#just like how he used to be isolated in the basement of the shop

[darkbluekies]

AHHH JUST GOT ANOTHER REQUEST! silas with a crackhead gen z s/o.This guy would be so fking confused.😭😭

Silas:walk out of that front door and I'll break your legs👿👿.

s/o:*uses the open window besides the door instead and casually walks away*

Silas texting:WHY ARE YOU NOT HOME YOUR GONNA GO THROUGH HELL IF YOU DON'T COME BACK.

S/o: You're* dumbass and proceeds to ignore the calls from this dumb af guy.

first anon (im sorry but i thought this was funny 😭😭)

[Do you want to break him??? Congrats, you succeeded 😭]

Not a joking matter

Mafia!yandere OC x reader

Summary: you decide to pull a stunt on Silas while you are fighting, which causes him to go insane with fury. He promises himself to make sure you never dare to do it again.

Warnings: yandere content, mentions of killing, guns, threats, isolation punishment, Stockholm syndrome, Silas who can't take a joke, manipulation

Word count: 1.5k

Normally, you wouldn’t dare fight with Silas. It only gave you consequences you couldn’t bear. Besides, just giving in and listening to him makes your world turn easier. But some days, things get too much and your anger bubbles out. This has led you and Silas to argue down by the front door about his jealousy.

“I’m literally done!” you scoff out. “You’re insane, this is insane! I’m leaving!”

“If you walk out through that door, I’m breaking your legs”, Silas warns you with his arms over his chest. “Don’t test me, little thing.”

You give him a long stare before opening the window next to the door and jumping out. Silas gaze darkens as he watches you walk away. How dare you?

“What are you doing, boss?” one of his men asks with a shaking voice. “Are you just going to let them leave?!”

“They will be back soon”, Silas says through gritted teeth. “They can’t survive without me. And when they return, they’ll go back into the basement until they apologize sincerely.”

“And if they don’t come back, boss?”

“Then they’ll regret it.”

You walk along the road, cursing Silas for living out in the middle of the fucking forest. You’re not even wearing shoes! Why did you walk out like that? Well, at least you’re free. Right? This has to be worth it. You have to show Silas that you mean business … he can't treat you like that.

You reach the nearest city after an hour of walking. You're sure you've destroyed one skinlevel by now. No blood has been drawn yet, but your skin is ripped and dirty. You sink down by the side of the road, next to a coffee shop. Now what? You don't have any money … only your cell phone. Silas IT master has blocked the phone from calling any other number than Silas.

It buzzes. You look down and see a message from him.

"WHY ARE YOU NOT HOME?? YOUR GOING TO GO THROUGH HELL IF YOU DON'T COME BACK, DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT?"

You shouldn't do it — it's childish — yet you do it. Your fingers tremble as you type the message back, but you can't help but snicker for yourself.

"You're*"

If only you could see his face once he receives the message. Silas, on the other hand, throws his phone at the wall once he gets your little fun text. He calls you, but you don't answer. He calls again … and again … and again. Same automatic voice telling him to try again later.

"This little shit, I swear to God-" he growls before grabbing his car keys. "I'm going to get them, I don't fucking care. They'll be sorry. Who the fuck do they think they are? Seriously? Fucking brat.”

“What are you going to do, boss?” the same man as before asks.

“If Y/N wants to act like a shitty, little brat, then I’ll treat them like one.”

He rips open the door and walks out to his black sports car. You might be his darling, but this car is his baby. Although he doesn’t know where you are, he has an idea. There's not a lot of places you could have gone to. You're not stupid enough to run into the forest, you'll have followed the road. You can't have gotten too far. He'll find you.

He notices that you're not on the road.

"These little legs were faster than I thought", he mumbles. "Just wait til I get my hands on you."

He drives into the small city, looking around. A smirk creeps up on his face once he sees you sitting on the sidewalk. He parks the car right in front of you and jumps out. His anger turns into some weird adrenaline kick once he sees your terrified eyes. He will punish you, don't you worry … but first he wants to play.

"Either you get in the car now or I'll make you", he says with one hand resting inside of his jacket, on his gun. "I'll blow this place up."

You know Silas, and you know what he keeps in his pocket. You know he's not lying. Suddenly, incapable of moving, paralyzed in fear, you shake your head desperately. Silas smiles.

"Boom", he says, forming his mouth to an 'O'.

"No, please", you whisper.

"Yes? If you say so …"

He's about to pull put the gun. You finally manage to move your limbs and shoot up from the sidewalk, stopping his hand.

"Silas, don't", you beg.

"But you wanted to be bratty and not do what I said", he pouts and gives you puppy dog eyes. "It's not more than fair that I get to play too?"

"Silas, people will get hurt if you do that."

"People could have gotten hurt by your stunt too. If I wouldn't have found you …" He moves closer until you can feel his breath against your face. "... I'd killed all of my men."

You shiver and give him a horrified glance.

"Y/N, get in the car now", Silas tells you seriously, no longer in the mood to play games.

And you do.

"Y/N, I want you to know something", Silas says as he starts driving away. "You only 'escaped' today because I let you. The only reason you're still alive is because I went to get you. You should be happy that I love you because what would you have done without me? You have no money, your phone — which you should be grateful I gave you — only works for my number … you aren't even wearing shoes!"

Your head slumps. You shouldn't feel so guilty, you shouldn't start to cry … but you do.

"I could have left you", Silas continues. He won't stop until you've broken down completely. "I could have forgotten about you and moved on, find somebody that actually appreciates what I do for them and is grateful for my love. But I went back for you because I love you."

He has noticed that you've started crying in the seat next to him, but he isn't done.

"People could have died today and it'd be all your fault", Silas says.

"Stop!" you shout and cover your ears with your hands. "I get it! I'm sorry!"

"I'm not sure you do, baby. That's why you'll spend a little while down in the basement once we get home. Just to make sure this won't happen again."

You want to protest, but his gaze makes you shrink to the size of an ant. Yu're already six feet down, no need to do yourself any further.

When you get back to his house, he pulls you with him down to the basement and chains you before saying a word.

"Silas, I'm really sorry", you sob. "I'll never do it again. Please don't leave me here.'

"You've acted like a complete brat, baby. My partner is an adult, not a damn child, do you get that?"

"Yes!"

"Good. I will see you in a while."

"No, Silas, please!" you shout. "Don't leave me here!"

You hear the door to the ground floor, leaving you in pitch black darkness. You sob out into the emptiness and hug your legs, burying your face into your knees.

You don't know how much time passes by. You have no idea how long time you've been down here, all you know is that your growling stomach stopped making sounds a long time ago. It doesn't hurt anymore … although it should. Your body must have gone numb because you can't feel anything. Or you've died. That's at least what you tell yourself. You no longer live and will never feel anything else ever again. This basement works wonders on the brain.

The door from the ground floor creaks. You look up, seeing how Silas come walking down. Your body fills with electricity. He came back!

"Hey, baby", he says and squats down in front of you.

"Silas …", you say quietly, tasting the name, seeing if he can hear you. Seeing if you're alive.

"Yes?"

A wave of relief flows through you. Your hands start reaching out for him, needing to hold onto something to fully convince you that you're still real.

"Careful, baby", Silas says softly and stops your hands. "I have to remove the chains first."

Impatiently, you wait for him to unlock the heavy metal keeping you to the ground. As soon as you feel the weight lifting, you throw yourself at him, locking your arms around his neck and hiding your face into his warm shoulder. He chuckles and wraps his strong arms around you in return.

"Eager to see me?" he smiles right by your ear.

You don't answer. You're happy to see someone. It just happens that this someone is Silas.

"Do you want to come upstairs now?" he asks.

You nod against his shoulder.

"You're not going to be a bratty little shit anymore?" he asks.

You shake your head.

"And you won't pull a childish stunt?" he asks.

You shake your head. Your humor doesn't work on him and you learned that the hard way.

"Very well then, let's go", Silas says and stands up, pulling you up with him.

You wrap your legs around his torso and keep your arms in place. You can hear him purr like a cat. Silas always gets what he wants. He always wins.

[apupp3tw0-strings]

Puppets and Dolls

Date: October 17th, 2131

The most jarring thing about that whole adventure had to be Dorothy.

I... I can't pin what exactly it was but... she felt like Spamton or Jevil. Her speech fragmented and hard to understand. The talk of revenge, or of the "Truth". The odd cadences in her voice, the glint in her button eyes. ... The shadowy crystal she gave me. She also felt like how I felt in the moment. Trapped. Alone. Angry. So so SO angry... I- I can't imagine what could have happened to her. And based on what I can gather about what happened to Jevil and Spamton, I not sure I want to know.

I... Let me start from the beginning though. As I (and by that I mean a mysterious soul entity) was walking through the Feathered Forest with Broadway after the party got split up after the 2nd mini boss, we came across a something. In the room after the 3rd mini boss, a collection of Ssnekmers tied together into a Ssneking, there was a hidden path down through some of the bushes and trees. It led down a twisting hall before leading to a locked gate and a puzzle. The puzzle read something like...

"In land far away, lies a Castle o Cards. The answer you seek, lies suit order esrever" Beside the sign, there's a card suit puzzle like might've been found in the old classroom Dark World."

"Rather impossible if you've never seen it, which most in this land haven't! Oh ho ho!!"

(Looking back on it now, Magico likely wrote that, huh?) Anyways, I didn't know how to solve the puzzle since well, I'd never been to Card Castle, and I'll never be able to since Kris closed that Dark World years ago. It was the first one they journeyed to that they told me about. Even still, the Askers controlling the Soul did know. And they were able to get the door open.

On the other side of the gate was a chest, and inside the chest was a key. A rusty key with a button head. The RustedKey. After putting it in our KEY ITEMS, we left the room and I forgot about it until later. All the way until we reached the Chapel.

After more Magico encounters, receiving an existential crisis inducing egg (which I still have???) from a man I swear I've seen in my dreams before, and finally catching up with CK and Remie again, we eventually reached the Choral Chapel, where we'd have to fight the High Priestess, the ruler of this Dark World who both wanted to stop us from closing the fountain, but also wished to harness the potential of one of us for something. Before we fought her though, the Askers seemed to have other plans.

Using the elevator on the top floor, the one by Magico’s Shop, we were able to drop down into some sort of basement. A floor even deeper down than the dungeon. It was quiet. Echoing only with our footsteps and lit only with a few torches. How did the Askers even know to come here?

At the end of a long corrider, there was a large, rusty cell door. Lot less elegant than the ones we saw in the dungeon previously. I could just barely see someone inside as the faint light shone through the gaps in the bars. A raggedy looking doll Darkner, chained up with her head down. She was muttering to herself.

"Aha ha ha ha...//Thoust fools,//YOU'RE ALL BEING//truly are the Fool!" She spoke in a fragmented voice, as though it was stitched together from other bits of dialog she'd heard.

"??? ARE THEY TALKING TO US?" CK asked as he tried to peer in front of me. I couldn't say anything or move at all. Only stare. Stare at this poor Darkner, trapped and isolated as her head shot up and she stared back.

"!!//Who's goes there?//REVEAL YOUR//secret identities!?"

"Oh um, well I'm Remie, this is Chicago and CK-" Remie introduced us before CK cut them off.

"THERE A REASON YOU'RE IN THERE?"

"The Choir//The rest of the choir//made up of//You IDIOTS.//I was simply//You're telling the truth?//and they ran//me//out of//the KINGDOM OF-//FOOLS!//blinded by darkness//HOW CAN YOU REFUSE,//Can you see the//The light only you can see." The truth. Darkness. Light. Freedom. Gyeh heh. Where have before? This is when I knew something was up. I could feel my body start to tense as CK continued talking.

"WHY WOULD THEY LOCK YOU UP FOR TELLING THE TRUTH?"

"FOOLS!//All of you are filled with//the side... OF IGNORANCE!!!//Then they will//finally pay off//What's the price.//I WILL USE THAT SPECIAL ATTACK//fix all of them//Manipulating people to make them//FREEDOM."

"SO UH... DO YOU NEED US TO LET YOU OUT?"

This is when Remie whispered something that was a pretty good point. "(Is it a good idea for us to let her out, ribatti, ribatti? She seems a bit unstable...)"

She was unstable, but so were/are Jevil and Spamton. Should they have remained trapped too? N-no! Its like Papa said. Criminalizing the mentally unwell doesn't help them and does nothing but satiate the majority and make it acceptable to demonize the unfortunate! E-even if Dorothy deserved to be in here, she's clearly been completely isolated, which doesn't help her a bit besides help her go more insane! It's no wonder she's mad!

"ARE YOU AFRAID//to see the world as//Moment of truth." Dorothy asked "Are you gonna be//closed the blinds...//You're just like//Studying with THEM??//if you can just free me//I'll show you what REAL//When the LIGHT is//I Will Free You//if you can help me..."

After that we were given a choice.

See the light ❤️ Do not see

At first the Askers chose not to see, but that only made Dorothy upset before we were presented the option again.

"❤️See the light"

"THE KEY//Delicious Platters Has The Key//Hidden in the depths//Alt+Tab away from//lost sight of what was important.//the court magician//a snake-charming song//YOU TRAITOR...!//someone who knows.//Don't they know"

After that we pulled out the Rusted Key from the Key Items and used it to unlock the door before stepping inside.

To be Continued...

[royalmokwamonster]

23/12/2023 @10:55pmmy

Therapist was right how life is dynamically shifting to the new chapter. It just sucks how my Christmas break feels sluggishly long

Waiting / hoping the door will ring

Hearing random stomps

Food disappearing really quick in the fridge

Loud bass sounds coming from the basement

What am I waiting for? What am I expecting? Why is it so boring?

Why am I so bored? I’ve done shopping. I’ve been at the mall. I’ve gone to the bakery. I’ve done a tiny grocery hall.

It’s like, if I go out, (hopefully) when I get back Kuya will be there.

But he isn’t.

I’m just a puppy waiting for their owner to advice so I could annoy the shit out of them.

Call doesn’t feel the same. I think that’s where my quality time of love language kicks in.

Last night I watch my baby confirmation CD, just to have that presence i guess of Kuya around.

I cried in my room. I couldn’t sleep. I cant sleep. He prob can’t either lol what’s new

It’s 11 and I’m just waiting out of nowhere the random car pull into the driveway. The keys unlocking the door. 🐶 comes barking out of nowhere.

But none of that will happen tonight. It didn’t happen last night. And it for sure won’t happen tmr on Christmas.

It’s our first Christmas separated.

Separation was something we (unfortunately) got used to /reinforced.

First from Mtl. Then this compilated family dynamic.

This is new though.

Now it’s being separated from what was keeping u company after moving here (feeling isolated from other family).

Awesome.

It’s more teary eye “I’m glad he’s far, but man did he had to be THIS far”

Now what am I going to watch? I don’t usually plan what’s next…. I just sit and comment

[undertheknightwing]

Posted by popular demand: all my dad!Dick Grayson headcanons! 

I’m doing the canonverse ones first. My au ones will be in a separate post so this one doesn’t get too long! Enjoy random stuff I’ve thought of!

Important note: when I say ‘canonverse’ I mean I could see it happening in the show’s universe more than an au, I don’t mean everything is going to fit perfectly with the canon storyline we got since there’s not much I can headcanon with the real storyline anyway. Nothing is going on but useless drama and shitty treatment of the main characters. So keep that in mind,,

Dick had a hard time admitting to himself that he cared for Gar and Rach as if they were his kids because of the whole ‘i don’t do family, i work alone’ thing. Tbh the thought of loving someone again, let alone two people, with his luck of family death and misfortune was scary to him and that’s why after Asylum, he left the two in Angela’s care. He knew he was getting too attached to them (that became clear to him when he went dad rage mode on the guards). Then the Trigon thing started and when he realized he led Rachel and Gar into a trap without knowing, he said ‘fuck it they are my kids and they’re in some serious trouble, I’m going to get them out of that trouble even if it kills me’ and that’s why he ran head on into that force field with his only thought being: ‘my kids are in trouble and I will protect them. Nothing can stop me, not even a demonic force field.’

He treats the kids as equally as he can in normal life situations. Like if Rach got to choose dinner the night before, now It’s Gar’s turn to choose. But when it comes to how to comfort them, that’s when he has to change it up because both kids feel comforted in different ways. Both get nightmares and he had to learn how to handle the situation differently for the two. If Rach has a nightmare, he’ll know cause she wakes him up and they’ll talk about it together until she’s calm enough to go back to bed. Now, if Gar has a nightmare, he’ll hear it cause Gar’s usually screaming, which turns into panicking after Dick wakes him up and then him holding onto Dick while crying. Not much talking on Gar’s end, it’s Dick who’ll say a few words. Rachel needs words to feel comforted because her mother hugged and kissed her growing up but they never really talked, so she felt like she never knew her mother while Gar needs physical affection because he grew up without it and got his thoughts and emotions manipulated by words. And throughout the next day, he’ll check on the Gar or Rachel to make sure they’re doing alright.

When Dick went to Doom Manor to get Rachel, that man did not think he’d be leaving Doom Manor with another kid but surprise! he does. Why though? the show never explains why Dick just decided to take a random kid with them. Well in my headcanon it’s because Rachel refused to leave Gar with the Doom Patrol and to help Dick realize that Gar was being treated horribly here, she used her abilities to show him what Gar’s been going through. Dick saw the things Rachel saw like Chief shooting him just because he stood up for himself and the things she didn’t see, like all the times Chief treated Gar like he was worthless trash and the Patrol’s neglect by keeping him down in a basement with nothing to keep him entertained or company. Dick wasn’t going to let a child be treated like that. Since Chief was knocked out, he just talked to the other three and by talk, I mean rip into like an angry momma bear and tell them he’s taking Gar with him. Cliff wasn’t a fan of how Dick came in and acted like he’s entitled to whatever he wants. That ended with Dick and Cliff screaming over each other until Rita allowed Dick to take Gar with them, though Dick wasn’t looking for permission from them, just an agreement from Gar himself. He got that rather quickly. 

He’s never raised his voice at either of the kids in anger. Not even when Gar almost got himself killed by following Jason, he made sure Gar knew he was disappointed and upset with him by calmly explaining; not yelling. No shock to anyone there that Dick has some issues with his anger and he’s afraid one day he’ll take it out the wrong way on the kids and say something he doesn’t mean just because he’s angry/stressed, ultimately harming his relationship with them. I think the only time he’d actually yell at one of them is in serious situations, like if one of them froze up during a mission, making them an easier target, he’d yell their name or something to try to get their attention and snap out of it.

Kind of on the same note, how he manages worry is very different. He will be over the top about it. He’s very dramatic. Rachel got sick and better believe he learned how to make homemade chicken noodle soup because Alfred would do the same with him. Besides that, he’ll hover around her just in case she needs him, which Rach might take advantage of just a little because what kid doesn’t? She’ll have Dick carry her to bed and tuck her in. Gar slipped during a race with Jason up the net wall in the training room and broke his arm since ya know, he fell onto that hard ass mat and since him nor Rachel can go to the hospital because they’re metahumans, Dick had to fix Gar’s arm, which he wasn’t thrilled about since he was afraid he’d make it worse, but Alfred (over the phone) walked him through it and Gar turned out fine, no further injuries. The only thing Gar got was an overprotective bird dad constantly wanting to be around him and Gar was 100% cool with that. They got some well deserved father-son time. I’m also going with Dick feels awful about Gar’s injury because he wasn’t around when it happened so he couldn’t try to catch him and hearing ‘Gar fell from the net wall and he’s not moving’ coming from a panicking Rachel threw him into a completely frantic state of mind. It’s all worry for Dick but Gar helps him feel better with his cheesy jokes and puns.

 I have a feeling after a few months around him, Gar and Rach start adopting Dick’s reactions to certain things and his mannerisms. Dick feels conflicted about the whole thing. There’s a lot about him he’d rather them not replicate. But Rachel doing his pondering face where he puts his hand over his mouth and Gar folding his arms and leaning against whatever he can when people talk to him, like Dick does quite often, is fine with him. If this teaches him anything, it’s to fix his own act and be a good example. 

Dick doesn’t favor either kid, they’re both his favorite but there’s certain things they do that would be considered his favorite things about said kid. Like the way Rachel hums or softly sings her favorite songs while painting/drawing and Gar’s loud bursts of genuine laughter that turn into snorts the longer he laughs. The surprise and love he felt when Rachel gave him a sketch she did of him, he put it on the fridge and probably went to cry in his bedroom so no one saw him. Dick’s not known for his laughter, and most people haven’t even seen him smile, yet Gar seems to get him to do both more than he’s ever in years. The first time Dick has laughed so hard that he started crying was to some sarcastic joke Gar made about a commercial when the living room had been silent for awhile. The day Gar’s favorite show is new is also one of Dick’s favorite days because when the episode is over Gar rushes to him all happy and tells him about it like: “dude, dude you won’t believe it I was so shocked!”. Honestly seeing Gar and Rachel truly happy is his favorite thing in the whole universe.

I feel like there’s been a few times where Dick has been sad that Gar and Rach aren’t really his kids. He wishes he could have given them a happy childhood. Rachel shouldn’t have had to be terrified of her abilities and lied to cause of them and Gar shouldn’t have had to raise himself and be shut away like he was some kind of monster. 

At some point before they all reached the tower or the day after, Dick had to take the kids shopping because where did their outfits come from (and room décor?). This is the first time they’ve all been in a normal situation together and Dick learned a few things. Rachel had no problem being around crowds of people due to her more normal upbringing while Gar stared wide eyed at everyone like he had no idea what to do. Dick assumed since Gar’s been isolated from the world around him for so long mixed with his enhanced senses, he got overwhelmed by all the noises and sights. So Dick told him to focus on him and his voice until his senses get used to the many things happening around him. And that Gar could hold Dick’s hand if he wanted, which he did. He also learned that every piece of clothing Rachel wanted was either black or dark blue, there is no in-between, making Dick jokingly wonder if Rachel is secretly related to Bruce. Then with Gar, all his clothing is bright and busy,, matching his personality. I’m also going with this conversation happened at some point: “Hey, Dick, why don’t you get yourself something while we’re here?” “I don’t have enough money for me, just you two.” “You don’t take whatever you want? I do.” “Umm.. no? That’d be steali-- YOU WHAT.”

On the note of clothes, both of the kids absolutely wear Dick’s clothes. If he can’t find one of his shirts or hoodies, he’s pretty sure one of the kids took it and it’ll be obvious it’s his even if it’s plain cause his clothes are huge on them. He never asked them why they steal his clothes but goes with it comforts them in some way.

One night when Rachel couldn’t sleep, she wandered out to the living room where Dick was still awake and watching tv. She tells him she couldn’t fall asleep so he gives her permission to stay up with him. Dick’s tv show quickly turned into a disney movie after that decision was made and Dick’s not the kind of person who has an easy time sitting through all the marshmallowy stories and singing of those movies but they make Rachel happy so he’ll sit through one for her. He’d rather Rachel watch a kid’s movie than his true crime shows anyway. Rach falls asleep cuddling Dick before the movie ends and instead of taking her back to her room, he lets her stay asleep there and goes to sleep himself because she’s comfy and he’s not going to disturb her. 

Gar expends so much energy during the day that when he goes to his room to chill before bed, he usually falls asleep with everything on in his room and without being covered up because he just passes out. Knowing that fact, Dick finishes the rest for him. Go in Gar’s room, take the ps4 controller out of his hand (cause he normally streams his shows on his ps4), turn everything off besides the green night light, cover Gar up and just because, place one of Gar’s tiger plushies with him, which leads to Gar the next day being like: “really dude? The tiger again. You’re not funny.” and Dick answering: “I’ll stop when you fall asleep correctly.”

Dick now knows how to braid hair multiple ways thanks to Rachel. When the original Titans returned, Dawn said how beautiful Rachel’s hair was, asking if she did it herself and when Rachel said “No, I wish I could. Dick did it for me, he’s great!” Dawn just stood there, not knowing how to respond because the Dick Grayson she remembered would chuckle and act like she didn’t even speak when she’d ask him to do her hair in the past. Gar’s s2 hair was done by Dick as well. The kids said “our hair is boring, can you fix it” and Dick’s inner Wayne surfaced.  

At some point the kids are going to call Dick their dad and he’ll cry, no doubt about that. By the nature of the show, I’d imagine it’d happen during or after some serious thing. For Rachel, it’d be during the s2 premiere. After Trigon is defeated and they’re all settling into Titans Tower, Dick goes to check on Rachel. The day was pretty rough for her. At first Rachel tries to act cool, like nothing is bothering her, but Dick can see through that and she knows. Eventually they get into a deep conversation about Rachel’s destiny, her father, and her feelings about it all. At some point Dick says something on the line of “I'm sorry you never had a real father” after Rachel compares her upbringing to Dick’s. Rachel smiles and tells him she has a real father, it’s him. Sure he’s a little late to the party, but he showed up when she needed him the most and stayed. This will be the first time Rachel will see Dick cry. For Gar, it’ll be after he gets over some sickness his powers gave him since they’re connected to his system and didn’t get finished by the Chief to be properly balanced, they can get out of line. He gets weak and loses his bright green hair/eyes, turning them a dull forest green. It’s not deadly, it’s just his version of the flu. When he’s finally over it and turns back to his normal self, Dick is all overly worried parent to him and Gar, being Gar, has to joke with him first: “jeez man, you are such a parent! All that worrying and pacing you were doing yikes! I think my legs would have fallen off haha!” before going into the soft stuff: “but, it shows that you’re a good one. better than my folks.. thanks, dad-- for, like, everything you did these few days.” then cue Dick pulling Gar into a hug and crying like ‘my purest angel son too precious for this world’.

Early on, Dick kind of sucked at being affectionate through words because Bruce was never with him, so he really didn’t know how to. Instead, he’d buy the kids things they’ve always wanted or things that reminded him of them, like a wooden pencil case carved in the shape of a raven’s feather for Rach and a tropical jurassic park themed backpack for Gar. The ‘hey I saw this and it reminded me of you so I bought it’ gifts are the kids’ favorites.

Ya know that cauliflower pizza Dick makes in s2? Yeah better believe I have a headcanon for why he makes that type of pizza specifically. Dick was having a hard time forgiving himself for killing Gar even if it was Trigon controlling him and this was when he didn’t know how to talk about his feelings, so instead of trying to have a conversation with Gar about it, he decided to do something else to say ‘I’m sorry’. He’s pretty good at cooking (thanks Alfred!) and knows Gar’s favorite food is pizza and that he’s vegan, there’s got to be something he can do with that and as we know, there is. A knock on his bedroom door made Gar remove himself from a video game and see what’s up. On the floor sat a pizza box with a note typed on that read: “I know this is stupid and I need to work on my communication skills, but I’m so sorry for what happened. I hope someday you can forgive me.” now my reasoning for why Gar jokes about said pizza with Rachel is because he and Dick don’t really have a lot that’s just theirs. Dick and Rachel have a lot they share together and Gar kind of wants something he can share with his new dad. So joking about it is his way of covering up his real feelings and no offence to his sister, but he knows how she gets when she feels left out of something so it’s best if he keeps this one thing between him and Dick.

On the weekends aka no training days, Dick normally takes Rach and Gar out so they can do normal kid things. He refuses to be like Bruce and keep the kids shut in the tower all day to ‘keep them safe’ like he did with Dick in the Manor. They need fresh air, sunshine, and fun. Plus he’s with them so if trouble shows up whether by one of their powers or something else, he’ll take care of it. Day activities will be: going to places like the park or the mall, get lunch somewhere, go to the store cause grocery shopping day is Saturday, make dinner at home, then finish the day with a movie. If the daytime is busy with over-do chores and a long time at the store, then night activities will be: going to dinner, either going on a relaxing drive while the kids play their favorite songs over the radio or going on a walk. Both include slushies and snacks for Gar and Rach and coffee for Dick. The last thing of the day is still a movie but more than likely the kids will be asleep before it’s even halfway done and Dick has to carry them to bed. But that’s okay with him, he wouldn’t change it for the world.

There used to be a lot more for the canonverse but I added them into my Rewrite au cause they were already leaning towards au territory,, you’ll see them in my next post

I’ll probably turn some of these into a short fic at some point, but if you see one you’d like to write about, go for it! I’d love to read it!

tagging @not-so-mundane-after-all-97​ real quick cause I know she wants to see this post,,

[zeppelin-and-unicorns]

It's ILI! If it isn't hard for you to write it... "Can I buy you a coffee?" Kelso to Brooke!

For context: Eric, Kelso, Fez, and Hyde were sitting in a smokeless circle. It's Kelso's first visit since the New Year over 6 months before, he's holding Betsy in his arms and he looks miserable.

"Can you believe that?!" Kelso said indignantly "Just when I was about to ask her to try again, I see her going out for lunch with this doctor guy! That is so unfair!"

"Kelso, you dumped Brooke to be with my sister" Hyde said, annoyed "I don't think you get a saying on her dating life anymore"

"But... I love her, and I really want to be with her" Kelso replied "I never felt this way about a chick before, man. Not with Angie, not with Laurie, not even with Jackie. It's like... she makes me forget about all the awful things in the world, and I want to be around her all the time"

"Yep, he's in love alright" Eric said

"Yeah, you’re screwed” Hyde said

“Do you think I should fight for her?” Kelso asked, his hands absentmindedly stroking Betsy’s hair 

"Kelso, I love you, but if I hear you talking about Brooke again, I am going to leave" Fez said seriously

"Well, I'm sorry Fez, but you never had your heart broken before, so I'm gonna keep on talking!"

Fez glared at him "I see. So you think Fez never had his heart broken before? Well, Fez was dumped by Jackie after dating her for two, glorious days. Then Fez saw Nina at the salon, and she was getting ready for her wedding day. And then, Fez saw Rhonda at the Hub, looking glorious. Fez asked her out, and she said no. Fez’s heart was broken so many times, that it’s barely a heart anymore! It’s just dust in between Fez’s lungs!”

Eric, Hyde, and Kelso stared at him like he went nuts.

"Fez, man, if you want to make people feel bad for you, then you have to quit with this third person crap" Hyde said after a few minutes of silence "It makes me wanna punch you in the face"

“You...” Fez said, glaring at Hyde “This is all your fault! I’m leaving, good day!”

“But Fez...” Kelso said, wondering what caused his outburst. But before he could ask, Fez walked out of the basement, slamming the door on his way out.

“What the hell was that? He didn’t even say ‘I said good day’ like he normally does. He only does that when he’s extra pissed”

“Fez thinks Jackie broke up with him because of Hyde” Eric said

“Which makes no sense, because Jackie made pretty fucking clear that we’re ‘just friends’ now” Hyde muttered dejectedly

“Wait, since when are you and Jackie friends?” Kelso asked, looking confused “When I left, she hated your guts!”

“Hyde apologized to her for being the world’s biggest jackass and asked her for another chance,” Eric explained “She said no, because y’know, Jackie’s smart, and...”

“You’re supposed to be on my side!” Hyde hissed at him, punching his arm

“Dude, you married a stripper!” Eric said, rubbing his now sore arm

“And I’m paying for it, Forman! I already apologize to Jackie every damn day, I’m not going to apologize to you too!”

“Wait, you and Jackie are actually friends?” Kelso asked curiously, and Hyde nodded "Aw man, I feel so left out! I haven’t seen you guys for like, 6 months! Did I miss a lot? What else happened when I was gone?"

“Well...” Eric started, clearing his throat “Jackie rejected Hyde’s multiple attempts to get her back and she’s now making him pay for all the crappy things he did by letting him be around her, without actually being with her; Donna and I are currently trying to learn how to do our own laundry so we won’t have to come here every weekend; a new candy shop opened right next to the salon, but Fez got kicked out of there after hitting on the owner’s wife; my mom’s trying to force my dad to go jogging with her, and Jackie got a few modeling gigs so she’s been unbearable to be around”

“That’s it?” Kelso asked, looking at both os his friends, who nodded at him “I haven’t seen you guys in six months, and that’s all you got?! Wow, I really am the glue that holds this group together”

“Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, Kelso” Hyde said, rolling his eyes

“Well...” Kelso started, but Eric interrupted him

"Good talk guys, now I'll go see if Donna's up for some nookie time" Eric said with a small smile

"But we... We're in a circle!" Kelso argued

"Kelso, it's not a real circle if we can't... you know. Use the thing that makes the circle fun!"

“Nuh-uh! We’re still sitting on a circle, and you haven’t told me what to do about my whole thing with Brooke!”

“Yeah...” Eric said, standing up and moving to grab his coat on top of the record player “Good luck with that, pal”

Kelso stared increduosly at the door Eric just slammed closed. How dare him abandon his oldest friend during one of the hardest times of his life for sex?!

"You know what? You're a good friend, Hyde" Kelso said "Thanks for not abandoning me while I'm going through a crisis, now...”

"Actually..." Hyde said, tapping his thighs as he stood up from his chair "I'm off to meet Jackie. See ya, Kelso. Betsy"

Hyde ruffled the toddler’s hair before walking towards the basement door, and Betsy giggled, clapping her little hands.

“Ackie!” She said, and Hyde smiled at her.

"Wait, you're meeting with Jackie?!" Kelso asked "But you said she just wanted to be your friend!"

"I don’t know man, I think she’s opening up to me," Hyde said, grinning from ear to ear, "I’m just waiting for the right moment to ask her out again, and something tells me that’s going to be soon”

“But Hyde...” Kelso said, but Hyde left before he could finish his sentence.

Kelso sighed and looked at the toddler sitting on his lap, she was laughing, and he had a feeling that maybe, she was laughing at his misfortune.

“Dada, burn!” Betsy said

Yup, she was definitely laughing at him.

**

Kelso adjusted the baby carrier on his chest, trying to make sure Betsy wouldn’t fall off. When he was sure his girl was safe, he walked up the stairs of Point Place’s library.

Brooke asked him to drive both her and Betsy to Point Place earlier today, claiming she wanted to meet with a few of her old girlfriends, and Kelso said yes right away. He’s been dying to spend more time with her, and the commute from Chicago to Point Place was three hours long.

She said that after she finished brunch with her friends, she’d be at the library, and that’s where Kelso hoped she was right now.

After a long talk with Mrs. Forman (since his friends couldn’t care less about his problem), he decided he’s just going to confess his feelings to Brooke. At this point, he didn’t care if she was dating this doctor guy, he just needs her to know because he feels like he’s going to burst every time he’s near her.

He found her sitting in the more isolated corner of the library, reading a thick book.

He took a deep breath, but before he could say anything, Betsy announced their presence.

“Mama!” The toddler said, squirming as she tried to escape the baby carrier.

Brooke immediately looked up and smiled, making Kelso weak on his knees, She has a beautiful smile.

“Hey baby!” She said, putting her book down and unclasping the baby carrier, taking the toddler in her arms and kissing the top of her head “How was your day with your dad?”

“Dada sad” Betsy said, and Kelso’s eyes widened in shock.

“Why’s your dad sad, Betsy?”

“He wuvs mama” The toddler answered as she played with the collar of her mother’s coat. Brooke’s eyes immediately met with his, and he felt like he was about to have a heart attack.

“What?” Brooke said

“Dada wuvs mama” Betsy repeated, and Kelso licked his extremely dry lips, trying to think of something to say.

“Michael, what is she talking about?” Brooke asked, and Kelso sighed. This is not how he was planning on telling her.

“Uhh... Nothing?”

“Michael...”

“Fine! She may have overheard my conversation with the guys, where I told them... I told them I loved you and I that was sad because you’re dating that doctor”

Brooke’s mouth hang open in shock “What?!”

“I’m sorry, okay?” Kelso said “No, actually, I’m not sorry, Brooke. It’s how I feel and you should know”

Brooke took a deep breath “What makes you think I’m dating Christopher, Michael?”

“I saw you two talking, and hanging out, and...”

“He’s my friend, and he’s gay, you moron!” Brooke said “In fact, he has a crush on Fez since he came to visit the last time”

“He has a crush on Fez?” Kelso laughed “Oh, burn!”

“Michael!”

“Okay, okay, sorry!” Kelso said “I really thought you two were going out, I mean, you went out for lunch, and...”

“Two friends can have lunch together” Brooke argued, sending a pointed look at Kelso, and dammit, she looks pissed. Kelso just hoped she was pissed about him making assumptions, not about him loving her.

"So, since you’re not actually seeing anyone... Can I buy you a coffee?" Kelso asked, smiling softly at her. She kept glaring at him for a few seconds, before smiling back.

“Well...” Brooke said, bouncing the toddler in her arms “I just had brunch with the girls, so... Maybe some ice cream?”

Kelso’s smile widened.

“Awesome!” He yelled enthusiascally, and some people shushed him in response. 

Brooke laughed and took his hand “Let’s go”

[eldritchamy]

I watched “Happiest Season” and no it fucking wasn’t.

Here’s a review so you don’t have to suffer like I did: if I wasn’t watching it as the host of a movie night, I would not have made it past 20-30 minutes in.

It was very uncomfortable to watch.  I feel like I just spent two hours on a plane with a crying baby.  Except the baby was a homophobic rich white Republican that I was forced to campaign for.  All of the people I watched it with, including myself, found it stressful, anxiety inducing, and deeply unpleasant.  The first thing I did when it was over was warn my best friend not to watch it.

90% of the movie is rich white straight people drama forcing lesbians into the closet.  It’s not fun.  It’s not happy.  It wasn’t enjoyable.  At all.  Watching this was an uncompromisingly depressing and miserable experience.

It was marketed as a romantic comedy and it was neither of those things.   I feel repressed for having seen it.  

Every relationship in this movie is toxic and hard to watch, with the sole exception of two other characters who aren’t part of the family both having much better chemistry with Kristen Stewart’s character than her girlfriend.

Aubrey Plaza playing Gay Aubrey Plaza one of two redeeming things in the movie and she’s in it for about ten minutes, and even one of her scenes was hard for me to sit through (the awkward and dubiously written drag bar scene)  The other 90 minutes are agonizingly drawn out and unbearable.

If you are determined to support this movie because god knows we need more (and MUCH better) representation and we live in a hellscape where money is the only way to ask for such things, press play on it and then take out your headphones and go read a book instead until it’s over.

For your own sake please do not watch this.  

I genuinely can’t tell who it’s even FOR.  If anything about this movie resonates with you, I am SORRY to hear that, because you are probably the lesbian daughter of a very rich white man running for office as a Republican, and watching any of the rich housewife reality shows probably gives you PTSD because those are the kind of people you grew up with.  

And even IF that is the case, spare yourself the trauma of watching your own life and watch something else instead.  This movie will only hurt you.

Nothing about the experience of seeing this was worth it.

Plot spoilers ahead.

The plot is as follows:

Abby (Kristen Stewart) loves her girlfriend Harper (Mackenzie Davis).  But she does not love Christmas.  After a night out together, Harper asks her to join her when she visits her family for the holidays.  Abby says yes, and gets her gay male friend John (that guy from Schitt’s Creek) to cover pet sitting for her. While running a few errands with him, she goes to pick up an engagement ring which looks completely unattainable for a woman who makes a living as a pet sitter.

When they are almost to Harper’s family’s home, she awkwardly brings up that she lied about coming out to them earlier in the year.  They still don’t know she’s gay and they have to make sure the family is perfect and scandal free because her dad is running for mayor or something and one of his donors? campaign manager? is going to be there.  So they have to pretend Abby is her straight roommmate.  They fight about it before Abby very reluctantly agrees.  This is a pattern that repeats until Abby can’t take any more.

The family is like upper-class-Republican terrible.  They are AWFUL people.  The parents treat their children like trophies in a display case, and the children all feel forced into brutal competition with each other to see who the parents will actually be proud of.  One of Harper’s sisters (Jane) is actually an okay person who does nothing wrong, but she’s an aspiring writer who has spent 10 years not finishing her book and she’s played like she belongs in a different movie, and it feels like she’s meant to be seen as the useless layabout sibling, in a cruelly funny way.  

The other sister is a nightmare of a woman (Sloane? I think?) played by a completely unrecognizable Allison Brie.  She’s a lawful evil cutthroat monster who is straight up VICIOUS to the other two, and is especially terrible to Harper, because neither of them even see Jane as competition.  Her own family is the thing she uses to try to be worthy of her parents’ pride and affection.  

The dad is focused entirely on his campaign and is more or less indifferent to all of them unless they aren’t “presentable” and “scandal free” enough to keep his potential donor/campaign manager satisfied, in which case he “expects better of them” until they behave.  The children are like 30.  

The mom is maybe the worst of all of them.  She’s invasive, ignorant in that forceful way where she doesn’t give a shit about anything except her own bubble of reality that she thinks she’s living in and blows past any contradiction to it like it’s not even there, nitpicky about what everyone’s doing, is willfully out of touch with everything she’s told (Abby’s parents died when she was 19, and she spends the movie acting like she thinks Abby grew up in an orphanage made of dirt and never had a Christmas before).  And she will not leave the two of them alone.  She insists it’s ridiculous for two grown women to share a bedroom and gives Abby a room without a lock in a basement that’s bigger than my whole house, while Harper’s room is upstairs.  Everyone is constantly barging into Abby’s room with less than two seconds of notice, which leads to the kind of tension and awkwardness you’d expect.  The first morning, Abby wakes up to Sloane’s children staring at her.

Abby is clearly MISERABLE.  And so are you, because you’re watching this movie.  Abby and Harper are constantly pushed apart by the family, and Harper pushes Abby away while pretending to be perfect and straight for her family.

Her family invited Harper’s ex boyfriend, who thinks they should rekindle things.  Super fun thing that I always love to see in my lesbian media.

While out at dinner, Abby and Harper have another mini fight in the bathroom.  Harper promises she had no idea Connor(?) was going to be there and that there won’t be any more surprises.  They walk out of the bathroom, right into Harper’s OTHER ex, her first girlfriend Riley (Aubrey Plaza, who literally just plays herself and is the only good thing about the movie).

This is the first 20 minutes.

There’s a party that leaves Abby feeling isolated and pushed away.  She goes outside to make a phone call.  She makes regular texts and phone calls to John for support and advice throughout the movie.  He’s terrible at taking care of fish, but he’s genuinely a good friend to her and it’s clear he cares about her a lot.  It’s probably unfair not to say his friendship is the second redeeming thing in the movie.  After Abby gets off the phone with him the first time, Riley comes out from around the corner and tries to be nice, saying she could relate to what she’s going through.  Abby kind of closes off from her and she takes the hint without any fuss and leaves her alone.

The movie slogs on with compounding stress and anxiety and a moment when Abby is LITERALLY forced to hide in a closet and pretend she was sleepwalking on her way to Harper’s bedroom at night.  It MIGHT have been an attempt at a joke?  I’m genuinely not sure because I did not come close to laughing once in the entire 100 minutes of this nightmare.  Harper instead sneaks into Abby’s room while she’s awkwardly trying to get away from Harper’s mom.  That’s where the gifs of the sneak-snuggle from behind the door come from.  Enjoy the gifs because everything that wasn’t giffed is not worth seeing.  Harper spends the night there.

Bright and early, Harper’s mom comes knocking on the door, trying to open it and barge in again but Abby blocked the door with something heavy claiming it was to “keep her from sleepwalking again” (her excuse for being in the closet) while Harper frantically gets almost-dressed and hides behind the door as BOTH parents come to bother them, and the evil sister’s children see her partially dressed through the crack in the door.

Later that day Abby has to go shopping for a present for the “White Elephant” Harper didn’t warn her about.  She bumps into Sloane at the mall, who dumps her kids off on her before quickly leaving.  The kids very intentionally frame Abby for shoplifting by putting a necklace in her bag, and there’s a really awkward and uncomfortable scene with her being interrogated by overly forceful mall cops who are yelling at her.  When she finally gets back to the house, Harper’s entire family now thinks she’s a criminal.

Abby spends the night alone during another (campaign?) party that Harper told her she’d probably be happier getting left out of, and she bumps into Riley on the street and gets to talking with her, still more frustrated by Harper and her family.  She says she needs some alcohol, Riley takes her to a drag bar which gave me really bad vibes and bonds with her there, telling her a bit about her relationship with Harper.  They dated secretly (obviously) in their first year of high school (which implies she knew she was gay before she dated Connor, and used him as a cover).  They would sneak each other romantic notes.  When someone found one in Harper’s locker, she threw Riley under the bus completely, outed her, and said she was obsessed with her so she could go on pretending to be straight.  They bond a bit and seem like they could be friends, at a minimum.  They have a few more scenes together over the next hour (yeah there’s still that much movie left, and if you’re wondering how it could be that bad, you’re welcome for the warning, because I was wondering that too) and they have better chemistry than Abby and Harper by miles.

Eventually Abby becomes so miserable she checks the movie-specific version of Uber to try to go home by herself, but it’s running at holiday rates so it would cost over $1000 for her to leave.  She’s still tempted to do it, and calls John again for advice and says she feels awful, completely alone, and with no way out of this horrible situation.  He gives her some more friendly support.

Abby still needs a White Elephant gift, but has no way to go by herself because Harper drove them there.  So she calls Riley to go with her.  They spend a day hanging out together while Harper is doing some other thing with her dad’s campaign, and Abby makes text excuses to Harper, who then immediately sees Riley and Abby walking by on the street together.  Before she gets a chance to run out and say something, she gets interrupted by something I thankfully don’t remember (I long for the moment this is true of the rest of it).

Riley and Abby bond some more but nothing romantic happens.  The plot only wants them to be good friends, even though their chemistry is really good.

At the end of the day Abby comes in and Harper immediately almost starts a fight with her but they get interrupted again somehow.

I have willed most of the next 20 minutes out of my mind, apparently.

There’s yet another party at this gigantic house because I hate the rich, Abby and Riley talk more.  This is the one with the really gay outfit.  Abby admits to Riley that she was planning on proposing to Harper, but at this point it’s like she’s a completely different person and she can’t tell who the real Harper is.  Riley says it’s probably both of them.

SURPRISE JOHN IS HERE.  He comes in the front door and calls for Abby.  After Abby’s last phone call he arranged for his therapist to do the pet sitting and he drove all the way here just so he could take her home.  Seriously, John has incredible Good Friend Energy.  Yet more awkwardness ensues, while John mixes some awkward flirting with Connor into his poor attempt to come off as straight.  Abby then walks right up to Harper, says “we’re done” and goes to grab some things to leave.  Harper follows her into the room and tries to get her to stay, Abby says she can’t take the hiding and the general misery, the whole experience has been terrible and she’s not sure if Harper is the person she thought she was.  Harper argues for her to stay and says she’s caught between being afraid of losing her family if she comes out and knowing she’ll lose Abby if she doesn’t.  She promises to come out to them as soon as the holidays are over because Abby is more important to her.  They kiss briefly and realize Sloane is in the doorway.

Sloane tries to run to tell the rest of the family because burning Harper’s reputation forever means she’ll be the one their parents love most.  They fight in the many hallways of this stupidly enormous rich people house (this is when “Stay out of it, Sappho” happens) and on the way to ruin her sister’s life Sloane finds her husband making out with another ....campaign person? in the pantry and or closet which is big enough to fit two people inside.   Now Harper has something to use against Sloane.  This family is fucking horrible.  Sloane gets to where everyone else is first, and outs Harper.

Harper tries to swear she’s not gay, and sees Abby watching her.  She silently turns and walks out the door with John.  Harper then grabs a giant painting that Jane spent 100 hours on for the white elephant and smashes it over Sloane’s head and yells at her before falling apart.

Abby and John have another heartfelt conversation where John asks how she came out to her parents, and she said they loved and supported her.  Then he said his dad kicked him out on the street and didn’t talk to him for thirteen years.  He says everyone’s story is different, and Harper was still going through hers, and it was a hard one.  I THINK he acknowledges that if Abby doesn’t feel like she belongs in that story, she shouldn’t force herself to?  But that might have been wishful hindsight.  Abby comes back into the house to grab her things and leave, Harper comes out to her family right in front of her, Abby says it was too late and leaves anyway.  Harper is crushed and the rest of the family starts to see how fucked up they all are.

And then in the span of 7 fucking minutes the parents realize they were shitty to Sloane and Harper and the only reason Jane turned out okay is because they gave up on her, they give a minimal apology to their children, who also realize they were shitty to each other, and then it’s the next day and Abby is there with them, Harper has the ring on her finger, and everyone is magically happy now because the dad turned down his campaign advisor who said she could still work with him if he kept Harper’s “problem” a secret.

Jane’s book becomes a best seller and she’s friends with John now, because he was the only person who seemed genuinely interested in her passion.  He sits next to her at her book signing.  The end.

No, I’m not kidding.

As soon as it was over, I thought, wow that felt like a rushed happy ending that got slapped onto the end with nothing building up to or deserving it.

After further consideration, that gives it too much credit.

Because honestly? after the first hour and thirty five minutes of this hell, Abby and Harper being together at the end is not even something I would consider a happy ending.  I wasn’t satisfied at all.  It DEFINITELY felt like Abby ending up with Riley would have been a better movie.

If I had been told beforehand that a lesbian romcom starring Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis, and featuring Aubrey Plaza as Gay Aubrey Plaza would have been an absolutely miserable experience that was hard to sit through and nothing but unpleasant to watch, I would probably have been shocked and disappointed.  

But at least I would have not seen this movie.  That is my gift to you.  Please do NOT watch this.

It was marketed as a romantic comedy and it lived up to neither of those claims.  Absolutely terrible movie.  The happiest season of all is one where you don’t watch this stressful, uncomfortable disaster.

[lio-the-chaotic-nonbeanie-weenie]

A Supernatural World: Chapter 2

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Summary: Fleeing their hometown of Miami, Florida due to it growing far too dangerous, Roman and his vampire brother Remus move to Detroit, Michigan. Remus hopes it’ll be safer here for his human (or so he thinks he’s human) brother. Roman only wishes to start anew after a traumatizing incident in his last college, hoping to make new friends and maybe even find love. They don’t know what this city or the future holds but it’s going to be quite the adventure as they explore their new surroundings and the…interesting people that live in it.

Pairings: Eventual roceit, Eventual Intrulogical, slowburn roceit, slowburn Intrulogical, romantic roceit, romantic Intrulogical. BROTHERLY CREATIVITWINS (rem/rom shippers fuck off)

WARNINGS: MENTIONS OF ABUSE, IMPLIED ABUSE, TOXIC PARENTING, MENTIONS OF SEXUAL HARRASSMENT, IMPLIED SEXUAL HARRASSMENT, POSSIBLE IMPLIED RAPE, SLIGHT BLOOD MENTION, SLIGHT MENTION OF MURDER, MENTIONS OF FOOD POISONING

Taglist: @mychemically-imbalanced-romance

(If anyone else would like to be tagged, let me know!)

________________________________________________________________

Moving to a new apartment after being on the run for so long had been exhausting but they made it and they were a lot safer now. For the first time in a long time, Roman finds himself waking up with little to no worries in his mind. He sits up and yawns, stretching his arms. He takes a deep breath and perks up a little when he smells breakfast in the air. With a rumbling tummy, Roman slips out of bed and ambles out of the bedroom and to the kitchen, finding Remus at the stove and making breakfast. Bacon and eggs sizzle away in the frying pan.

“Morning, Ree. Where’d you get that?” Roman asks, plopping down at the dining table.

“Hey, sleepyhead. I wasn’t going to go grocery shopping until some time later but I figured we could use a good breakfast after all the shit we went through to get here. So, I went out and bought a few things at the convenience store across the street.” Remus replies, plating up the food.

“I do miss having good breakfasts like this.” Roman giggles before making a face. “I don’t think I want to eat more yucky hotel food or disgusting gas station meals.”

Remus huffs a laugh and gives Roman his plate.

“It wasn’t that bad.”

“I got food poisoning twice in Alabama and Kentucky.”

“Okay, fair point.” 

Remus shakes his head fondly at the memory of poor Ro throwing up in their motel room. He hadn’t meant to make his twin sick but he couldn’t exactly order anything fancy. He was trying to save up for an apartment. He did feel bad for Ro. His twin had been eager to try KFC when they got to Kentucky. Turns out that the KFC they ordered from was a bit, well, unsanitary. Oh well, at least they don’t have to worry about that now. Remus gets his own plate and sets it on the table before turning to the fridge to get juice for them both.

“So, did you sleep okay? I know I used my magic on you but it can’t always block the nightmares.” Remus says, setting the juice bottle on the counter and moving to get glasses.

Meanwhile, Roman eagerly starts eating. He makes a delighted noise and eats more.

“I did. It feels nice to wake up without worrying if someone broke in or freaking out because you thought the cleaning lady was an intruder.” he grins, taking another bite.

“That’s good. And don’t worry. I’m sure there’s no scary cleaning lady here this time.” Remus chuckles, pouring him and Roman some juice.

Roman giggles and goes back to eating, humming in thanks when Remus gives him his juice.

“I know, Ree. So, what are you going to do?” he asks.

“Well, since everything is mostly unpacked, I’m going to explore around the city and see what’s there to see. Maybe find a job too. We can’t exactly live on our money forever.” 

“True. I’m going to see if I can enroll in theatre after breakfast.” 

“Ooh, good luck with that. I know you’ll kill it out there.

“I know. Promise you won’t kill anyone out there?”

Remus huffs a laugh. 

“Promise, Ro.”

The twins share a laugh and continue talking, Roman eagerly telling Remus all the stuff he’s excited to do again. Roman used to be in theatre in high school but it wasn’t fun. He had constant pressure on his shoulders to be a star performer in their parents’ eyes. He’d spent restless nights rehearsing and practicing under his mother’s command. He’d endure other nights where his mother would reprimand him for even the smallest slip up in his plays or when he didn’t get the lead role she demanded him to get. He’d been forced into diets and dressed uncomfortably to look perfect for his parts. Theatre was ruined for him then and he endured it until high school was over.

Then there was his first year of college. Roman had been happy to have at least a bit of distance between him and his abusive home. He had tried for theatre again in hope it would go well this time. It didn’t. The professor who led the whole theatre crew was a creep along with a few techies. Roman was the poor victim who was constantly targeted, getting groped or hit on whenever he was alone with either a techie or the professor himself. At first, Roman had been clueless, thinking the groping was an accident and the flirting was all in good fun. Then it kept getting worse and worse until one day, the professor and his techies cornered Roman in the dressing room and left him a wreck with his costume torn. 

Remus found out when Roman came home crying and told him. They tried to get justice but the professor and the techies left no proof so their case fell flat and was never opened again. All they could do was leave that college. Of course, their parents didn’t side with them, accusing Roman of ‘asking for it’ and punishing him for ‘selling his body’. That’s when Remus had enough and broke out of the basement he was forced to stay in. He went to Roman and comforted him, telling him they weren’t staying here anymore. After waiting for their parents to leave the house for another drunken night at some bar, the twins packed up and left. Roman hasn’t tried theatre since. The funny thing is, that was only a year ago.

Now, Roman was feeling a bit confident and wanted to try theatre once more. He even wanted to help with costumes and makeup or maybe even make props. He also missed singing on stage so he was excited to do that again. Eager to try out again, Roman eats a little faster. He really wants to enroll and step up on the shiny stage floor again. 

Meanwhile, Remus huffs a laugh, seeing how eager his brother is.

“Easy, Ro. You have plenty of time to sign up for theatre.” he says, patting his twin’s head.

Roman smiles bashfully.

“I know. I’m just so excited, Ree! I miss the stage! Now that we’re free from our parents and those creeps, I feel like I can do theatre again without all these problems!” he exclaims, grinning.

“I know but you can’t do that if you choke on your breakfast.” 

Roman giggles.

“Right. Sorry.”

Roman slows down but keeps eating, babbling about theatre stuff in between while Remus listens along. It’s not long before Roman finishes and puts his dishes in the sink before going back to his room to get his laptop from his bag so he can start enrolling. His eager humming can be heard around the apartment and it makes the atmosphere a little bit more warm and peaceful.

Meanwhile, Remus quickly did the dishes then went to get ready to explore. He cleaned up as best as he could before getting changed into a black t-shirt, grey ripped jeans, combat boots, and a dark green leather jacket. He then returns to the bedroom and finds Roman sitting on his bed, already with his laptop on. Remus chuckles and ruffles his twin’s hair.

“Alright, I’m gonna head out now. Will you be okay with being alone for a bit?” Remus asks, watching for a moment as Roman reads through some search results.

“Yeah! I’ll call you if anything happens and Janus is upstairs too!” Roman beams.

“Good. I’ll be back later, Ro.”

“Kay! Stay safe!”

Remus gives Roman a lazy salute and leaves him to do his college hunting. He grabs his bat and his pocket knife from his backpack along with a pocket flask filled with emergency blood. Then he slips out the door and heads down to the lobby. He waves hello to Jeremiah as he exits the building, Detroit’s cool and smoggy air hitting his face. After making sure no one is around, Remus sneaks around to the back and jumps his way up the apartment building using the fire escapes there. He then climbs onto the roof. Sure, he could have taken the stairs but that wasn’t as fun. Remus takes a deep breath and walks over to the edge, taking in the view and plotting out a path.

Remus sees the bridge and the old freighter. In the distance, he can just make out the edge of Belle Isle in the morning fog. He can see a nearby police station too. Immediately, he makes a note to avoid the station for safety purposes. It takes a few more minutes but he figures out a route through a mostly empty street that leads to a cluster of small businesses and restaurants. Taking a deep breath, Remus turns and runs before leaping over a gap and landing onto the next roof. His speed picks up and he keeps moving, jumping from roof to roof.

To Remus, it always felt thrilling to go on a rooftop run. He liked the feeling of cool air on his skin and the rush he gets when he leaps high into the air. It’s almost like he was flying. He liked watching the cars and buildings rushing by him. He liked being able to explore and see new places, especially the ones with good views or creepy vibes. 

Maybe he’ll explore the burnt down mansion in the outskirts of Detroit some other time. He hears it’s haunted. Maybe he’ll explore that old tech company that shut down and became abandoned due to a lot of bad business incidents. He found some rumors online that the company was going to create an android before it fell apart and shut down. He also heard of an abandoned mansion hidden somewhere in an isolated location of Detroit. He heard rumors of the last owner being a rich CEO who was murdered by his wife and her sister. Others say his remains could be found at the bottom of his dried up indoor pool. 

The thought of it all excited Remus more. It felt nice to be in a new place so once he and Roman were settled in enough, he decided he’ll explore those places in the future. For now, he jumps to another rooftop and pauses to catch his breath. He may be a vampire but not even the undead can run without tiring. Remus decides to hop down from the roof, exiting through an alleyway and slipping wordlessly onto the street. He carefully weaves between some people and hums as he starts walking, passing by a grey haired man and his companion walking a Saint Bernard. 

Remus looks around as he walks. There isn’t much here. There’s a homeless man on the street corner, begging for change or food. There’s a stray cat sniffing at something in the garbage cans by the alleyway. There’s a small convenience store selling party decorations and supplies. Across it is an old bar with a flickering neon sign. A faded ‘Help Wanted’ sign sits in the window, asking for someone to come work as either a cleaner or to work behind the bar. Remus knew he had no skill in working behind the bar but he figured he could try for the cleaner position. Cleaning isn’t usually his thing but he’s willing to try so he can at least make enough money to pay for rent and for any funds Roman may have for theatre. Taking a deep breath, Remus steps inside.

“Oh! Welcome to Jimmy’s Bar! I’m Jimmy!”

[pixieungerstories]

The Captive - 2

“You are getting fat faster than your kind usually does,” George observed.

Elly gritted her teeth.  “Maybe if I got to go out and exercise more it would be less of an issue.”

George rolled his shoulders and shook like a dog shedding water.  “Of course you can leave!  You can go anywhere you want, as long as you are back on the property by sundown.”

Elly shivered.  “You ate my cat.”

“I don’t know what happened to your cat,” George protested.  “Besides, it’s not like we have mice, what do you need a cat for?”

“Company?”

That made him snarl, “You are supposed to be here as MY company.”

Elly took a step back.  George fought to get himself under control.  “You just need time to get used to me, treasure, I’m sure we can-”

Elly turned and headed back to the stairs.

“Wait!” George commanded.  

Elly paused on the bottom stair and waited, but she didn’t turn to look at him.

There was an award silence for a moment, then George blew out a stream of air through his nostrils.  “You are right.”

She looked over her shoulder at him.

“I don’t remember your name.”

She turned to look at him, “I’m Elly.”

George nodded awkwardly.  “You are going to need to remind me of that.” He paused for a moment then added, “Elly.”

“I’m the only person you talk to, George.  Try harder.”  With that, she headed upstairs to get ready for the day.

Ben was already in the kitchen, laminating puff pastry.  “Soups today will be chicken and dumplings for the non vegetarians and french lentil as the vegan option.”

“Sounds good, Ben.”

“You ok, Boss?”

Elly smiled weakly at him, “I’m just a little tired.”

Ben grinned, “The storm kept you up too, huh?”

“Something like that.”  Elly mumbled.  “Now are you going to teach me to run the coffee maker or what?”

“What!” he announced triumphantly.  “Go sit down, I’ll bring you a cappuccino.”

They had french toast and coffee together.  Ben always made her breakfast, and technically lunch.  It was just that they staggered their lunch breaks to cover for each other.   He had given up on asking her out when she kept putting him off.

How do you explain to a guy that you can’t be out after dark and that he can’t stay over because the monster in the basement might eat him?  Hell, she couldn’t even become that crazy isolated cat lady.  George hadn’t ever admitted it, but for how guilty he had looked that first morning when she asked if he had seen Mittens, she was sure he was involved in the disappearance.  She had put up signs anyway.  No one had called.

“Elly?”

She blinked at looked up.  “Sorry?  You were asking me something.”

“I was,” he agreed frowning slightly at her.  “But now I’m wondering if you just need the day off.”

She shook her head, “I don’t have anyone to cover for me.”

Ben leaned back in his chair.  “Well, I can run the register and I’m pretty sure the Wednesday morning group could pretty much take care of themselves.  You could always ask to see if any of them want a job as your emergency back up.”

Elly looked down at her plate, “I’m not exactly raking in the big bucks here, Ben.  Honestly, after expenses, my take home is less than yours.  The only reason I’m not folding is the free rent.”

“Shit,” Ben whispered under his breath.  “I mean, I knew it was slow but…”

Elly just shrugged.  “You bring in more customers than the yarn does these days.”

There was a long moment of awkward silence.  “You know if we go out to dinner, I’ll pay, right?”

Elly’s head snapped up and she looked into a pair of worried brown eyes.  She laughed, even if it was a bit on the bitter side.   “Funny thing about that.  There is a long standing clause in the title.  I have to be on the property every day from dusk to dawn.  I can’t go out to dinner with you without losing the business.”

“That doesn’t sound real, Elly,” Ben said softly.

Elly pursed her lips, “Do you have anything in the oven that will burn in the next, oh, say, ten minutes.”

Ben glanced at the clock, “three minutes on the cookies, then I’m all yours.”

Once the cookies were out cooling on the racks, Elly lead Ben up to the attic.  “I hate it up here,” she explained.  “It just feels creepy.”

Ben watched the light bulb flicker, “Bad wiring?”

Elly shook her head.  “I insisted the place be rewired before I moved in.  There was a fire that destroyed most of the property a hundred years ago.  The rest was structurally unsound and had to be demolished.  Somehow this survived,” she pointed at huge bronze plaque

Ben read for a moment.  “Wait.  The king bestowed this land upon your family in 1595.  There wasn’t even a town here in 1595.”

Elly nodded sadly.  “Look, it’s complicated, but-”

“Oh, come on!” Ben protested.  “No one is going to take the farm if you go out for drinks with me!”

Elly looked at the floor and shivered.  “The last time the owner of the house was out after dark, a fire burned down most of the house, and a good chunk of the town.  People died.”  She wanted to say more but she was aware this was sounding crazing all ready, so she turned and climbed down the ladder instead.

“You really believe that?”  Ben asked from above her.  Then he stumbled awkwardly and mostly fell out of the attic, barely catching himself on the ladder.  He looked back up.  “That was weird.  It felt like something pushed me.”

“Come down!” Elly hissed.

“I have to go turn off the light,” Ben protested.

“Come down!  You go bake; I’ll get the light!” she insisted.

The light turned itself off with a click.

“That was weird,” Ben commented.  “Is it on a timer or something?”

“Just go, I’ll take care of it.”

Ben frowned at her.  “Just think about taking a day off.  Even if you have to be here after dark, you can at least go out and see a matinee.  Get some fresh air.  Something.”

“I’ll think about it.”

Ben watched her for a moment then turned and left.  Elly went back up the ladder. She noticed the switch was firmly pointed down and therefore off.   “I have enough issues to deal with.  If you want me to be here, you leave him alone.”  Then she stepped down to the second floor and pushed up the ladder and went back downstairs to have another coffee and set about her day.

----

“Come here.”

“I don’t think so.  I’m fine over here.”

George rolled his eyes then he heaved himself to his feet, “I can come to you, but you are much more nimble than I am.”

Elly grabbed tightly on the hand rail, “Sit down.  I don’t want you close to me!”

George froze, “I want to see your face.  Hold the lantern up then.”

“Why do you care what I look like?” Elly sulked but she did as she was told.

“The boy thinks you are unwell.”

“And?”

“I do not want you to be unwell,” George said patiently.

Elly snorted.  “Why does it matter?  I can’t leave.”

“Neither can I,” George growled.  “That is the arrangement.  I do not leave and hunt you.  You do not leave and abandon me.  You promise to keep me fed and I promise to keep you wealthy.  I am holding up my end of the deal, treas- Elly-” he stressed her name, “you aren’t exactly -”

“I am HERE!” Elly snapped. “I gave up my life and my love to be here.  I did that. I am here.  I don’t have to be happy about it.”

George fell silent and sagged.

Elly watched him looking for the trick.

“If the boy makes you happy, he can stay.  I just don’t want you coming home smelling like him.”

“What?”

“Don’t fuck him,” George quailified. 

Elly blinked, “You don’t actually think I’m a virgin, do you?”

George made a sound of disgust.  “Go.  I am done talking to you now.”  He huffed out a stream of steam and turned his back on her.  Elly fled.

----

It was sometime after midnight when Elly sat bolt upright out of a dead sleep.  She had forgotten to feed George.  She had been angry about not being able to take the day off and then he reminded her she was trapped.   She had been dismissed before she had organized his dinner.  In theory, he would be ok if he didn’t eat for a few days.

But.

Mittens.

Shit.

 She hauled herself out of bed and trudged down the stairs to the shop, then down more stairs to the basement.

The kettle and her cup and saucer was sitting on the walnut table next to the chair.  The room was dark, no electricity down here.  How would she ever get an electrician in?  Tonight though, there was no faint glow coming from George.  She held the lantern up over her head, but the darkness just sucked the light away.

No dragon.

“George?”  Her voice echoed.  The basement shouldn’t be big enough for that.  Then she realized that if he was asleep, maybe waking him wasn’t the best idea.  She crept carefully forward.  Nothing.  She looked over her shoulder and was relieved she could still see the light coming from the doorway at the top of the stairs.  She took a few more steps and found a leather couch with deep button tucks that seemed to match the chair.  Holding the lamp up over her head she could see a large stone arch way further ahead.  Through it there was only darkness.  Elly swallowed and tried to listen for the sound of George’s breathing.

Then her nerve broke and she sprinted for the stairs.

[thehopefulsnowflake]

And again here are more theories and opinions about the magnus archives from my brother

The corruption is one of the "four horsemen"

War and conquest are the military ghosts, and the desolation

Famine and pestilence is the buggy bois

Death is the end, duh

The corruption is colonisation basically

Elias is against having a cat, because they are too powerful, he was very serious about this

Centipedes have a masochistic foot fetish, millipedes have a normal one, don't ask

The woman in Dead Woman Walking is just a Zombie

Is the Woman a victim of the Book of Death from MAG 70

Georgie is a ghosty hunty person

Georgie and Melanie don't seem to be afraid of anything

The Italian mountain troops would have known they were being fucked with

More undead

Reminded him sort of the Meat Men

Also reminded him of the buried on the London underground

The mysterious firing squad intrigued him, did all the men that went up the mountain come back to kill him?

Basira is Drax from gotg

She'll randomly appear and no one will know she's there until she speaks

The chuckle brothers origin story, he means Breekon and Hope

Didn't think the circus had anything to do with the stranger

Breekon and Hope are taxidermy

So they're with the stranger

The Stranger is just everything that doesn't fall under something else

The circus was it's own thing

The cult of the lightless flame is it's own thing

The people's Church of the devine host is it's own thing

The circus is just full of people who you don't know, if you do know them that's sad... He was kinda rambling at this point

Is Sarah Baldwin capable of being bored

Why was she working with Melanie?

Do you just take a liking to ghost people

Did you take them over before of after they were eaten.

The Buried is called The London underground

Is it the Fairchild's? Thinks they're about isolation

Thinks it might be a book

The pit could be an Antlion

Thought that the young woman who was eaten by the pit turned into Gertrude

The young man could be, Gerry, Martin, Salesa, young Jon, Elias.

Thinks The stranger is vanilla in terms of gods and monsters.

The stranger is the least interesting.

Thinks all the Stranger wants to do is just summon a god

For some reason he thinks the Dark should be doing more to stop them, because Rayner wouldn't want that to happen

Martin will rap battle the archive to victory, via poetry from Leitners books

The stranger could just be Lego

He's horny for Rayner, his words not mine

Mr. Sandman brought him a dream

Thinks that the Dark at least can get to their gods dimension but choose not to.

If you make everywhere dark does their god appear?

He asked what would happen if two factions tried to summon their god at the same time what would happen

Thinks that all the Avatars /Entities do the same thing.

Breekon and hope have never killed anyone

Maxwell Rayner is a time travelling shadow demon

Mr sandman is like an angry sandy from Rotg

He made this episode unnecessarily kinky

They're just summoning gods

The stranger is remarkably being left alone

Thinks there is no fighting between factions

If anything they're aided

Is the Fairchild's entity already here

Are they working with the other factions

Says he knows whats going to happen because he "knows how these things go"

The Beholding is already on this side and if another God is summoned then it will be booted

Elias killed Gertrude because she was trying to defeat the Beholding and if it was defeated he would turn into the same thing as below the Library in Alexandria

There were three versions of the unknowing that he thought of

Destroying the concept of identity, the unknowing destroys the concept of personality, individuality, and identity. Turning them into Stranger worshipping entities

The angler fish was the thing in the basement at the Taxidermy shop

Stranger just means it couldn't get any stranger

Or it's deliberate parodies of humans

Breekon and Hope were normal people

Salesa, the chuckle brothers, the meat man, the skin walkers, the taxidermist, the manquien, Not-Sasha, the architects, the circus and to some extent the witches are part of the stranger

Magnus is a stranger that took over Elias

He also thinks Elias is just Magnus who found out how to stick around for a while

But Elias isn't the archive god like he first thought

The twisted detergent is Michael's new entity

Michael is like Loki if he didn't have a brother

The stranger is the big bad

Jon is an idiot, he's a bit slow

His second theory for the unknowing is that It's just going to destroy all knowledge revolving the Elder gods, hence the unknowing, the one he thought the least likely

And third, It somehow increases their powers so that the few people that would recognise them, no longer do. Levelling up in short. Thinks it would work for every entity

Doesn't think The Unknowing would be that big of a shift

The circus and the stranger were different because the Circus dealt with the "Freak show"

Thinks Rayner isn't dead

Dust devils

Dirt zombies

Has only made the connection between the Underground, the pit and the dust storm

Was the kid in the car Michael

Was Michael always the Spiral but just really liked working with Gertrude

Michael is the Spiral, he doesn't worship anything

Elias took Gertrude from him, now he's after revenge

Jon should go chill with everyone at the Archive

Jon should have a sword

While you were busy not having a paranoid breakdown I studied the blade

Michael has a crush on Gertrude

He has a granny kink, he is obsessed with making it all kink related

Michael originally gave his powers away to be with Gertrude

Michael took on this form because he could blend in or brag

He's a monster with a thing for Gertrude

Michael wasn't the same Michael as in the tape

Just trying to trick everyone

Lynne Hammond was lying, goes in line with the church of the lightless flame but it didn't happen

Maybe she heard something similar but it didn't actually happen to her, she was just trying to get some money

He actually feels bad for Tim

Tim should run

John Smith was half telling the truth.

People are in the tunnel's but it's not a government conspiracy

Tim doesn't deserve this

You can tell Basira is used to dealing with idiots

Liked that it cut out when Robin Lennox said let me start again, it's like the archive was trying to make it stop

Thinks the archive doesn't care what is being read to it, someone should read it the Lord of the Ringd

The archive is recording the tape recorders not Elias

Get the dog out

Michael was the crying man, he wanted the dog out

He doesn't want to hurt the dog

"Gertrude why did you leave me? I'll get you one day Elias" based on his Michael granny kink theory

Brian Finlinson was the most coherent in terms of links

Thinks that the spiders were actually there, hiding whenever anyone came around

Lynne is lying, John Smith is half telling the truth, Robin Lennox saw Michael having a breakdown, Brian Finlinson was telling the truth

He didn't remember Peter Lukas ever being mentioned before

Already shipping Peter and Elias

Michael is very sensitive

The Fairchild's and the Lukas' are working together

They don't seem to have an interest in the conflict going on between everyone else

The Fairchild's were in aerospace and Lukas was the ships

Still cthulhu

Even space had a cthulhu vibe

The depth of the ocean or the isolation of space

The Lukas and the archive are working together

There are some of these guys that don't want the entities on this side

Likes the power, doesn't want the full on entities here

The Lukas and the Fairchild's are the cthulhus

They're somewhat working with the archive/the beholding

Is Elias actually a Lukas? Decided yes because he and Peter are married

How much do the Lukas have to do with the Beholding

What sort of arrangement do they have?

Nikola was supposed to be part of the circus but there is a difference between the facimalies and the circus

Thinks that the archive burning down would have no downsides for the Beholding.

They'll summon a god and gazing upon it will kill everyone, everyone dies.

As he was now halfway through the series he explained who he thought was in each of these factions

The beholding, Elias, Martin, Tim, basira, daisy, sims, melanie, sasha, Rosie, Gertrude, leitner. Sasha is caught in a time loop...

The stranger, everyone, has no limits, The maniquein, the taxidermy, the circus, skin walkers, grifters bone, breekon and Hope,  angler fish

The desolation, the cult of the lightless flame, Jims pims aka Jude Perry, Agnes,

People's Church of the divine host, Rayner, Rayner have something to do with the German crypt, Rayner Is also not dead

The diggy boys, the buried, Maggie and Gordon from the dump, dig dude from Dig, whatever was going on with the pit, and the dust storm.

Meat, no recurring. The haans that's it.

Buggy boys, spiders, Jane prentiss

Michael, the twisting deceit, the twisting deceit just is Michael, didn't exist before him

The leitners, the witches are using the books, Gérard, Mike crew,

Cthulhu collective, the lukas', the Fairchild's. Both are just isolation, the Fairchild's are all about being alone, the only time the Lukas have turned up are being alone either in space or at sea

The witches, Mary Keay, puzzle witch, have big crossover with the Leitners, they just have some of leitners books

Trevor is his own entity, is he part of the desease and corruption group

The architects, smirke, smirkes apprentice.

Jared is his own thing. Just found a self help book

It's a giant celestial orgy!

Also Came up with a random spinoff comedy again

Slowly the archive collects strange people

Michael, who is mourning Gertrude... Loudly

They found a worm in the tunnel left over from Prentiss

The worm loves gooseberries

That's Elias, we're not sure what he is

Thats the Admiral, it is a cat.... It runs the place

Rayner is sat in the corner giggling

Leitner started a microbrewery in the basement

Serves bud leitner, you can't get leitner than this

[ivanshatov]

what the fuck, gay little edgar

(also on ao3)

wc: 1.5k

i havent written about king lear in a while huh. anyways funny gay people

Something the peace of an isolated country town offered was the lone coffee store. Maybe there were no fantastic shops, or entertainment, or places to go, but at least there was the coffee shop, right on the corner and hidden in the basement of an older building. It was the perfect meeting place, and the perfect refuge for a shivering and rain-soaked Edgar, struggling with his bag as he stumbled down the steps. His arrival was announced with the chime of a bell, and the door swung shut behind him. 

He was greeted immediately by Cordelia, who accosted him by the arm and dragged him to their corner table before he could even so much as look at the cashiers. “I thought you might have forgotten!” she exclaimed, mary-janes clicking on the tile floor. 

“No, it was just rainy. Very rainy, as a matter of fact.”

She looked him over before plopping in her booth. “I can tell.”

“Ahaha. Thanks,” he replied. Pushing his wet hair out of his face and flashing a pointed eye roll, he took a seat across from her. “I already got you a coffee. You can pay me back later, don’t worry,” she announced proudly, sliding him the paper cup with a smile.

He stared blankly into the cup and loosened his tie. “Thanks.” Then, “I haven’t seen you in a while.”

“Yeah, I know, Dad’s been dragging me everywhere but school,” she replied, raising her eyebrows and lifting the coffee to her lips. “How’s your studies?”

“Oh, you know, great…” Edgar muttered, sheepishly turning his gaze to look out the window. Rain pattered down on the fogged glass. “I don’t know. Haven’t figured out anything I want to take my A-Levels for.”

“There must be something that interests you. History? How about French? Science? Anything you particularly enjoy?”

“I don’t particularly enjoy academics as it is,” Edgar huffed, blowing off the steam that had gathered above the cup. “Edmund says I’m a mean footballer. He’s better at that academic crap.”

Cordelia shifted at the mention of his brother, crossing her argyle tights and smoothing her skirt. “How is Edmund, anyhow?” She glanced out the window, then eyed Edgar again. “And perhaps you should get him to tutor you.”

“My snot-nosed brother has more interesting things to do than tutor the likes of me, such as a production of Anything Goes to attend to,” he snorted.

Cordelia grinned, fidgeting with one of her earrings as she spoke. “I didn’t know Edmund could sing.”

“He can’t, actually. Assistant stage manager,” Edgar winked. “Boosted his ego more than ever before. Trust me, you don’t want to hear him sing, unless you’d like to go to the doctor’s for an ear infection.”

“Ah, yes, the unadulterated ego of a primary school theatre kid,” she said wistfully, holding her paper cup to the light.

Edgar leaned back, raising his eyes to the ceiling. “And how are your studies?”

Cordelia huffed, pushing her cup aside. “Nonexistent. Dad and his advisors would prefer me to be fawning over dresses. At least I get to spend time with my sisters, but—” she cleared her throat. “I’ve been thinking of applying to go to school in the states.”

“The states?! Talk about creating distance. You’d go that far to get away from this?” Edgar asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“Uh, yeah. I don’t want to do this obsolete crap. I’d rather go to California, or something, and wear what I want,” she grumbled. “Certainly not ballgowns. Well, maybe you should consider football. Soccer, whatever. Come to Cali with me.”

“Eh, I don’t really have a choice. Dad’s been waiting for me to inherit the earldom since day one,” Edgar replied, folding his hands. “Would be fun though.”

“Why can’t Edmund just take it?” she asked, innocuous, drawing her finger over the rim of the coffee cup. 

Edgar rolled his eyes again. “You know as well as I do that that won’t happen.”

“In a perfect world…” Cordelia said, drawing out another long and wistful sigh and batting her fake eyelashes. “Now, why have you called this meeting here, your grace?”

He cleared his throat, fidgeting with his tie and collar and sitting up in the proper way. “I’ve come to discuss certain romantic developments that’ve happened.”

“Oh, who?!” Cordelia squealed and grabbed Edgar’s hand, swinging it back and forth. “Your first partner! What’s their name? Are they at court? I must know this instant. I can get Mr. Kent to arrange a date if so. My goodness! My little godbrother, finding the love of his life!”

“No, it’s not like that,” Edgar mumbled, his face hot with embarrassment. “It’s something else. Plus, you are but nine months my senior, Cordelia.”

“Nine months makes but all the difference in the world. Now tell me, what is this regarding?” She leaned forward in interest, hands folded.

“Oh, Cordelia.” Edgar looked away sheepishly, tugging at the loop of his tie before turning back and keeping his gaze on her mary-janes. “I think, I think, I may be, um…” He looked up, a shade of red, before turning away again. “I may be unable to carry on the bloodline of my father.”

Cordelia cocked an eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

Edgar hushed his voice and placed his hands on the back of his head. “I think I’m gay.”

Cordelia sat, dumbfounded, as he continued in a panic. “You see, I took this quiz, and, and, it all made sense. That’s not the reason I think I’m gay, though, you know, I think I’ve always known, because every time my dad tried to set me up with some girl from the court I just feel nothing. I look at those women on TV and I feel nothing. You must understand, right? I mean, you’re—” Edgar cut himself off, hiding his face in his hands. “I didn’t mean it that way. I just always thought, well, you, maybe, were, um, like me. And, well, Edmund has experience with this too but I always thought that, well…” His tirade drew to its close and he inhaled a sharp breath. “I’m sorry.”

They sat in silence for a few moments before Cordelia started to laugh. “No, no. Don’t apologize, you’re fine. You’re right. Thank you for trusting me. I’m bisexual myself, so, yes, I do quite understand your struggle,” Cordelia waved her hands and winked. “My sisters know. They don’t really understand, of course, but they know. My dad, on the other hand…” She trailed off and smiled halfheartedly. “So, Edmund knows?”

“We use the same computer so he at least suspects something,” Edgar coughed. “Well, I’m confident he won’t judge me. But my father, oh, my dad! I don’t know what he’ll do! His first son, his proudest achievement, killing off the Gloucester bloodline forever!”

“Edmund can still have children though, no?” she asked, eyebrow cocked.

“Well, um, I suppose— Cordelia,” he mumbled, shoving his face back into his hands. “I don’t know what I’ll tell him. He’s already disappointed that I don’t know or care for the first thing about politics, and now, well, I just don’t know.” Edgar shifted in his seat, hands drumming on the table. “God, I’m sorry to be dumping all of this on you.”

“Don’t apologize. You don’t have to apologize to me,” she insisted, smiling. “If there’s one thing I know about your father, it’s that he loves you. Very much. He may not always show that love in the right ways, but I can assure you he does. Trust me, I’ve learned that the hard way.” She outstretched her hand and linked it with his. “It’s really your decision. If you feel safe or not, it’s your choice, and I can’t make it for you. Just remember, he’s your dad.”

“Yeah, my dad,” Edgar muttered, rolling his eyes. “Stupid fucking dad living vicariously through his son.” He slurped the rest of the coffee and slammed the paper cup down. “I hate it here.”

“Not the coffee shop, though?”

“No, I just hate it here,” he grumbled, puffing his cheeks. “You’re right, monarchies should be obsolete.”

Cordelia threw her head back and laughed. “And I thought you knew nothing of politics, Edgar!” Her eyes sparkled as she tossed her hair back over her shoulders. “At least you have the right idea about it.”

An anxious look crossed Edgar’s face, and she grabbed his hand. “Hey. You’ll be fine. We’ll make it out sooner or later.” She leaned forward and cupped her hand around his ear. “Or, escape to the States with me and we can go surfing or something.”

Edgar closed his eyes and snorted. “Right, surfing. That’s on the top of my bucket list.” He sighed, resting his head in his hands and gazing back at Cordelia’s warm gaze. “You’re right. We’re going to be just fine.”

“Just fine,” she repeated. “Promise.”

[dat-town]

(we are all someone’s) monster

Characters:

Jihoon, Y/N’s brother

Chanyeol, Jihoon’s best friend

Sehun, Yixing, Suho are Jihoon’s and Chanyeol’s friends

Baekhyun, Xiumin, Chen, Kai, D.O are members of the gang named CBX

Genre: action, crime

Setting: set in somewhat in the future, gang au with scifi and dystopian elements

Warnings: minor character death off scene, grief, mentions of gambling, drug usage, murder, violence and all that usual gang stuff i guess

Summary: Neo Seoul is a place without laws and one reckless mistake can cost you more than you ever imagined.

Words: 8.1k

Notes: partly inspired by the Reign quote: “I miss the girl you were.” “Many will. She was easier to kill.”  but mostly by the Lotto and Monster MVs (watch them in this order for better imaginary)

Happy birthday to one of my favourite hype women, this ray of sunshine who never fails to make me smile and even when you think, you’re too much, you’re just enough. Love you, @lily-blue​ <3

Night had always seemed to fall early on Neo Seoul.

Maybe that was why parents didn't warn their children about nightfall anymore: nobody dared to step outside of their house anyways if they didn't know how to protect themselves. After the curfew, only gang members and the reckless roamed on the streets, playing their never-ending cat and mouse games with the agents in charge.

You thought it was ridiculous, how the government cut off this part of the country and called it rotten and dirty, a lost case. You still remembered when they quarantined the entire city, not caring about the innocent people stuck inside, they merely wished to isolate the most dangerous criminals of the nation. The no way out situation should have made it easier to catch them and in theory it worked great. They just didn't calculate how fast the gangs would take charge and special task forces were required more and more often to stop the chaos. It seemed like some people would have rather burnt the whole city down than to go down alone. One misstep and anyone could die. There were no laws or justice in a place like this. Not anymore. Only power and survival mattered. You had learned that the hard way.

"I told you to stay away," a deep voice sounded from behind you and you gulped a bit nervously, licking your dry lips before turning around. A tall figure stepped out of the shadows but you didn't back away. You knew you didn't need to be afraid of Chanyeol.

"You can't tell me what to do," you retorted and the boy scoffed at you, rolling his eyes, slightly annoyed. There was nothing left from the playfulness emitting from his eyes like when he showed you how to start a car without the key.

"I know but your brother would hate me if I didn't try to keep you out of trouble," he reminded you and the mention of your brother left a bitter taste in your mouth. You remembered his lifeless body on the pavement, blood pouring from his chest, painting the concrete crimson while your screams and cries were muffled into Chanyeol's shirt as he held you, so you wouldn't break apart and fall to pieces in your grief.

"Well, he's dead, so you don't have to worry about that," you bit back a bit more harshly than intended but the loss of your brother was still a fresh wound despite the months that passed since the shooting.

"Doesn't mean I'm not worried about you," Chanyeol said with fire in his dark eyes but it only made you feel momentarily guilty. You turned back to the door without sparing a second glance at the redhead behind you and with quick, skilled fingers you picked the lock, opening the padlock before kicking the back door of the store open. You and your brother used to hang out here a lot with his friends but it had been locked down ever since it became a death scene.

You walked to the basement door, a part of you expecting the lanky boy to follow your inside but he was nowhere to be found when you looked back on. Hah, why was he there and what did he want, you wondered but instead of dwelling over useless things like that, you hurried down to get extra cartridges and some cash from your brother's hidden safe. A girl needed to know how to protect herself in a world like yours after all.

Everything was different before the lock down. You were just a normal girl with normal dreams but then suddenly you were thrown into this game of survival against your will. At first, it all felt surreal and you thought it would be over before you could get used to this but no, that didn't happen. You couldn't even stay out of it no matter how much you wished you had nothing to do with it. Your only mistake was to work a regular cashier job at that exact shop where a dealer was killed and you accidentally saw it. Your brother decided to learn to shoot to be able to protect you and it turned out some of his friends had already had his own connections to the underworld of Neo Seoul. Soon, the chatty movie session turned into shooting practices, fist fights and it all spiralled down. There was no way back to normal.

Not after you saw your brother getting shot for a debt worth only a few bags of rice.

You locked yourself up for weeks, not speaking with anyone, not opening the door to anyone, willing to give it up until the spark of survival instinct pushed you forward. You needed to live in order to avenge your brother. You needed to figure out who gave the order and who pulled the trigger and wanted them dead. An eye for an eye. It was a brutal world after all.

You shoved the ammo and money into your bag, put it on and was ready to leave already. A quick 5 minute job. Chanyeol was worried about nothing.

Stepping out onto the streets that were eerily quiet at first, you looked at the neon lights coming from the main road and decided to take a detour. By passing the garbage on the streets you went from alcove to alcove and waited by fire stairs when you heard noises around you. You learned to be careful, careful enough to get the rundown place you called home safe and sound, knowing fully well that something was off.

Your hands hovered over the light switch and looked around in the dimly lit room, moonlight and neon colours filtered through the blinds. You closed the door three times, not two, you always did, so that meant that someone had either been there or was still inside.

You pulled your gun - used to be your brother's - out from your belt and pointed straight at the source of the noise when the old wooden floor creaked. You pressed on the switch, then suddenly light filled the room and your finger trembled over the trigger.

"What a way to greet an old friend," the boy dared to smirk at you, so sure of himself that you wouldn't shoot him.

Old friend, he said, but it was ironic because he was never a friend. He was the black sheep of the group. He was the silent force. He was only a friend of a friend.

He came with Chanyeol, like a package, and the elder being your brother's best friend, you knew him too. Cross that, you knew of him but you never knew him, not really. He was that kind of mysterious kid who nobody really knew. He was the whiskey on the top of your tongue after a wild night though. He was the mischief in staying out after curfew. He was the lighter and you were the match.

"Where were you?" you asked him firmly, not lowering the gun.

"Around. Heard you didn't want company and disappeared. Yeol couldn't shut up about you," the midnight black haired boy's voice was half amusement, half annoyance but you could at least tell that it was a lie. He didn't find it funny.

"Then why are you here now?" you kept on the interrogation. He disappeared too right after your brother died, he was the only one out of your friends' group who didn't even show up at the funeral or whatever you were allowed to have under the circumstances.

"Because I have info you might be interested in," he tilted his head, almost a challenge and that was what he had always been. Oh Sehun was still a mystery to you, after all these years.

You sighed and lowered the gun, closing the door behind you after toeing off your shoes. Not that you thought Sehun would actually hurt, you just… you were wary of everybody these days. It was better this way: better safe than sorry, your brother would have been proud.

“So… what is it? What’s so important you sneaked in so late instead of knocking on my door like any decent person would have?” you huffed, grabbing two beers from your small, almost empty fridge and throwing one can at the boy towering in your living room before sinking deep into your cozy, worn out couch.

“You wouldn’t have opened the door to any decent person,” Sehun scoffed at you, knowing too well and bobbed his head towards you in appreciation for the cold beverage. He took his time sitting down and playing on your nerves. He wasn’t wrong though.

You gritted your teeth, taking a sip of your cheap beer, trying to be nonchalant. As if you didn’t notice the scar on his cheek or that his jacket was a bit worn. It looked like he had a rough few weeks behind him.

“I asked around to figure out who wanted Jihoon dead,” the boy spoke up eventually and you flinched at your brother’s name. You sucked in a breath, eyes finding Sehun’s above your drink. “Have you ever heard of the organization named CBX?”

“They have that casino downtown, don’t they?” you furrowed your brows, trying to remember why the abbreviation sounded so familiar. Sehun hummed.

“They do have a casino but they have lots of other underground business. Chicken and dog fights, drug dealing, stolen goods, anything you can illegally trade with,” he said and you shouldn’t have been surprised to hear about it. A casino being the cover business for such things was almost too predictable but now these gangs didn’t even want to hide. “They gamble with lives too and they provide loans for desperate ones. So my guess is that Jihoon got on their bad side.”

You have been trying to figure out what was behind the shooting that came from an unidentified grey van but you couldn’t go anywhere. You didn’t even know that Jihoon was in debt and that he owed to gang members, it was Chanyeol who told you but he said he didn’t know whom exactly he had connections with. You didn’t know how Sehun figured this out, or how much he knew but you didn’t want him to get involved because of you. You had enough of people sacrificing themselves for you. Your brother was enough, no wonder you cut ties with everybody after his death. A lonely life wasn’t the best but it was better than the guilt.

“Okay, how good that guess is?” you gulped down your bitterness.

“Pretty good but you can't bring them down alone, don’t even think about it," Sehun told you and his worried tone was laughable. As if it wasn’t him with whom you were almost caught by the agents for staying out after curfew.

"Watch me," you rolled your eyes at him, standing up from your place on the couch and turning your back to him. “I guess you know where the exit is,” you said with a strong hint in your voice, indicating that you wanted him gone soon. But Sehun wasn’t one to take commands well.

“Yah, don’t be stupid,” he grabbed on your wrist stopping you but you didn’t have any of it.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” you snapped at him, yanking your arm out of his grip. A sudden flare of anger flashed through you as you whipped your head around him. “I’m not fucking twenty years old anymore who was stupid enough to fall in love with you just because you spared a glance at me.”

Only silence followed your remark and you could see the surprise in the boy’s dark eyes. He didn’t expect that kind of answer. Maybe he didn’t expect you to bring up your mistake by yourself. It was your fault, being young and foolish, falling for the mysterious bad boy-type of guy just because he was considerate with you. But confessing on a drinking night, lips still sweet from the melon vodka you just had was just as silly as your feelings themselves. Of course, Sehun started avoiding you then. You weren’t going to make another mistake like that: naive and reckless.

“Just… be careful,” the boy said in the end, voice resigned as he backed away, opening the door for himself. There was something haunting in his eyes, something like regret but you refused to think about it as you slid down by the wall, hiding your face into your hands.

With the information you had gotten, you started investigating, collecting articles, wanted posters, anything connected to the CBX and it seemed like they indeed had their hands in many nasty things but nobody wanted to talk about them, probably they were too afraid to. So you didn’t really have much of a choice, you had to see the place for yourself and ask around.

It was actually easier than expected. They didn’t even check you at the casino’s entrance, they didn’t ask for your ID or bank account when you exchanged cash for tokens, they just let you in. No wonder there were all kinds of people there and all kinds of games too the deeper you went inside, following tips of players. It was some kind of sin dungeon with all sorts of illegal stuff some you wished to forget you even saw.

“Are you lost, little girl?” A guy with Chesire smile walked into your vision, his eyes mischievous and not promising any good. He came closer than you would have preferred but you didn’t want to draw attention by pulling out your gun so soon.

“No. Actually I’m looking for someone,” you said, confident and willing yourself to not to grimace at the alcohol smell coming from the guy. “I heard there’s someone lending out loans here.”

This was your best bet. If they could lead you to the guy handling debts here, you could see if he reacted to your brother’s name but first, you had to find him. The Chesire cat smile guy seemed giddy at the mention though, so you were hopeful.

“Oooh... Xiumin? His office is at the end of the corridor,” he pointed at a black painted door and when you pulled away, your steps leading you to said door, the guy yelled after you, laughing. “Have fun!”

His voice creeped you out and you basically felt his following gaze on your back until you reached the unmarked door and knocked three times.

The guy who opened it wore a loose dress shirt, cigarette hanging from his lips and he blew the smoke into your face.

“So… you’re here for money? How much?” he asked straightforwardly as soon as you stepped into his office, taking a seat on the sofa he showed you. There were several safes in the room probably filled with gold and cash but in reality, you didn’t care. You just wanted to meet the man who provided Jihoon.

“Five million,” you blurted out the first number you could think of but Xiumin looked at you suspiciously.

“That’s a lot,” he noted in a calm but warning manner. It wasn’t a no though, so you pressed further. 

“I heard you’re the only one to provide enough for that.”

Now that seemed to interest the guy, he took another big inhale from his cigarette while not taking his eyes off you and mumbled: “Who told you that?”

“P.O,” you told him your brother’s nickname but the guy didn’t show any signs of knowing who he was. He didn’t question you about who he was though, so he probably had an idea of his own. You were almost sure it wasn’t enough to convince him to give you that much money, so you weren’t surprised when he asked for insurance.

“What’s the collateral? How will you make sure I get my money back?” The loan shark leaned back in his chair casually, fingertips rubbing against each other while you had to come up with a believable excuse for you to need that much money. 

“I need this to get my store running again, if it happens, I will be able to pay even for the interest,” you claimed but it didn’t seem to be enough as the guy merely shook his head.

“Not many businesses survive in Neo Seoul these days. You need to give me a better reason.”

His arrogance annoyed you because you couldn’t figure out anything like this and you weren’t about to sell your soul for five million you didn’t need anyways.

“If you don’t want to give me a loan, just say so. Looks like I’m wasting my time here,” you hissed and stood up, ready to leave hastily.

“You are brave for coming here after what happened to your brother,” Xiumin’s retort was however enough to stop you mid-action. “Don’t you think it’s selfish of you to ask for more money when your dear friend paid back what your brother owed me just to protect you?”

“So you admit you killed him?”

“Me? That wouldn’t have been worth it for me. I needed him alive to get my money back,” the guy lifted his hands in a defensive manner, somewhat amused by your groundless accusation as if you were a child getting ahead of yourself. Your hands turned into fists from the anger bubbling up in you. Because if it wasn’t him then who was it? And why? And who was that friend that paid for the debt? You didn’t even think of it but the loan shark probably sent him men to collect the money after your brother died. Who stopped them before they could have gotten to you?

The last one was suddenly all too obvious: Chanyeol.

It wasn't hard to find him at all. He still lived in that camping car he had been driving around since he was 19 and you knew his favourite parking spots by heart. You repeatedly hit on its door, calling his name but all you had met with were echoes of the metal clashing. You gave up with a huff but when you turned around, there he was crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"Are you looking for me?" he raised a brow and you immediately hit on his chest.

"How dare you go behind my back and pay back Jihoon's debt without telling me?"

Chanyeol let you use him as a punchbag until your anger subsided, knowing too well that it was about your trust and not the money. When your shoulders eventually fell, he put his hands over your fist, his warm skin soothing you.

"I'll tell you everything," he promised and pulled you inside his trailer, sitting you down on his bed. He made sure you paid attention before he started speaking, telling you how Jihoon had been acting weird before his death, a bit off. He didn’t want to speculate anything and upset you for nothing in case he was wrong, especially after his best friend died. So he took it upon himself to sell a few of his precious old records and pay off your brother’s loan that he had taken to keep your place even after rents had gone up. He hadn’t told you because he didn’t want to burden you, especially after you had shut everyone out.

“Okay, now tell me how you figured it out,” Chanyeol looked at you expectantly and in exchange for everything he had just told you, you knew he deserved at least that much, so you let him know about your visit in the casino. You saw him get tense at the mention of the gambling den and that you talked with the loan shark but he stayed silent even when you finished.

“I’m not a little girl needing protection anymore,” you reminded him because he kept treating you like you were a child just because you had been his best friend’s little sister. Chanyeol looked at you as if you hit him with those words.

“I know and I miss the girl you were,” he said firmly, voice raspy and stretchy as he looked over at you. Despite the word miss and what that could have implied, his tone missed fondness. You raised your chin slightly and scoffed at the ridiculous claim.

“Many will. She was easier to kill,” you agreed and got up from the worn material of the bed. What was there to miss? Your naivety? You quickly made your way out of Chanyeol’s car and only faltered when he called out your name, his tone resigned.

“They killed him because they think Jihoon had been reporting to government agents,” he called after you, voice dissolving in the windy air but it still punched every bit of oxygen out of your lungs. Breathing suddenly became harder and hiding behind brick fall, you put your trembling hands in front of your mouth.

So Jihoon did die because of you after all...

It all started about a year ago. You had been sneaking out regularly by then, sometimes to meet Sehun in dark alleys, riding on his bike behind him or just by yourself for the adrenaline or for fresh air, away from your brother’s protective eyes. Maybe if he was there with you, if you had called Sehun that day, this all wouldn’t have happened. But you were out of luck, cornered by four patrolling agents. Since it had been your first offence, they had been easy on you, offering you a deal: information for safety, so you were one of their eyes on the inside, letting them know about everything you heard or saw. It had been your little secret and now it killed a man.

You knew you had to act quickly because if the gang was willing to kill a man for your sins, your life was in an even bigger danger than you realized. You were only safe until they didn't know, so you had to be extra careful from now on. Or you had to make sure they couldn't touch you. So maybe your plan was made on the whim, maybe it was a leap of faith but you wanted these assholes to pay for what they had done… in one way or another. So you made a plan overnight. You admitted it wasn't your most secure and foolproof one but it was a plan nevertheless and if everything worked out, this CBX organisation would go down which was exactly what you wanted.

You activated your aurec - a specific type of audio recorder which also functioned as a tracker using GPS coordinates - and thread it onto your necklace, hiding it under your clothes, securing your gun under your leather jacket and stepped out to the streets of Neo Seoul, heading straight for the casino just before nightfall. You were about to act like you came back for that loan you had previously discussed with Xiumin as well but in reality you still had no intention of actually doing anything with their dirty money, you just needed proof or at least a good enough reason for the agents to cut this business off. It went almost too easily: asking around and having people tell you about the drugs they had brought here, the deals they made, the things they had seen. You were sure it added up to enough sin to put the leaders behind the bars for a long while.

But of course, it was suspicious - how easy it was. You knew you should have been more careful when asking around about your brother, whether anyone had heard of him. You should have left until you could when people started whispering behind your back but you were determined and high on adrenaline, so you only noticed the two guys watching you when it was already too late. You had nowhere to run then and then the whole world went dark.

It felt like waking from a very long and absurd dream. You had been running in a white dress and two wolves had been chasing you but neither the dress nor the animals were anywhere when you opened your eyes, so you were sure they drugged you with something. It was still hard to concentrate.  You shook your head, looking around but when you tried to move you realised you were tied in place in a windowless, dark room, facing a man on a high chair.

"Morning, Sleeping Beauty," he singsonged tilting his head as his gaze roamed over your body. "Oh, don't look at me like that. It's like you want to kill me which is funny because it's you who came spying to my place. I should be the angry one."

"This place is a cesspit," you spat at which the guy let out a laughter.

"Hah, you have some nerve calling my place like that. I'm a businessman, you know, I just give people what they want. Not my fault that they make morally wrong decisions," he shrugged and even though there was some logic in what he said, it didn't give him the right to act like an almighty. Not to mention you couldn’t care less about the gambling, the drugs or whatever. But killing people was wrong on so many levels, so you gritted your teeth.

"Do you call murder a business decision as well?" you raised a brow and you knew you were too reckless for your own good, but at this point you didn't care about your well-being. You had been caught and you were alone, your gun on the desk in front of the gang leader. Though if he wanted to kill you, he could have done so easily. Why go through the trouble of capturing you and entertaining you with small talk like this? He must have wanted something from you.

"Oh, is it about your brother? Do you still think it was my fault?" the guy laughed again, condescendingly. Then shrugged. "I don't care about nobodies like him. Sure, he owed Xiumin but a lot of other people do."

You furrowed your brows. Why did he talk like he didn't know about the informer? Was Chanyeol's info wrong?

The guy stood up hence your blood rate increased, fear injected in your veins the closer he got. From this close you could see the dangling piece of earring he wore, the scar under his eyes and the smirk on his face. He took a hold of your chin, turning your face towards him as if pondering over something while you formed fists out of your hands, ready to do something stupid when the door opened bringing the sound of chaos from outside.

"Baekhyun, we are attacked," said the tall, tanned guy whom you had seen getting high the last time. At that, the gang leader in front of you turned his head towards him slowly, disinterested and eventually he let go of you. You felt relief rush through you as you thought the tracker idea indeed worked.

"By whom?" he asked, lazily scrolling through the room and got hold of your gun. Your brother's gun. It would be ironic to die by that. Ironic but maybe fair if Jihoon really died because of you.

"We're not sure. Just some guys. They have smoke bombs and destroy everything they see," the guy explained and suddenly your earlier relief was gone. So weren't the agents coming to get you? Then was it another gang? Hell, did you really get stuck between two?

"Then stop them for god's sake. What are the others doing?" Baekhyun rolled his eyes but the other stood at the door a bit anxiously.

"Chen is too drunk out of his mind and Xiumin is off to do some deals. D.O refused to stop the chicken fight."

"Those imbeciles. I can't believe I have to do everything on my own," the leader scoffed and was ready to leave but at the doorstep he looked back at you with a smirk in the corner of his mouth. "And Kai, make sure she doesn't get out. She might cause trouble for us."

Kai averted his gaze to you with an amused expression on his model-like face and then, closed the door behind himself, leaving you alone in the empty and dark room.

Only a few moments later you smelled something sticky and felt dizzier, absentmindedly realising the effect of the gas that put you in a daze. Like this within the black surroundings, time passed slowly, or at least that was how it felt since you couldn't tell it based on anything. You were also a bit worried about not being found after the random guys managed to bring down the whole building, so you knew you had to get out no matter what. Unfortunately, the ties around your wrists were too tight and you were too weak in that state of yours. Jihoon wouldn’t have been too proud.

You grew anxious at the approaching sounds of footsteps and fight as well, you could only tell that the chaos reached this deep in the multilevel building and you flinched when the door opened once again, light filling the room.

For a moment it blinded you, then narrowing your eyes you had seen two figures but you couldn't tell they were allies or enemies.

"We found her," yelled someone and oh... you knew that voice. The realization made you relax.

It was the one whispering to you on a cold night. It kept you awake, giving you chills. It haunted you when you wanted nothing but forget. It was like a beautiful dawn you could never not miss.

"Sehun?" you whispered, mouth dry and cough as this substance in the air was scratching your throat.

"We'll get you out of here," the boy told you and for a moment you felt safe in his arms. You let yourself enjoy his closeness and care but then you remembered that you wanted, that you needed to warn him, to tell him something but you blacked out again.

Somehow, in the back of your mind, it registered that someone cut through your ties, asked whether you could walk on your own and held your hand. You saw a flash of red, dark eyes and heard people fighting through each other. Your legs led you unconsciously as you ran through a corridor right after Chanyeol while Sehun stayed behind punching the guys trying to stop you. When you turned your eyes at a bright spot from outside, you saw Suho set fire to a pile of money and heard Chanyeol yelling to tell Yixing, he could stop hacking the CCTV even though it seemed like a fever dream.

Why would your friend do something so dangerous for you? Going against a gang by themselves! It was crazy. Especially after how you treated them after Jihoon’s death. But then you heard the sounds of guns and it made you afraid more than anything.

"Shit, the agents," Chanyeol cursed and you wanted to tell him to run, to leave you behind but your tongue was too heavy and you still felt so tired. It made you feel pathetic.

Finally, after what felt like an infinity, you reached the parking lot, and the boy told you to stay still until he jumped onto the hood of this one car there that had somebody inside. You only recognized who when your friend yanked Kai outside of it and knocked him out before helping you sit in the passenger's seat and drive away.

"The others..." You protested weakly but Chanyeol hushed you.

"Don't worry. They will join us soon," he tried to reassure you but it wasn't all too convincing when another swear word fell from his lips and steered the wheel sharply to the right. Apparently you didn't get far this way either and he had to hit the brakes anyways. You forced your eyes open, seeing a row of SWAT cars in front of you, weaponized agents pointing their guns at the car.

You attempted to scream after Chanyeol, to stop him but he got out of the car all too soon, yelling at the government soldiers as if he could have scared them away. It was hopeless, you knew, and tears started prickling your eyes when you saw those men force the guy against the hood of the car, handcuffing him behind his back.

One of the agents helped you get out of the car, gently walking you away as if Chanyeol was a criminal while you were an innocent girl, the irony tasted bitter in your mouth but you were smarter than to try and convince the agents on spot to let him go. You needed to speak with their commander, the one you were reporting for. But you couldn't put your friends' lives into his hands, you needed a plan B.

You acted as if your legs were wobbly, stumbling a bit and the agent kindly helped you find your balance again but this way you got close enough to Chanyeol, to drop your aurec into his hands, hoping that he would get the memo and keep it safe and hidden.

You were taken into a hospital on the border of Neo Seoul where the agents were stationed and after the doctors advised you some rest, you were discharged the next morning. Your first visit led you to Commander Lim, demanding an explanation.

"Thank you for all your help. Without you, we couldn't take them down so easily," he bobbed his head in appreciation towards you, offering you a cigarette too since he was about to light one for himself.

"But there were innocents there too," you tried to reason without sounding desperate. You needed to know whether they got everybody there or at least what happened to your friends.

"Innocents? Do you think anyone who goes to such places can be innocent? Don't worry our jurisdiction system will make a difference between those who gave themselves up and not resented, those who had weapons with them or if they had previously committed crimes," the man said taking a long inhale from the smoke then nodded towards a box on his desk. "Your reward. For your help. Although next time try not to do something risky like this without heads up. I almost couldn't form a unit in time."

You pressed your lips together, looking at the money in disdain even though you knew you needed it if you needed to get your friends out.

"You got everyone?" you questioned, holding your breath back which was followed by a hum from the agent.

"Byun Baekhyun got away but we captured all the other known criminals," he told you and you swore under your breath which didn't go unnoticed by the man. He squinted at you. "Do not fret about him. We will find him soon, too."

You nodded, as if that was your biggest concern and when he asked about your aurec, you told him you lost it while you were inside the casino, before all hell had broken loose. Then you were excused and you knew that you needed to take matters into your own hands.

However, Byun Baekhyun's vengeance came earlier than expected and he found you faster that you could have searched for him at all. The moment you got back to your rundown apartment with shitty security apparently, he was already there, sitting by your living room table as if he was over for a casual chit-chat. Except that the smirk in the corner of his mouth didn't seem kind nor his actions were too promising. A lighter twitched in his pale fingers, its flame's reflection flickered in his dark orbs. Click- click.  Burn or not to burn.

"So it was you," he spoke out, voice amused and he even had it in him to let out a bitter laugh. "Wouldn't have thought so no matter your fierceness," he scoffed but despite his easy-going attitude you were careful. Sometimes people like him were the most unpredictable, hence the most dangerous ones. After all, somehow he ended up being the most sly person in his gang, even getting away when the agents captured everybody else.

"What do you want?" you kept a close eye on him, waiting for him to snap and attack you but Baekhyun was like a lazy predator, slowly driving you crazy in the tingling familiar feeling of fear. You told yourself you weren't afraid of death, not if you avenged your brother, but if you died now, there would be nobody to free Chanyeol, Sehun and the others.

"Isn't it obvious? I want back what was mine. But most of all, my money and my men. A few at least," he grimaced before something dangerous flashed in his eyes as he looked over you. "Why us? There are so many other gangs in Neo Seoul, what do you have against us? It's not like you're perfect morally, so I bet we were targeted on purpose."

The fact that he had to ask you made your blood boil. Sure, he must have had too much blood on his hands to keep track of the lost souls but it only angered you more. You wished he was rather tortured and haunted by those he murdered.

"Are you kidding me? You killed my brother!" you snapped at him but you only received an eyeroll to that. How dared he?

"I have already told you that it wasn't us. Where did you get that shit info?" the gang leader spat and seeing your disbelief written clearly on your face, he sighed. "Stupid. There are so many people out there wanting to see me out of the picture, of course they would tell you that. Next time do you research better, little girl."

For the first time, you considered that he was telling the truth. Why would he have denied something like that? He seriously didn't seem to get why he was targeted and if he knew about your brother, he would have probably guessed if it was really him. Right? It wasn't like he was afraid of you, he had no reason for it. Out of the two of you, it was him with a lighter in his hands in the middle of your apartment. But he was alone, just like you. Maybe he needed you just as much as you needed someone who was familiar in the underworld.

"If I help you get out your men, will you help me find out who killed Jihoon?" you proposed with a raise of brow. Though, you hated even the idea of working together with a gangster like him but you realized that this was your best chance. You might have had money and wits but you didn't have connections and enough resources to do anything.

"Is it that important for you that you would trust me on it?" The man tilted his head, watching you closely, probably thinking there was some kind of trick up in your sleeves. But it was about your brother and your friends, so you nodded firmly.

"I would even make a deal with the devil."

"Well, I'm close enough," Baekhyun smirked and hummed. "But only if you actually turn out to be useful and not just be in the way. What can you offer at all?"

It was obvious he doubted you just as much as you doubted him. At least you were on equal grounds based on your trustworthiness. But first, you wanted him to say it, even if his word meant nothing in the end.

"Do you promise to help me?"

"What? Do you need a blood oath or something," the man scoffed, rolling his eyes at you but seeing your determination, he gave up the childish fight first. "Yes, I promise. Now satisfied?"

You nodded and pulled up a city map hologram over your coffee table, pointing at the agent base on the eastern side of the city.

"They keep them locked down for now. There's no way we can get in and out without getting caught but I can find out when they will be moved out of the city. I also know a way to find them but we need someone who can hack aurecs," you explained and Baekhyun seemed seemingly impressed by the technology you had in your shabby apartment. He probably wouldn't have guessed that either.

"That's no problem, I have friends who can deal with that."

"And we get out my friends as well. Then they can tell you who it was who gave the false info to end your gang on purpose. How does that sound?" You looked the man in the eye, hoping he intended to keep his side of the promise as well.

"Satisfying, I have to admit," the gang leader hummed, putting out the flame in the lighter. and got up, pulling his hoodie over his head. "Get the info then and use this burner phone to text me when you have it," he threw his phone at you after resetting it, saving only one number in its contacts.

Then he was gone without traces left behind, like smoke.

Luckily you didn't have to try too hard to get the info. Commander Lim himself told you that soon those who were responsible for your brother's death would end up in the nation's most secure jail. The relief on your face was probably interpreted as happiness over this fact while your hands were itching to text Baekhyun who called you over to some PC room. It turned out, his hacker friend who hastily introduced himself as Taemin while typing furiously on the keyboard was frequent there. You were in awe how easily he hacked the small device to switch on and start signalling its location, giving you an exact position of your friends. You had seen the eight suspects they planned to move together and there were all your friends alongside the criminals called Xiumin, Chen, Kai and D.O.

You anxiously waited for the point on the map to move but it seemed to be as still as a rock until Baekhyun was convinced they had already gotten rid of the aurec and encouraged Taemin to try to hack into the government's system. However, the moment the curfew time arrived, the flashing red dot changed its location and kept moving forward.

"Finally," the man grunted, standing up and he threw something into your lap. Only looking down you recognized your brother's gun. "Let's go," he nodded at you and you didn't hesitate to follow him to the parking lot. You were both already dressed up as government agents, their black uniform consisting of bulletproof vests and helmet since you planned to hijack the moving van before it could have reached the border.

The streets were mostly empty and dark, only the neon lights lighting up the way and your heart was beating so loud and so fast, you didn't quite believe you were doing this: you willingly helped a criminal save his comrades just so you could also save your friends. But you knew that the law was never kind to people in Neo Seoul.

It took you thirty minutes of drive to get ahead of the van approaching the northern gate and seeing the red dot coming closer in rapid speed, Baekhyun gave out the command: "Taemin, now."

"And 3... 2... 1... You are on their frequency, " the guy told them and the gang leader lifting the walkie talkie to his mouth. "Here's NS3351-GK speaking. There's a change of plan. Information has been leaked. Your car model and licence plate number are on the public network. It's an emergency. Do you understand, comrade?"

For a moment there was silence and you weren't sure they bought it even though even the code number you gave to Baekhyun was right. Then the system let out a creaky sound.

"Here's NS5672-LE speaking. We understood, sir. What's the change of plan?" the agent asked and you sighed in relief. Good, things were going according to the plan.

"There's a black van waiting for you at the 34th exit. Licence plate number: 3-7-5 수 5-2-2-0. Transfer the captives and continue your path," Baekhyun gave out the orders and there was a smirk in the corner in his mouth when you indeed saw the car take the right turn on the map. Both of you put on the helmets and saluted to the agents who arrived. Seeing your friends with scars across their faces you didn't even want to think of them getting beaten up for claiming they weren't gang members and instead focused on your role. You stayed in your seat, hand on your gun, watching the agents while Baekhyun got out to help one of the agents to get the handcuffed men into your men. Obviously they weren't too happy about being dragged back and forth but they had no choice.

Once everybody was in your car, you saluted the agents and separately, you headed towards the closest exit out of the city. Taemin also hacked the gate guards’ system, letting them know of the arriving van and their passengers, sending them the modified written order through hologram, hence you weren't surprised by the green light you got as you approached the gates. More salutes and then before you could even believe it, you had already left Neo Seoul behind.

It was too good to be true. You dreamed of leaving the city even since all this shit started but you wouldn't have thought it would be this easy. Sure, it wouldn't have happened without becoming a criminal yourself but at least you were free. Relatively.

Once you were far enough for the quarantined town, Baekhyun pulled the van aside and both of you got out, rounding the van, opening the back door. Eight pairs of eyes looked at you and watched with their breath held back as the two of you pulled your helmets off. It was Chanyeol who spoke up first, calling your name, calling you crazy and it was so familiar, his scolding that made you let out a chuckle.

"I told you I didn't need your help," you shrugged your shoulder, trying to play it cool while you stumbled to find the right keys for each handcuff. You knew that probably your friends felt just as conflicted now as you were when they had come for your rescue in the casino.

“How could you expect us not to help?” Yixing scoffed and you gave him a pointed look.

“Then how do you expect me to not help you?” you asked and reciprocated Suho’s hug once his hands were free.

It was a mess really, you didn’t even pay attention to Baekhyun and his gang already getting away by the time you got to Sehun at the end of the row. You didn’t look at him, instead you focused on his hands, the scars the handcuff left on his wrists and you tried to be gentle as you put the key in the lock but before you could have opened the metal cage around his hands, he shifted them to put his palms over your hands. It confused you, so you looked up on instinct, ready to ask him what he was doing but the look in the boy’s eyes made you go speechless.

His always dark eyes now had even more depth. It felt like looking into a tunnel with no end, up to the night sky with million stars, into his soul with all its secrets and shouldn’t haves. You suddenly remembered his porch, his kiss burning on your lips, calling it a mistake. You remember how much it hurt and yet you couldn’t forget him nor stop this yearning. Maybe it was exactly what went on inside Sehun’s head as well since you both almost lost each other in the matter of days and now even though everything was still so uncertain, at least he was there in flesh, real and tangible.

So when he leaned forward, you called your eyes on instinct and hummed into his bruising kiss not caring about the ones the handcuff stuck between the two of you left. You reached a hand to Sehun’s wounded cheek and caressed it while pulling him closer, needing him like you needed air and your friends’ snickering faded into the background as your heart finally found its pair in this crazy monster like world.

[themonkeycabal]

Omg. I just had a hilarious thought - imagine how destructive a bored Run Verse Darcy & Tony would be if they got stuck in quarantine, especially with Bucky egging them on. Poor Pepper and Rhodey! 😆

Darcy: Quarantine Day 1. The governor has ordered everybody to stay home. Businesses are shut. The Super Flu is raging across the world. It pretty much sucks. I’m bored already. 

Darcy: Day 4, dad and I have repurposed his Iron Legion as Iron Florence Nightingales. It’s going well; they can’t get sick, and are equipped with quick-draw lysol wipes. We probably should have given the hospitals a heads-up about the robots turning up, though. Also, Pepper says it’s still only Day 1 and that it’s only 9:13 in the morning. Time has no meaning anymore. 

Darcy: Day 8 (Pepper: Day 2), dad is trying to build a port in his head to just directly input every bio chem and epidemiology book and paper ever. No plague will defeat us. Pepper won’t let us drill a hole in dad’s head. 

Darcy: Day 14 (Pepper: still day 2, afternoon), Pepper has quarantined us after the trepanning failure. She says dad is contaminating me with his insanity. I am on floor 76, dad is on floor 81. Pepper doesn’t trust us not to just drill a hole in the floor. Pepper has also hidden all the drills. 

Darcy: Day 17 (Pepper, day 3, 5am), I’ve sent the Iron Intern suit to be my proxy on floor 81. Dad’s mark 60-whatever suit won’t stop playing Missile Command on my phone. We’re loaning processing power to any lab that wants it or needs it to break down and sequence this plague. Pepper says that’s good and very productive. She won’t let me have anymore coffee. 

Darcy: Day 21 (Pepper: still day 3, God, you haven’t even had breakfast yet), dad and I were talking about that space laser again. He thinks orbital would be best, for ease of maintenance and support, but I like the stability of a moon-based facility. We’ll be settling the issue by remote piloting our suits in a winner-takes-all battle in the training room. We’re gonna stream it on youtube. People could use some cheering up right now. 

Darcy: Day 24 (Pepper: Day 3). Steve and Bucky aren’t quarantined because they can’t catch the plague. Lucky bastards. They’re being them and grocery shopping for seniors, aka the kids they used to babysit. Because they’re old, get it? I don’t remember what fresh air smells like anymore. Or the feel of the sun on my face. The wind in my hair. I want street tacos so bad right now you don’t even know. 

Darcy: Day 27 (Pepper: Day 3). I won. Moon base it is! Dad says I cheated, but i pointed out that he’s the one who taught me it was called ‘making my own advantage’. So, suck it dad. We had like 12 million viewers. It was awesome. And the space laser is to protect the earth, not hold it hostage, Clint. Asshole. 

Darcy: Day 32 (Pepper:Day 4). Pepper says she’s divorcing both of us. 

Darcy: Day 35 (Pepper: Day 4). Pepper is undivorcing us, but she says if we destroy another floor, she’s sending one of us to California. Dad and I are working on a quantum tunneling gun, so we can move through the tower like in Portal. We’re not telling Pepper. 

Darcy: Day 40 (Pepper: still day 4, I’m going to bed). I can’t believe it’s been 40 days. When will my normal life return from the war? Dad was an idiot and pointed the tunneling gun at the floor, he fell into Bruce’s chill out room in the basement and triggered the lockdown. Pepper is laughing so hard she’s crying. At least I think that’s why she’s crying. The gun only had one shot in it, we’re still working out the power issues. I’ll rescue him when she goes to bed. 

Darcy: Day 43 (Pepper: Day 5, 4am, I was sound asleep), the plague has been sequenced! Dad and I are repurposing Stark Genetics for vaccine production. Bruce says it will be soon. Bruce is in quarantine in the Yukon. We don’t think he can get the plague, but he says it’s a sanity quarantine because the thought of being stuck with me and dad for days would be dangerous to his stability. We’re not that bad! 

Darcy: Day 49 (Pepper, Day 5, lunchtime) Pepper says she’ll let us out of quarantine so long as it’s to go to the moon and start the moon base. I mean, dad and I have finalized the plans, but the supply logistics are still in the organization stage. It’s like, come on, Pepper, you know how this works. I think the quarantine is getting to her. 

Darcy: Day 52 (Pepper, Day 5: You haven’t even finished your sandwich yet). I still want tacos. 

Darcy: Day 55 (Pepper, Day 5). I sent a video to dad about marble racing. We’re building a track through the whole building, they’ll get from floor to floor through portals. We’ve given DumE a go-pro and the tunneling gun to track the race. We see no problems with any of this. Pepper is hiding. 

Darcy: Day 58 (Pepper, Day 5). There were some problems with it. DumE got the go-pro and the tunneling gun mixed up. But, you know what, the dozen floors of the marble race before the ‘incident’ was awesome! 

Darcy: Day 61 (Pepper, Day 5. Will this day never end?) Dad won’t let Bucky bring me tacos. Despite the fact the he can’t get sick or be a carrier. Dad says somebody could have sneezed on him or something and there could be Super Flu on his hobo costume. I broke in-Tower quarantine and snuck into dad’s workshop while he was scraping up DumE from the lobby. I put a perfect layer of nickels on every surface and glued down a handful at random, so he can’t just sweep the coins off anything. I can hear him yelling from here. Now he knows why I have a sock full of nickels. Sometimes low tech is best tech. 

Darcy: Day 64 (Pepper, Day 6). I can’t believe it’s been two months of this. Pepper has cracked. She says for the safety of the world, she and dad will be self-isolating back in Malibu. I’m not sure how to take my impending abandonment. 

Darcy: Day 68 (Pepper, Day 6, we’ll call when we get to California), Bucky brought me tacos! 

[eighth--wonder]

alright fuck it

here's a lil story i'm writing. i have no idea where it's heading but i want to share it.

first | next

~~

Stranger

~~

“Do you have a minute?” asks the stranger that has taken a seat next to me. I just wanted to read a book in the park and NOT talk to people. It’s the reason I’m out here, to not talk to people. Well, that, and the fact that my therapist keeps yelling at me to go outside.

“Y-yes?” I said back to him, shutting my book. There it goes, that darn stutter.

“I’ve had a heck of a day. I got laid off from the only thing keeping me from living in my parents' basement, my phone shattered after this stupid kid knocked into me on his bike, I lost this really important family heirloom after my house was robbed by my step-mom, and, I have no friends to vent to, which why I’m talking to you, a stranger. No offense.”

I smiled. “None t-taken. That sounds li-like a pretty crappy d-day to m-me.” 

He looked confused. “You…”

“I-i-i-it’s my s-stutter.” 

“Oh. I’m Cody by the way.” He said, delivering a warm smile along with a hand to shake.

I shook his hand. “I’m Wil-Wilson. N-nice to me-meet you.”

Here is usually where the people who thought I could be a potential friend go away, but Cody was different. He stayed, asking me what book I was reading, talked about how the economy was failing, new shows on Netflix. Ya know, the usual. 

Eventually, he decided that I was good friend material, and we exchanged numbers.

I walked home after Cody left, considering my social interaction bar had been used up for the day talking to him. Cody, the only person who judged me by how I acted instead of my stutter. He was nice, his appearance wasn’t anything out of the usual indicating he wasn’t a serial killer, which was always a perk. He also didn’t show any signs of isolation which is why I was surprised when he told me he didn't have any friends, but everybody copes in their own way, I guess. His tone of voice suggested that he goes to therapy, he sounded very on edge, possibly paranoia, but he did say he had a bad day.

I shook my head in an attempt to clear my thoughts. My CSI training tended to kick in from time to time. I had gotten “let go” from my CSI position at NJPD because of head trauma, also known as, “We don’t want a kid with a broken dream and a stutter solving murders.” 

I opened the door to my apartment and stepped inside. Just as I had expected, nothing had happened. My living room was a mess, decorative throw pillows all pilled and smushed. The coffee table had empty coffee mugs littered around its surface leaving white rings on the table. I guess I should clean them up. 

After cleaning up the coffee mugs and the white heat rings, I grabbed a cup of water, sat down in front of the TV, and flipped to the news.

As usual, the news delivered nothing but depressing news about how the president’s attempt to do something-or-other was succeeding. Or failing. I never paid attention to the news. 

I turned the TV off and decided to go do something productive with my time and then did nothing because who has time for productivity and stared at the ceiling.

Eventually, my body started telling me I needed to sleep and listening to it, I changed into my sleepwear and went to bed.

I woke up to birds chirping and the sun shining through my bedroom window, which would lead you to think I would have a wonderful day, meet someone new, maybe go shopping for supplies to make a delicious meal, but no. My plan for the day was to update my laptop, watch some TV, then maybe mow the lawn. 

While I was staring at the black screen of my updating laptop, my phone vibrated signaling a text message had come through. Getting text messages was not a usual occurrence for me. I only ever got messages from my data plan telling me I ran out of data. I looked down at my phone and to my surprise, it was Cody asking if I wanted to hang out today. After proofreading my response and then proofreading it again, I sent it to him. 

Waiting for his response, I sat on my bed chewing my nails. 

What if he isn’t really your friend, he’s just pretending to be? 

      What if it’s all a joke and he hates you?

No, stop that. 

Why would anybody want to be friends with you? 

You can’t even speak right. 

Stop. 

Nobody even likes you.

That’s it. 

I got up and got changed, avoiding looking in any mirrors. My outfit wasn’t anything extraordinary, a pair of jeans with an old band t-shirt and leather jacket matched with Converse. Without waiting for a meeting place from Cody, I headed out the door, slinging my beige satchel over my shoulder. In my satchel was my phone, my wallet, a pocket knife and a lighter.  

I arrived at the park searching for Cody: vitiligo, blonde hair, freckles, blue eyes, glasses, a pretty good sense of style. Judging by what he wore yesterday which was a pair of work pants,  a long-sleeved light pink dress shirt, and a navy blue tie, he would wear something casual like jeans and a sweatshirt. What he wore yesterday was obviously his work clothes but as he said, he had gotten laid off from his job so he wouldn’t be wearing work clothes. 

I had actually done research on jobs for him based on the personality gathered from him. I know, I know. I’m weird because somehow I know his entire personality after just meeting him for the first time. Yeah well, I don’t care. The job turnouts were nice, things along the lines of psychiatrists, therapists. Ya know, socially demanding jobs. Something I could never do. 

 Eventually, I found Cody at a coffee shop talking to the lady at the counter about how she should go see a therapist to cope with the loss of her husband. What a gentleman. 

He turned around to find a seat in the crowded coffee shop and noticed me standing in the middle of the shop, staring at him like a loser.

“Wilson, you found me!” He said, walking up to me as if he had known me longer than a quick chat on a bench. 

“I did,” I said, nervous that other people would see. “Now le-let’s go,” I said, grabbing his arm and dragging him to the door.

“Don’t you want anything?” He said, struggling not to spill his coffee. 

“No, I’ll p-pick up a Mo-Monster on the w-way to the ma-mall,” I said. 

Realizing I was basically holding Cody’s hand, I let go and turned to face him. 

“S-sorry,” I said, turning a slight shade of pink.

Cody situated himself. “About what?” 

“Nevermi-mind,” I shook my head as if doing that would remove the awkwardness from the situation. 

Cody kind of smiled. “Okay. So, we’re we headed?” 

“I was th-thinking the mall, m-maybe hit up H-Hot Topic,” I said as I started to walk down the trail. 

The trail at the park was an absolute must if you’re a tourist. In the fall, the trail became covered in amber-gold leaves. Animals of all sorts rustled the leaves, burrowing to make their homes. Grumpy park keepers raking leaves into piles only to have children jump in them and ruin them. God, I love it. 

“Sure. Doesn’t the mall have a food court? We could stop there and get something to eat.”

I turned to look at him. “Th-that would be g-great.” 

We walked in silence to the mall. I could never quite figure out Cody’s shopping preference. He looked like he shopped at Kohls or Sears. Some relatively nice places. Maybe Boscovs. I, on the other hand, shop at places like Hot Topic and Journeys. 

We arrived at the mall and made a direct line to a Hot Topic. I could tell Cody had never entered a Hot Topic in his life, considering the fact he scrunched up when he saw the cashier. 

I walked up beside him and nudged him. “This your fi-first time?” 

He took a sip of his coffee. “In a Hot Topic, yes.”

I turned back to the t-shirts. “I can te-tell.”

We browsed the store, Cody striking some conversation with other shop goers. How is he so social? He even got the kids in Hot Topic to talk to him. 

“Wilson, c’mere!” Cody yelled from the other side of the store. The entire store, which consisted of like, 3 people, turned to look at me. 

I chuckled awkwardly. “Uh, h-h-hi.” I gave a tiny socially awkward wave which was responded with an understanding nod from some kid in a Panic! At the Disco shirt. 

I scurried over to the other side of the store. “Wha-what do you wa-want!” I hissed at him. 

Cody gestured over to the shirt he had in his right hand. “Don’t you like this band? I saw them on your lockscreen.” 

He was holding a Twenty One Pilots shirt that had the words: “I belive in Josh Dun” etched around the alien-like symbol that represented Josh Dun. The shirt wasn’t really my style, but Cody looked so proud of himself for finding a shirt that I could possibly like, that I couldn’t turn it down. I grabbed the sirt from his hands and slung it over my shoulder. I looked for other t-shirts, failed, and ended up in the pin section. A sign underneath the bucket read, “Buy 2 get 1 free”. I was always a sucker for deals. 

“Watcha doing?” A voice was accompanied by a brush on my shoulder. I suspected that it was Cody’s arm, because his hand brushed against mine. As if that same hand had taken a paintbrush, my face was painted a light red. Well, more of a light pink. For some reason, Cody’s touch made my chest feel all weird, my stomach flutter, and my face heat up. Of course I knew what this feeling was, I’m not stupid. 

“Uh, I’m l-looking for pi-pins. They’re b-buy two get one fr-free.” I said. 

Cody was immediately intrigued. He rummaged through the pins, discarding ones he didn’t like. I already held two pins in my hand, a Fall Out Boy one and a subtle LGBTQ+ Pride pin. 

Now, Cody wasn’t the type of person I would have thought to have also picked out an LGBTQ+ Pride pin as well, but here we are, Cody with an extremely flamboyant Pride pin in the palm of his hand. 

My face tuned a medium shade of red. Holy crap, Cody’s gay. I mean, it didn’t bother me, obviously, but you never would have guessed it. 

Somehow, I completed the transaction between the cashier and I, and me and Cody made a beeline for the Five Guys. Five Guys was a restaurant I had come to many times when I was a kid. I ordered what I usually got, a Veggie Sandwich. Cody ordered a Cheeseburger with Small Fries. An order I can respect. We searched for a place to sit before choosing a seat underneath the trees they put in the mall. It never occured to me why they put trees in the mall until now. 

Seeing Cody smile at me from underneath the trees, a stray ray of sunlight shone through his glasses and making its way to his blue eyes, his smile making me feel warm inside. God, what I would do to take a picture of him right now. 

“H-hey, can I t-take a p-p-picture of y-you, Cody?” I said, pulling my phone out of my pocket. 

“Sure. Where do you want me to look?” He said. I was honestly surprised by his reaction. He didn’t think I was weird or refuse. 

I adjusted my phone camera to the light settings. “J-just look directly a-at the c-cam-camera and smi-smile.” 

He did as I said, smiling directly at the camera. The shot was super cliche, but he looked great. 

I took the picture, ignoring weird looks from other customers, and sent it to Cody. The picture came out nice. 

“Put a black and white filter on it.” Cody’s voice sounded from my shoulder. His chin rested right where my shoulder met my neck.

I put the black and white filter on it. The ray of sunlight that passed diagnally on his face was turned to a light gray. 

“But it l-look-looks better with col-colour.” I said, changing it back.

Cody stared at it for a few moments, his face looked rather studious, as if he wanted to remember every aspect of the photo. 

“Yeah, your right. Keep it coloured.” 

I smiled. “I’m al-always ri-right.”

Something about how quickly our friendship had formed made an impact on me. We met on a bench yesterday and now I’m sending him a picture I took of him in a mall plainly because I wanted to. Something wasn’t right; friendships don’t move this quickly. People weren’t just nice. As depressing as it sounds, it’s true. People aren’t nice with no reason. We’d love them to be, but they just aren’t. 

Cody threw away the remains of his lunch and sat back down in front of me. 

“So, want do you want to do now?” He said.

I shrugged. “I do-don’t know. May-maybe we c-could go to-”

Cody gasped. “What about a play! There’s a theatre down the street, and the admission’s free!”

I smiled. I friggin’ love plays. Especially musicals. Something about how people can change their person to a completely different personality always made me happy. 

“I lo-love the sound of th-that.” I said, standing up and throwing the remains of my veggie sandwich in the garbage can. 

We left the mall in a hurry, rushing to hail a cab to the nearest theatre. We both sat in the back of the cab as the driver drove us to our location.

“So, do y-you know wha-what play it i-i-is?” I asked.

Cody shook his head no. “Honestly, I don’t really care what play it is. I just love the acting behind it.” He said.

“Me t-too. I just lo-love how the pe-pe-people on st-stage can tra-transform into wha-whatever chara-character they ne-need to-” I was cut off by the cab driver.

“Ay kid, could ya knock it off with that stutter? It’s really annoyin’ and it’s gettin’ on my nerves.” He said. He had a heavy jersey accent, a contrast to our current location of New York. 

“Yes s-sir.” I said, folding my hands in my lap and drawing my eyes to my feet.

Cody kept looking between me and the cab driver. “What? No.” He said, knocking on the glass that divided the passengers and the driver. 

“Sir, can you pull over?” He said. His tone sounded like a mother who was about to scold her child. 

The cab driver groaned and pulled over. 

“What?” He said, twisting his body so he could see through the little window.

“My friend can’t help his stutter, okay? And for you to ask him to ‘knock it off’ was extremely impolite.” Cody said. 

‘Friend’. I held back my smile.

The cab driver snorted. “I don’t care if he can help it or not, it’s annoying and it distracts me from driving.”

Cody laughed in disbelief. “Oh, I see. Well, in that case, can you stop talking in that obnoxious jersey accent of yours? It distracts me from enjoying the view. And, maybe stop smelling like rotten fries because it makes it hard to focus. And I would heavily enjoy it if you threw out that black ice smelly tree, because all it does is combine with the scent of feces back here and makes it smell worse.” He smiled sweetly. “Thanks so much, mmm-bye.”

He opened the cab door and walked over to the sidewalk to open mine. I got out, throwing a dirty look at the cab driver. We left without paying. 

“Hey, th-thanks for standing u-u-up for me b-back there. It rea-really meant a lo-lot.” I said.

Cody smiled. “No problem! It just pisses me off when people are mean to others.” 

We walked to the theatre. Cody was right, the admission was free and it was one of my favourite plays. Romeo and Juliet. 

Cody and I walked up to the admission box, standing rather close to each other.

“One ticket for me and one for my friend.” He said.

There it was. That word Friend. Now that I think of if, I haven’t really had a friend before. Yeah, I know. You’re probably thinking ‘Wilson, I bet you had at least one friend.’ Nope. None of the kids in elementary school talked to me enough for me to develop a friendship with them, and middle school was, well, middle school, and after my accident in high school, no one spoke to me straight up. I’m honestly surprised I have the social skills I have. 

We walked down the aisle and found our seats. We were seated in the 3rd row of the middle section. So right near the front. 

“Have you ever seen Romeo and Juliet?” Cody asked.

I raised my eyebrows. “Have I ev-ever seen R-Romeo and Juli-Juliet?”

Cody smiled. “I take it you have. Well good, because I’ve never seen it.”

“Really?” I said. How?????

Cody shook his head. “Nope. Never seen it.”

I sighed. “Do you at le-least know th-the p-plot?”

“More or less. I know theres a thing with a balcony?”

“Yes.”

“And they,” He looked side to side, checking for people. “Both die?”

I smiled and nodded. “Y-Yes! So you kno-know the basic-ics. G-Good.”

We turned our attention to the stage as the lights dimmed. 

yea that's it so far. ask me if you wanna be tagged!

[lucyhblack]

Summary: And so the Dragon Skull Flower Shop was born.

And so it was decided.

Blood moved on afterwards (after hiring a cleaning team and turning on the light).

After the conversation with Flowey he went down and explored the basement and discovered several gardening things there (he wondered what he would have thought if he saw all that apparatus before he knew the secret of the attic. Maybe it would be a bit of an exaggeration for just a few vases of plants, but knowing the old goat, maybe not).

This room and the “fourth sanctuary” he cleaned himself (he didn't want rumors to reach Toriel's ears, and since she was the one who arranged all the services... better to prevent) and, of course, kept the attic sealed until everyone left.

He had to dismantle Asgore's bed and leave it in the basement (since Toriel's only suggestion, when he finally asked, was to burn it), and tossed his old mattress on the floor, he would buy a bed when he had more time (which ended up not happening, since most of the time he ended up sleeping on the sofa or in the garden (the grass was incredibly soft there).

He visited Flowey almost every day, usually in the afternoon, when the sun didn't bother him so much and spent time with the flower.

But not everything was (heh, heh) flowers in his life. Now that Flowey had a helper (more or less willing) he was able to finally take care of the garden properly, and not just keep it alive like he had been doing.

He had Blood carry bags of soil and compost from the basement to the attic, weed out weeds (Blood had a vague thought if it was not considered a form of genocide, but he quickly dismissed the idea. It seemed kind of offensive to equate his new friend with plant forms inanimated), pruning trees and harvesting fruits (he liked this job a lot, despite ending up with a stomach ache, and a reminder on his cell phone to look for recipes for jam, pies, etc. It wasn’t worth trying to eat all the fruits of a time), among other tasks that often ended up with Blood passing out on the couch or on his mattress without even bothering to change.

He couldn’t complain much about the legwork, which was true left him tired, but it also helped him to sleep through the night (no need to resort to medicine or beers in the fridge) and Flowey’s endless conversation about plants filled his mind and allowed he not to focus on things he didn’t want to remember.

At first he worried that the scent of earth would bring him back into the trenches, but the scent was something so alive, and linked to Flowey's captivating litany, it was as if they were two completely different elements from each other (and maybe it was really He had learned that there were various types of soil) and he had not had any panic attacks or nasty flashbacks.

In fact, since he started helping the flower he felt better (Toriel was right, he needed a hobby, he just wanted to see her face when he said it was gardening of all things).

But despite that, there were days he didn't want (or could, damn wound to the head!) to force himself to face the brightness of the garden, or Flowey's high-pitched voice.

In those days he would curl up on his mattress, cursing the world and trying to control himself not to stick his skull in the wall (and make the hole in it even bigger). And there were days when his “laziness” reigned and he just wanted to be left on the couch facing the TV with a can of cold beer in his hands and a packet of chips beside him.

In those days he felt a twinge of guilt for leaving Flowey alone. While he always assured him that it was okay to be alone (he had spent all this time like that, didn't he?) He imagined how boring it could be to be stuck in a single room (no matter how colorful and smelling that room was) even more when he knew there was someone who could keep him company (especially when he had spent so much time alone). This started to worry him. He knew that both were limited by the fact that the other was a flower, but he didn't like to leave him to his own devices.

(he could only imagine if something happened to him, how Flowey would feel, when he was abandoned again... and how long his new isolation would last. How scary it would be to notice the days passing and no one coming, and when the door opened again , if it would open up, what kind of person would enter? A new friend? Someone who would help and understand you or someone who would despise and abandon you again? Or even worse?)

He started to think about how he could make the flower more independent, at least to be distracted while he was not available (and also something he could do that didn't involve the garden).

When asked what he and Asgore were doing (besides looking after the garden) Flowey said that he and Asgore used to play checkers or that the older monster would read to him.

Blood volunteered to bring some books, but Flowey recalled that he had no members, which made it difficult to turn the pages, even though he learned to read.

The skeleton hesitated to offer to read to him. On the one hand, he feared that Flowey was only interested in botany (and while it was acceptable to listen to his speeches, Blood didn't think he could handle reading books about it). Furthermore, after his incident, reading became a difficult task, the fine print had a tendency to give him a headache and sometimes his mind could simply not assimilate what he read and he could forget things he had read 2 or 3 previous paragraphs. This frustrated him and made it difficult to keep reading.

(He made a note on his cell phone to try to track Alphys and see if the ex-military scientist had anything that could help. She was after all working with prostheses for wounded soldiers, he was sure she could indicate, or even create something that would help the little flower)

In the end he got some board games in which the Flowey could play alone and a radio so he could be distracted when he wasn't there (and he quickly discovered that Flowey was a good strategist, often beating him in checkers. He was going to dig up the chess game from your moving boxes any of these days to see how good Flowey was).

He then moved on to another topic, how to get it out of the garden.

Asgore had taken him there in a vase (Flowey did not know where the place where he was "born", only that it had been a long car journey), and that meant he could be transported. It was just a matter of discovering his limitations now. Blood then decided to bring one of the empty vases in the basement to test.

The first time he took Flowey out of his garden was a time of great tension.

Flowey made sure he could stay a few hours out of the ground, but it was weird to carry a contorting flower around (not to mention that just thinking about it reminded him of all the weeds he had pulled out of the ground, so even if it wasn't the same , he couldn't help thinking that "pulling" Flowey off the ground would be like he was killing him).

Flowey said it was a little awkward after so many years to have his roots confined in such a tight space, but it was nothing that would cause pain or be unbearable to deal with (like wearing tight shoes, Blood imagined) and the discomfort would worth it if he could a walk out of his sanctuary / prison (which proved to Blood, that despite saying he was fine, Flowey was eager to leave that place and be able to see the world. Even if the "world" was just the rest of the house for now).

Then after years, he finally left the garden (Blood descended the stairs all the time in a panic, so much so that the attic would collapse and bury them both, or that Flowey would start to wither. Fortunately the house remained standing as well as Flowey).

As they soon discovered, Flowey couldn’t stay in the pot for a long time (2, or 3 days at most before he started showing signs of wear) and was also kind of uncomfortable for him (although he tried to hide it), so normally Blood would catch him when he woke up (the hours varied a lot) and took him around the house.

Flowey was very interested in the kitchen, finding Blood's meager cooking skills very interesting and often giving suggestions, some very successful (like the suggestion of some spices), but others definitely not (no matter how much the flower guaranteed that carnations were a seasoning and could be used in a soup) and on television.

He often left Flowey in front of the TV while he had to go out and fix something, the TV was really great babysitter, although Flowey's taste could be a little peculiar to a child (but what did he know about children anyway? Perhaps serial killer programs and criminal investigations were popular with children). In addition, Flowey tapped that he was not a child, and as Blood had no benchmarks (he should calculate Flowey's age by the years he lived. or for the life span of a daisy?) he left it at that.

At night he would normally return him to the garden (normally, as he would sometimes fall asleep himself and Flowey would spend the night in the vase, adorning the table in front of the sofa).

So his days ended in a strange routine (which wasn’t exactly a routine), waking up, picking up Flowey, going down for breakfast (even though it was sometimes more lunchtime), usually bacon, eggs and coffee (bacon, the egg white and yolk for him and the bark and coffee grounds for Flowey), then they would go up to look after the garden, do some other housework or just sit together, play checkers, watch TV, or tell stories to each other.

They talked a lot about Asgore. Which made sense since he was the only person in common that they both knew. At first Blood had been concerned that Flowey would ask about the General's death and that remembering what had happened would make him have an episode, but Flowey never asked and Blood found that he had many stories from the pre-war time to tell.

It was in one of these conversations that the “seed” of his future enterprise emerged.

-We should open the store. - Flowey suddenly released.

Blood gave him an appraising look, wondering where it had come from.

-And sell what? The only thing I'm good at is fighting, and it doesn't sell in stores. - and he didn't want (couldn't) fight anymore. It was a big “no, no, no”, as Flowey himself said.

-We could sell tea ... as Asgore was. We have enough herbs...

The suggestion did not surprise him, it was normal to want to honor his father and being a flower his options were somewhat limited. Honestly, he thought that just keeping the garden alive (and himself) was paying enough homage to the old goat.

-Friend, you only say that because there is not much comparison to judge my food!

Not that he was that awful in the kitchen, but preparing eggs with bacon or macaroni and cheese didn't need much experience. Not, the problem was the intention.

He had never been very good and transmitting it correctly for food preparation (sure, he had sold some hot dogs in his youth, but again preparing sausages and putting them in rolls was not the same as cooking a pie), imagine now he was all broken! He will able to end up sending someone to the hospital. Better not take any chances.

-I could sell the tea in bags, but I would still have to dry them, manipulate them... - and that also required a dose of intention, especially if they were “medicinal” teas - Nah! Much work. - he dismissed the idea.

Flowey seemed to want to complain, but was silent, seeming to give up. Blood would not be fooled, he knew Flowey was not going to give up (if anything, the little thing was stubborn. A real weed!) And okay, he would be ready for the next crazy ideas that were sure to come.

The days passed and one day he went up the stairs and when he opened the door he was greeted with an explosion of colors and shapes. He blinked in shock at how many flowers had emerged overnight.

Flowey was more than excited to show him everything. They roamed the garden again and as he looked at the small bouquets in vibrant tones or the long stems, bowing by the weight of the flower at its tip he felt a feeling that he had long forgotten.

Proud.

Proud to do something with your own hands, and to see it blossom (literally). He had forgotten what it was like to be proud of his work, his actions... himself.

Of course, that was only possible due to Flowey's instructions, but the flower admitted that it was only possible because Blood helped (and wanted to do it). That even though he only did what Flowey told him, Blood had done it with the right intention.

That night he was slow to sleep,, feeling energized, his bones a little sore, but almost vibrating with satisfaction and still smelling slightly of the flowers in the garden.

Days later he was not so happy.

Although beautiful, the plants were giving as much, if not more work than before. Yes they had flowered at last, which was the goal (or so he thought) but the work did not end there.

As most of the flowers were of the common type, there was a lot of waste, most were reused, but not all. Flowey (the little general) was happy instructing which ones to cut, which ones to change into pots, or vice versa... soon he was putting bunches of flowers in buckets, pans and any containers that contained them.

He separated the edible ones and took them to the kitchen so that he could later clean and store them properly. Some were taken to the basement, where they would be made into compost (this gave him a pause and made him wonder if Flowey perceived the irony that he fed, in a way, on his “companions.” Could this be considered cannibalism?).

There came a point that he was putting buckets on any available surface (it was lucky that there were a good number of them in the basement. He wondered vaguely what Asgore was going to use them for, had he already predicted that he would need them when the garden ready, as he needed it himself now? It seemed likely knowing how much the old man knew about gardening).

There were a lot of flowers and Flowey advised him to cut some after the lingering smell of mixing some gave him a sneeze (and consequently, a headache).

So he put an end to the work of collecting the leftovers from Flowey's “massacre”. He picked them up first with his hands, but soon realized that instead of taking shortcuts from side to side (and exhausting himself as much as going up and down the stairs would do) it was better to just put them together in containers and reduce the number of trips.

Unfortunately, he soon realized that, however good his idea was, he would have to restrict his shortcuts (his magic was not yet fully recovered and after almost leaving at the edge of the basement stairs, instead of in front of the door, he thought it best to use your legs and avoid breaking your skull further by failing on a shortcut) he then ended up having to make the trips via the cinnamon road.

Blood chose to first collect all the plants cut into buckets and then lower them to the first floor (He would have to stop this soon. Just because Flowey could leave the garden now, it does not mean that the garden could also spread throughout the house !).

He was going down several buckets (it doesn't matter that the blaster was not made for that. If they could be used as freestanding, floating handcarts this is how he would use them) and dropping them anywhere in the front room and then thinking about the that he would do with them. It would probably set aside a handful for composting basins, but most would probably go to waste.

He had just come down another bucket (the last of the day, he wouldn’t make another trip even under the threat of torture!) And dismissed the blaster (he saw one trying to chew a handful of lilies, but he pretended he didn’t see, it wasn’t as if they might have indigestion or something) when a nervous rabbit monster burst through the front door.

Blood turned around, still with a bucket of flowers in his hand, cursing himself for having forgotten to lock the door (how could he have forgotten ?! How ?!) and ready to scream at the invading monster (and stick a bone in nothing friendly) when the monster grabbed a handful of flowers from a bucket he had dropped in front of the window and went towards him talking at a mile an hour.

-Oh for the stars, thank you! I didn't know what to do, thanks to the Angel that you are still open! - he pushed a handful of gold in Blood's hand - Here! Here, no need to wrap. Oh, thank you, thank you very much, sir! You don't know how you just saved my skin! Thank you very, very much!

And he left as soon as he entered, without even giving Blood a chance to react. The skeleton was planted there in the place surrounded by buckets of flowers, one still in one hand and a handful of gold in the other.

-Oh! We can sell the flowers! - Flowey exclaimed in his pitcher on the counter.

Blood almost jumped in fright, he had even forgotten that he had brought him down (even though he would soon have to climb him up again so he could go to sleep) to help him sort out the flowers and decide his final destinations.

-Hmm??? - He articulated still confused.

-The flowers! Let's sell the flowers! - The yellow petals vibrated with joy and contentment at his brilliant idea.

Heavens, he had even forgotten about the idea of opening the store (since he made the first suggestion, Flowey hadn’t touched on the subject anymore and Blood forgot about it completely).

Blood looked around and cannot deny that, in a very sloppy and confused way (for a delusional or endorphin mind full) the room could be mistaken for a flower shop.

Well ... why not? He had a lot of raw materials and if nobody wanted them there would be no damage to him. He was really going to throw them away, if someone was going to buy them then it would be his profit (and if not, they would already go to waste, no damage done).

He needed no intention or more than some paper to wrap them up, and sell them. He would have to do a price research (which he could do online), some documentation (that his lawyer could handle) and voia-lá!

He opened his hand and took a look. Not bad for a handful of half-dead plants... not that he needed the money, but...

He looked at Flowey who looked at him expectantly, his petals almost seemed to shine and he didn't even need to approach to feel the excitement and hope flowing from him.

Hell!

And so the Dragon Skull Flower Shop was born.

[treatian]

The Chronicles of the Dark Ones: Magical Loopholes

Chapter 38: Old Dangers

He left the library feeling…lighter, somehow. He might even go so far as to say he felt "good" about how he'd left things. No, she wasn't moving in again, they'd barely touched, and the truth had been brief and broad, but it had been honest. He hadn't told her much, but what he had told her had been the most important part of it. It left the door open for more, and though he'd suspected that saying what he'd said might leave him feeling naked and vulnerable, he found it wasn't a terrible thing. With Belle safe inside the library, he set the protection spell over her property and somehow had the feeling he was sealing his own secrets in with her.

He felt hopeful where he and Belle were concerned, comfortable with where they'd left things. He was embarrassed, perhaps even a little disappointed in himself that he'd done something so foolish that meant he wouldn't be by her side as she explored this new world, but the more he thought about it, the more he acknowledged that Ruby might just be the perfect person to help her through that. He knew from Baelfire that he could be protective, perhaps too protective. That was one of the reasons they'd gotten here, after all. If he were by her side for this transition, he'd want to do everything for her. He'd want to pay for everything, sign every form, handle the money, run the library. She wouldn't like that. It would have caused tension and grief between them. So, this was good. He'd watch from the shop to be sure she was safe, he'd keep his distance, and then when she was experienced in this world, they'd be together again. They'd go for a hamburger. They'd return to each other.

And in the meantime, there were other things he needed to have done. There were ways that he could protect Belle with more than just a spell, and he intended to do just that. There were villains in this world, some big and some small; the events in the mines proved that just fine. Both were dangerous but in their own ways. He could do very little about smaller villains in this world simply because they were too numerous to weed out. But the right lesser criminal did have one particularly befitting feature…they could lead to the greater threats.

After leaving Belle, finding Smee was easy. His grandmother had cast a spell on him that made it difficult to locate him by magical assist, but that was over a century ago. And now…now he had his hat. It was so easy to find him it was almost laughable. In fact, when Smee turned on the docks and found him staring back at him, the sound Smee let out before he used magic to hide him away did make him laugh.

Under the shop, there was a basement, where he stored rather large items he had no interest in selling. He used his magic to send Smee there, bind him, and put him to sleep as he considered his plan of action. It wasn't really Smee that he was interested in, but rather the man he suspected had kept him alive for all these years…Killian Jones, now known as Captain Hook.

He had no evidence of that, no proof, only what he could deduce from what he saw. When he'd first met Smee, he'd been interested in staying young forever. They'd made a deal, not for eternal youth, but rather to turn the clock back and make him a boy again in exchange for a magic bean to take him to Bae. Smee had found the bean, but he'd never gotten it to him. Milah and Hook, when he'd still had two hands, had intercepted Smee and kept him as a prisoner. They'd proved it with the same fucking hat he now held in his hands. They'd brought him to the ship, and that was the last location he knew of for Mr. Smee. He'd argued and fought with Milah and Jones. He'd killed Milah, then taken Hook's hand under the presumption that it held the bean he needed. And then he'd left, only to discover later that Hook still had the bean, and it appeared he'd used it for himself to escape to Neverland.

He'd heard nothing about Smee. But he'd searched for the man afterward and found no trace of him. He had concluded that where Hook was, there he would also find Smee. Now, looking at Smee, who should be dust in the ground, and knowing that Hook had flitted off to Neverland, a place where individuals never aged, he suspected more than ever that was true. Still, there was only one way to prove that. And there was only one way to find Killian Jones. He had no intention of being surprised by that pirate again or risking Belle to him either. He needed to know where Hook was. He needed to kill him before he killed Belle.

By the time the sun started to go down, and he heard hoots and hollers from the basement, shouts of "help" from Mr. Smee indicating he was awake, he had a plan. A timid plan, one that depended on another individual, but one he was confident he could carry out. Of course, it depended on the information that Smee gave, the story that he told. So, he cast a spell over the shop to keep the sound isolated, ensuring that Smee could scream as loud as he wanted and no one would ever hear before he grabbed his hat and wandered down into the basement. Smee was silent by the time he opened the door, suggesting some intelligence. He hoped that continued.

"You're probably wondering why I brought you here," he pulled out the red hat he'd found in the mines, the one his grandmother, Mama Odie, knit for him before protecting him all those years ago. He'd been protected, but now that he was in front of him, that spell couldn't save him now. "I found this in the mines, Mr. Smee."

He lay the hat on his lap, and his eyes went wide with fear. "I am so sorry. I didn't-"

"I'm not interested in apologies," he interrupted. "I'm interested in information. About the man you work for."

"I'll tell you anything you want to know about Moe," he smiled.

"No, no. Not about Moe–your captain." He felt a small thrill of hope shoot through him at Smee's willingness to sell Moe out. Could he be bought that easily? One could hope. "Where is he?"

Smee shook his head. "I've never seen him in Storybrooke, I swear. For some reason, when the curse hit, it…it didn't take him!"

So it was confirmed. He was right. Smee had been with Hook all these years.

But he didn't believe his side of the story. Not for a second. If Smee was as young as he was, then he'd been with Hook until the end. As far as he knew, the Captain, and therefore Smee, had no issues with Regina, so unlike Frankenstein, he couldn't imagine a scenario where Regina would take him but leave Hook. It didn't make sense.

"Then, where is he? If you're here, then where would he be, Mr. Smee?"

"I don't know. We were separated in the Enchanted Forest, just before the Curse hit."

"The Enchanted Forest?" he clarified. "Not Neverland." While it made sense for them to have been there if he'd been unknowingly swept up into the Curse, it still didn't make sense why he would have come over, but Hook wouldn't.

"No," Smee confirmed. "We live in Neverland, but Pan sends us back and forth to other worlds on his own business, to make trades."

"And you were on one of these runs when you were separated from your Captain."

"Not exactly, no."

He rolled his eyes. "Then why were you in the Enchanted Forest, Mr. Smee."

"To kill someone," he answered quickly, a line of sweat dripping from his temple into his beard. His eyes were wide, and he could see the desperation to please him in his eyes. Perhaps he should believe him. "We were to make our usual trades, but before we left, Pan informed Cap of a prisoner that the Evil Queen had in her towers, someone that he saw benefit in killing."

He sucked his breath in as Smee explained and felt his stomach clench painfully. A prisoner in the tower that would benefit both Pan and Hook if killed? He hadn't known at the time, but now he knew there was someone there who fit that description. It didn't settle his stomach. His father knew? About Belle?

"Who?" he demanded.

"I don't know. The conversation was private, Cap'n only told me that much. When we arrived, we docked in the Evil Queen's territory with instructions to make the trades while he was away and promised that we'd meet him after it was done. We disembarked, made the trades, and spent the night in town, but the Curse struck before any of us could return to the ship."

So, they'd been separated, but that still meant that Hook should have come over in the Curse.

"So, where is he now?"

"I don't know," Smee stressed. "I swear I don't, I told you the truth, I've never seen him in Storybrooke, but I've barely seen the other crew members! He could be anywhere."

Anywhere indeed. And was Smee being truthful now? Or was he protecting the Captain, who had obviously protected him all these years ago? He appeared spineless, but he knew those could grow over time. He'd find out if it was true or not. For Belle's sake, he had to. But not this moment. He had a plan. If it worked out, then he just needed to stick to it.

He placed the red hat over Smee's wiry hair and, without any further explanation, left him there in the basement. He locked him in, made sure the spells were secure, and took his cell phone from his pocket. He was in the front of the shop gazing into the library, the second-floor apartment windows lit for the first time since he could remember, when his call went predictably to voicemail.

"Things are beginning to pile up, Mr. Dove, and while I understand your disinterest in continuing our partnership, I'll remind you that it appears we are going to be in Storybrooke for quite some time, and it is only because of that partnership that your parents enjoy rent-free accommodations in their old age. It is also because of our partnership that you and several family members enjoy your lifestyle. I have a job for you. You are a Prince, Mr. Dove, but without a Kingdom to rule for the foreseeable future, you might consider sticking with what you know."

He hung up, eager to see what his message would get him.

[bomberqueen17]

this cursed hull

I didn’t reblog it but there’s the post going around of the guy who has written a one-minute song about the Clifford Movie and sounds ex-fucking-xactly like John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats (”but I don’t want to tell you how to feel”) and that song is in my fucking head now and i deserve it for listening to it thrice and I don’t care about the Clifford Movie but the song is so funny. “They used this curséd hull to make the Clifford Movie, but I don’t want to tell you how to feel.”

Anyway.

[cut for length; rambling about my day and ongoing work schedule]

[edit: works better if you put in the cut tag, ya dingus]

My gambit yesterday worked out-- came in at 7am, worked for four solid hours to get a huge transfer order done, went upstairs as it was exporting and managed to get a bunch of completed orders shipped before my coworker came in (he sits in the room with the shipping scale and label printer, so when he’s there it’s awkward to try to ship things what with distancing and all)-- and he arrived before I was done but me being there meant he worked on repacking this in-store order we need to ship that had been sitting awkwardly in the hallway since the previous day, when otherwise I know he would have procrastinated on it.

So we both got a bunch of stuff done before noon, and then I ate breakfast finally, and then I ran downstairs to actually burn the disk of the thing I’d left exporting, and then holy fuck it was super crowded downstairs so I ran back upstairs and packed up the order to wait for its DVD, and I’d meant to go work a little more downstairs but between all the employees and all the customers I was like nope. No way.

So I worked a little more on organizing a few things, but then I left before 3, and so I’d done my 7.5 hours or so of work, and I was done, and I chatted with my coworker a bit before I left and got a few more tasks I could do in the future, and then I went home.

Dude was on his way out to run an errand (walking to his absent mother’s house to water her plants), so I went in the basement and did my workout routine I’m trying to get into (riding the exercise bike for the duration of an episode of the Untamed, maybe I’ll actually get through the whole thing?) and then I came up and took a shower and then I made dinner-- a mac and cheese casserole, roughly, but also with vegetables and the leftover chicken from the milk chicken I made this weekend.

(Check out that recipe if you haven’t it is the fucking bomb.)

Dude had to go grocery shopping after dinner. I know! We worked so hard! I got us all stocked up before we left Rensselaer Co with its comparatively idyllic infection rate of 3% testing positive, but his mom had asked if he could do her grocery shopping before she gets home from her risky plane ride, so she can quarantine in perfect isolation. She did the same thing after she’d been trapped in California when the whole pandemic started, so it’s a good routine, it’s just. You know. It meant he had to go out to Wegman’s, here where our infection rate is more like 9% testing positive.

But Wegmans was deserted and he cruised through, and while he was going, I’d come up with a bunch of things we could pick up that would stock us up. (Including toilet paper; we haven’t bought any in almost a year, which is how I like to shop, because it takes us like a year to get through the big pack, and we bought one in like November of last year, so...)

NOT QUITE BONE! NOT QUITE FLESH! CANINE SARCOPHAGUS OF PLASTIC MESH! Fuck it’s really in my head, I apologize.

While he was out, I practiced banjo and worked on my spinning, and I made good progress on both. For some reason, I don’t like to do either while he’s in the room? I don’t know, it’s not like he pays attention to me. I just don’t! It’s weird.

It felt good to be busy. But the problem is that it was a lot. And then I got anxious about the dishes, so I had to go and wash dishes. He got home in the midst of this, and dropped off our groceries enroute to his mom’s house, so I dug out the eggs I’d brought from the farm for her so he could take them too, and then I put the groceries away, and then I mostly finished up the dishes and cleaned the kitchen but then it was 8pm and I hadn’t yet sat on the couch and I was just. So tired.

I was in bed by 9. And that was fine, I fell asleep, I slept well, the cat happily purred on my face, and in the morning I woke gently with her kneading my arm and we snuggled some more and I finally got out of bed and got dressed and was out by 7am.

But I’m so tired, and yesterday I flew through a 25-reel order by 11 am and today I’m struggling through this little 10-reel order like IDK how I’m going to finish it in time, and I’m worried about Unresponsive Coworker-- Dude’s theory is that he hasn’t told any of us his COVID test results because he didn’t actually go get tested and is just waiting for us to forget or something, but fuck he’s the one who actually overlapped with the kid with the positive result, he is the fucking lynchpin of this whole endeavor and it’s really crucial that we know he doesn’t have it. Argh.

So that’s stressful. (Also I am worried about him; he is a cantankerous old fuck and he has been working here since 1987 I am not exaggerating that, and he literally did not understand about the shutdown and thought he was being fired and has been so bitter and confused about it all and he is not a bad dude and i don’t like him but that doesn’t mean I can’t sympathize, he was so upset when his sister died last year but wouldn’t take time off work because he has lived here so long and he wouldn’t let us take care of him and he’s just a fucking weirdo and I am also not exaggerating [it takes a particular variety of extremely deep eccentricity to work at the camera store equivalent of an indie record store for literally 33 years] but like, he’s not a bad person and I don’t want him to have coronavirus and I don’t want him to give us all coronavirus Jesus Christ Almighty.)

Whew. Anyway, if I finish these ten three-inch reels this morning, then the two seven-inch reels tomorrow, then the other two seven-inch reels upstairs pending a Paypal invoice for the balance the day after, that’s the rest of the week and all the outstanding 8mm orders, and we’ll likely have more on Monday. It looks like me working 7-2 or so works out for most people; I overlap a bit with my supervisor, I don’t overlap much with the girl working the VCR that shares a desk with the 8mm machine, whether we lock down or not probably doesn’t affect that much, and then I can do my workouts in the afternoon and, well, I’ll probably wind up cooking every meal and doing all the dishes forevermore henceforth, alas.

I just have to get used to it and probably once I do they’ll lock us down and I’ll have to switch it all around.

Oh, the other good thing is that Dude finally finished cleaning out the guest room (which I did the bulk of the work for in a single day about a month ago, but he’s been sorting papers one at a time since then) enough that he can use the desk in there and is now comfortably set up, and the best part is that the guest bed is the cat’s, and she’s delighted to be able to parade back and forth across his desk and then settle down next to it on Her Bed. It’s really ideal, for her, and she’s been yelling about how great it is, which sounds just like the yelling she does when she doesn’t like something, but, you know, whatever. She’s demonstrably happy.