjago character? probably not. is he a character i really love from that series? yes!

i have my own opinions regarding the characterization ninjago gives its cast (sometimes it's... iffy), but regardless, i've always liked lloyd's character—from season one, where he was just a lil kid trying to make his name known, to now! season... fifteen?!

even after all these seasons, i still don't know what the element of energy means..!

10. KOROSENSEI (assassination classroom)

my favorite anime is assassination classroom!

i think this can be attributed to korosensei, who fundamentally changed my life when i was younger. he's empathic and observant, willing to do almost anything to help his students—and that stuck with me for the rest of my life.

being able to learn and grow alongside class e-3 is an experience i'll never forget.

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cosmosees · 1 year

Note

gamesoft and rockoon also

FOOOR this. okay. gonna put this under a readmore since its gonna get long.

GAMESOFT:

favorite thing about them: i do love so much about her but being the first canonically transgender character i was ever exposed to will always make her hold a special place in my heart...so important to me

least favorite thing about them: not necessarily about Them but they didnt get nearly as much screentime as they deserved. let them be mysterious and knowing goddamit

favorite line: nylocke, dragon of eternal altruism....please log off now, and stay safe 🥺

brotp: ZETTO....ZETTO KIRB WHOEVER YOU WANNA SAY. they have so fucking much to talk about being the only two bitches in the friendgroup who Know and feel the pain...they need to interact more soo bad

otp:

notp: as much as i love kizuna and support womens wrongs i feel like they would NOT work together romantically. maybe as friends at some point but thats after a LOT of growth on kizunas end

random headcanon: i think gs Can sleep but doesnt really need to? but when she does she always likes to chill at base with a friend while shes doing it to feel safe especially posteries. i cant imagine she sleeps in realworld time tho its like 30 minutes at most

unpopular opinion: i dont really...know if i have one? honestly i feel like shes not a very divisive character. i think the most i can say is that even though as of avz shes definitely OKAY the fact that her getting to live at the end of the main series was at ALL up for debate in universe is insane to me. weve established time and time again she is very much a living and sentient being yknow...

song i associate with them: i listen to this specific cover of kokoro and think abt her a lot tbh

favorite image of them:

NNNOW for rockoon.

favorite thing about them: EASILY one of the most welcome 180 character turns in the show. i adore the fact that he was given so much depth and a whole arc n shit....AND hard reset. amazing little dude

least favorite thing about them: ...honestly same thing as gamesoft. not enough screentime. i get it more with him because hes a secondary character but he is my emotional support pookie....

favorite line: im gonna be real i feel like this is fucking impossible every word that comes out of his mouth in any context is gold

brotp: YOU KNOOOOOWWW its gotta be him and archy. his little dude who was born in a wet cardboard box all alone. the little mipy....the little woowoomeowmeow.....

otp: i wasnt very shipping minded when i was younger into tome when tai said that he shipped him with splat i was like thats awesome ill adopt it into my belief system.

notp: doubling....do i thibk they should have a beautiful sad internet dude reconciliation arc? yes of course. but i cant see em romantically...

random headcanon: i know he did animal jam scams when he was younger....i know he would teach archy how to do animal jam scams.....but archy would feel bad about doing it and hes like okay no more scams for me i have seen the error of my ways

unpopular opinion: again idk if hes really that divisive but hes honestly one of the best characters in the show...up there with the main guys to me. like i said insane development and a surprisingly strong emotional core for what anyone starting the show for the first time would have assumed to be a one-off joke character

song i associate with them: when i was younger i had a whole fight scene to dummy! from the ut ost planned out for him but i have never completed it. </3

favorite picture of them:

#terrain of magical expertise #rockoon #gamesoft tome #cosmo.txt

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thornedrose44 · 2 years

Note

Just happened upon your Superdog AU and it's absolutely beautiful, it made my heart burst. Thanks for writing such heartwarming stories!

Hey!

Thank you so much! I loved writing that fic and doing something a bit different in a Supercorp fic. Argos is now very dear to my heart.

I will try to keep up writing heartwarming stories as much as possible!

Superdog AU for anyone interested:

Read on AO3

Argos’ early life was not a pleasant experience.

Firstly, he had yet to be gifted his true name by Saviour, and as such was referred to as ‘Get Lost’ or ‘Eww Don’t Touch It’ or most commonly ‘Shoo’. Argos or Shoo, at the time, was born into a litter of five others. He was the smallest of his siblings and, subsequently, rarely managed to push his way through his stronger kin to receive his mother’s milk.

It is unsurprising, therefore, that Shoo’s first memory was that of hunger.

The next was that of cold.

His first home was under a pile of wet cardboard, next to a large dumpster. His mother would disappear for long stretches of the day leaving him cuddled with his siblings who would mercilessly shove him with kicking hindlegs to the fringes of their warm pile. Eventually, Shoo sought refuge under a wad of discarded magazines that had been kept somewhat dry by a large box that had once housed a television. It was this need to seek warmth and shelter elsewhere that meant when the group of people in overalls marked with ‘National City Dog Shelter’ across their backs came and took his mother and siblings away in a large van, Shoo was left behind.

That’s when his feelings of hunger and cold were joined by the last emotion that would mark Shoo’s life before he became Argos… loneliness.

Argos preferred not to think about his time as Shoo, his time before Saviour came into his life and ensured he would never be hungry, cold or lonely ever again. It happened though, on occasions when it rained particularly hard or when he was in a particularly dark street. He was inevitably dragged back to his time as Shoo when his skin itched - unable to grow his comforting white fur - when people turned away from him in disgust and when he barely had the strength to stand. Thankfully, whenever he was reminded of his melancholic past, Saviour and her mate were there to rub his belly and kiss his head and call him a Good Boy until he fell asleep spread across both of their laps.

Saviour found him by accident.

See Shoo, at this time, knew better than to be seen by people, knew that they shouted mean things at him and would clap their hands and stomp their feet to scare him away from the somewhat dry nest he had made. But on that particular day - the day that would forever change the course of his life and give birth to Argos - his curiosity had gotten the best of him.

He had heard crying just outside the pile of trash that he was hiding amongst.

When Shoo had ventured to poke his head out of his little nest that was the moment he saw Saviour for the first time - though at this point he had no way of knowing she would become Saviour and as such she was just Woman to him.

Woman was leaning against the wall of the alley that Shoo’s trash pile was situated in, she was wearing dark blue trousers and a cuddly looking jumper that Shoo wished he had to wrap around himself. There was a familiar smell to the Woman that Shoo had learned to associate with aggressive people late at night, yet it wasn’t as strong on Woman as it was on those that taunted Shoo for fun. It was a light accompaniment to the Woman’s natural scent that was mostly floral mixed with something more grounded and earthy like grease or burning electrics - it was a scent that Shoo found welcoming in a way he had never experienced before.

The Woman was crying into her hands and looked exactly how Shoo felt all the time… lonely. No one should feel how Shoo felt. It was a wretched state of being and Shoo didn’t want her to be called ‘Get Lost’ or ‘Eww’ either. Maybe Shoo could make her feel a little less lonely to prevent her from becoming like him.

It was this thought that had Shoo gathering what small amount of strength he had left to lift himself up onto shaky, spindly legs and shuffle slowly out of his hidey hole. The Woman didn’t even notice his approach, her sadness so potent it blinded and deafened her to the rest of the world. Shoo approached tentatively easing down onto his haunches once he was close enough. He barely came up to the Woman’s mid calf, and as carefully as he could, using his last bit of energy, he nudged the woman’s leg with his nose.

The yelp of surprise and shock accompanied by how the woman’s leg jerked back had Shoo immediately turning to scamper back to his nest only to find his legs buckling under the stress and effort. Fear rocketed through him, making his small heart thunder in his chest at the same pace as a hummingbird’s wings.

He shouldn’t have approached the Woman.

He should have stayed in his small damp safe haven and not added scared to his permanent list of hungry, cold and lonely.

He yelped and whined, desperately trying to crawl his way to safety when he felt the gentlest of touches on his aching back followed by the softest of sounds.

“It’s okay, you’re okay. You’re okay. I’m sorry I scared you.”

The tremble that had been vibrating through Shoo’s entire body decreased in intensity. No one had ever spoken to him like that. He had seen other humans talking to each other like that - specifically Big Humans, like Woman, speaking to Smaller Humans - and it had always made him wistful for the warmth of that tone, believing that it would ease his coldness and loneliness if it was directed at him for even the most fleeting of moments.

It was then that Shoo felt his raw, itching body become ensconced in something warm and soft that reminded him of those few occasions where he had been nestled against his mother’s body - a quick glance revealed that Woman had wrapped him up in the jumper he had longed for only a few moments ago. Next thing Shoo knew he was being lifted into the air - his fear skyrocketing to a whole new level before he was pressed against Woman’s body, safely cradled in her arms and surrounded by her welcoming scent.

“I’m going to take you somewhere to get help, okay?” Woman murmured, tucking the jumper more securely around Shoo’s bare - ugly as it was regularly called by passersby - form so that his vision was limited and his panic could be more controlled.

He didn’t really know where Woman was taking him but he trusted her.

She had made him not-cold and not-lonely for the first time in his short life. He would go wherever she took him and it was with that final thought that Shoo slipped into unconsciousness.

XXX

Shoo didn’t really understand what happened next and even years later Argos still couldn’t quite make full sense of his blurred and disjointed memories of that night, though he was sure of one thing… he was dying and most definitely would not have made if not for Saviour’s timely intervention.

He remembered the hum of an engine, and being nudged this way and that by lateral forces as Woman sped through National City in her car. He remembered Woman’s voice changing from gentle and sweet to sharp and direct, though the latter wasn’t directed at Shoo but at a small box she held tight to her ear.

He remembered being lifted gently and placed on a cool table - a new person that smelled too clean and too much like animals all at once was there moving Shoo’s limbs this way and that in a controlled manner that wasn’t cruel but wasn’t warm like Woman either. He remembered the too clean/too scented man shaking his head, his face obscured by a piece of fabric over his mouth whilst his hands, which had been covered by bright purple skin, were shed back to their original dark colour as he stepped away from the table… away from Shoo.

He remembered Woman’s face turning red - looking angry like those that were mean to Shoo in the street whilst simultaneously looking even lonelier than she did previously. Shoo had wanted to soothe her like she had done him, wrap her in his own jumper if he had one to offer but he didn’t so all he could do was nudge his dry nose against her tightly clenched fists and lick gently at the whitened knuckles.

He remembered the anger draining away from Woman, remembered her jaw clenching, remembered her lifting him up and cradling him to her chest as she swept out of the room leaving the cool table and the too clean man behind.

He remembered another car journey that ended with him on a padded table and Woman whispering more words of comfort as he struggled to keep his eyes open despite her begging and pleading for him to hold on. He tried to, he tried so hard - not wanting to let down the first person to show him kindness.

He remembered a sharp flash of pain that was there one moment and gone the next and then and then…

He remembered nothing… just blissful sleep.

XXX

When Shoo awoke (after the night he should have died), it was to find himself in a bright room curled up on the most cuddly of blankets, Woman asleep on a couch nearby, her body angled towards Shoo and pale hand brushing the white floor as if she had reached out to Shoo without conscious thought. The first few days in Shoo’s new life - the transitional period before he truly became Argos - was filled with days spent slumbering away recouping all the energy he had expended over the course of his short life. He was fed well for the first time too, nursed with carefully controlled amounts of water, milk and food by Woman who spent hours researching what to give him on a glowing box.

Woman was with him the entire time.

She was there encouraging him when he finally managed to get back on his feet and wobble around the white space that was this Woman’s nest. She was there bathing him in warm water, rubbing a heavily scented lotion into his skin that eased away the itching and enabled a soft white fuzz to grow and cover his body. She was there smiling broadly, eyes sparkling with happiness when Shoo’s tail moved without his consent when she reappeared into his view after disappearing from sight.

She was there lifting him onto her lap when she was sleepy, hands providing comfort and affection that Shoo didn’t know he had been so starved for until it was granted so freely and often.

“You’re doing so much better.” Woman remarked as Shoo padded confidently after her as she moved around the space. “I should probably get you a proper home.” Woman murmured, her voice turning sad again in a way that Shoo hated.

He didn’t know what a ‘proper home’ was but he figured it couldn’t be a good thing.

Shoo assumed the woman’s sadness was related to the repeated buzzes and flashes that came from the small glowing box she always had with her. Woman would regularly glance at it, a harsh frown appearing whilst her green eyes turned pained and hurt - reminding Shoo all too much of how he would feel when his siblings would carelessly kick him aside or when people would yell and call him ‘Shoo’ like it was a terrible thing to be.

Woman never called him Shoo. She called him ‘Good Boy’ and ‘Sweetie’.

Shoo liked those names far more and would regularly nudge Woman’s hand or leg seeking out a scritch or a term of endearment.

Shoo knew, though, that things were coming to a head one way or another - that life couldn’t be this good to Shoo for this long without something happening. Shoo knew it was the day when Woman took Shoo out of her nest and was unable to meet Shoo’s beseeching gaze. They travelled in the car and Shoo whined the entire time seeing how Woman’s cheeks were marked with tears.

The building they arrived at was familiar purely because of the recognisable words stamped across the door - ‘National City Dog Shelter’. Woman was taking him to the same place as Shoo’s family which merely made Shoo dig his paws into the concrete causing Woman to come to a sharp and sudden halt, her arm jerked backwards by the string connecting the two of them together.

Woman blinked in surprise, tugging on the string that was anchored to Shoo’s body only to find there to be absolutely no give.

“Hey boy, what’s wrong?” Woman coaxed, kneeling down next to Shoo’s stiff body. “This is a good place I promise. They’re going to find you a proper home.”

Shoo didn’t want a proper home - he wanted Woman’s nest.

Shoo didn’t want the family that kicked him and made him go cold and hungry - he wanted Woman’s warm touch and comforting affection.

“Come on, I can’t-” Woman shook her head, swallowing thickly to keep back sobs. “I’m not good at this. I’m not good for you. I’m a…” Woman chuckled, harsh and cruel to herself, “I’m a Luthor.”

Shoo didn’t know what a Luthor was but if Woman was one it had to be a good thing, of that he was certain.

“I don’t… even my best friend doesn’t trust me with… anything . How can I be trusted to look after you? You would be better off with someone like… like Kara or Nia or Alex or… hell, even Brainy.”

Shoo didn’t want a Kara or a Nia or an Alex and he especially didn’t like the sound of a Brainy.

“I can’t- I want to keep you so badly.” Woman whispered, hand reaching out to scratch behind Shoo’s right ear in the way he loved.

Then keep me , Shoo begged through a pleading whimper, turning his head to lick at Woman’s fingers.

“I work too much, I have no friends, I… I…”

You’re warm and kind , Shoo insisted, you saved me .

“I… I…” Woman fell silent as she stared into Shoo’s eyes.

Shoo tried his hardest to make them big and desperate knowing it was the surest way to get himself additional treats even after Woman had said ‘no more’.

Keep me, please.

“Okay, we’re going home.” Woman announced suddenly, green eyes turning clear and determined as she made a decision, bending down to lift Shoo up and head back towards the car. Shoo’s tail thumped joyfully as he nestled his head on Woman’s - no… Saviour’s shoulder. He stuck his tongue out at the flat grey building that would have given him a proper home and the spot where he had made his stand - a spot that now, strangely enough, had four clear cracks in the pavement where his paws had just been…

XXX

Things were different now that Saviour’s nest was now permanently his nest too and he was far more mobile - able to sprint and jump when a mere step had sapped him of all his energy.

Saviour was more firm now, wanting him to learn the rules of their nest which he was eager to do.

He quickly learned that Saviour didn’t like him peeing in the nest, and taught him to head towards the nest’s door whenever he needed to relieve himself so she could take him outside. He also learned that he wasn’t allowed to eat the pointy things Saviour put on her feet even though they fit really well in his jaw - she bought him bright coloured bouncy things instead that he was allowed to destroy to his heart’s content.

He was no longer kept only in the nest, his returning strength meaning Saviour took him for long walks around the city and the park that was filled with other animals and people that treated him with kind curiosity. He was now also brought along to a separate building marked with ‘L-Corp’ on the front of it for most of the day where Saviour met with lots of people who called her ‘Miss Luthor’ and shot odd looks at Saviour whenever she patted his head. There was a woman who was nearly always sat outside Saviour’s daytime nest (as he had taken to calling it) that Saviour called Jess, who snuck him treats and kept him company whenever Saviour had to disappear into the large building.

The biggest change, however, was his name.

He went through many different ones to start with, Saviour trying to identify the most suitable one and unhappy with all of her suggestions.

“Rover? Too cliche.” Saviour would throw out there only to shoot down less than a second later. “Maybe Oliver as in Oliver Twist…” Saviour would then tap her fingers on the arm of the sofa as Shoo merely nuzzled into her side more. “I don’t really like human names for dogs… Maybe Rex or Lassie.”

Shoo didn’t like either of those and huffed out a disgruntled breath in reply.

“Okay so not Rex or Lassie. Let me think.” Saviour hummed, the finger tapping coming to a sudden stop preceding a half muttered, “What about… Argos ?”

Shoo lifted his head at that - that was an interesting name.

“Odysseus’ dog - loyal to a fault and patient beyond measure.” Saviour ruminated.

Now that sounded good, Shoo - no, Argos - thought, I’m loyal to Saviour and I can work on my patience.

“Hmmm…” Saviour turned her head to meet Argos’ keen eyes, “How does Argos sound?”

Argos barked happily in reply.

XXX

Argos did not like this ‘Kara’ being.

She smelled nice, Argos would give her that much, but she made Saviour seriously sad and didn’t even seem to realise. She stopped by daytime nest nearly everyday - Argos’ keen hearing - that seemed to be improving with every passing day - able to pick up Kara’s quick, eager pace as she approached Saviour’s inner sanctum only to be turned away by a firm Jess (who Argos now understood to be Saviour’s Gatekeeper). Kara would even stop by Saviour’s actual nest, knocking twice clear and plaintive only for Saviour to usher Argos and herself to bed for an early night.

Saviour did let Kara into the nests occasionally and Argos did not like it when she did. Saviour was awkward and clearly uncomfortable - the despair that Argos had seen the night they first met bubbling below the surface of fraudulent smiles. Kara knew something was wrong, she was astute enough for that, her bright face creased with confusion and concern, her movements stiff and uncertain in contrast to her light, almost floating footsteps.

Argos would always remember the first time he properly met Kara.

She smelled sweet - like the treats that Saviour rarely allowed herself to indulge in - with something hidden beneath it all, like heavy smoke and fire and something Argos had never smelt before… something new and alien . Her expression was bright and her smile the widest that Argos had ever seen on a person; but her eyes were pained in much the same way that Saviour’s were - clearly they were connected in the same way that Argos was to Saviour… loneliness.

(Considering the shared connection, Argos wondered why that had ceased to be enough between the two of them, why Kara couldn’t see that she merely increased Saviour's loneliness. Argos promised he would never do that. That he would never hurt Saviour and would always protect her in the same way she protected him.)

When Kara entered Saviour’s daytime nest, her gaze was so fixed on Saviour that she didn’t notice Argos sat there in his basket by the sofa for at least five minutes. Those five minutes watching Saviour’s loneliness and despair increase, sensing her growing distress was enough to make Argos hate Kara in a way that he had never hated a person.

Eventually Kara saw him, her expression going through a gamut of reactions before settling on excitement.

“You got a dog?” Kara asked in delight, already forgetting how Saviour had shifted quickly out of their hug only a minute ago.

“More like he got me…” Saviour joked, the loneliness in her green eyes receding to something soft and fond as she looked over at the now rather fluffy white dog that was growing faster than either of them could keep up with. Argos quirked his head to one side at Saviour, jaw falling open in a happy pant that he sent her way.

“What’s his name?”

“Argos.” Saviour declared and Argos couldn’t help how his chest puffed up so that the gold tag etched with his name and attached to his red leather collar glinted in the sunlight.

“Oh, he’s adorable.” Kara cooed, approaching Argos with an outstretched hand.

Argos immediately growled at Kara, warning her to stay back, uninterested in coming into contact with someone that had hurt Saviour in any way, shape or form.

Kara and Saviour both did a double take at that.

“Did he-” Kara murmured, brows drawing tight together as her hand retreated to her side.

“He’s never done that before.” Saviour said. “Has a dog ever growled at you?” Saviour questioned directing this to Kara.

“No…” Kara replied slowly.

Well, clearly all other dogs are stupid , Argos thought haughtily to himself.

Kara didn’t stay much longer after that, Saviour was starting to make repeated gestures towards her large glowing box that she spent most of the day staring into which made it clear Kara’s time was up. Once the blonde alien had left, Saviour came and sat on the sofa opposite Argos where she eyed him seriously.

“She’s not a bad person, you know?” Saviour revealed, having known exactly what had led to Argos growling. “She… is a hero, she saves people.”

No, Saviour saves people.

“She just…” Saviour sighed, picking at a thread on her restrictive black skirt. “She’s saved me many times before.”

But she also hurt you , Argos insisted, padding over to Saviour to rest his head on her knee knowing it brought her comfort after a long day.

“I just don’t know why I’m never good enough…” Saviour confessed, curling her body forward to rest her head against Argos’.

You’re good enough for me.

XXX

The eventual fallout between Saviour and Kara was heartbreaking in a way Saviour had never seen before.

Shoo had seen people argue, had seen them scream and punch and kick. He had seen terrible things but watching Saviour and Kara cry and sob at each other hurt Argos’ heart in a profound way. Saviour wanted to cause pain to Kara with vicious words, that was without doubt, but underneath that rather superficial layer they wanted the same thing.

Each other.

It was obvious in how their fingers twitched at their sides - eager to reach out.

It was clear in how they couldn’t bear to make eye contact, couldn’t bear to see that which was no longer theirs.

It was apparent in how they both glanced back at each other when Kara, finally clad in bright colours, flew off the balcony.

They wanted each other but had no idea how to get just that.

All Argos could do after it was all over was curl up next to Saviour on her bed and let his white fur be used to catch her tears.

Saviour was sad all the time once Kara stopped coming around which led to Argos sticking to her side like glue. He nudged her with his nose and tugged at her clothes forcing her to take him for their usual walks and see the world. He made her laugh with silly antics like chasing his tail and tapping his feet excitedly whenever she got up. He brought pictures of Sam and Ruby over to her, encouraging her to phone them and invite them to visit - Argos liked it when they visited, Ruby snuck him extra treats and Sam made Saviour laugh loudly into the night.

Kara, or Supergirl as Saviour occasionally called her, would still fly by their two nests frequently (sometimes every hour of the day and into the night) - keeping out of sight of Saviour.

Argos, though, knew she was there. Her clothing and hair were different but her scent didn’t change and Argos could smell her from miles away.

Saviour improved over time, re-found her equilibrium and that unfaltering kindness that had saved Argos. She was still sad every now and again in much the same way Argos got sad when he remembered Shoo but it was a nostalgic sadness that Argos could do little to aid.

XXX

It became steadily apparent to Saviour that Argos was not a… normal dog.

He could hear Saviour’s heartbeat, could hear her whenever she disappeared into the twisting corridors of their daylight nest, could hear her stir with nightmares in the dead of night that had Argos nudging her gently awake with a wet nose on her cheek.

Argos could run faster than all the other dogs at the park, it was then that Saviour started to truly take notice - when Argos outran a recently retired greyhound for a fuzzy tennis ball - and Argos began to understand that maybe he wasn’t like other dogs anymore.

He destroyed his toys far quicker than expected, so quickly that the young woman at the pet store had stared in horror at the mangled, barely recognisable, red toy that was meant to be one of the sturdiest available when Saviour had presented it back to the store only a day after purchasing it. It was this look of abject horror that prompted Saviour to make a quick escape with Argos and declare on the car journey back to the nest that she would make her own range of pet toys.

Saviour began to assess him then by giving him new toys and recording how long, on her glowing box, it took for Argos to snap it in half or deform it beyond recognition.

The definitive nail in the coffin of normality came when Saviour finally saw how Argos had been sneaking extra treats whenever her back was turned. Saviour stored Argos’ favourite treats on the top shelf in her kitchen, far out of reach even if Argos stood on his hind legs.

Saviour came out of her bedroom early one morning to find her rather large white dog floating in the air nose buried within the open pack of treats on the top shelf.

XXX

“I need your-” Saviour began only to cut off as Kara stepped through Saviour’s front door. “Are you… um… wearing odd shoes?” Saviour inquired, all her panic evaporating in an instant as her gaze honed in on Kara’s unmatched footwear: one a flat, open-toe pink shoe, the other a red converse.

“Uh… yeah…” Kara replied, ruefully rubbing the back of her neck, “I seem to have been robbed.”

“What?”

“But only my shoes. Only one of each pair to be exact… so, I only have odd shoes.” Kara explained, expression equal parts pinched and perplexed. “I keep buying new ones but one shoe always goes missing....”

“Huh…” Saviour exhaled and Argos could feel her looking at him accusingly out of the corner of her eye.

Argos moved his head this way and that; looking everywhere around the room but at Saviour and Kara which for some reason only made Saviour narrow her gaze further at him.

“I think I know who the culprit is…” Saviour revealed with a sigh, crossing her arms and jerking her chin towards Argos who felt not even a tiny bit of shame for his actions.

“Uhh… what?” Kara laughed in disbelief. “You think… Argos stole all my shoes?”

Argos smirked at the blonde.

“I mean he does looks rather smug but… how on Earth do you think-”

“He can fly.” Saviour announced, shocking Kara to stunned silence. “He’s also superstrong, superfast and I think he has super hearing - he always warns me well in advance when people I don’t like are on their way.”

“He barks whenever I flyby…”

“Exactly.” Saviour agreed, causing Kara to wince and deflate with the obvious inference.

“I didn’t mean-”

“It’s fine.” Kara said brusquely, though her jaw clenched and her eyes gleamed with held back tears. “It’s… I like that he protects you. That you have someone.”

“Yeah.” Saviour muttered and the room fell into an awkward silence.

Argos barked, thumping his tail loudly to bring them back on track.

“I used the Harun-El on him.” Saviour whispered, bending down to invite Argos into her arms; the white dog didn’t hesitate to zip over to her in the flash of an eye.

“You did what?!” Kara bellowed, prompting Argos to growl at her, reminding the blonde that any threat to Saviour would not be tolerated, especially not in their nests.

“He was dying.” Saviour whispered brokenly. “He was dying and the vet couldn’t do anything and I had just lost Lex... and…” Saviour sobbed, burying her face into Argos’ thick white fur, “and I had… just lost you . He was a puppy… alone and cold and I… I couldn’t lose anything else.”

“Oh, Lena…” Kara soothed, slowly kneeling beside a crying Saviour. “It’s okay, it’s okay.”

Kara met Argos’ protective gaze with a soft, pleading one of her own. It was then, listening to the way Kara’s heart raced with the desperate need to be close to Saviour, the way her words were filled with affection and how her blue eyes shone with love that Argos reassessed the alien.

Argos dipped his head, showing that it was okay for Kara to approach.

Kara didn’t hesitate once given permission, arms reaching out to sweep Saviour up into a hug that reminded Argos of how Saviour had cradled Shoo to her chest all those months ago.

“I’m sorry, Lena. I am so sorry.” Kara murmured into Saviour’s dark hair and Argos could hear the sincerity of her words. “I am so sorry. You never lost me, not for a second. I let you down, I know but I was scared. I was so scared of losing you. I couldn’t- I couldn’t lose you.”

Kara started to cry then, her tears just as fervent and fierce as Saviour’s who, in turn, reached out for Kara - their arms holding each other close as they sought comfort. Argos watched on, nudging Saviour and Kara every now and again to provide his own support.

XXX

“I’ll train him.” Kara announced once their tears had run dry and they had moved from the floor to the sofa.

Saviour and Argos shared a look at that.

“Hey!” Kara squawked, affronted. “I trained Nia and she turned out fine.”

“Are you comparing training Nia to-”

“No!!” Kara refuted, face turning red, “I just meant… that I have experience.”

“Kara…” Saviour began as gently as possible, “Alex told me about Jules-”

“Jules was a goldfish with suicidal tendencies!”

“I’m just saying…” Saviour trailed off.

Kara glared at the two of them, “I can totally train him!”

“Okay, if you say so…” Saviour challenged, arching an intimidating eyebrow at the alien that Argos could hear made Kara’s heart skip a beat.

“I do say so.” Kara declared, picking up the gauntlet without hesitation. “Just you wait and see! We’ll show her, won’t we Argos?”

Argos grinned in response, brown eyes already twinkling with mischief.

XXX

Argos would never admit it but he enjoyed flying with Kara, swooping round buildings and performing barrel rolls. He liked how she laughed so loud, free and full of joy whenever Argos managed to spin around her. He was starting to understand why Saviour had kept Kara around so much when it so obviously caused her pain.

Saviour and Kara’s relationship steadily rebuilt over a number of coffees spent talking about Argos of all things. Saviour shared stories from when he had first settled in their nest and was still learning the rules, sharing photos of his growth that she hadn’t shown to Kara previously. Kara, meanwhile, regaled Saviour with in-depth descriptions of Argos’ power training lessons - bigging up Argos’ exploits and achievements knowing compliments of Argos were a surefire way to win Saviour over. Argos rolled his eyes at the exaggerations but enjoyed the fuss he received from Saviour in response.

The coffees developed into lunches into dinners into sleepovers.

After a mere handful of months it was like Kara had practically moved into their nest whilst Argos could now fly almost as well as Kara’s alter ego and re-warm Saviour’s coffee with his newly developed heat vision for her whenever she got distracted by her glowing box for too long.

Argos’ trust in Kara also grew so much that whenever Saviour was having a bad day - due to a meeting where someone had spat Luthor at her or when Saviour’s mother had called - Argos jumped from the balcony and followed Kara’s unique scent to wherever she was. It didn’t matter if she was at her own (less used) nest or that industrious concrete building marked DEO, he merely grabbed her cape by his teeth and dragged her across the city before depositing her in a heap in front of Saviour, his tail wagging proudly at retrieving just the right thing to cheer her up.

XXX

Argos knew there were people out there that didn’t like Saviour, but they were wrong and their opinion was invalid . Whenever someone was mean or tried to be aggressive with Saviour, Argos made his presence known by stepping slow and deliberate over to Saviour’s side, shoulders hunched forward and head low, ready to bare teeth if his intimidating posture wasn’t sufficient deterrence.

Kara, likewise, puffed up her chest and lifted her chin if she was present, resulting in Argos and Kara performing a wall of protection around Saviour.

Argos knew that people didn’t like Saviour but he’d never seen someone actively try to hurt her.

The day that he did though changed everything and gave Argos a new name.

He was out flying with Kara, zipping between skyscrapers - Saviour was meeting a number of people and had been unable to take Argos for their standard afternoon walk prompting Kara to take him flying instead - when he heard Saviour’s heartbeat shoot up in tempo.

Argos and Kara came to an immediate halt in the air, losing all speed as their ears tuned in beyond Saviour’s heartbeat to her surroundings.

Argos didn’t understand the shouts pervading his daytime nest but he understood the feeling behind them - Shoo had heard that tone often from people who wished to cause harm. Kara and him rocketed through the air, both breaking the rule Kara had instilled in him of not going too fast.

What happened next was a blur of instinct and trained lessons - the instinct to help and protect that Saviour had nurtured in him and the lessons of control and carefulness that Kara had. There were four men: two holding Saviour and two guarding the door - utterly failing to take into consideration the balcony that Argos and Kara burst through in a shower of glass.

Immediately, Kara threw one of the door guards against a wall with a blast of freeze breath whilst Argos kicked the other with his hind legs to land on top of the one Kara had dealt with. Kara and Argos then zoomed over to the last two attackers, their movements seamlessly synchronised after countless hours twirling around each other in the sky and growing to understand each other in Saviour’s nest. Kara restrained one easily whilst Argos zipped between her legs to snap in half the gun the other attacker was raising to use against Saviour. Once disarmed, Kara and Argos hoisted all four between them and flew them to the nearest police station.

It was all over in the space of twenty seconds but it was the longest twenty seconds of Argos’ life - nearly losing the most important person in your life would do that to you.

The moment that Argos and Kara were back in Saviour’s daytime nest, Saviour was wrapping her arms around the two of them. Pressing grateful kisses to Argos’ head and Kara’s cheek on endless repeat.

Argos realised then as he was pressed between the two women that Kara was trembling in much the same way that he was - the fear of harm befalling Saviour had wrecked them in equal parts and it was then that he finally grasped what was going on between Saviour and Kara.

The way that Saviour and Kara’s heart rates would tick up whenever they were together.

The way that Kara’s cheeks would flush pink with every kiss that Saviour gratefully pressed against them.

The way that being apart for too long would make both of them melancholic and lonely.

It was love at its deepest and most profound.

Argos as gently as he could - in much the same way Shoo had one rainy night in an alley - nudged Saviour with his nose. He lifted his head, dodged a kiss, and pressed his nose to Saviour’s cheek encouraging her head to turn further than before so that her lips pressed against Kara’s instead of her flushed cheek.

The second their lips connected, everything went still.

Argos slowly drifted away and settled on his bed to watch what happened next.

Saviour was the first to pull away, green eyes wide with shock, mouth moving up and down nervously.

“I… I’m sorry, Argos-” Saviour began to stammer only for Kara to place a hand on the back of Saviour’s neck, lightly pulling her closer and reconnecting their lips.

Argos watched for a while but they kept their mouths pressed against each other for a long time, only pausing for breathy sighs and whispers of appreciation. Argos stretched out on his bed and settled down for a nap, though not before Kara shot him a wink and mouthed ‘Good Boy’ to him.

XXX

People were calling him ‘Superdog’ on the news following the attempted attack on Saviour.

Argos didn’t like it as much as he did Argos but it seemed to make Kara happy and Argos had quickly learned that anything that made Kara happy also made Saviour happy.

“Do you want to do what Kara does?” Saviour asked him not long after the attack that had seen a significant change in the status quo - Kara was now almost always in the nest and had taken to sleeping in Saviour’s bed.

Argos cocked his head to the side at the question - the large glowing box on the screen showing Kara fighting people that seemed hellbent on hurting her and others.

“Kara stops bad people like the ones that tried to hurt me.” Saviour murmured, running her hands through Argos’ fur trying to calm him down as he stood at attention - eyes fixed on the glowing screen and ears listening to the fight across the city. “You can go help.” Saviour offered.

Argos felt something then on his back, something shifting down from his collar up to his tail. He turned his head to see a long piece of fabric and Saviour securing a new tag to his collar emblazoned with the same symbol that Kara wore.

“I know you’re worried about her. You love her just as much as I do.” Saviour accused, green eyes fond and affectionate as she scratched behind Argos’ ear.

Maybe a little, Argos admitted thinking about how Kara had lifted him up and carried him to her and Saviour’s bed following a loud crack of thunder just last night. How she had coaxed him to sleep with whispered murmurs and scritches behind his ear.

“Go help her, like you’ve helped me.” Saviour requested causing Argos’ heart to swell in his chest. “Go, Superdog, there will be extra doggy treats for you later.” Saviour promised pressing a kiss to his nose before getting up and opening the balcony doors for Argos to soar through.

#supercorp fic #supercorp #superdog AU

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nonstoplover · 3 years

Text

happily ending catastrophies ~ Fred Weasley

summary: Fred is accidentally (and fortunately) at the right place in the right time, and is able to save a muggle girl's life.

pairing: Fred Weasley x muggle (female) reader

words: 5K

meaning of: (y/h/c) means 'your hair colour'

(kinda) warnings: (1) this plays after the war and Fred lives, because i refuse to accept anything else; (2) i'm not from the UK so excuse the possible mistakes i made about the underground; (3) also there are a couple time jumps, i didn't want to drag it for too long and had quite a few ideas i wanted to write

a/n: this was an idea born whilst i was studying for this year's most difficult exam at uni lol but i thought it was worth giving a shot so here it goes xx

my masterlist

(y/n) wakes up to the sweet scent of some kind of flower filling up her nose and lungs. Despite the panging in her head she cracks her eyes open to find the source, though as soon as she takes in the totally unfamiliar room around her, the flower immediately gets forgotten.

What the hell?

She frowns, pushing her upper body up on her elbows to get a better look around. She has never seen this room ever before. Or has she? Suddenly she's not so sure as a foggy memory appears in her mind. Her glance travels across the cardboard boxes beside the wall on the floor, piled high on top of each other, then a desk, a wardrobe, arriving to the bedside table that has a lamp and several strange things - looking like some foreign country's small candies in colourful wrapping - on the wooden surface.

Sitting up fully she tries to move her legs to place them on the floor, but finds that it's much harder than it usually is - than it should be. All her attention turn to her legs now and the weird feeling that surrounds her left leg she hasn't noticed before. Carefully she lifts the covers that wrapped her body in a warm embrace to see what's wrong with her leg. A gasp leaves her lungs right away as her eyes fall on the cast wrapped around it from her knees straight to her toes.

In that exact moment the door slowly opens and her eyes snap towards the entering figure - a flaming red haired young man - whilst her fingers scramble to get the blanket back on her lower body, hiding the lack of clothing she's wearing as she's in nothing else but her underwear.

"Ah, you're awake! How are you?" He asks when his eyes connect with hers and slightly widen.

And his voice brings back everything. Literally everything to her mind about how she got here, all the memories flashing by in front of her inner eyes.

- - - - - - - flashback - - - - - - -

Friday the 13th. The day of misfortune and disasters. (y/n) huffs as she makes her way down the street towards the underground station to go back to her apartment. Now she knows this fact from experience.

She woke up a bit late that morning and didn't have time to drink her usual morning coffee in the comfort of her home, so she had to wait until her first break at work to drink one. When she just finished brewing a cup for herself in the small kitchen at her work, the handle of her favourite mug she kept in there broke and the now handle-less mug full of the brown beverage fell to the ground and shattered to a thousand tiny pieces, and if it wasn't already bad enough, the coffee splashed on her white shirt, colouring it light brown and leaving a wet stain behind all across her chest.

After that she managed to get through the day quite normally, right until 3pm, when her boss called her in to his office.

"The company is facing a hard time," his voice still echoes inside her head, making her shiver in sadness and anger. "I'm sorry, (y/n), the performance you showed us in the past two years was truly great, but you gotta understand that I have to decrease the number of employees. And that unfortunately includes you. I'm sorry."

If the way she worked was actually 'truly great', then why do they fire her and not someone else?

Well, probably her boss told the exact same thing to everyone he kicked out today, she thinks, but it doesn't help at all - it doesn't get her her job back.

So half an hour ago she packed everything in a box and set off to go back home, mentally raging about the cursed day. She has never believed in any superstition like this, but today she's changed her mind. Maybe all these things are true.

And that's when the next string of catastrophies starts.

As she's moving along the pavement next to the tracks at the station, the heel of her shoe breaks and she stumbles, her box flying away from her grip, all the contents of it scattering all over the ground. (y/n) tries gaining her balance back, taking a couple steps back, but the pavement disappears from under her feet as she reaches the edge, completely unaware of it.

She falls back, down to the tracks, and an impossible pain shoots up from her left leg as she lands, the air totally knocked out from her lungs. As she tries catching her breath, her hands move to lay flat on the ground so she can push herself up, but the world around her seems like it's spinning and she feels too weak to move a single muscle in her body.

Everything decelerates into slow motion and she glances around to see what she could do when something bright catch her eyes. A shiny warm yellow circle in the distance, getting slightly bigger and bigger with every second. She observes it carefully, thinking about how pretty it looks as she wonders what it might be. It only takes a second or two for her mind to catch up and suddenly she's more than aware that a train comes towards her and she's not capable to do anything to stop the collision from happening.

Friday the 13th.

Out of nowhere she feels a presence next to her, and just as she turns her head that way to see what's going on and her eyes fall on locks of bright red hair and a freckled face, the man has already grabbed her arm and with a fierce pull hoisted her up to a standing position. It feels like her arm is ripped out from her body, for a moment even the unstoppable hurting from her leg fades out to give space for the one in her upper body and she gasps before everything goes black.

- - - - - - - end of flashback - - - - - - -

The following events go by as a dozen of blurry pictures (y/n) can't make out in her mind and she blinks a couple times to get back to the present, to reality. She focuses on the redhead again, the last person she clearly remembers seeing.

"Where am I?" Her voice comes out hoarse and quiet and she clears her throat, waiting for his answer, knowing how she behaves quite rude completely ignoring his question, but she just can't help it.

She hasn't a clue where they could be, she's never seen a place like this in her entire life. It's obvious it's not a hospital. And after what happened it's just as obvious that she needs hospital treatment.

"The Burrow," he replies with a small smile playing on his lips.

And though she thought his answer would help clear some of the fog inside her head, it only confuses her more. Fred bites back the chuckle that threatens to burst from him seeing her cute frowning expression and waits for her to ask again, knowing it'll soon happen.

"The what?" The girl speaks up again, her voice now much clearer.

"My family home."

The confusion still stays on her face, and Fred truly can't blame her for it - who wouldn't be distraught after waking up in a stranger's home? Still, seeing the same expression he first ever saw on her face brings him back to the Tube station in London.

- - - - - - - Fred's flashback - - - - - - -

He's rushing down the stairs to catch the apparently soon arriving underground train, cursing his twin brother under his breath for winning the bet that resulted in the usage of any and every magical thing being forbidden for Fred for this whole week. Now he has to run errands adjusting to the timetables of muggle public transport and he's running out of time. Everything takes so much more time in the muggle world, and in the past few days he's grown to appreciate being born into the world of magic more than ever.

Arriving next to the tracks he catches sight of a dozen or so people there and relief fills his body. So the train hasn't left yet. He slows down to a walking pace and tries to catch his breath, and that's when he notices something weird about the people, something he has never seen in the past days when he used the Tube. They're all moving closer to each other, slowly making a tight circle, all of them looking in the same direction, as if something was on the tracks.

Curiosity rises in Fred and he makes his way to the edge of the crowd, standing on his toes to tower over it and glance down. His eyes immediately fall on a young woman lying there, one of her legs twisted in an abnormal way. She's looking to the side, towards the tunnel from where the train should arrive any minute now. Her expression displays confusion and slight fear, but her breathtaking beauty is still obvious, and it makes his heart skip a beat. His eyes slowly turn to where she's looking and he can see the light that swiftly grows brighter and brighter inside the usually dark tunnel, but his mind can't comprehend what he sees as all his thoughts are still only about the gorgeous woman lying there.

"The train's coming!" Somebody in the crowd shouts and that's what wakes Fred from his daze. His head snaps back and forth from the tunnel to the girl a couple times, so fast it's a miracle his neck doesn't break.

His body moves before he can fully think about his actions and suddenly he's pushing people away to make a path for himself in the crowd and he jumps down to the tracks. He hears a couple gasps from behind him, even a couple voices trying to inform him again and again that the train is actually soon there, but he doesn't care. All he focuses on is the task in front of him.

Squatting down he grabs one of the woman's arms and drapes it around his shoulder, standing up again as fast as he can, pulling her with him a bit harsher than he intended. She lets out a gasp in obvious pain, but he knows there's no time to be more gentle. Both of his arms move around her, one around her shoulder blades and one around the backs of her thighs to lift her up bridal style as he knows one of her legs is broken and she can't stand on it. And he's thankful for his own speed and thoughtful actions as he feels her body go limp as she faints.

The head-splittingly loud sound of a horn fills the air just as he turns around, signalling that they were noticed by the people on the train. As he takes the first few steps back towards the pavement he glances up, seeing two or three men already there bending down with their arms stretching in his direction. Fred quickens his pace as much as he's able to and practically throws the woman in the waiting hands, helping them pull her up by pushing her body from under, the screeching of brakes, iron on iron being the only sound that can be heard.

He stays on the tracks until he's completely sure that she's safe, than he grabs the edge of the pavement and swiftly pushes himself up, crawling on the cold surface until his legs are lying there as well. He feels a breeze moving against his back as the train arrives to the station, but he doesn't care about it, neither the cheering that erupts from the people around him, celebrating his heroic act, not even the burning feeling in his muscles from being strained. He just pushes himself up and stumbles to the woman, falling back down on his knees to be able to get a better look of her.

From up close he can see how she's even younger than he has thought, probably close to his age. She's obviously falling in and out of unconsciousness every other second. The word 'ambulance' enters his ears from the people around them, and he finds himself with a new task ahead of him. Somehow he has to get the girl away from this place and back to the shop so he can take her to the Burrow. Muggle hospital treatment isn't enough now, the wizarding world offered much better methods of healing. His mother will know what to do.

- - - - - - - end of Fred's flashback - - - - - - -

"And why am I here?" (y/n) continues asking.

"You broke your leg."

"Yeah, I figured, but shouldn't I be in a hospital then?" She tilts her head, raising an eyebrow.

"This is better than a muggle hospital," the young man shrugs.

"Mu... a what?"

"Ah, sorry. Slipped out," he let out a small chuckle, scratching the back of his neck in slight embarrassment.

Here comes the moment he dreaded. When he has to explain the existence of magic and the wizarding world to a completely clueless person and trying to do that without making a complete fool out of himself in front of the angel-like girl when she won't believe him - which he's sure she'll do.

"Wait, who are you? I don't even know your name," she speaks up again. "And how could I truly thank you for saving my life if I don't know even that?"

"There's no need to thank me," Fred protests.

"Of course there is!" (y/n) squeals as loudly as her weakened state allows. "Not everyone would jump down to the tracks when there's a train coming to save a complete stranger."

"Yeah, well, true," he mumbles, thinking back to how nobody did anything for her, anger filling his veins. Then he clears his throat, shaking his head to get rid of the negative thoughts and to focus on the girl again. "I'm Fred. Fred Weasley."

"Thank you for all you did, Fred. I'm (y/n) (y/l/n)," she sticks her hand out and a smile makes it's way to Fred face, matching the one on hers as he steps closer to shake her hand.

- - - - - - - 2 months later - - - - - - -

"I'm absolutely fine, Freddie, stop acting like I'm made of porcelain. I'm totally able to walk down the stairs on my own two feet," (y/n)'s giggling voice fills the air on the second floor of the Burrow when the redhead gently pulled her arm around his neck as he's done so many times in the past weeks.

"Alright, alright, I get it," Fred puts his hands up in surrender, backing away as laughter erupts from his throat and he turns his head away to hide the blush forming on his cheeks from the nickname she used.

Unfortunately he only gets completely face to face with his smirking twin brother who winks his way before pushing past him, a knowing chuckle sounding from him as he rushes downstairs, past (y/n), who follows him right away, only a bit slower, with Fred's careful, watching eyes trained on her back.

"See? I told you," the girl glances back at him over her shoulder after arriving downstairs, not stopping on her way to the dining table, only to stumble in a shoe someone left in the way. Fred immediately reaches out to grab her elbow and stop her from falling. From the strength of his attentive pull on her arm, instead of flying to the ground she crashes into his chest.

"I don't know, I'm not so sure," he teases, looking down with a smirk playing on his lips.

(y/n) moves her head up to connect her eyes with his, and Fred glances around her face, taking in the pink colour of her skin on her cheeks caused by the embarrassment of almost falling, then as his eyes reach the sight of her lips, he suddenly becomes almost too aware of how close the two of them actually are, and the breath hitches in his throat.

"Come on, kids, dinner's gonna get cold!" Molly's voice breaks the moment they shared and (y/n) regains balance, then gently pushing the boy away she turns around and limps the rest of the way to the dining table.

All of the Weasleys are already sitting there, watching the two of them appear in sight, and (y/n) has to bite back a giggle, still not used to the seemingly infinite number of redheads, all smiling wide and sweet at her. George pulls the chair she has always sat on ever since she was able to get downstairs out for her, offering a helping hand knowing that it's harder to sit down with only one properly working leg. Fred reaches out for her other arm just as she makes contact with George's hand, and the two of them don't let go until she's stopped moving.

She glances back and forth between the two boys sitting on either side of her, rolling her eyes at how overly protective both of them behave, when she's already told them hundreds of times that she's able to get by on her own.

The meal is delicious and the company is entertaining, just like it has always been since (y/n) stepped foot into the Burrow. Conversation flows without a hitch, only the occasional laughter breaking it for a second or two, and the (y/h/c) girl finds it hard to think about the inevitable - the moment that's coming fast, the moment when she has to leave these people and go back to her normal life. The Weasleys has become like a second family for her, and she fears that if she walks out that door, she'll never see them again. They're living a different life, in a completely different world. Their paths most likely will never cross again. She tries to brush off the sad thoughts, knowing that she'll have all the time to mope and grieve when she's back in her (ordinary and plain) flat on her own.

As she's helping Molly clean the dishes after the family finishes dinner, (y/n) pauses for a moment to glance at the redhaired woman. "Thank you for letting me stay here and for taking such good care of me."

"Oh, sweetie, you're more than welcome. It's our pleasure to have you here."

"That's true," Ginny chimes in with a joyful grin on her face as she places another dirty plate in front of her mother. "Your presence brightened up our boring lives."

"Boring?" (y/n) lets a loud laugh escape her throat. "Your lives are nothing even close to boring. Everything around here is breathtaking and spectacular."

"Is it though?"

"Try living my life for a week or so, and you'll know what boring really means," she shakes her head, the different memories and thoughts swiftly filling her mind as she turns around to lean the small of her back against the counter top, her eyes instantly connecting with Fred's, who's still sitting at the table, shamelessly watching her with searching eyes.

"I still can't believe there's a whole world of wizards and witches that we have absolutely no clue about. It makes me wonder how many things are there that's hidden from us. And it makes me scared how clueless we all are in the muggle world."

(y/n)'s only able to stand the intensity of his gaze for a couple seconds before she has to turn her head away, feeling the blood rush to her cheeks and heat them up. She swallows, only hoping that it stays unnoticed by the boy, but when she finally dares to glance back for the shortest of moments, she catches sight of a small smirk playing on his lips and she knows that nothing has gone unnoticed by him. Clearing her throat she tries to find something else to say, speaking the first words that come to her mind.

The newly learned word still rolls uncertainly from her tongue, not sure if she says it correctly, but when her restlessly moving eyes accidentally catch Fred's again, she sees a new kind of glint sparkling in his eyes, and it's enough to let her know that she used it correctly.

"It's not your fault," Ginny places a hand probably destined to be reassuring on the older girl's shoulder. "We're just too good at hiding it."

The two of them share a laugh, and unbeknownst to (y/n), it turns the shape of Fred's eyes into something that very much resembles a heart. His own heart flutters at the sound, the temperature of the room suddenly feeling too hot for him to bear, and he abruptly kicks his chair back, standing up and swiftly moving out of the house to get some fresh air and somehow try to cool the fire that's burning inside of his chest.

(y/n)'s eyes follow him, an eyebrow raised in question, deep in her thoughts right until the door closes shut again behind the boy. The sudden noise brings her back to the present and she shakes her head to get rid of the things running around in her head.

"Anyway, I gotta go upstairs and pack. I really have to go back home now," she sighs, pushing her body away from the counter.

"I'll come help you," Ginny immediately offers, hurrying after her.

Two and a half hours and a heart wrenching goodbye later (y/n) and Fred come to a stop outside her apartment's door, both of them feeling a previously never felt sadness fill their hearts.

All (y/n) can think of is flashing images of the flaming red haired boy. The way he sat at the edge of the bed she was lying in, telling her everything about the wizarding world. The way he lifted her up so effortlessly as if she weighed nothing to bring her downstairs when she was unable to walk in the first weeks. The way he walked her around the house and the garden, showing her everything and explaining things to her, adjusting to her extremely slow pace without a word. The way he showed her multiple of the products he and his twin brother sell in their shop, sometimes only speaking of their effects, other times even showing her, not caring with the fact it caused something inconvenient for himself as long as he made her laugh - which she did so many times and so hard that it made her sides hurt. The clothes he let her have when winter set in and her own became too thin to keep her warm, and the way the material smelled like him. The lingering touches of his calloused fingertips against the skin of her cheeks when he thought she was fast asleep - when in fact she was completely awake, fighting back the urge to press her face further into his touch.

In the meantime all Fred can think of is flashing images of the gorgeous muggle girl. The genuine curiosity that sparkled in her eyes whenever he told her about the world he's living in, the endless amount of questions she's asked him about anything and everything, the pure interest she showed from the first time he told her about the existence of magic. The way she bonded with each and every member of the Weasley family, finding a common thing with all of them and eventually making them all grow fond of her. The way she told him all about the muggle world and her own life, sharing all the details with him without hesitation - trusting him right away. The way his name rolled from her tongue - even more when she called him Freddie. The bubbling, loud laughter that erupted from her throat when he told her about the shop and all the pranks George and him did back in Hogwarts or when he showed her the products they now sell in the shop, the laugh that always made his heart skip a beat, the laugh he couldn't help but adore along with the fact that she seemingly didn't care the slightest bit how loud she is or how funny her laughter might sound. The way she looked in his clothes, always taking his breath away, making him wish nothing more in the rest of his life than to see that very sight every day as long as he lived - and possibly even after that.

"Well, thanks for getting me home," (y/n) points at the door behind her back as she looks up into his mesmerizing eyes. "And for jumping down in front of a train for me. And for letting me into your family home. And for taking care of me."

"It was the least I could do," Fred smiles sheepishly, his mind spinning, trying to come up with something to say that would keep the girl in his life.

"Bye, Freddie," she hesitates for a moment, then decides it doesn't matter anymore and leans in, pressing a soft kiss on his left cheek.

Fred's eyes flutter closed, heart bursting with the sudden feeling of love from both her lips touching his skin and the oh so loved nickname. He freezes, unable to think anything else than eight very important letters.

The girl moves back, fiddling with her keys to find the correct one, pushing it in the slot and turning it, gently shoving the door until it's wide open. She steps in, her eyes taking in the furniture and decoration she once loved but now finds unbelievably plain and mundane. A sigh escapes her lungs and she turns around to close the door - and wave once more the boy.

Fred still stands in the exact same spot, obviously not moving even the slightest bit since she backed away from him. (y/n) raises her hand to wiggle goodbye with her fingers at him whilst moving to close the door with the other hand, already feeling the tears blur her vision as she tries to take in the sight of him as best as she can to be able to remember him forever.

"Wait!" Fred exclaims, placing a palm flat against the wooden material to stop it before it fully closes.

This time (y/n)'s the one to freeze, hand pausing high in the air and she even holds back the breath in her lungs as she waits for him to continue.

"Can we meet again?"

Her eyes widen in surprise. She always thought that he'd never want to see her again. That he'd be happy to finally get rid of her and be able to continue his life as before. He wants to meet with her again?

"I... y-yes, of course," she stutters, heart stammering inside her ribcage so wild and loud, she's almost sure he can hear it.

The extremely wide smile that splits his face in two hearing her answer makes it impossible for her not to mirror it, her own lips curving on their own accord. Fred, feeling the previous nervous shyness evaporate from his body and the always present confidence fill his vein up again, takes a step closer to her, then another until he's right beside the door, gently pushing it wider open again. (y/n)'s hand on the door handle inside goes limp, and she lets it fall down to hang loose beside her body as Fred steps inside.

When he's so close that she can feel the breath coming from his nose reach the skin of her face, his lips open again to let out a whisper. "Can I kiss you?"

The already abnormal rhythm her heart beats in gets even more uneven, and her head moves in a nod as she breathes out the word 'yes'. Fred's eyes sparkle up even more, and his hands slowly start moving up, one reaching out to gently caress her cheek whilst the other wraps around the small of her back. Slowly, extremely slowly he leans down, pausing for a second just before their lips could touch, and as a wave of impatience rushes through the girl, she raises her head and presses her lips against his.

Fred lets out a muffled chuckle at her eagerness before tilting his head and snaking his arm further around her torso to pull her flush against his own body, his hand that's resting on her cheeks moving slightly further back until his fingers completely disappear in her (y/h/c) locks, his lips moving passionately against hers.

She completely melts into his touch, feeling like she's floating in the air, as if she's only dreaming. But when they both run out of oxygen and pull away to fill their lungs again, their foreheads pressing against each other in search of support and their eyes connecting without problem, looking deep into his beautiful brown orbs (y/n) grows sure right away that it's truly reality, not just a dream.

"I love you," he breathes in-between his quiet pants, but it's enough to make (y/n) totally dizzy as a love-struck grin spreads across her face.

And in that very moment they both know that their story is just starting.

.::the end::.

my masterlist

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letskidnapsenpai · 3 years

Note

saw you wanted some sfw alphabet requests so i am here to deliver❤️

may i get C, R and Z with shinso and kaminari please?

have a lovely day/night and remember to stay hydrated!!!!!

Hiii! 💖💫of course 💖

- Denki -

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

• He's very affectionate boi

• He'll be all over you, 24/7, he loves you and he needs to let you know that

• Pda isn't problem for him, he doesn't care who sees, he'll hug, kiss and cuddle you whenever he wants

• But if you don't like pda, he understands and will try to keep his distance from you, but holding hands are a must, there's no way you two won't be holding hands

• He loves cuddling you while watching movies

• He'll like being both big and small spoon, sometimes he wants to be held and sometimes he wants to hold you

• He'll love playing games laying in the bed with you hugging him from behind or you in his lap

• Sometimes he let's out small sparks while being content with something, so get used to being shocked

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

• His favourite moment is when you were at together at Luna Park

• The way your eyes sparkled as you dragged him with you

• He loved it as much as you did, of course, it was one of the best days of his life

• Even if he was little bit scared of some attractions, you held his hand and he felt so much better

• You shared cotton candy and both took soo many pictures together to post at social media

• He tried to shoot out some plushie for you, but he's not exactly the best at keeping calm and focusing

• In the end you shoot out a Pikachu plushie for him

• He sleeps with it until today and he loves it so much

• He'll definitely take you to more Luna Parks now that he knows how much you both enjoyed it

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habit of theirs? Does it change around a partner?)

• He probably doesn't sleep a lot, he spends the nights playing games and streaming

• He's trying to go to sleep earlier because of you, if you're used to going to sleep early

• He'll stop drinking energy drinks so much and he'll try to go to sleep when you do, but sometimes he just has to play

• But if you play games and stay awake late too, you two will call and play games together until morning

• Or when you're at his place, you'll play on console together or stream on Twich all my Denki HC's are twich streamer!Denki and I'm not sorry for it

- Shinsou -

C = Cuddles (Do they like to cuddle? How would they cuddle?)

I did A (Affection) for Shinsou and I included cuddles in it, so because I don't want to repeat myself, it's here! 💖

R = Remember (What is their favorite moment in your relationship?)

• Saving stray kittens with you

• You we getting back from your visit at Aizawa's and Yamada's place when you heard meowing

• You thought it's just some stray cat who wants to be pet so you turned around

• But the only thing you saw was cardboard box

• You took a look inside and saw black and grey kittens

• They were still bloody, they had to be born just few minutes ago, but their mother was nowhere to see while she should have been cleaning them now

• You looked at each other and without having to exchange a word, you knew you had to save them

• Hizashi carefully took the box and you made your way to your flat as fast as you could

• When you arrived, you took some towels, spread them and carefully took them out of the box, to place them on the towels so you can check them

• Except being cold and dirty, they seemed okay, that was good

• You cleaned them with wet cloths and placed them into another box, this time laundry box with soft blankets and a heating blanket inside it to keep them warm

• You sent Hitoshi to get some milk for kittens while you watched over them

• You kept them, you couldn't give them away after saving their lives

• Except 2 kittens, these went to Aizawa's, because Hizashi had to leave the city for few days, so nothing stood in his way for getting cats wow this is really long

Z = Zzz (What is a sleep habit of theirs? Does it change around a partner?)

• Sleep? What's that? Our boi doesn't sleep at night

• At least then he's alone, when he's with you, he fells asleep sometimes

• Eventually, he starts sleeping for at least few hours most of the nights if you're with him

• But if you're not? He's not sleeping the whole time, he got so used to you that he can't sleep without you now

• He'll sleep mostly during day and always cuddled to you

• He doesn't care if he has to lay his head on your stomach, chest or lap, he needs his pillow

• He loves holding you when you sleep, even if he can't sleep, he'll at least protect you when you do

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its-sixxers · 3 years

Text

Harmonics

Charon once played guitar - a scrap of information more precious than gold. The Lone Wanderer recalls it in the depths of her grief. Both realize that even in the wasteland, neither of them are alone. Charon x Female LW, pre-relationship.

Sorta sequel to Hobbies.

AO3 Link

Charon had mentioned he once played guitar.

Scraps of information about him were rare as intact books and Lizzy was intent on building herself a library with what was offered. Information about what he liked was most precious of all - it took her a couple of weeks to even persuade him to talk about anything beyond his contract, and a couple of months to get him talking about his own personal desires. While the faded slip of paper she kept in the inner pocket of her vault suit said otherwise, she and Charon were equals. She wanted to get him a gift to prove it.

The best part about gifts was the surprise, to Lizzy, and so tracking down a guitar presented a thorny problem indeed. Time spent apart from Charon was scant, and he seemed tense the few times she told him to go do as he pleased. When questioned on it, he said it was always more comfortable for him to stick around and her heart hurt to imagine just what was done to make him feel that way.

Still, she took advantage of what time she had - chatting to Rivet City merchants about possible sightings while Charon was distracted, slipping Crazy Wolfgang fifty caps to keep an eye out as Charon inspected a shotgun grip. Lizzy lingered in the magazine and instrument sections of libraries, sneaking reading material into her bag to figure out just what went into making a guitar work. She even made up an excuse to get them into the area of Agatha’s cabin so that she could check in with the violinist and see if her plan was feasible - and found to her delight that yes, it was.

Crazy Wolfgang eventually came through for her with the guitar, and she enlisted Butch’s help in delivering it unseen. To Lizzy’s despair, the strings were broken or rusted away, but Butch reassured her that at least the body was good, giving it a rap with his knuckles to prove his point. So her search narrowed from a guitar to strings, and even as her work for her father and the Brotherhood picked up she kept an eye out for her quarry. The nights she spent in Megaton (growing increasingly rare, with how much DC needed her) saw her sanding out splinters from the guitar body and varnishing it as best she could. Lizzy winced to see that polish only seemed to bring out a bloodstain on the thing more, but supposed Charon wouldn’t mind.

Blood was just another part of living in the wasteland, natural as snow or rain.

Lizzy soon learned the full breadth of what that meant, and the guitar was forgotten.

Her father’s death made her forget a lot of things - forget why she was trying to put one foot in front of the other, forget that her suffering was echoed by so many other poor souls out in the world. Weeks were spent in a hazy state, eating only at Charon’s urging and starting to dip into the few bottles of alcohol she’d collected. The growing cold outside mirrored the numbness that was spreading through her after she found she had no tears left to cry.

Charon spent more time apart from her out of necessity - it was he who went to see what the caravans had now, who went to Gob’s Saloon to find out the news, who even braved getting them raw meals from the Brass Lantern. When she slept in (slept was a generous term, for she often spent upwards of an hour lying limply in bed in the morning) he’d place a large hand on her shoulder to wake her. His contract meant he had to keep her alive - at least, that was what she told herself. Nothing more.

It was when Charon was out doing yet another thing that used to be her responsibility that she heard a knock on the door. Lizzy dragged herself from the couch where she’d been re-reading the same sentence of her book for the past thirty minutes and tugged open the front door of her Megaton home.

Butch stood with his leather jacket zipped up and knit mittens on his hands, holding a small box. Snowflakes stuck to his pompadour as he fell, and with every exhale his breath puffed out in a fog, reminding her of how they pretended it was smoke back in the vault’s freezer as children. Lizzy could remember the look of horror on her father’s face when he discovered them, her own bewilderment as to how the place could be dangerous. She flinched from the memory, and her dry eyes stung.

“Hey.” Butch said, his smile faltering at the sight of her. While not vain by any means, Lizzy had always placed importance on looking professional and put together - now she couldn’t remember the last time she brushed her hair.

“Hey.” she replied flatly, hand leaning limply against the doorway, subconsciously trying to bar him from entering. Lizzy couldn’t bear the sight of his smile, how it reminded her of the vault, of times when it felt like she’d follow in her father’s footsteps and everything was warm and bright. The fact that she felt such a way toward her best friend in the world filled her with guilt, her cup already overflowing. Guilt was the one emotion that broke through the numbness, and she was drowning in it.

“I found something in Rivet City Supply.” he began. “Had to cash in a favor with Seagrave, but I thought you’d like to see.”

In spite of herself, Lizzy’s eyes dropped to the box in his hands, curiosity sparking for the briefest of moments. Butch moved his thumb from the label, and in faded ink she could read “BKM Guitar Strings”. The cellophane window of the box was still intact, and within she could see shining metal strings.

“You came all this way…” Lizzy’s throat was dry from lack of use, most of the communication she’d done with Charon nonverbal. “... to give me these?”

“I know you were looking for them.” Butch looked over her shoulder and into the house, likely searching for Charon judging by what he said next. “For the big guy.” He held the box out to her, and she took it from him. “I’m gonna be staying up at Gob’s for the next couple’a days. I’d stay and chat now, but Moira wants to interview me about hairstyling.” He made a display of rolling his eyes, and Lizzy knew he was just making up an excuse.

It was a feeling the two of them shared, pain from family. A wish to keep their grief hidden, to keep it manageable and clean. For all the teasing he’d done to her in their childhood, he knew precisely when and how to dodge a painful subject entirely.

Sensation hummed in her fingertips, brushing the old cardboard and tingling in the cold. Lizzy nodded. “I’ll stop by.” she said, not entirely certain it was a lie. The guitar. She’d forgotten about the guitar, an idea born of the time before, when the sun wasn’t so cold and remote. Now the project was rekindled in her mind, something separate from the cloud that loomed over her.

Butch tilted his chin up in acknowledgement. “Say hi to the big guy for me.”

“You’ll probably see him on your way out.”

“He’s a hard guy to miss, I’ll give you that.” He laughed, turning back to Megaton’s many platforms. He cast her one last concerned look over his shoulder before she shut the door.

Lizzy moved faster than she had in weeks, the metal stairwell echoing from her hurried footsteps. She took the box into her room and shut the door before falling to her knees and crawling forward to her bed. Setting the box upon the mattress she set her palms flat against the cold metal floor, finding the panel she was looking for and pulling it open, revealing a floor compartment. Within were her most treasured possessions - her mother’s holotapes, the photographs from her tenth and sixteenth birthdays with Dad and Jonas, Butch’s first leather jacket. With them were items of value - an engraved magnum, an intact camera and film, a half empty bottle of scotch, and the guitar body. Lizzy pulled it out of the hidden floor compartment and retrieved a rolled up instructional booklet from inside of it.

The next two hours were spent sat on her bed with necessary tools in hand, stringing the guitar. Idle hands are the devil’s playthings, the saying went - and with her hands put to work Lizzy was incapable of thinking of the guilt that threatened to drown her. At some point Charon returned, and his knock at her door startled her terribly.

Lizzy froze, vaguely recollecting that surprise was a large part of why she’d gone to such lengths. If she was discovered now, all the work had been for nothing - and she couldn’t bear something else hoped for being snuffed out. To her relief, Charon did not try to enter. She must have made a noise when he startled her, for he seemed satisfied enough that she was still alright judging by his retreating footsteps.

Soon after her work was complete, and she almost wept on the instrument from relief. So much work, so much time, and now she had something in her arms to show for it, unlike…

Unlike…

It reminded her why venturing out of her carefully constructed bubble was a mistake, for she had no cushioning, no numb protection to the raw assault of memory. A hand pressed to glass, fingerprints on the glass, the geiger counter, the geiger counter -

The bath faucet in the other room turned on, the movement of the water through pipes gently rattling the wall the bathroom shared with her room. It brought her back to the present, staring down at the guitar. Lizzy mopped at her wet cheeks, clinging to the last stage of her project. The gifting itself. Thinking up solutions to the problem crowded out her memory - Charon only took what was directly offered to him if it was ammunition or a grenade. With food or medical supplies, she’d have to make a point of having it appear as if she was doing it for her own sake and creating plausible deniability - a gift of convenience.

When she cracked open her bedroom door, she could hear water splashing from the bathroom next door, the familiar sound of Charon’s large form sinking into it. Even in her state she felt a little swell of happiness to know that he was willing to let himself have such a luxury. Assured he’d be kept busy more than long enough for her to do what she had planned, she picked up the guitar by the neck and crept downstairs into the living room. A fire crackled away happily in the wood burning stove in the corner devoted to the kitchen, and the ground floor was much warmer than her room. It was too warm - too close to reminding her what times before felt like, and so she hurried. Approaching the couch, she set the guitar down in Charon’s favorite spot, in front of the blanket Moira had crocheted her as a housewarming present.

As soon as she was certain the guitar wasn’t going to fall over, she retreated back into the familiar territory of her bedroom. The chill washed over her, icing out not just the wave of memory threatening to drown her again but the fluttering embers of joy her work had given her.

Lizzy stumbled over to her bed and fell upon the mattress. The haze began anew.

When she returned downstairs in the night to grab a bottle of water, the guitar was gone.

Charon didn’t mention the gift, but the next day he woke her with breakfast and an announcement.

“I believe it is best that we go somewhere today.”

Lizzy hauled herself upright and looked at him blankly, her fork scooping up small portions of instamash. “Where?”

While his stony posture and expression didn’t change, she heard him exhale in relief. “Gob’s. They think I’ve kidnapped you.”

“Mm.” she hummed, finding she didn’t feel strongly one way or another. Lizzy didn’t protest when Charon handed her a brush in exchange for her empty plate, and soon she was bundled up and shuffling through the snow to Gob’s Saloon.

Butch was eating breakfast, and Nova’s face lit up to catch sight of her. She poked her head into the back room, and soon Gob was walking out of the kitchen wiping his hands with a rag. Charon placed a hand to the small of Lizzy’s back and gave her a gentle nudge forward.

The next period of time - Lizzy had lost the ability to gauge its passage - was a mirror world of normal circumstance - now it was Lizzy giving short and clipped responses to any conversation, and Charon exchanging longer sentences. What was discussed left her memory the moment it was spoken, and soon enough Charon was tugging her hat back over her ears and guiding her back outside.

“Charon.” Lizzy murmured, when they were back outside. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Is that an order?”

“No.”

He nodded briefly, strands of patchy red hair falling across his brow. “It is my duty to protect you.”

It was all he offered in reply, and she accepted it as she always did.

Going out was a mistake, she realized that night - new color was given to her nightmares, the armored men who’d broken into the Memorial breaking into the Saloon as she visited, the scene melting into Butch, Gob, and Nova staring up at her with glassy eyes, melting into her father’s kind face, gone slack, the tick tick tick ramping into a metallic screech with exploding rads, Charon’s arms tugging her away-

Charon.

Lizzy blearily opened her eyes, greeted by the sight of her room illuminated in the deep blue of early dawn. It was a welcome sight, an escape from the nightmare, and she lay with her cheek crushed against the mattress staring at the wall until the blue light started to tinge pink and sleep threatened to claim her once again.

Movement had to be made, and with great effort Lizzy untangled herself from the blankets, coiled around her from the thrashing she’d no doubt done in her sleep. When she opened her door she was surprised to find the door across the hall that led to Charon’s room was wide open, granting her a rare glimpse of his spartan quarters. He never needed to sleep much, but the pre-dawn was early even for him. The change made a bubble of dread rise in her throat - and she walked to the bathroom to splash cold water on her face.

The pipes groaned when she turned the tap, the water cold enough to make her gasp when she splashed it on her face with cupped hands. It shocked her out of her dream state and brought reality into sharp focus.

In her new clarity, she could hear something faint coming from downstairs once the pipes had settled, and it took her a few moments to register that it was music. It sounded nothing like the radio, lacking distortion and also entirely different from anything played on it. Guitar strings, plucked one by one in a simple melody. Lizzy took a few steps out onto the landing, and peered as far over the railing as she dared to the living room.

Charon sat on the couch with the guitar in his lap, dwarfed by his large form. He was twisting the metal tabs on the guitar’s head, plucking a few notes, then twisting another - she recalled from the books she’d read that he was tuning it, something she lacked the knowledge and equipment to do. The metal floor panel beneath her right foot creaked, and he lifted his gaze to meet hers.

Caught out, she froze, horrified that she’d made a misstep and seen something she shouldn’t have - but Charon just dropped his attention back to the guitar, unperturbed. He plucked a few more notes before giving the guitar a single strum. The sound reverberated through her small shack, and caused goosebumps to rise on the back of her neck.

When the echo of the strum faded he started playing properly, and Lizzy found herself slowly descending the stairs, the torn hem of her nightgown trailing behind her. Slowly she approached the living room, feet thankful to move from cold metal to throw rug. The music was a siren song, simple and warm notes intertwining in a rhythmic and almost hypnotic pattern. Truly hypnotizing was seeing Charon’s hands at work, large fingers suddenly dextrous and precise, hands that seemed built to destroy dancing up and down the guitar neck.

Another low sound joined the melody, and it took her a moment to realize Charon was humming, a bassy rumble of thunder. It had her sinking into the armchair across from the couch, and still Charon did not seem to mind - his attention was caught in his music, the few glances he cast her way seeming more incidental than anything.

Then he began to sing.

Not in a language she could understand - at first she thought he’d made up the sounds, so musically did it flow, but soon she recognized it had the same intonations and cadence as the few unfamiliar terms he’d used around her before. He sang as lowly as he spoke, warm and rasping as a campfire. The melody was terribly melancholy, but to her surprise Lizzy found it did not make her sad.

It made her feel understood.

The two of them sat only a few feet apart, the ambient blue light fading into the pink of sunrise. Shafts of golden light spilled through the holes in the roof. In the warmth of dawn, even Charon’s features were softened. For those few minutes the small space seemed another world, their exteriors cut open and bared to the other, each observing but saying nothing. When he made eye contact with her after trailing off of a particularly low and mournful note, she realized that she did not suffer alone.

Something about it comforted her. When at last Charon placed his palm over the strings to silence them and set the guitar aside, she inhaled sharply as she had when she splashed the cool water onto her face.

“What was it about?” she asked quietly, and to her surprise he smiled tiredly at her - a rarer sight than diamonds.

“A warning.”

Lizzy stared at him for several moments, watching the muscles in his jaw work - as if trying to work up the words to say something more. Whatever battle he fought, he lost.

“Thank you.” she said, more a whisper than anything - but he heard it in the still silence of dawn.

Charon nodded, breaking eye contact and staring at his lap for a few moments before standing. “I will get us some food.”

“No, it’s okay.” Lizzy interjected, at last finding it in her to smile. “I’ll make it.”

#fanfic #fallout 3 #charon x lone wanderer #the fic to accompany that doodle i dun did #butch playin' wingman what else is new ;)))

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oneoftheextras · 4 years

Text

jealousy | villain aizawa x reader |two

masterlist | tip jar

Former student of his turned pro hero, he’s always had eyes for her at UA but never acted upon it. Once she graduates, she takes a role at Endeavor’s agency, and Aizawa can’t stand the thought.

words: 2.4k

warnings: +18, yandere and sexual themes, just creepy at this point

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

A pounding in your head was no what you were expecting to wake up to, neither was the sight of a black padded room with glass doors.

To your shock you shot upright, making the pain in your head worse, you took in your surroundings trying to figure out what was going on, the floors, walls and ceiling were padded, like the type you see in mental hospitals. But one wall was made out of glass.

Shakily, you got to your feet, stumbling over to the glass like a new born deer and trying to find an opening. When that didn’t work, you took a few paces back and projected purple flames towards it. Still nothing.

Sucking in a breath, you ran towards it, throwing all of your weight into your shoulder in an attempt to shatter it.

“You’re just going to tire yourself out” you heard from the other side, as soon as you heard the deep rumble you remembered what had happened. The chase, the rooftop, the capture weapon.

Gazing down at your wrists, you could see the bruises it had left around them and your hands. It hurt to make a fist.

You watched as a figure came towards the glass, it was him again, “Let me out, Eraserhead” you barked, gritting your teeth at him. He was no longer in his black overalls but instead a pair of black jeans and a black v-neck top, that gave you an idea that you had been out cold for a while.

“Call me Aizawa-Sensei, like you used to” he smirked at you through the glass, putting one forearm against it to lean. Disgusted at his words, you threw another bolt of purple flames towards him, you watched it consume the glass and then slide down it. When the flames cleared you saw that he hadn’t moved an inch, not even flinched at the attack.

Desperately you conjured flames on the floor, walls and ceiling, trying to get something to burn, but all you did was make the room very warm, you were starting to sweat through your hero suit.

“You’re going to tire yourself out” he laughed watching your attempts as though he was watching a puppy chase it’s tail, you turned on the spot to face him again “This entire room-” he interrupted himself “This entire building is flame proof, I had it specially built for you” he smiled as though it was something you should thank him for.

You glanced around the room, taking everything in, this wasn’t something that was built over the weekend. “How?” you asked, coming closer to the glass so you could see the room beyond it “It took me a little over 4 years and a lot of help” he said casually.

“Wait, 4 years?” you repeated to which he just nodded, he was staring down at you, watching your features as they reacted to their surroundings.

4 years ago you were a second year student, he was your teacher, but he said ‘a a little over’ meaning you must had been a first year then. “4 years ago I was-” you started thinking out loud.

“Just joining my class at UA” he answered for you, your eyes stopped travelling around the room and stopped dead onto his, you wished you had seen some kind of humour in his face but he was serious.

“W-why?” you asked question you didn’t know if you wanted the answer to “I knew there would be a time when I had you with me, as soon as I saw your quirk I knew how much trouble it could cause if you couldn’t control it. May as well make your future home something you couldn’t burn down” he explained flatly, as though what he was saying wasn’t completely insane.

“I was your first year student, do you know how fucked up that is?!” you shouted, punching your fist against the glass. Immediately you regret your decision and winced at the pain it brought.

“It’s a little strange, I guess, but my intentions were pure, I wanted to build you a safe space you could practice your abilities. It was only when you were close to graduating did I see you in a different light” he raised his eye suggestively and you looked at him with disgust while you nursed your hand which you were sure was broken.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t have those types of thoughts about you until you were in your third year” he added, wetting his bottom lip with his tongue. You couldn’t face him anymore, you turned your back on him and walked away from the glass, you hated what you were hearing but you needed answers.

“Why this? Why all of this?” you gestured to the glass prison you were trapped in, “If you were interested in me once I’d graduated, why not talk to me like a normal fucking person” you spat at him, he features turned defensive against the hatred in your eyes.

“This-” he mimicked your gesture of the padded cell, “-was because of you” he spat back, “Me?” you laughed angrily, as though you were clearly the problem here.

“Yes, you! You chose Endeavour over me” he accused you, pressing the tip of his index finger against the glass as he pointed at you. Baffled at his words all you could do was shake your head and shout out another “What?!” of disbelief.

He had made up an entire narrative in his head that never happened, “When you joined Endeavour’s agency I knew he would turn you against me, I had to have a back up plan, something in place where he couldn’t reach you” he slammed his palm against the glass startling you.

At your scared expression he seemed to calm down, getting closer to the glass again, “I needed to protect you until I knew for sure that you loved me too” he said as though that was something you said to a person.

You walked back towards the glass, looking up at his grey eyes, it was strange to think that if the glass didn’t exist you would be at a very intimate proximity to him, but you were contained. He flattened his hand against the glass, expecting you to do the same.

Crinkling your nose into a snarl and distorting your features to show your anger you shouted “I will never love you”, making sure to drag out ‘never’. His smile dropped and the look in his eyes frightened you, it was a mixture of obsession, pure evil and determination.

“We’ll see” he announced, pushing himself off of the glass and walking out of sight. It scared you more not being able to see where he was than when he was staring at you, something you used to worry about only with spiders. When you could see them you knew what they were doing, but they were up to God knows what when they were out of sight.

How the Hell had you gotten yourself into this situation?

By the clock hanging tauntingly on the wall opposite your cell, it had been about 6 hours since you last saw Eraserhead. Every moment you had used to try an escape, you were thirsty, hungry and exhausted.

Standing with your back flat against the padded wall, you aimed both of your palms at the glass and conjured your purple flames. You pushed yourself as hard as you could, watching the flames grow and lick the glass.

He said it was flameproof, but if you heated it up enough surely it would crack eventually.

Straining yourself, you slid down the wall. It was impossible, the more flames you produced the hotter you made the room, it was making you sweat through your tarnished hero suit and you desperately needed water.

Condensation was starting to roll down the steamed up glass, at least that way you could have some privacy. You unzipped your hero suit and shimmied it round to your waist, allowing your torso to breathe.

You must have passed out from exhaustion because the next thing you new you were opening your eyes to the sound of tapping. Brushing the sleep out of the corner’s of your eyes, you blinked the sleep away, that’s when you saw Eraserhead staring at you and holding a big cardboard box.

Hurriedly, you pulled your damp suit back up to try and cover you and regain some modesty. “Move into the corner” he told you, when you didn’t move he raised his voice slightly “Just do it”. Shuffling back until you felt the padded corner hit your shoulders, you waited to see what he was going to do.

You watched as he pushed a button on his side of the wall and a section of the glass slid into another making an opening, your legs twitched as your instincts told you to run, but you were too weak to fight him and you definitely wouldn’t be faster than him.

Eyeing him cautiously, you surveyed him as he walked into your space, placed the box down on the floor and gestured for you to take it. As he backed away and turned towards the exit, you subtly lifted your hand and flicked your finger in his direction, sending a small flame towards him.

His back was turned but he somehow managed to sense it, whipping his head around to scowl at you but it was too late, the flame had already landed on his top and was starting to burn a hole in it.

“Shit!” he cursed, leaping past the glass and slamming his hand onto the button to seal you in. Only when the door was closed did he pull his top up over his head and toss it to the ground, stamping on it to extinguish the flames.

You made no attempt to escape, you just needed something to cheer you up and watching him dance about had done just that.

He was furious. His eyes were glowing red and if his hair wasn’t tied up in a bun you were sure it would be floating too, although he was now topless too. “What the fuck was that for?” he scowled at you, picking up the ruined top and throwing it into a nearby bin, “Payback” you smiled trying to avoid eye contact with him.

He started to mumble to himself so you took the opportunity to inspect the parcel he brought in, you shuffled along the wall and towards it, trying to hide as much of your exposed body as you could.

Ripping the tape off the box caught his attention, he swivelled himself around and watched you intently, under other circumstances you would have liked to stop and stare at his toned abdomen and strong arms.

“I went to all that trouble to give that to you and this is how you repay me?” he scolded you, you ignored his words and opened the flaps to reveal what was inside. Spotting a plastic bottle your hands sprung for it, you twisted the cap off and sniffed it cautiously, it smelt like nothing so you assumed it was water.

You had to stop yourself from chugging the entire bottle at once, you took a couple of big gulps and then set it to the side, you felt instantly so much better.

Inside the box was some clothes, a few snack bars and other bits. You laid the clothes out on the floor in front of you, noticing that they were all your size including some pieces of underwear, you glared at him not wanting to know how he knew your measurements.

“I thought you would want a change out of your hero costume” he commented, inspecting your every move. At the bottom of the box was a blanket, you stroked it first feeling the soft fabric grace your finger tips and then picked it up to reveal the bottom of the cardboard.

You squealed and threw the blanket into the air when you saw what was left, “What the fuck are those?” you gasped completely shocked, you heard him laugh as he crossed his arms over his chest.

“We have many different types of needs, I wanted to make sure I fulfilled all of them for you” he explained with humour in his voice. In your shock you had managed to kick the box away from you which sent its contents flying across the floor. It was a vibrator and other toys, but not just random toys. They were yours, from your home - the ones that no one other than you had known about.

“You’re sick” you shouted at him, “I think you’ll find I’ve been quite pleasant to you considering” he snapped back, “Do you know how much money the League of Villains have put out for your capture?” he barked.

You were speechless, you had no idea that the League was interested in you, or even knew who you were. Realising he’d caught your attention, he grinned “I could have just handed you over to them and let them interrogate you in whatever way they wanted” he was really trying to rub it in.

Crouching down to be at your eye level, he peered at you through the glass, “If you give me information on the Heroes plans and operations, I can prove to them that you’re not a threat and they’ll leave us alone and we can be happy” his voice had swiftly changed from anger to kindness, he was pleading with you.

“I will never help a villain, let them kill me” you shifted your body so it was leaning towards the glass to make sure that he could see how serious you were.

Running his hand down his face, he stood back up again leaving you to look up at him “I’m only going to ask this once, what are Endeavour’s plans?” his jaw tightened and he waited for you to answer.

You pushed yourself up off the ground unsteadily and strutted over to the glass, leaning your body against it and staring at him dead in the eye “I’ll never tell you” you spat, refusing to back down.

He shook his head lightly and moved his eye line to the ground, “I really didn’t want to resort to this” he muttered, when he raised his head to peer at your angry features his eyes were soft and for a second you believed him.

“Actually, I really did” he smirked and leaned out of sight, you heard a mechanical thump from over your head.

Taglist:

@mylife-demonstrates-murphys-law @hereticpriest @enagmaticether @anxiousgoddest

#aizawa x reader #villain aizawa #villain aizawa x reader #yandere villain aizawa #yandere villain aizawa x reader #jealousy #jealousy part 2 #smut #aizawa smut

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