#meanwhile trying to walk in the direction it’s pushing inevitably led to more of a powerwalk

[beardedhandstoadshark]

[darth-el]

The Things I Have Become

Pairing: Steve x Hopper!Reader Warnings: Angst and mentions of weed, pills, depression, PTSD, anxiety, and if this needs anything else let me know as it’s relatively dark A/N: I’ve tried to keep this gender neutral. It was also inspired by the song Shadows by Yelawolf (the song is so much darker) and my writing playlist with the song on is here is you want to listen to it.

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There felt like a darkness looming over Steve ever since the events of Starcourt, he couldn't sleep or keep down anything he had eaten due to the constant anxiety with the thought of being surveilled by one government or another. The only thing that mildly numbed him were the pills the doctors prescribed and even they didn't do a good enough job for him. He didn't have many regrets in life but one of the biggest was inadvertently introducing you to what felt like his world that summer. He really wished he came up with a better lie than “We're teaching Robin Russian” when you came into Scoops that day when Robin was trying to crack the code. The moon shone through the cracks in the curtains and looking at his empty bed, he wanted nothing more than for you to be there with him and to comfort him when he woke up in cold sweats where he relived every single moment of Independence Day, he would get flashes when he was awake but at night the intensity was too much. He tried everything he could to distract himself so he could stay awake until he passed out from exhaustion, then the flashes would start again and it became a vicious cycle.

You had taken a lot longer to recover than doctors anticipated from the events of the past summer, you were getting pretty sick of being operated on by this point but you were pleased about the fact that you had a pretty steady supply of morphine or the reality would've felt far, far worse. You also had a constant stream of visitors to keep you entertained, however there was one that you wished would walk through that door but never did. It had been a months since you were admitted into hospital and lost your dad when he tried to save the world from the Russians, you foolishly thought that would've been enough to get Steve through the door; the fact he never did broke your heart slightly because you knew he would blaming himself meanwhile forgetting about the fact that Hopper was your father and El was your sister so it was inevitable. You really didn't blame him, you just wished that you could've told him that.

By the time you had left the hospital the snow on the ground was thick and the ground that was clear of snow was icy making it difficult to navigate on crutches, making you curse profusely every time you felt a piece of black ice under your crutch. Times like this made you realise how alone you had become and it was completely your choice, you could've moved away with the Byers and El but you wanted to forge your own path instead, even if it did mean staying in Hawkins for a little while before making a decision on where you wanted to go and what you wanted to do. You didn't want to be tied down any longer to this town and the second you left you weren't going to look back.

The second Steve heard a car door slam shut outside he felt the colour drain from his face and tensed up, he made himself scarce when he heard what sounded like someone trying to break down the front door. In reality it was you losing your balance and falling into it, he didn't come out of hiding until he heard your voice call his name while you were knocking loudly, he opened the door looking at you puzzled partially because he had no idea why you had come to see him and also why you were trying to break down his door. “Finally.” You said barging past him so you were out of the cold and took off your gloves with difficulty using your mouth.

“What are you doing here?” Steve asked still looking flabbergasted by your presence and letting the cold air in where he had forgotten to close the door.

“You didn't come to me,” You said with the second glove between your teeth as you pulled it off. “So I decided to come to you.” You sounded rather cheerful when you got the glove off with ease and Steve shivered like someone had walked across his grave prompting him to close the door.

“I didn't realise you were out.” He mumbled avoiding eye contact while walking into the living room.

“You would've known that if you came to visit me,” You said sounding rather snarky where the wounds were still fresh but you tried to put that aside for now. “You don't look like you've been sleeping.” You pointed out making him feel self conscious where he knew he had stopped putting effort into his appearance in recent months.

“Hm.” Was the only noise you could get out of him as he sat down on the couch furthest from you.

“Steve just talk to me,” You begged making yourself comfortable on a chair you knew you could get up from easily. “I'm not angry at you about anything, I'm just really fucking hurt.”

“What do you want me to say?” Steve responded sounding angry but you knew the anger was directed at himself more than it was you.

“Steve we have known each other since we were kids and were dating for six months,” Your voice was sounding like you had been completely shattered. “Be honest with me because I think I deserve it after you went MIA.” You were pleading and so focused on him you didn't fully notice the sharp shooting pains up your leg where you had moved into an uncomfortable position.

“This is my fault,” Steve said loudly pushing himself up from the couch and throwing his arms in the air. “I can't sleep because I see what I did to you every single time I close my eyes.” He sighed letting his arms drop to the side but still avoided looking at you.

“Ste-” You said softly before you were cut off.

“The only way I can cope is to make myself numb with the goddamn pills that the doctors gave me and I can't eat because I feel like I'm being constantly watched,” He continued. “I feel like I've become the things that terrified me.” He said his voice cracking, you just stared at him trying to process what he just said.

“Steve,” Your voice was still soft while trying to get up from your seat. “You didn't do this to me,” You said moving over to him and trying to make it so you were standing comfortably and less reliant on your crutches. “I would've died if you hadn't saved me.” You said falling slightly trying to stroke his arm which resulted in you grabbing it instead with him catching you by the waist so you didn’t fall into the coffee table and injure yourself more.

“If I had come up with a better lie though.” He sighed still holding onto you and helping you onto the couch.

“Do you really think I would've been safe?” You asked taking his hand and pulling him down gently so he was sitting next to you. “I mean Hopper was my dad and El was my sister.” You laughed before noticing the fact that his living room was littered with cigarette butts, you also noticed that there was a distinct smell of weed lingering in the air.

“They managed to protect you though.” Steve sighed running his fingers through his hair.

“You really don't think I would've found out?” You asked feeling slightly offended despite the fact you had no reason to be. “I mean the bullshit story about how she was a distant cousin that I never met who had lost both her parents in a car accident and they named my dad of all people to look after her if anything happened, really Steve?” You asked shaking your head feeling even more offended that your dad took you for a fool.

“It was me that revealed everything to you.” Steve said feeling a massive amount of guilt.

“Whether it was you, my dad, or El it wouldn't have changed the outcome.” You said trying to reassure him but you knew your words weren't getting through to him. “You can't change the past Steve but you can change the future and I'm not sure my future is in Hawkins but I do know I want you in mine, all you need to do is decide if you want me in yours.” You sighed getting up and making your way out the door, it wasn't until you had reached your car and was getting ready to unlock it when Steve came outside, you noticed all he had on were a pair of socks making you wince where you could imagine how cold he actually was.

“Don't go.” Steve said looking teary eyed leaning against your car door as if to stop you from getting in, with that you led Steve back indoors.

This was the first night where Steve didn't feel like he needed to be distracted in order to go back to sleep where you were close to him, it wasn't the most comfortable night sleep by any stretch of the imagination due to your cast but you were happy because you felt like you made the right decision to stay in Hawkins. Both of you knew that you had a lot of work to do if you were going to make this relationship work now, you also knew that even putting the work in the memories were still going to haunt you both but you prayed they wouldn't eat you alive and you were going to make it out stronger.

[hollenka99]

The Life and Times of TommyInnit

Summary: Tommy was born into a loving family. He dies long before he should have with no-one there to help him.

Warnings: Death, abuse, manipulation, violence

Tommy is born into a loving family. He has grandparents, an abundance of aunts and uncles, not to mention even more cousins. All of them ready to welcome the newest member of their family with affection. In the first week or two of his life, a number of his neighbours from their village make brief visits too. When he learns to walk then subsequently run, his father prepares to tell him once he's older of how he regretted letting Tommy discover his legs. Permitting his son to figure out how to control his mouth and tongue in a way that forms words is something else he will one day jokingly claim he shouldn't have done either. If the little boy isn't playing with nearby cousins or local children his age, he is making himself heard. Most of the time, he does both. Tommy is an incredibly happy toddler. It comes to an abrupt end during the late autumn he is three. Pillagers arrive and with them comes trouble. Both of Tommy's parents are good fighters. In a world like this where danger could appear from any dark corner, you somewhat have to be. But Tommy is far too young to have their skills imparted upon him through lessons in their garden like he was due to begin years from now. So his mother takes several supplies, grabs him and leaves him a relatively safe distance away. On a hill overlooking their village, he is handed an iron sword and instructed to stay safe while he waits. She tells him it will be all over by nightfall, that the weapon is only a precaution, that she loves him and will be back soon. A peck on the forehead is the last interaction they will ever have because unfortunately for everyone involved, these pillagers have developed a tactic to deal with those who are harder to suppress. His parents and their families before them have traveled far from a place known as Spawn. With no sufficient bed to rely on anymore, anyone who doesn't permanently fall to an arrow will be too far to interfere as it is. Night does come with no rescue for the three year old in sight. His parents are fine, they're still resisting the assault on the place they call home, but from the darkness mobs arise with the intent to harm any individual unfortunate to cross their path. Tommy is one such individual. He had been advised to make a hole in the dirt if worse came to worst but he has no time to do so when faced with the skeleton that will destroy the life he knew. When he respawns, he wakes an inconceivable distance from home. His parents will look, oh how they will search, but it will all be for naught. He will grow up with no real recollection of them and no awareness of how the initial realisation that he is truly gone causes them to crumble. By the time an 11 year old boy with a brown fringe long enough to potentially warrant a trim stumbles upon him, spring is starting to get underway. Tommy himself isn't quite sure how he managed to survive the winter months. There was a great deal of trespassing on people's property and eating whatever he could get his hands on though, he knows that. Yet here was this much older boy speaking gently, offering shelter and decent meals if Tommy trusted him enough to follow him back home. He risks allowing himself to take this chance. Besides, he's made himself into a child that's faster and more agile than a stranger would expect from someone his age, all for the sake of survival. If really necessary, he could escape back to this spot by the stream and find a new place where 'Wilbur' can't find nor hurt him. He tells himself as they walk that he's only going because he's being living in a state of perpetual hunger, cold and with an anxiety he can't place because it hasn't left him since he first respawned. Gaining a few hours' reprieve from that can't be an awful idea, right? The truth is that he is on the cusp of 4 (although he had no way of knowing this) and he needs someone to take care of him, he should not be responsible for his own survival at this age. So yes, he goes with Wilbur, meets the boy's winged father, gets handed a mushroom stew which he scarfs down too quickly for his stomach not to ache shortly thereafter before being directed to Wilbur's bed for the night where he cries because wow, this truly seems like luxury after months on the ground. Phil and Wilbur insist that he remains in their care. With nothing to lose, he doesn't say no. Before getting separated from his family, he had been an only child who hoped for his parents to give him a sibling. They hadn't, at least not by the time the raid happened. Wilbur, however, was the brother he had longed to have. Better yet, Wilbur was older so the responsibility of being the eldest fell on him rather than Tommy. He could be a nuisance and, so long as he didn't push his luck too much, he was allowed to get away with it for the most part. Phil wasn't always present as a father figure so that role subsequently fell on Wilbur as well. His brother shows him a cave in a cliff face that he'd made his secondary base for when the rations Phil had left ran too low to last however long this trip would go on for. By the time Tommy is perhaps 8 or so, once Phil has met Technoblade and chosen to make the piglin his travel companion, he and Wilbur visit that cave so often it is practically their new home. No, that place was home. With its small fireplace, the colourful beds by the wall and sign declaring it theirs positioned next to the exterior of the front door, it was where he felt most safe. That is why, when the time came for him to leave in order to see more of the world than the view from the windows, his heart was afflicted by a bittersweet pang at the sight of it. He loves Wilbur, would follow him anywhere by this point. So when he shows up on the SMP, talking about making drugs in a van and fighting to gain freedom from tyrannical oppressors, Tommy can't help but be his ever loyal right hand man. He is 16 and ready to go down with a fight. He's made friends, Tubbo especially, all of whom are in it together. Until Eret decides they do not believe in the revolution. While dealing with the aftermath, Tommy's mind refuses to stop reminding him he was the one to press the button in that dreadful room. Perhaps if he hadn't but no... rationally, he knows full well someone else, likely Eret themself, would have simply done it instead. But when has trauma ever been rational? Besides, it's hardly like Eret's betrayal has ended the conflict so he hasn't got the time to dwell on what could have gone differently. He is a teenager who is down a life yet refuses to let that stop him. He challenges Dream with no intention of forfeiting his second life. He does anyway. Then L'Manburg finally wins the right to be free so any sacrifices he's made to get to this point are internally deemed worth it. By now, Dream has stolen two of his lives, reduced him to a point he's been more mortal than anyone his age should be. Tommy has suffered fatal trauma to his head and later bled out following a fight. There's a pattern here to be seen yet he'd rather ignore it. Dream's backed off anyway so what threat would he be? The owner of this place can return to the guy who enjoys the company of his friends, separate from Tommy and his own circle of friends, once more. Tommy will stay out of his way for obvious reasons however, there is less reason to now. A part of him hopes it will stay that way. He senses something has begun to change with Wilbur during the elections, That said, he isn't entirely sure and waves it off as the consequences of Wilbur leading the war effort. His excuses are not permitted to remain for long. Schlatt wins, they sprint away from the home they made only for Tommy to be left with the task of carrying Wilbur's invisible temporary corpse before the duo settle in a ravine he'd discovered. Pogtopia is where things truly go to shit, he thinks. Or perhaps they'd already been going downhill but their exile accelerated it all. Techno grows an abundance of those stupid potatoes shortly after his arrival and Dream is promising stacks of TNT for the sake of obliterating the newly rebranded Manberg. Meanwhile, Wilbur has gone off the rails in a big way. Try as he might, Tommy can't seem to figure out what the right words or actions to get him stop are. So Wilbur deteriorates further into paranoid, pyromaniacal madness. When things get worse and he wishes, though god knows he would never allow himself to openly admit it to anyone else, that he'd never left that faraway cliff face. Wilbur has them trespass on the festival in Manberg with the intent of it being the nation's final hour. All that comes to pass is Tommy watching his best friend be executed for being a spy then listening as Wilbur cheers while Technoblade triumphs over him in a fight. In a messed up way, he is somewhat glad when mid November comes. They fight, win, witness Schlatt's pathetic demise, feel as though they can look to a better future, lose Wilbur as well as a huge chunk of land, protect themselves against Techno's withers and get left with the task of rebuilding their home. It's an eventful day which Tommy is happy to leave behind him. Although, he isn't quite so pleased to deal with its aftermath. It's... two or maybe three weeks, he believes, before shit hits the fan as it inevitably was due to once again do. It would seem that Dream wasn't satisfied with messing with people's lives from the sidelines anymore. He drives a wedge between Tommy and Tubbo with his threat of sky-high walls, as if the weak points in their friendship were always easily accessible for the purposes of exploitation. Then he's being led away to a far off location with only the ghost of his brother and the man who will immediately take advantage of the situation for company. Ghostbur is nice yet Tommy yearns for him to be different, for him to keep his disarmed personality while regaining the memories that would allow for them to resolve the pain Wilbur left him with. Whatever... it's not like he stays. Dream confuses his mind with all his assurances of friendship as he robs him of his right to property. When it finally ends (on his own terms but thankfully not the ones he was planning to go through with hours before), he attempts to find a new beginning with Technoblade. He should have known it would end badly. Everything always seem to do so nowadays. Even L'Manburg. Or should he call it something akin to L'Mancrater after the events of Doomsday? He's pleasantly surprised when he is granted the ability to sit on the bench by his house, Tubbo by his side, and listen to the discs he's fought to regain for so long. He'd nearly lost so much in that room far below the earth. Part of him wonders if it's a cruel prank, whether something will come later in the week to say 'ha, look at you getting your hopes up'. It... doesn't. He begins work on his hotel with the help of Sam Nook. The tasks come across as menial and he complains yet finds them oddly satisfying. Nook is building the actual thing but he's playing his part. It's going to be great once it's finished. He's recruited Jack Manifold to assist in running the place, Tubbo is safe in Snowchester, the Egg stuff is dumb but if he keeps his head down it will hopefully leave him alone for the most part. He's ready for closure and moving on from the pain that's been constantly inflicted upon him over the past several months. He believes the best starting point is visiting Dream in prison one last time. Just one quick trip then he can carry on with his life. Nobody, least of all himself, has any idea how much of a mistake this will be. The final days of his life, as oblivious to them being so as he is, are miserable. He does his best to stay strong, to defy Dream's attempts at worming his way back into Tommy's head with his verbal poison. Sam must be sick of him given how many times he screams to be let out already when the possibility of Sam being within hearing range arises. He hates it here. He doesn't want to look at the lava which acts as the main source of illumination, he wishes the cell was less confining, all he can taste is the starch from the potatoes. Perhaps the worst part is not knowing how far into the week he is. Then Sam, the bastard, announces it's been 7 days but due to the security breach still going unresolved, Tommy will have to hold on a little longer. An argument erupts between the inmates. It begins to get physical when the subject of Schlatt's resurrection book is brought up. He acts so confident that he will survive this hellhole, that he will endure it out of spite for Dream as well as sheer defiance alone. But in the end, he's crying, begging, pleading for Dream to stop. In the end, he's simply a 16 year old kid who is getting beaten to death by the man who has been abusing him for months with no-one there to conceivably rescue him in time. He remembers Wilbur once explaining to him that life wasn't fair. Not quite in a 'life sucks and then you die' kind of way. More like 'life isn't easy, especially not for people like us who were put at a disadvantage early on, but you persevere with your best effort since life isn't obligated to care... and then you die'. Life wasn't fair when pillagers raided his village, when he was forced to survive on his own, when the only adult figure in his life left a kid in his early teens to raise him, when he watched the man he considered a brother lose his way, when his best friend was executed in front of him, when another adult manipulated others so that he would be vulnerable to abuse and it certainly wasn't going to be fair when he wanted some semblance of closure from all the shit he was put through. He wishes he could be 7 again, back when he could easily wriggle his way into Wilbur's bed on the other side of their makeshift cliff home and be comforted without any resistance. As much as he hated it, he longs for that dumb piece of carpet in the corner where Wilbur would make him sit if he made too much of nuisance of himself. His brother used to tease him and bemoan his behaviour when he was sent there but if Tommy ever became genuinely upset, Wilbur would quickly cut it out and apologise. He misses the coziness of it and all the fond memories of him and his big brother growing up on their own terms since they were the only family the other truly had. He wishes he could be laughing with Tubbo and the rest of their friends. He knows he hasn't been the most present recently but for good reason. His brain is tired of figuring out whether he's alright and even when it's offered a chance for serotonin, it's hesitant. That day after they beat Dream and retrieved the discs, he'd been filled with so much euphoria. The stress of that day's events and the weird place Wilbur's disembodied voice had temporarily sent him to aside, he'd been happy. It had only been some 5 or so weeks ago that Tommy had been hopeful and looking forward to what came next. He had the BigInnit Hotel to return to. God knows how it's been faring in his absence. His best guess is that Jack has probably taken control temporarily which was good. He was going to leave, take a second to breathe then get right back into managing the hotel. There were so many things he planned to do once he got out. Pranks on guests, the ridiculous amount of overpricing he wished to get away with, the feeling of doing an MLG water bucket trick off the top floor... it was going to be a good time. Was supposed to, anyway. Despite everything, he has experienced happiness time and time again. He's had friends who cared and were willing to help him in their own ways. Sam had been on his side... he thinks. No, he's sure Sam has just been busy with all that was on his plate this week. He hopes so since he doesn't think he could stomach another realisation that he's placed his trust in the wrong person. Besides, Sam Nook was Sam's creation and why would he put the effort in to make something to assist Tommy if he didn't actually care at least a little bit? No, no, he feels Sam is genuinely good, he does. However, Sam's not coming. Even if he can hear the fight, the lava takes forever to drain and who knows where Sam was situated in this massive prison when he realised something was wrong. Even if Sam's attempting to stop this, there's not way he'll make it. Tommy wants to convince himself it's fine. It is not. If you're aware of them, there are a few spots around the human skull you can hit that will result in a fatal injury. And Dream, ever aware of what he's doing at any given moment, makes no attempt to avoid them for the final blow.

[perspective-series]

Zapped Perspective (1)

By: @arc852 and @hiddendreamer67

Warnings: Fear, arguments, treating someone like a pet, and feeling helpless.

(Check the reblog for the links to any future chapters)

Time for a brand new story!

——————————————————————————————————–

  “Thanks again for the meal, Pat,” Virgil said, standing up where he was on the kitchen counter. Patton smiled, waiting until Virgil took a few steps back to grab the empty saucer dish.

 “Not a problem at all, Virge! You know you’re welcome here anytime.” Patton said, turning to rinse the plate off and put it in the sink. Virgil watched with a smile, yeah, he did know that. Patton had found him close to a year ago now but not once since their initial first meeting had Patton touched him without his consent. Not only that, but Patton left him alone. Only talking to Virgil when Virgil himself initiated it. It was honestly perfect and Virgil found himself wondering all the time how he had managed to find the one human who understood and respected his boundaries.

 “I should probably head out,” Virgil spoke, gathering up his bag. Patton just nodded, still smiling. There was no arguing or trying to stop him. Virgil knew full well that Patton was going to let him go.

 “Bye kiddo!” Patton waved as Virgil disappeared back into the walls. Yes, Virgil really did have a great thing going here.

 So it was strange when, that night, he had a dream. Well, more of a nightmare, really. Of a world where borrowers had been found out and turned into pets for humans.

***

Meanwhile, in an alternate universe…

“Alright, Microsoft Nerd.” Roman chuckled, scooping Logan up off the desk. “Time for bed.”

“Roman!” Logan gave an exasperated groan, watching helplessly as Roman closed the book and put it away. “I was still reading that.”

“And you would’ve been reading it all night if I didn’t stop you.” Roman teased, heading into his bedroom. He knew his little Logan too well; the borrower was a non-stop machine until Roman stepped in. He tussled Logan’s hair, pressing the incredibly tolerant borrower to his cheek as his own version of his goodnight hug.

Logan, to his credit, knew better than to try to protest Roman’s incessant touches. Squirming would only result in an increase of contact. Or worse, tickling. But, as Logan was let off in front of the dollhouse-like confinement that served as his stationary home, Logan had to admit to himself that the contact was far from unbearable. In fact, Logan had grown rather fond of Roman. His owner was much more lenient than other humans Logan had seen.

Logan supposed it was this line of thinking that prompted his strange dreams. Of all things, Logan imagined he was a wild borrower, still living in hiding and trapped in a world of floorboards and dust.

***

 When Virgil woke up the next morning, he didn’t recognize a thing. He blinked and then promptly jumped out of bed, looking at his surroundings in a growing panic. This was not his home in the walls. This wasn’t the place he had fallen asleep in. Had he been moved? But how? No one except another borrower should be able to reach him in the walls and why would another of his own kind move to...wherever this was.

 Virgil wasn’t even sure what this place was. It looked so much like a human’s house but...off, somehow. And he wasn’t just talking about how everything was his own size. What was happening?

“Logan?” A knocking came through the wall, rattling Virgil’s surroundings. “Come on, sleepyhead, it’s time to be awake. I’ve even brought caffeine as a peace offering.”

 Virgil flinched away from the wall, taking several steps back from the direction the voice had come from. What? Who was Logan? Was that a human? It had to be but…

 No, no time to think. He had to find a way out of here before the human saw him. He looked around the room, noticing the door and going through it. He found himself in a hallway and headed for the stairs that went down.

“Logan?” Roman knelt down, looking through the windows to try and get a read on where his pet could be hiding. He sounded far too active for this time of day.

 A giant eye suddenly appeared in one of the windows and Virgil was quick to duck behind a piece of furniture. It took him a moment to realize that he was hiding behind a borrower sized couch. Huh.

“...are you hiding?” Roman frowned, tilting his head in confusion. Logan never hid. “Are you okay? Did something happen?”

 Just go away. Leave me alone. Virgil thought. From his place behind the couch, his eyes scanned the wall he was facing. There had to be a way out of here? Right? Some sort of door-there. 

 A door near a window told him that it led out of wherever he was. Not wasting any time, Virgil stood and ran for it.

“Woah!” Roman leaned back, watching the shadowy figure dart towards the back door. Thinking quickly, Roman set down the mug on his dresser and came around to wait at the entrance.

 Virgil ran out but came to a screeching halt as he realized the human was now in front of him. He looked up into his eyes, shaking. And then he turned and tried to run back into the house.

“What the-?!” Roman gasped, grabbing up the tiny that was quite obviously not his Logan. He brought the borrower up, inspecting it for some sort of tag. “Who the hell are you?”

 Virgil yelped as he was picked up and struggled against the grip. He was reminded of the one and only time he was in Patton’s grip. Of course, it hadn’t lasted long but he had a feeling this would. “No! L-Let me go!”

“Come on, who do you belong to?” Roman pressed. “What are you doing in this house? Where’s Logan?”

 Virgil paused briefly, taken aback by the question. “What? I-I don’t belong to anybody!” What was going on? This human clearly knew about borrowers but how? 

“What?” That statement threw Roman off almost more than the appearance of the strange man. “You’re wild? I didn’t know there were still wild borrowers!”

 Virgil flinched at the use of his kinds name. It was one thing to know about tiny people, but to know their name. Whoever this Logan character was must have spilled the secret. But what this human said next threw him off even more.

 “What...What are you talking about? All borrowers are wild!” Or they were supposed to be.

“Um, nooooooooooo.” Roman drew out the word with a scoff. “Where have you been living, under a rock? I suppose under the floorboards is more accurate. Stop fooling around, what’s going on?”

 “Th-That’s what I want to know!” Virgil said, picking up his struggles. He just wanted to go home, maybe see Patton to get his mind off of this crazy human. “No one is supposed to know that we exist!”

Roman looked pityingly down at this borrower struggling in his grip. Had the poor thing hit its head and gotten a horrible case of ancient amnesia or something?

“Everyone knows about borrowers,” Roman explained gently, waving his arm behind him. “We’ve known about them for decades now. Why do you think my house is borrow-ified?”

 “Wh-What?” Virgil looked around, seeing what Roman was talking about. “No, no that isn’t possible. You-You’re lying! Humans always lie! You probably just found one of us and are trying to convince me for some reason!” That...That had to be it.

“Oh, yes, because that makes sense.” Roman rolled his eyes. “I don’t even know who you are! And frankly, I don’t care.” Fed up with this nonsense, Roman turned back to the dollhouse and began unlatching the side. “Logan? Logan, are you in there?”

 “There’s no one in there! He probably ran away first chance he got!” Virgil yelled, wishing he could do the same thing. It was obvious this human was crazy and he did not want to be around to find out just how much.

Roman frowned, beginning to worry when he swung the house open and it was confirmed empty. A few of Logan’s notes were scattered from the movement, but Roman couldn’t worry about that now.

“Did you see him?” Roman turned back to the borrower, now his only lead. “Where did he go?”

 “No, I didn’t. And like I said, he’s probably long gone. And good for him, our kind deserve to be free.” Virgil spoke, finding it weird about how brave he was feeling. Perhaps the fear hadn’t sunk in all the way yet.

Roman gave the borrower a warning squeeze, an irritated growl rising at the back of his throat.

“I don’t know what your deal is, but you’d better knock it off,” Roman warned, before standing up to begin searching the house for any sign of his own borrower companion.

 Virgil let out a small gasp of pain as the human’s hand tightened around him for a moment. His fear rose up as he realized just how much power this human had over him. He shut his mouth, not wanting to get the life squeezed out of him.

 “Logan? Looooogan?” Roman called out, traversing from room to room and careful to watch his step. Where could that little borrower be?

***

Logan gave a shiver, awoken from his slumber by a slight chill. Roman must have forgotten to close the window. However, as Logan opened his eyes, he was startled to notice his surroundings were not the familiar decor of his home. In place of his bed, a discarded glove was the surface upon which Logan slept. He cringed, quickly standing up to get off the filthy thing. 

A small amount of light filtered in through a few slits in the wall, and Logan took in his surroundings with hesitation. It seemed as though someone had compiled an assortment of trash to serve as a borrower room, almost like Logan’s ancestors used to do before being inevitably discovered.

Was that what this was- an old borrower home? But why was he here? Where was Roman?

“Hello?” Logan called out, cautiously peeking out into the other rooms. “Is anyone home?” 

Logan pushed on one of the doors connected to the complex, surprised to find light flooding in. Logan blinked, stepping out to see he was now standing on a counter he didn’t recognize.

 Patton walked into the kitchen, intent on starting breakfast when he noticed a tiny figure on the counter. He grinned as he wiped the sleep from his eyes. “Morning Vir-” He cut himself off when he actually took in the figure. That...wasn’t Virgil. He froze in the middle of the kitchen, not knowing what to do.

“Excuse me.” Logan turned to the human, unafraid to speak up. He lived in a world of humans, after all. Though usually Logan only spoke with Roman, Logan knew desperate times called for desperate measures. “Where am I?”

 Patton blinked at the bravery of the borrower. Thrown off guard by it. “Uhh, you’re in my house?”

“Do you know how I got here?” Logan asked. “Or perhaps, better to focus on the future. Do you know a Roman Prince? Or how I could set about getting to 421 Apsley Alley, Lightwilde?”

 “Oh, uh that name and place don’t sound familiar,” Patton admitted. “But I could look it up for you?” Anything to help out a borrower. Though it was weird if this borrower was, in fact, asking about another human. Were they like him and Virgil?

“Yes, please do.” Logan gave him a smile. “I have no recollection of how I managed to get separated from my human but it is of the utmost importance I return to his care.”

 “Right, uh, let me just…” Patton took out his phone and opened Google. He glanced over at the borrower. “Did Virgil send you to me for help?” It was the only reason he could think that the borrower would actually come to him.

Logan blinked. “Who’s Virgil?”

 Patton frowned. “Oh, I guess not then. Uh, he’s my friend! And a fellow borrower like you!” Patton explained as he started to type the place Logan had told him into his phone.

“I see.” Logan nodded politely. It was uncommon but not unheard of for a human’s borrower to be referred to as a ‘friend’; indeed, Roman had done it himself on a few occasions.

 Patton waited for his phone to load and then frowned as the results came up. “Uh, what was the address again?” Maybe he typed it in wrong.

“421 Apsley Alley, Lightwilde.” Logan prattled off from memory. Roman had ensured Logan knew it for just such a scenario.

 Patton typed it in again for good measure but the result was the same. “Uh, it...it says that place doesn’t exist,” Patton said with furrowed eyebrows, looking back down at the borrower.

“What?” Logan gave his own look of confusion. “Perhaps you spelled it incorrectly. If you would allow me, I can type it in myself.”

 “Okay.” Patton set his phone down on the counter, letting the borrower at it.

Logan typed it in, startled to find the same result. He typed it in again, and again. How was this possible? It couldn’t be… there had to be a logical explanation. Shoddy cell service? Low WiFi connection? Looking at the device neither were valid but there had to be something. According to this device, it was as though his home didn’t exist.

 Seeing the borrower getting more and more frustrated, Patton bit his lip. “Maybe you're remembering it wrong?” Patton suggested.

“I’m remembering it perfectly.” Logan snapped, before realizing what he had done. “I- I’m sorry, I just- I’m not-” Logan shook his head, too frazzled to think correctly. He turned to the search bar, now attempting to find any indication of his human at all.

 “Oh, hey it’s okay,” Patton said, noticing his distress. He thought for a moment. “Do you have his phone number?” Patton asked, figuring if he had the address he would have that.

“I, yes, of course, I apologize.” Logan hit his forehead. He clicked into the phone app, tapping away the ten familiar digits. He pressed speakerphone, knowing it was polite to include a human in his conversation when using their device.

The phone rang. And rang. And rang.

 Suddenly, it was picked up. “Hello?” A woman’s voice answered and Patton blinked. Well, that definitely wasn’t Roman.

 “Uh, hi.” Patton went ahead and spoke. “Is a Roman Prince there?”

 The line was silent for a moment. “Sorry, you have the wrong number.”

“We do not.” Logan insisted, knowing for a fact this was Roman’s cell. He had called it just yesterday. “Where is Roman? We desire to speak with him. Inform him it’s Logan, his borrower.”

 “His what?” The woman asked and, in a panic, Patton hit the end call button after a rushed goodbye. He turned towards the borrower.

 “Wh-Why would you say that?” Patton asked, knowing very well that borrowers were supposed to be a secret.

“Say what?” Logan frowned, unsure where he had committed a misdemeanor. “We need to get a hold of Roman, I’m merely attempting to acquire information.”

 “Well yeah, but you can’t tell some random woman that you’re a borrower. I mean, I can’t believe I’m actually telling a borrower this but you guys are supposed to be a secret.” Patton was sure Virgil would not be happy to have his kind be revealed. Especially by another borrower.

Logan raised an eyebrow. Had he stumbled upon some sort of intense historical LARPing? It would certainly make sense, considering the borrower hovel Logan had woken up in, but he was in no mood for this behavior.

“Look, I am not here to play games.” Logan said sternly. “Help me get home and you can return to your strange role-play scenario.”

 “R-Role play scenario? I-I don’t understand.” Patton said, eyebrows furrowed in immense confusion. What was this borrower talking about?

“The borrower secrets have not been relevant for nearly a century.” Logan reminded him. Unbelievable he had to give a history lesson at a time like this.

 “...What?” Okay, now Patton was really confused. “Borrower secrets are still very much secret, unless you keep trying to talk to everyone about it.” 

“I told you, I’m not playing games.” Logan’s mouth formed a thin line in his frustration. “Please cease this behavior. I’m not giving away any secrets that aren’t public knowledge.”

 Patton looked into the borrowers eyes. “You...really don’t believe me.” Patton honestly was so confused. Why did this borrower believe that everyone knew about borrowers? “Look, just look up borrowers on google and see for yourself.” Patton said, motioning towards his phone.

Logan did so, surprised to find no results. Surely this only confirmed his doubts about the functionality of the device.

“I regret to inform you, your cellular device is faulty.” Logan stepped away from it.

 “It-It really isn’t.” Patton let out a sigh as he took his phone back. How could he prove it to him? He glanced into the living room, at the tv. “Uh, how many times do you see borrowers on tv? Like on shows or commercials and things?” Patton asked.

“I suppose fairly frequently, why?” Logan gave him a suspicious glance.

 Patton nodded and ran to get the remote from the coffee table. He placed it in front of Logan. “Can you see the TV okay from here?” Patton asked.

“I suppose.” Logan answered, still confused as to what the human was implying.

 “Great! Now, uh, just go ahead and turn it on. Flip through some channels. You’ll see what I mean.” Patton said, sitting back and out of the way so Logan could see the TV better.

Logan did as was requested. Just as Patton had hinted, there were no borrowers present on screen. Logan had to give this LARP session credit for taking the time to create false advertisements.

“Yes yes, very clever.” Logan turned the television off. “Can I go home now? I wish to take no part in this.”

 Patton deflated. “You still don’t believe me?” Well, this was one stubborn borrower.

“Look, clearly you want my participation, but I will not indulge you.” Logan narrowed his gaze. “How did you bring me here? Where is Roman? What occurred last evening?”

 Patton put his hands up at all the questions. “Now wait a second. I don’t have anything to do with this! I didn’t bring you here and if I knew where your friend was, I would tell you.” Patton tried to explain. 

“What’s with the borrower hovel?” Logan gestured back towards the wall. “And the secrecy? And the cell phone?”

 “Well, that’s where Virgil lives.” Patton explained. “And I’m trying to tell you. There isn’t anything wrong with my phone. And before Virgil, I never even knew borrowers existed. And that hasn’t changed for anyone else.”

“You keep mentioning this ‘Virgil’.” Logan realized. “Where is he? Perhaps he has some answers as well.”

 “Well, he should be around. But I don’t really have a way to contact him. He usually just comes and goes when he pleases.” Patton would never even think about keeping Virgil here against his will. They both were perfectly happy with the arrangement they set up.

“Ah, yes, the ‘wild borrower’ act.” Logan rolled his eyes. For a moment, he had forgotten this tedious charade. “Well when does he usually appear? Where can I find him?”

 “Uh, you can look in the walls? That’s where he lives, anyway. And he never leaves the building.” That’s what Virgil had told him, anyway.

“I’m not about to traverse the walls, my clothes will become soiled.” Logan wrinkled his nose in disgust. 

 “Well, you could wait then? He usually shows up by dinner time, at the latest.” Patton said with a shrug, not knowing what else to do. It was also weird hearing a borrower talk about not wanting to go into the walls. When they lived there.

“I...suppose.” Logan relented. He was certainly against the idea of waiting around here so long, already missing Roman, but it seemed this human wasn’t going to provide him with any answers.

 “Great! So, uh, I guess until then...breakfast?”

[blurry-fics]

Lose You

Pairing: platonic!Josh Dun x Reader

Warnings: All appropriate warnings are tagged to avoid spoilers in the format tw; trigger

Word Count: 1620

Request: At the end to avoid spoilers!

Author’s Note: I just want to give you all a fair warning that most of the upcoming Josh posts are very angsty, though there are a few fluffy ones thrown into the mix :) I hope you enjoy this one! (picture credit)

Tyler: have you heard from josh today?

You stared blankly at the message for a moment, running over every text and direct message you had received over the course of the day. It wasn’t unusual for you and Josh to go a few days without talking to one another - between your teaching and his music, it could be hard to find time - but the fact that Tyler was messaging you didn’t sit quite right. After double checking that your memory was correct, you texted him back.

Y/N: last time i heard from him was yesterday morning, but it was just one message. silence since then

Tyler: shoot, i thought he must have been with you

A shiver ran along the length of your spine as you typed out another message.

Y/N: is everything ok?

Tyler: he was supposed to be at the studio an hour ago and nobody has heard from him

You were on your feet as soon as you finished reading the message, gathering up your keys and a jacket and figuring out where you had left your shoes. Josh never skipped studio time unless it was really important or really serious. That, on top of the fact that he wasn’t answering messages, put a bad taste in your mouth.

You finally texted Tyler back once you were down the stairs of your apartment building and walking across the parking lot to your car. Your fingers were moving almost as fast as your feet.

Y/N: i’m going to see him, i’ll check in with you soon

Tyler: i don’t think that’s a good idea

You rolled your eyes and opened your car door, tossing your phone into the passenger seat. What was your other option? Sit around while Josh potentially needed somebody to be there for him?

At least you were doing something to help rather than just sitting around at the studio.

You checked your phone one more time before getting out of the car, just to make sure Josh hadn’t suddenly texted and let you know you were overreacting. The only messages were from Tyler, sent a few minutes ago.

Tyler: y/n?

Tyler: i just wanted to know if you had heard from him. i’m sure he’s fine, i didn’t mean to worry you.

“Too late for that,” you scoffed as you slid your phone into your pocket. Your car keys jingled as you pulled them out of the ignition.

Loud music was audible as you walked up the front steps of Josh’s house. You took that as a good sign, at least he was home if nothing else. Now you just had to figure out if he would talk to you about why he hadn’t gone to the studio.

Y/N: front door

It wasn’t uncommon for him to not hear you knocking when he was playing music or practicing the drums, so you had gotten into the habit of texting him when you came over. It worked nine times out of ten.

The music suddenly became too quiet for you to hear and before you knew it, the front door was swinging open. You couldn’t help the frown on your face as you finally got a glimpse of Josh. His brightly colored hair was messy and unwashed where you could see it sticking out from under the hood of his sweatshirt. The sweatshirt itself was too big, practically swallowing him up. All of this paled in comparison to his swollen eyes and the deep bags beneath them.

“What are you doing here?” he asked. His voice was hoarse.

“Do you really need to ask that?”

He sighed and stepped to the side, giving you enough room to come inside. While you kicked off your shoes, he shut and locked the front door once again.

“Why didn’t you call me?” you asked as you made yourself comfortable on the couch. “And what’s going on with you?”

Josh sat back down in a pile of blankets that it looked like he hadn’t moved from in a few days. It was already perfectly molded to the shape of his body, making it easy for him to get comfortable again. He avoided your eyes as he answered your question.

“Addy broke up with me,” he said. There was no emotion in his voice. “Said it wasn’t going to work.”

“Oh, Josh,” you frowned, standing up and moving to the other couch to be closer to him. He leaned into you. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine. I’m over it.”

You had never heard someone sound less “over it”.

“How long ago did it happen?”

“Couple days.”

“Why didn’t you call me? I would have come over here in a heartbeat.”

“I didn’t want to bother you.”

“Josh,” you sighed. His breathing started to get uneven, so you rubbed his shoulder to calm him back down. “You’re never a bother. Breakups are hard and, just like every other one, I want to be here for you. You know the drill, we order your favorite food, watch some X-Files, and inevitably end up falling asleep together on the couch.”

He shook his head, “This time was different.”

“Why?”

“It just was.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“I can’t.”

Josh’s voice broke on the last syllable. You fully wrapped your arms around him and pulled him closer, rubbing your hand up and down his back. His whole body was shaking as he cried, but you just held him and tried to keep him as calm as you could. He had never been this upset by a breakup before. Or at least, not in a long time.

How could Tyler have possibly thought it was a bad idea for you to be here?

Josh mumbled something into your shoulder, but it was too muffled for you to hear. When you asked him to repeat it, he turned so that you would actually be able to understand what he was saying. Still, it was barely more than a whisper.

“I cheated on her, Y/N.”

It took you a second to process what he had just said. Even then, you couldn’t believe it. Josh - the sweetest boy you knew, the only one who had been there for you through everything, your best friend - had cheated? He couldn’t be serious.

You pushed Josh away from you and stood, somehow managing to stay steady on your shaking legs. He was looking up at you, his eyes brimmed with tears. He looked so hurt, so innocent, but a bad taste still filled your mouth when you thought about what he had said.

“Tell me you’re lying,” you said, your own voice shaking now. “Tell me it’s a joke.”

“I wish I could, Y/N. More than anything, I wish I could.”

“What the hell, Josh?”

“It was a lapse in judgement, I swear. I wish I could take the entire thing back. She invited me over for lunch and I didn’t think anything of it and then I was there and one thing led to another…”

“Addy loved you more than anything,” you said. You barely knew the girl, but you were ready to defend her to the ends of the Earth.

“You think I don’t know that?” Josh yelled. You recoiled; he never raised his voice at you. “Sorry. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have raised my voice.”

“I can’t believe you.” You hastily wiped away a tear with the back of your hand. “You’re sick.”

“No, please,” he said, grabbing onto your arm. “I can’t lose you too.”

You pulled your arm away, ignoring his plea. “That’s why you didn’t call me, isn’t it? Because you wanted to run away from the reality of what you did.”

“Just let me explain.”

“And Tyler knew, didn’t he? That’s why he didn’t want me to come!” you buried your face in your hands. “It all makes sense now.”

“Y/N-”

“What?” you snapped.

“I wasn’t trying to hide anything from you. I feel awful about what I did and I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to forgive myself. The reason Addy found out is because I told her. This isn’t some big thing that I’m trying to cover up, I just needed to find the right way to tell you.”

“You cheated, Josh, that’s the bottom line. You had two choices and you decided to cheat. I’m glad you fessed up, but it doesn’t mean you’re suddenly forgiven.”

There was a pause. Josh was avoiding looking at you. You, meanwhile, were so upset that you could feel your hands trembling. For a moment, you thought he wasn’t going to say anything.

“So you’re not going to forgive me?” he asked. His voice was quiet again.

“Not right now.”

“But eventually?”

You took a deep breath, thinking over your next words carefully. Was this enough to end a long standing friendship over?

“I don’t know.”

Josh nodded. “I can respect that.”

“I’m going to go now. I’m glad you’re safe.”

You walked out of the room and gathered your things in record time. Your heart was still pounding as you laced up your shoes and dug your keys out of your sweatshirt pocket. Just as you opened the front door, Josh called out to you.

“Y/N?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for checking on me. I appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome.”

You stepped out onto the walkway and shut the door behind you. As soon as the lock clicked, you took a moment to breathe in and let yourself feel everything that you had been keeping carefully bottled up while you talked to Josh. It felt like your heart was being pulled in all directions.

This was not going to be an easy decision.

Request: Hi I don't know if asks are still open but if they are could you do a Josh Dun x reader where the readers there every time Josh goes through a break up to like comfort him and stuff but then he cheated on his ex and the reader gets pissed and it's just angst (ok thanks bye🖤) -@that-one-sad-theater-kid​ 

[faefictions]

Request? Reader being Natasha’s sister and going to Vormir with her and Clint. Maybe the reader somehow overpowers both of them and sacrifices herself (because Clint has a family. And she knows Nat will be okay and save the universe)? Maybe Nat still goes over and reader gets their revenge during the final battle? Who knows! It’s up to you if you decide to write this 😅

A/N: sorry, this took so long, but also, how dare you make me rewatch the Vormir scene to write this. I cried 7 times, thank you very much. Hope you like it!

When you landed on Vormir, this was the last thing you had expected. Sure, you had a feeling in the pit of your stomach, but you blamed it on the fact that you were already out of your element, being 9 years in the past. You were happy to see your older sister, Natasha, laughing along with Clint, a man that had become like a brother to you. After Thanos had snapped his fingers, causing half of the population to disappear, Nat had been thrown into a depression. She tried her best to keep her head above water, especially when she was around you, but it seemed impossible at times. Meanwhile, Clint had disappeared from your lives, and you later learned that he had reacted to the events in his own self-destructive way. 

The joy that you felt seeing them smiling had disappeared when you got the news that in order to get the stone that you had come for, one of you was going to have to die. A sacrifice had to be made. At first, none of you believed it. You theorized that it was just a way to neutralize you as a threat before you could really find the stone, but Nat wasn’t buying it. 

“Thanos left here with the stone, and without his daughter. That’s not a coincidence,” she mumbled, her sight never leaving the steep drop in front of her. 

“Whatever it takes,” you heard Clint mutter as he turned to her. 

“If we don’t get that stone, billions of people stay dead.” You knew exactly where she was going, so you quickly interjected. 

“No, this isn’t going down like this.”

“It’s gonna be fine, y/n,” they both spoke at the same time, quickly glancing at you before slowly returning their gaze to each other. 

“I’m starting to think we have different game plans here,” Clint frowned. 

“I’m trying to save your life, idiot,” Nat smirked. 

“Nat, can we have a second,” you suddenly called from the sidelines. They both looked up at you with surprise, but Nat backed away to let you say whatever you needed to say to Clint. 

You knew that it had to be you, but you also knew that neither of the people with you were going to let you go down without a fight. They were too protective of you. Although were almost as skilled as them, you always had to persuade them to let you do any kind of mission. They couldn’t stand to see you hurt, and they would gladly give themselves up before letting you go down. But that was just another reason why it had to be you.

Clint was one of the most selfless men you had ever come across. He saved your sister when he was sent to kill her, and when he had been introduced to you, he treated you both as though you had been family all along. You and Nat were both Aunts to his children. Which just led you to the thought that Clint was the greatest father you had ever seen. You knew for a fact that he would have laid his life on the line for any single one of his children or his wife. The pain that he felt when he lost all of them was exactly what you would have expected from him, but it didn’t make it any easier to see. 

Natasha had transformed herself from what she was raised to be. She was raised to be a ruthless killer, and she was amazing at it, but her heart was never in the right place for that. The amount of guilt she had looking back on her ways was heartbreaking, but you aspired to be like her still. She did everything she could to redeem herself, and in your eyes, she had done that long ago, but it never seemed like enough to her. She had used the training she had been through and turned it around to produce the opposite outcomes. Instead of serving a corrupt purpose, she began to save lives, and you knew she tried to play it off as something she was obligated to do, but in your opinion, she was the most important Avenger. Sure Tony brought them all together, but they wouldn’t function without her voice of reason. 

And that was the point you had to make to Clint. The world needed them. It needed them much more than it needed you. 

You had no hope of getting that message through to Nat, but Clint, on the other hand, offered a sliver of a chance. Your logic was right, it just had to be presented to his level head.

“Hawk,” you began, a nickname you usually only used to make him laugh, but it felt bittersweet in this instance. “Please hear me out before you say anything.”

“Not happening,” he scolded, already knowing where you were headed. 

“Please, just let me state my case, then you can tell me how wrong I am.”

“Y/n, it’s not going to be you, save it, please.”

“I’m begging you, Clint.”

You stood, looking into each others eyes for a moment. There was no easy path here. No matter what the outcome would be, there was no reason to not hear you out, at least it pushed off someone’s death. 

With a heavy sigh, he nodded his head, allowing you to continue. He positioned himself so he could keep an eye on Nat behind you. He loved you both, but the amount of headsrongness between the two of you was frustrating to say the least. 

“I think we can both agree it shouldn’t be Nat,” you started, earning a nod in response, “The world needs her. There is so much more that she has to offer. And she needs to be there when everyone comes back. Which leads me to… it can’t be you Clint. Your family needs you.”

Both of your eyes were filling with tears, but Clint couldn’t respond. He wanted to see his family again, more than anything, but he didn’t want to have to watch either of you die in order to get there. 

“I’m not giving you permission to kill yourself, y/n, you’re just a kid.”

“No, I’m not. You and Nat have been treating me like a teenager for years, but Clint, I’ve been fighting almost as long as Nat. My age shouldn’t put me out of the running for this. I know-I know none of us want it to be anyone else, but please, this is the only way that makes sense.”

“I’m sorry, I can’t let you do it. If I have to fight you both to that edge, I will.” 

You let out a sigh of defeat, and let Clint pat your shoulder before he went back over to Nat. 

Before you could comprehend what was happening, you heard a thud, and turned to see Nat on the ground, Clint kneeling over her. 

“Tell my family I love them,” you heard him plead with a tear in his eye, but Nat quickly flipped their positions and told him to tell them himself. You watched in horror as he neared the ledge, frozen in your spot, but Nat stopped him before he could jump.

They continued to tumble around, one would near the edge before the other would stop them. 

This was it. Here was your chance to take that step before they had the chance. They couldn’t stop you while they were too focused on stopping each other. You tried to take a few deep breaths as you walked over, glancing over the edge first. 

You always knew that each mission brought the possibility of death, but it never seemed as real as it did now. It wasn’t just a statistical chance now, it was inevitable. 

You took one last deep breath, trying to accept that it would be your last, but your heart dropped and took your breath with it when you saw both Nat and Clint go over the edge. 

An arrow shot out from the direction of their bodies, and you held your breath as you watched Clint quickly grab Natasha’s hand, forcing both of their bodies to swing back towards the cliff, hitting the rock hard. 

“You fucking idiots,” you screamed from the top of the cliff, “He only said one of us.” All of you let out a bitter chuckle, relishing in this last shared moment between the 3 of you, all of you thinking they were going to be the one absent from the next moment. 

You had to do it now, before either on of them got the chance. 

“Nat, I love you,” you yelled. She just glanced between you and Clint in confusion. 

“Don’t do this,” Clint commanded, helpless in his position. 

“Do what?” Nat choked, panic taking over her as a tear slipped down her face. Of all the things she had been through, all the things she had done, all the things she had seen, the one thing she wouldn’t be able to handle would be watching you die.

“I’m sorry,” you choked out, but that was all you could offer. If you didn’t do it now, you knew she would let go of Clint’s hand, and it would be over. 

You silently held out hope that Clint would help her through this, just as he had done for both of you before, and you took the leap. 

The last thing you heard was your sisters voice, a high pitched scream as your body plummeted to the ground. She thrashed around, trying to swing her body in any way to catch you, but she was too far. Clint held on to her tightly, making sure he didn’t lose both of you. 

The next thing they knew, they were safe, on the ground, the soul stone in Nat’s hand. They shared one glance, tears filling their eyes, before they launched into each other’s arm’s. You were gone, and the only comfort they could feel in that moment was the other’s presence in your absence. 

Marvel Tags: 

@embrace-themagic @fanficparker @baconlover001 @chloe-geoghegan1 @chonisberonica @heartbeats-wildly @saturn-aka-six @calum-hoodwinked-me @ghostofdrfluke @spiderlingsweb

[fearsome-perfect-beauty-eren]

Sebaciel - Nightmares and Revelations

AUTHORS NOTE: I want to thank @ciel-plusultra for being a really great friend over the past few months and being there to gush with me about our feels of sebaciel. Because you have written for me so many sebaciel fics throughout time I wanted to pay you back with this massive fic as my gratitude! I hope you like and enjoy it because I sure did while writing it. Everyone who is also a big fan of sebaciel please savor it and enjoy each and every paragraph as I worked hard to deliver this to you all as well. (Especially since we sebaciel shippers have been left to dry without much content over time so I hope I feed you all well)!!

-

Ciel had been working extremely hard recently on all of the abundant new cases he'd been given from the Queen that he hadn't been getting much sleep for the last couple of days now.  Being the Queen's guard dog was an honor and a prestigious title Ciel carried out with great pride as the head of the Phantomhive family even though it demanded high stakes of self-sacrifice. Nevertheless, he'd been putting aside the importance of his health recently no matter the constant worry of his demon butler. Sebastian, however, pushed his agenda forward and managed to convince the young Earl to take a break and finish off his assignments tomorrow morning since it was already past a quarter after 11 pm. Even though Ciel didn't want to and was going to pull an all-nighter to finish off the stack of cases plaguing his desk he was convinced otherwise. After being peppered with kisses all over his face for an entire "agonizing" 15 minutes of his life he accepted his fate and was prepared and sent to bed.

The peaceful and quiet night had been disturbed however when a sudden jolt of the body beside him woke Sebastian up from his recreational sleep. Ciel had instructed Sebastian to sleep with him for the night as it was cold and thundering outside the manor and didn't want to sleep alone in his massive bed. Since a young boy, Ciel had always been terrified of thunder and would always run to his parents' room for comfort and protection. Even though the demon had thankfully provided that and the much-needed warmth to ease Ciel off to dreamland, due of the current circumstances, it inevitably lead him to sprung up from the bed in a massive cold sweat. Ciel frantically looked all over the room out of breath as he shivered in fear and tears welled up in his sapphire eyes. "Bocchan, what is the matter? Are you okay?" Sebastian asked in a concerned sleepy voice as he sat up to turn on a candelabra before facing him and rubbing Ciel's back gently. After seeing he was safe in his room and in the protective arms of Sebastian, he sighed in thankfulness and relaxed his previously tensed muscles. "Nothing it was just a dream," he said quickly turning away from Sebastian and wiping his tears away. "Go back to sleep you must be tired from all your duties and having to babysit the servants," Ciel continued trying to change the subject as he tried to regained his composure around the demon and forced a fake smile. "Ciel..." the butler said in a silvery tone "You and I both know what a terrible liar you are when you try to save face," he said as he crossed his arms and looked even more concerned at what his young master was not telling him. "I said it was just a dream so stop your worrying," Ciel retorted back semi-harshly as he kept his gaze low at the white sheets he was clinging onto. "Just... a bad dream is all," he said troubling with a hint of sadness. "Do you want to talk about it love?" Sebastian asked as he wrapped his arms around Ciel's waist lovingly. "No, not really," he whispered underneath his breath but just loud enough for the demon to hear.

Sebastian softly stroked his young master's hair and kissed the top of his head to assure him he understood. "Okay, how about we have a little fun then to get your mind off of it? Come on!" he stated as he got up from the bed and extended a hand for Ciel to take. Ciel looked puzzled and a little taken aback. "What!? You're not serious, are you? This is so unlike you to suggest such a thing at this time of the night, in the history of ever?" Ciel said in a shocking voice. "Do you really see me like a stick in the mud or something? Why, I am deeply hurt bocchan," Sebastian said in a dramatic tone while gripping his heart in pain at his partner's commentary. Ciel huffed out a laugh as he jerked his head to the right with a small but visible smile at Sebastian. The butler grabbed the earls' hands and pulled him out of bed and led him to the living area. As they made their way downstairs the thunder outside seemed to shake the manor and Ciel unconsciously clung tighter to the black butler and Sebastian held him closer to him reassuring him he had nothing to fear. As they finally made it to the living room Ciel sat on a red sofa. Sebastian illuminated the chimney near Ciel and then proceeded to one of the cabinets in which contained all of Ciel's board games. Sebastian had pulled out two black velvet blindfolds and two rolled-up newspapers in which made Ciel feel flushed and caused his mind to chase an origin high. "What-what are you, uhmm... planning on doing?" Ciel stumbled on his words with a little rush of panic in his eyes as he looked over at Sebastian with the items in hand as he swallowed hard on his hot and thick saliva. Sebastian caught on immediately what the young master must have taught what was going to happen and chuckled a burst of laughter before covering it up with his hand that revealed their contract sign. Ciel's wide comical eyes lessened as he blushed in embarrassment though clearly annoyed with himself as to how bad he had read the situation. "Ciel..." Sebastian started as he tried to control his composter, "No we aren't doing anything of that sort so you can relax. This is just for the game I had in mind. Though we can disregard this silly game and do what you had in mind if you like my love~ that sounds even more fun~~" the demon growled as he teased his partner while bringing the blindfolds up to his mouth as he bit the end of it seductively. Ciel unclung his tight grip from his nightshirt with a sheepish grin. He got up from the sofa abruptly and walked towards Sebastian to snatch the items away from his hands. "So what is the name of this game anyway? How could you possibly have fun with this stuff? What are the rules?" Ciel rambled on in which brought a playful side smirk to Sebastian's lips as he looked down upon the love of his life. "Well, you see this game is called 'Are You There, Moriarty?' in which has been a common game since the early 1800s. Two players are blindfolded, given a rolled-up newspaper, and made to kneel down opposite one other. The first player asks, "Are you there, Moriarty?" to which his opponent replies, "Yes sir, I am here!" Player 1 then has to hit Player 2 with the newspaper, judging where he is only by the sound of his voice. Player 2 can try to dodge the blow, but his knees must remain in place at all times." Ciel eyes the smiling butler after he's finished with the instructions and agrees to the rules of the game, activating his competitive side to get the best of his partner. "Let's do this!"

Ciel and Sebastian on both opposites side of the room tie their blindfolds and hold their newspapers close to them. "Are you there, Moriarty?" Ciel goes first as he carefully begins to crawl across the living room knowing very well he must be silently quiet in order to get close to the demon and best him. "Yes, My Lord," Sebastian replies in a hot whisper right against Ciel's ear in an amused tone as he flashed himself across the room next to him. Ciel jumps at the hot breath against his left ear so suddenly and tries to hit towards Sebastian's direction. The demon, however, dodges the blow and ends up back to where he was at the start of the game. Ciel grumbles and again calls out to him "Are you there, Sebastian?" The demon butler smirks and raises his left eyebrow animatedly. He then flashes upon Ciel and leaves a wet kiss against his jawline before he tries to get hit. Ciel somewhat melts into the feel of Sebastian's kiss before he shakes off the feeling and once again swats his newspaper into the air in vain. "This isn't funny Sebastian stop trying to cheat," he states gritting his teeth and turns his head in every direction as if trying to see where his partner could be. "Why I would never my love you just don't seem to be very good at this game," Sebastian retorts nearly 5 feet across Ciel's right side. "A-ha!" Ciel yells out as he nearly jumps across the floor and ends up hitting a flower pot in the place Sebastian had previously been before he dodged away. Sebastian chuckles another laugh imagining the face his partner could be wearing at thinking he almost got him. "My dear you sure do know how to entertain me," he says. Ciel tries to brush off his knees one at a time before grabbing his newspaper tighter in determination. Meanwhile, Sebastian is already at his side and waiting as to what Ciel will say next. "I thought you were supposed to entertain me isn't that the point of this game?" Sebastian raises his eyebrows before knitting them together and taking action on his next move.

Sebastian then takes both of their blindfolds off and Ciel turns to look towards Sebastian's direction and playfully glares at him as he pouts cutely. Ciel then grabs Sebastian's chin and pecks his lips sweetly as he hovers his body on top of the demon. Sebastian stares at him and bites his lips sexily before crashing his lips onto the earls. Ciel kisses him back and wraps his slender arms around the neck of the demon in need. "What was that for?" Sebastian asks, "Not that I'm complaining or anything of the sort..." he says. Ciel now wearing a sad face he avoids his butler's gaze and begins to speak, "I lost you. In my dream. And I- I just don't want that to ever become a reality. I can't bear to lose you. Not now or ever." Sebastian gets the hint and knows all too well where he is coming from due to all the hardships the young Earl has been through. He cups Ciel's soft cheeks and looks genuinely into his deep ocean eyes. "I will never leave you my dear bocchan, not for anything or anyone until the end of time. Even if it wasn't for this contract that binds me from ever doing so, I will always be by your side because I care about you more than I thought I could ever care about anyone in my entire life. In which I have never, if I may add because I have fallen in love with you. I love you Ciel Phantomhive, I am deeply and madly in love with you." Sebastian says reassuringly and hugs him tightly almost as if trying to absorb Ciel into himself. Ciel drops his head against Sebastian's shoulder and begins to tear up from the much-needed words from his partner, the love of his life, his entire world. Sebastian soothingly pats Ciel's hair and threads their fingers with his free hand. "Want to sit down?" he asks and Ciel nods his head.

As they make their way to the red sofa next to the warm chimney Sebastian pulls Ciel into his lap. The butler's arms go back around holding Ciel close to him as Ciel does so as well. They sit huddled together in a comforting silence as the fire warms up their bodies and there's only rain outside the manor. Ciel stared at both of their interlaced fingers that found their way ever so naturally back together. As he seemed lost in thought of how perfectly their hands fit each other Ciel gently brought their clasped hands to his lips and kissed each of Sebastian's fingers woven together with his. Sebastian's heart swelled up and left him feeling tingly and further wanting to be cherished. Ciel suddenly noticed the black butler watching his every move which left his face to flush with embarrassment as he ducked his head into Sebastian's toned chest and grinned. Though Ciel carried himself with an exuberant quiet strength, as soon as he knew the butler's sole attention was fixed in his every move Ciel would become the shyest person Sebastian ever met. Using his free hand Sebastian lifted his partner's face and brushed his thumb across his porcelain cheek. "Don't be shy," he said above a hot whisper. "Touch me." Ciel smiled and lightly traced his fingers along the veins that very much stood out from the demon's hand and then flipped it over to have his palm facing up to draw light figures upon it. The touch was slight but surely gave Sebastian a shaking chill all over his body which surprised Ciel because he couldn't believe he was responsible for affecting him in such a way. Sebastian gulped in slight embarrassment and looked down at Ciel as he knew the young Earl had no idea of the hold he had on him. Ciel then stopped and turned up to look at Sebastian, "Kiss me," he said as the butler answered, "Gladly."  

Though Sebastian being the demon, the experience of both their bodies pressed up together in harmonious sync and passion for each other consumed him. With each kiss, small lower lip nibbles, and exploration of their tounges in each other's mouths took away any and almost all of the demon's energy from sustaining his human form. Sebastian began losing all his senses in the intimate and burning sensation to further be engulfed by Ciel in this very moment which led him to revert into his true form. Behind those crimson eyes displayed the slitted pupils in them as they shined even more brightly as his sharp fangs also made an appearance.  As a tiny bit of Sebastian's more demonic side made an appearance once his claws and horns came out he finally took notice of his demonic transition. The demon broke away from his partner's lips and embrace and pushed him off of him as he turned his back against him. "I'm sorry. It's better if we stop right here before I lose control over my human form and you see how disgusting I truly am," Sebastian said as he tried to regain control over himself as he covered his face with both his claw hands. "Don't!" Ciel commanded, shocking the demon from his concentration. Ciel moved over to Sebastian and removed his hands with sharp claws away from his face and cupped his cheeks, "Never apologize for who you are, understand?" The young master retracted his hands and took in Sebastian's true form. He noticed how long his knife looking claws were and how up to half of his arms was black as the night before reaching to tint the demons entire body. As his gaze went up higher he noticed strained veins covered the sides of his lovers face especially beside his glowing vertical slit eyes. "Does it hurt?" Ciel asked as he caressed his even paler looking face where the bulging veins were located as Sebastian nodded no. Ciel shook his head and noticed the set of strong and thick curled black horns above his head, admiring the intricate details that shaped the horns. The young Earl chuckled and wore a smile none that Sebastian had ever seen before. "I actually find you rather beautiful, just like this. So don't you ever change nor try to hide it from me." Ciel gave him a peck to his lips and wrapped his arms around him as he nuzzled his face into Sebastian's neck for warmth.

The demon was utterly shocked to say anything. Never had he come across a human even less his own kind to see his true form as anything but beautiful. Most saw it as completely disgusting and unsightly. Gazing back down at his not so little lord anymore the demon smiled ever so slightly, revealing just a hint of his terrifyingly sharp fangs, crimson slit pupils now multiplied and covering his entire form glowing with an intensity he no longer could hold back. A phantom wave took over Sebastian's entire black body as he shook away the cold air around him and black feathers fell to the ground. He knew that Ciel really had the devil at his feet with everything the boy had and everything the boy was.

[yoongi-sugaglider]

Daegu Quarantine

Jungkook x reader

Gang/ zombie apocalypse au

Warnings:

Gore, violence, zombies, mention of drugs and drug dealing, weapons discharge in self defense, possible future main character death, zombies, course language, zombies, drinking, did I mention zombies?

Summary:

They were the top of their game, known throughout the city as the smartest and most dangerous crew to ever hit the Daegu streets. But what’s going to happen when this group of young men encounter something right out of a horror film?

Word count: 2818

Part 3 === Part 4 === Part 5

“So...are we gonna talk about the chick Yoongi snuck upstairs?”

We’d all finally calmed down from our little outbursts of chaos, having settled into a semi silence only just now interrupted by Jungkook coming back to the business at hand.

“Chick? What chick? I thought all those people outside ran off?” Hoseok sat up immediately, his posture on the defensive as he glared in my direction. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because I was too busy making sure my man was okay. Fuck off with your judgment this ain’t the time for that.”

“I ain’t judgin if you let some security risk just waltz into our home unguarded. Matter of fact I’m far from judging I’m pissed!” Hobi made as if to jump up in his anger but Jungkook, clearly the stronger of the two, pulled him back down to sit.

“Chill. I trust Yoongi’s judgement, If he had thought she was a threat he wouldn’t have brought her inside, let alone taking her up to his room.” Jungkook shot Hoseok a look that quickly shut him up before returning his attention to me.

“So what happened out there? Tae told us you talked to the woman but he couldn’t hear what was said over the cameras. Who is she and why was her group on our driveway?”

I heaved a sigh, pulling out of his grip and wrapping my arms around myself as I stared off into the distance. “She said she was up at the hospital, not not far off from where you boys were when everything went down. The...the guy that thing took down. That was her husband. The two of them were in for an appointment when the hospital got hit...hard. They got out and ended up here after dodging a group of what she called the Chatterers.”

I watched as the boys perked up at the name, murmuring and confused glances shared between them.

“Chatterers?” Jimin asked from the table where he’d resumed his task of putting the weapon back together again, this time barrel well in eyesight.

“Yeah. Apparently the infected ones make this chattering sound that’s louder when they’re in groups. Makes them easy to hear coming. But it doesn’t make them any less dangerous.” I rubbed my arms, trying to erase the chill that had come with seeing the mental image of visceral filled teeth.

“That thing...it still looked human.” Jin muttered as he returned to his post at the window. “Granted it walked kind of funny but hell… from what I saw it looked human.”

“Technically they still are human. They’ve just taken to eating other humans…” Jimin sighed as he stretched in his chair, hands entwined atop his head as he stared at the ceiling. “The American CDC were calling it a strain of the rabies virus.”

“That’s what they said on the news this morning.” I jolted when a heavy pair of hands came to rest on my shoulders but eventually eased backwards into the gentle ministrations of Jungkook’s adept fingers.

“Supposedly it started as fevers, something similar to the flu with the body aches and inability to keep food down and such.” I paused in my words, letting out a low groan of appreciation when Kook found a particularly adamant knot in the center of my shoulder blades.

“Jeeze you two, get a room.” Namjoon announced his return with a grump. His entrance into the room was accompanied by the smell of burnt wood and the odd scent of barbecue.

Taehyung gagged, pinching his close closed as he waved the air in front of his face. “Not before you take a shower first! Dude you smell like burnt people and ribs what the hell???”

Hoseok gagged, tossing a throw pillow in Joon’s direction while covering his face with another. “Duuuuudddeeee!!!”

Jimin and Jin giggles as Jungkook sniffed the air. “I don’t know ya’ll...I’m kinda hungry now. When’s dinner anyway?”

The group let out a collective groan, various objects from pillows to the tv remote flying in our direction which I tried and failed miserably to dodge. It felt like everything happened in slow motion.

I watched as the remote headed towards me, already mentally prepared for the pain I knew was coming when it inevitable connected with the side of my head. Closing my eyes I winced. But the pain never came.

Exhaling quickly I opened my eyes only to recoil at the fist held precariously close to my face. Quickly I realized that the fist belong to Jungkook and clutched tightly within it was the remote I’d sworn was destined to give me a lump.

I glanced over to see him glaring at the others in the room who had the decency to look ashamed.

“Really guys?” He lowered his fist, setting the remote on the coffee table as he turned to check me over. “You alright babe?” He asked, a gentle hand coming over to smooth my hair down.

“I’m fine.” I said with a smile,patting him on the leg and making as if to stand up.

Yoongi entered the room at that moment, a dark look gracing his features as he took in the state of the living room. “Kook...can we talk?”

He glanced my way, letting me know he needed me as well before disappearing around the corner once again.

Jungkook hopped up off the sofa, giving me a hand to help me stand and the two of us hustled to follow after the quiet footsteps of the older man.

“Something the matter?” Jungkook asked as we joined up with him in the kitchen.

Yoongi sighed, closing the refrigerator door and turning to us with a water bottle in hand.

“This woman..Jeanette...something’s wrong with her…” He leaned against the counter, hip carrying the majority of his weight as he twisted the cap off the water and took a long slow drink.

“What do you mean something’s wrong with her?” I could tell Jungkook was on the defensive with the way his hand had instantly gone to the pistol strapped to his hip.

I reached over, taking the stress stiffened fingers in my own and rubbing soothing circles into the taut muscles. “Easy now Kook, if it were that serious Yoongi would have killed her by now and let us know she was dead. Right?” I turned to see Yoongi’s nod and met his unwavering gaze with a smile.

“So, what do you think is wrong?” I asked.

A sudden sound of gunshots interrupted us though and we instantly took the offensive. Jungkook whipped out his pistol, both hands gripping it and bringing it up to the side of his face as he rushed over to the kitchen doorway and peered around the corner.

Yoongi meanwhile had launched across the counter, dragging me to the ground and covering my head as he raised his own pistol and clicked off the safety.

“What the fuck?” I hissed, struggling to push Yoongi off me though the lithe man refused to move.

Shouts echoed down the hall from the living room and another round of gunshots followed by the sound of breaking glass and Hoseok came hobbling into the kitchen with Taehyung and the others close behind.

“What the fuck is going on?” Jungkook demanded as Tae came up behind him and leaned against the wall.

“Group of those things snuck up out of nowhere. Walked right through the front door and attacked us. There’s more out there and they’re coming in through the window as well.”

“Holy shit…” I finally managed to push Yoongi off of me in favor of unholstering my own weapon. “How the hell did they sneak by your cameras?”

Before Tae could answer a form lurched into view. The form’s arm hung lip at it’s side and it seemed to be using the wall for support as it shuffled into a run in our direction. Namjoon fired, hitting it in the shoulder and knocking it backwards into another form that had come up behind it..

The next thing I knew the hall had exploded into a hail of gunfire and stumbling bodies. Blood splashed against the wall in an obscene rendition of a Jackson Pollock painting and yet no matter how many we took down more continued to force their way in our direction.

“We should have a door!!” Namjoon shouted as he grabbed a second clip and jammed it home. “Who gets a kitchen with no door???”

.”Shut up and keep shooting!” Jungkook barked in his direction as he reloaded as well.

We continued shooting, learning very quickly that in order to keep these things down we had to aim for the head.What felt like hours but could have only been a few minutes passed before I noticed something strange out of the corner of my eye.

A form stood pressed against the wall at the base of the staircase. She made direct eye contact with me and I could see the fear and determination from my crouched position in the kitchen.

“What is she…” I couldn’t get more than that out as I watched her scream, catching the attention of the few stragglers that had only just come around the corner from the living room.

Her motions were a blur as she raced away,leading the remaining creatures after her, and away from us.

“Yoongi!” I yelled, catching the sniper’s attention as I pointed down the hall. “Jeanette! She led them away!”

Yoongi cursed, grabbing a spare clip from Jungkook before racing down the hall after the obviously suicidal woman.

“What the fuck was that?” Jin demanded as he wiped the sweat from his brow.

I shook my head, rubbing at the sore muscles in my forearm as I glanced around to assess our situation.

Hoseok had collapsed into a chair at the kitchen table. He grimaced, gripping his injured leg as Jimin rushed over to check him out.

“Anybody else hurt?” Namjoon asked as he began making his way towards the body filled hall.

Tae shook his head. He reached into his back pocket, pulling out his trusty phone and beginning to type rapidly into the display.

“Tae, what happened? I thought you had the cameras covered?” I made my way over to him,tugging on his arm to get him to sit in a chair beside Hoseok.

“I don’t know. I had an eye on the system the whole time but nothing came up on the cameras.” He frowned, tapping on the screen as he seemed to be going over the footage from only moments ago. “Shit…”

“What? What’s the matter Tae? What did you find?” I leaned in and squinted in an attempt to see whatever it was that he’d spotted.

“It’s not what I see it’s what I don’t see…” He jumped up, phone clenched in his fist as he began making his way out of the kitchen.

“Tae where are you going?” Jungkook asked, making as if to follow behind him.

“I’m heading up to my room. I need my laptop. There’s a 20 minute gap in the footage that’s been looped over itself and I don’t fucking like it.” Taehyung waved at Jungkook dismissively, eyes focused ahead of him as he began making his way over the pile of corpses in the hall. “Give me a few, I’ll be back to help clean up.”

Jungkook nodded, reaching out to stop him for a moment. “We don’t blame you Tae, you couldn’t have known this was going to happen. Just get it figured out alright?”

Taehyung glared, wrenching his arm out of Jungkook’s grasp. “Yeah? Well I blame me. My system should be secure and a stupid ass failure like this almost cost us everything. I…” He shook his head, clearly unsure of what else to say. “I’ll let you guys know if I find anything…”

***

It took us almost an hour to clean up the mess. Having already been exhausted by the events of the day the others began dismissing themselves, citing the need for showers and sleep.

Jin and Namjoon had managed to board up the front window with parts from down in the basement and were now organizing with Yoongi to set out and hopefully find the missing woman.

“I just don’t see why we gotta go after some chick that we don’t even know!” Taehyung grouched as he scrubbed at the red stains on his hands at the kitchen sink.

“Yoongi vouched for her. He had to have talked with her while they were upstairs.” I frowned up at Taehyung. I could tell the irritation wasn’t aimed at the girl. He’d had no luck finding out who could have hacked his system and it was really bothering him.

“I know he’s not been with us as long as you Tae. But I trust his judgement. He wouldn’t have let her stay if he didn’t see something in her that we needed.”

Jungkook grunted as he pulled open the fridge, leaning in to grab a bottled water. Shutting it he turned to Taehyung and patted him a bit more aggressively than necessary. “She did have something we needed. She basically saved our asses back there. Not a lot of people would do that for a bunch of strangers with guns.”

The sound of the front door opening and closing caused us all to perk up, but the sound of shouting and arguing had us all racing from the kitchen.

Jin and Namjoon had Yoongi restrained and Hoseok had a firm grip on Jeanette’s arm.

“I don’t give a fuck! She fucking saved us and you’re treating her like she’s the one who put us in fucking danger in the first place!” Yoongi was practically foaming at the mouth, his small frame straining to break free of the two stronger men’s grips.

“Yoongi!” Jeanette spoke up, her soft spoken voice somehow breaking through the chaos. She’d changed out of her hospital gown and into what looked like one of Yoongi’s black sweaters and a pair of his grey sweatpants. The material was torn and there were scratches all along her arms and cheeks that hadn’t been there when I saw her out front earlier.

Yoongi stopped struggling, giving her a pleading look. “You don’t understand what they’re about to do to you. Please, listen to me!”

She shook her head, giving him a soft smile as she patted Hoseok’s hand. “It’s okay. I understand, trust me I do.”

She looked over to Jungkook who stared at her with squinted eyes. “Do what you have to do. But I swear to you I’m not a threat.”

After a moment of intense staring Jungkook nodded to Hoseok. Hoseok gave a nod in return and after shouting to Jimin in the living room began pulling the disheveled woman towards the basement.

“Fuck!” Yoongi hung limp in his friend’s grips, hair brushed over his eyes as he struggled to catch his breath.

“Jesus Yoongi, What the fuck has gotten into you?” Jin demanded as he released his hold and stepped back.

“Yoongi.” Jungkook’s voice was firm as he stepped over and stood in front of the dejected man. Yoongi looked up, eyes glazed and lost in emotion.

“I get that she lured those things away from us. Basically saved our asses without knowing a fucking thing about us.” Jungkook sighed, glancing towards the closed basement door the others had disappeared through.

“We have rules for letting people in. And no fucking apocalypse bullshit is going to change how we run things.”

“So you want to just throw her back out there with all those things?” Yoongi demanded, his face now twisted into an angry grimace.

“If it turns out she’s a threat then yeah, she’s got to go.” Namjoon stated as he folded his arms over his chest in finality.

“It’s either kick her out or let Hobi do his job.” Jin replied, coming around the corner. He’d taken a shower to clean the blood off and now was rubbing a towel through his hair to dry it.

“She’s not one of us.” Taehyung muttered, leaning against the wall of the hallway and staring down at the floor, his arms limp at his sides.

Yoongi shook his head, fists clenched at his sides. He looked over to me and I could swear he had tears in his eyes though it could have been a trick of the light. “You can’t do this…”

I frowned, gnawing at my lower lip in wonder.

“And why the hell not?” Jungkook demanded, frustration creeping into his voice. His posture spoke leaps and bounds, shoulders tense and muscles bulging in his arms as he attempted to retrain the irritation eating at him at Yoongi’s behavior.

Yoongi stood his ground, staring deep into Jungkook’s eyes as he muttered something that would shock all of us to the core.

“Because she’s fucking pregnant.”

[southpark-sin]

Love & sacrifice: chapter 1

It was cold out in the Colorado mountains but Kenny mccormick was use to it, he stared up at the stars and took a long drag of his cigarette. He wished he could stay out here in the peace and quiet if time allowed but he had already been out here to long as it was. He flicked his cigarette out and ventured back inside the warm house of his best friend.

"Kenny! Kenny, guess what? Tricia said we get to spend the night!" Karen mccormick bounded up to him with a Smile of pure happiness. It broke his heart that Kenny couldnt provide a safe and loving home like his best friend could. He smiled back with what was hopefully a genuine smile.

"That's great Kare bear! Let's go see if the pizzas here." She nodded, still smiling, as she took his hand in hers and led him into the kitchen. The smell of fresh pizza overtook Kenny as they entered the kitchen. His heart skipped a beat when he caught sight of his crush and long time best friend.

Craig tucker was furiously whispering to someone over the phone as he absentmindly put down two pizza boxes on the kitchen counter. Craig's green eyes where narrowed in frustration with his signature scowl and kenny noticed to his delight that his straight raven colored hair wasn't hidden under his signature blue hat tonight. Instead, his hair was messy and unkempt with his bangs falling into his eyes, making him even more attractive. Kenny couldn't help but gawk at how hot craig was as his heart threatened to beat right out of his chest. Craig's eyes met Kenny's and his scowl softened a little and he nodded at Kenny in a way of a greeting. Kenny blushed and smiled back like the helpless fool he was.

Meanwhile, Karen rolled her eyes at her brother's blatant affection for his friend and immediately started eating the pizza happily all the while talking aimlessly about what the plans her and Tricia had for that friday night. Kenny tuned her out and instead raised his eyebrows at Craig in a silent question at the phone conversation craig was having. Craig just stiffly shook his head and rolled his eyes in response. Great. Craig was in a bad mood again and Kenny suspected it had to do with a certain neurotic blonde who loved coffee.

Kenny sighed at the thought, earning a glare from Craig, and tried to push away his jealousy. Avoiding Craig's eyes, Kenny started munching on some pizza without tasting it as he mentally prepared himself for what he knew would be inevitable when Craig was in a bad mood and it involved tweak. His bad moods always involved tweek these days. Kenny hated it with a burning jealousy that threatened to boil over in forbidden words he longed to tell craig but knew he couldn't.

"Hey kare bear, why dont you take some pizza up to Tricia?" Kenny tried to give her a easy going smile despite his stomach twisting in knots. Her eyes lit up at the suggestion and she quickly hugged him, grabbed a pizza box and rushed upstairs to her friends room.

Kenny smile fell as he silently turned back to face Craig, waiting. He knew Craig would talk when he was ready and any prodding from Kenny would only make him shut down and pout. Craig was someone who didnt like to talk about his feelings with anyone until he was good and ready to talk. Kenny suspected that this trait in craig was one of the reasons that craig and tweek seemed to fight so much these days. One of the many reasons they seemed to fight so much.

Craig scowled at him, whispered a rushed goodbye to the other person on the phone and hung up. Craig picked up the other pizza box and stalked to his room without another word. Kenny rolled his eyes and followed. Sometimes Craig was SUCH a drama queen.

Up in Craig's room, Kenny settled on his bed and silently started eating some pizza while the other boy stood pacing around his room, still scowling. He could tell craig was bursting to say somthing but it was obvious he didnt know what to say. After a few minutes of tense silence Kenny began to wonder if Craig was ever going to say somthing. Most of the time craig would talk to Kenny about his feelings and they would work through it together. in rare occasions, however, craig would get so emotional and caught up in his feelings that he wouldn't say anything at all and end up in a bad mood that could last weeks. In those rare occasions was when tweek and craig would fight the most and it left Kenny desperately trying to get through to craig and fix things because that was just what Kenny did. Craig was Kenny's best friend and he would do anything for craig, even it killed him inside.

Without warning, Craig suddenly spun on his heel to face Kenny, fire burning in his eyes.

"He's just so fucking jealous! I keep telling him that I love him and that me having other guy friends isn't a big deal and that I see him every goddam day and we spend so much time together! what more does he fucking want from me?" His face was turning red from the shouting but Kenny knew he wasn't done yet. Far from it.

"He gets so suspicious of everything and I always try to fucking calm him down but it seems so useless to try when he freaks out about every goddam thing! We cant have a moment of peace or go on a fucking date anymore without him freaking out about somthing! I'm so fucking tired if his bullshit!"

"Craig, you know tweek has high anxiety..."

"Your just making excuses for him, ken!" Kenny flinched at the sudden outburst directed at him.

"Look, I'm sorry its just....we've been dating for YEARS, I know this is going to sound selfish but...we should be past this by now! It shouldn't be so dam hard to BE together! It's like he doesn't fucking trust me!"

"Theres no 'should be past' anything in a relationship,

Theres going to always be new challenges presented and you just have to work them out, together. You need to communicate better with...tweek.

I know hes a little high strung and high maintenance but I also know he loves you unconditionally. Sure he gets a little jealous, but that just means he cares about you so much. You guys need to be better at communicating how you feel." Craig just sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

"I fucking know but it's so hard. Tweek makes a big deal about everything so when I tell him to give me some time to figure out how to tell him about how I'm feeling, he just gets even more upset and pouts or starts a whole new argument! It's like he doesn't trust me! Why cant he understood that it's hard for me to Express my feelings like you do, ken?" Kenny blushed deeply and looked down at lap, unsure about what to say. Kenny had never seen craig so upset before. Craig didnt seem to notice Kenny's uncomfortable reaction to what he said, or if he did, he didnt say anything.

"Look ken, its just....we've been fighting so much lately and we barely hang out anymore. Everytime we do hang out, it always turns into another argument." Craig looked at his feet unhappily. Kenny's heart broke at the raw emotion on his face. He looked so unhappy and so dam vulnerable.

"Craig, you and...tweek need to have a serious conversation about everything that's going on and be honest about how you both are feeling. Remember, it's you and tweek against the problem NOT you against tweek." Kenny chuckled uncomfortably. Dispite how much he helped craig it never before felt this serious before. It felt like kenny was walking a very fine line and he didnt want to say the wrong thing and jeopardize his friendship with craig whom he treasured more then anything.

"Ken....wh-what if it never gets better, even if we try and talk it out?" Kenny immediately tensed. This was serious. Craig NEVER talked about breaking up with tweek and it made kenny uncomfortable and his stomach do somersaults.

"What do you mean craig?" He didnt mean for his voice to sound so cautious but he was struggling between his feelings for craig and his friendship for craig. Kenny did NOT want to say the wrong thing and ruin his best friends relationship. Craig looked up and locked eyes with Kenny.

"I mean...what if, hypothetically, me and tweek...just arnt working out? What if...me and tweek break up?" Kenny couldnt breathe with the intense way craig was staring at him, searching Kenny's face for something, EXPECTING somthing from him.

Craig's eyes where so intense and so beautiful Kenny felt like he was soaring. Fuck! How could Kenny be thinking about craig like that when he was so vulnerable and asking about relationship advice? It was disgusting.

"I...i.."I would kiss you and ask you out. The words kenny desperately wanted to speak but was unable. His hesitation seemed to snapped craig out of the intense staredown. Some emotion Kenny couldn't place flashed in Craig's eyes but was gone in a second. Did kenny just imagine it? Craig's eyes softened as he looked down to the floor again.

"Its nothing...I'm probably just overreacting again." He mumbled. No! Kenny wanted to scream. He felt like he had missed something important, something craig had been trying to tell him.

"Craig..." but no words came. Kenny's heart thundered in his chest while he desperately tried to salvage the situation. What did he miss? What the hell was craig trying to tell him earlier? He knew it was to late to say anything when craig sighed deeply.

"Dont worry about it Kenny, I know I always dump my problems on you but really, I'm fine. I'll...see tweek tomorrow and...we'll figure it out, just like you suggested." Craig's fake smile broke Kenny's heart even more. He wanted to punch something and scream at the top of his lungs. This was all his fault! He didnt know what he did but he knew he had fucked up and now craig seemed even worse then before. Kenny could handle angry, shouting craig but he had never before seen sad, distraught, fake-smile craig.

"Yeah craig, that's probably for the best. I know you two can work this out." Because isn't that what Kenny wanted? He wanted his best friend happy and nothing made craig happier then dating his long term boyfriend, tweek. Besides, that look craig had given him was probably nothing, craig had probably wanted relationship advice and Kenny had hesitated! No wonder craig seemed so distraught. He came to Kenny for advice and kenny had been thinking about how much he wanted craig. He was a terrible friend.

Besides, kenny told himself bitterly, even if craig and tweek broke up, it's not like craig would ever date Kenny. There was no way in hell craig would ever like the poorest boy in town with the worst reputation.

"Thank you ken."

"What are you thanking me for?"

"For being my best friend and always helping me." It was Craig's honest and open smile that was the final bullet that killed Kenny that night. Craig had no business giving him a pure smile like that when keeny was the absolute worst friend in the world.

But kenny smiled dispite his internal turmoil.

"You know I always have your back craig." God he was so pathetic. it seemed to do the trick, however and lighten the tense mood enough for craig to smile again.

"Now, let's play some video games and eat some pizza!" Craig cheered and the other boy agreed.

Kenny couldnt shake this feeling of unease and dread as the rest of the night went smoothly while the two boys played video games and hung out late into the night.

[nonbinaryparent]

https://amp.mindbodygreen.com/articles/one-habit-for-raising-children-who-actively-question-gender-stereotypes

The One Habit To Teach To Raise Kids Who Actively Question Gender

By Bobbi Wegner, Psy.D.

June 10, 2019

Last night I walked in late from my clinical practice and grabbed a quick dinner before bed. My kids were amped up and excited, and my son (Tyler, age 8) and daughter (Eve, age 5) played on the couch. They are like little puppies, often jumping all over each other and constantly touching, talking, and engaging, for better or worse. I mostly try to quiet the constant buzz of noise that too easily seeps into my brain, but last night I caught wind of a statement and then a question directed at me.

"Eve, you are tomboy. Mom, Eve is a tomboy, right?"

Eve continued pouncing on her brother unaware of the implication, but it gave me pause. I listened, thought, and noticed my own internal reaction.

By all outside accounts, I guess Eve is a "tomboy." She is tough as nails, rides dirt bikes, wrestles (and sometimes dominates) her big brothers, and often takes her T-shirt off when she’s hot.

I am proud of her. I was a "tomboy" too. What I wanted to say in that moment was, "Yes, Eve is a tomboy, and she does whatever the f*ck she wants." My friends joke that she is my feral child, fiercely independent. If I were to disappear for a week or two, it would be Eve who figured out dinner for everyone. She would probably ride her dirt bike to the local coffee shop and negotiate an IOU contract with a confused yet impressed barista.

The thing is, she is not a tomboy. Or a boy at all. She is herself. She is a girl. She likes dirt bikes, wrestling, winning, and can weather physical injury better than a cage fighter. She also loves puppies and playing house, and her most favorite thing is cooking with me. We share a deep love for beautiful napkins, dinner parties, fancy flowery perfume, and cool heels. She is Eve. She is cool. And she is all girl.

I push them to ask themselves: Why do we say what we say? How do we know that to be true? Where did that come from? Where did we learn that? What are we actually trying to say?

I know this personality makeup well as we share passions that are often paradoxical and opposing to the outside world. I am a woman with varied interests, and I feel all woman. Eve is a girl with varied interests, and as far as I can see now, she is all girl. It is that simple.

Although in my own inner dialogue, I want to say, "Yeah Ty, Eve is a tomboy, so watch out," that would undermine everything about those qualities being feminine, too. I would be gendering behaviors that aren't inherently gendered. My automatic response is not appropriate for the current culture anymore. And the responsibility falls on me to notice my automatic thought, process it, and say something different.

Although it might seem that I am advocating for gender equality for my daughter, this is a direct message to my son, too. The message I want all my children to hear loud and clear is that you are you. There is no expectation from me around how you should behave based on your gender. Of course, there is an expectation to be kind, polite, welcoming, hardworking, and courageous, to name a few, but those are expectations I have across the board for all of my children.

Teaching the art of questioning.

Gender stereotyping is reductive and limits the horizons of possibility, and denying expression is only harmful to our kids' health and well-being in the long run. One of my parenting priorities is to offer as much opportunity as possible so my kids have the freedom to choose their path themselves. I want to build self-efficacy. Ultimately, my hope is that they lead an empowered and self-led life. Training starts now, not in adulthood. We need to be helping our kids build a sense of self from the inside out.

So, in the moment, I teach Ty that tomboy is a dated word that doesn't apply anymore. But what I am really saying is it is OK to be you—in whatever form that is. I constantly challenge them to think critically about the language they use. So much is absorbed from school and the outside community, and the best defense I have is to teach intellectual and emotional curiosity.

I push them to ask themselves: Why do we say what we say? How do we know that to be true? Where did that come from? Where did we learn that? What are we actually trying to say?

For example, any time they say, "that is a girl toy or a boy toy," I ask them to think about what makes it so. Inevitably, they can see the flaw in their assumption; they learn to self-reflect, wrestle with meaning, and what I love the most—it removes me from the often annoying power position of teacher saying yay or nay. I can join them in an intellectual exercise rather than impose a way to behave.  

Much of the meaning we create as a culture is so nuanced and implicit that we all participate in perpetuating ideas that we do not even buy into it. The first step in teaching kids to be open is to notice our own bias and challenge ourselves. We need to ask ourselves the same questions we ask our children.

Why do we think this? Where did it come from? What are we actually trying to say? It not only combats gender inequality and toxic masculinity, but it pushes kids to be more self-aware and tighten the language they use, not relying on automatic (what I call) "lazy language." Say what you actually intend to say.

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Taking small steps.

Listen, some parents will be far more comfortable and at ease dispelling gender than others, and that mostly has to do with our own progress toward questioning and deconstructing gender, a process that many adults are still going through themselves. That's OK. Some parents are bravely raising "theybies" and "gender-creative kids," for example, and that's amazing; meanwhile, for many other parents, that's just outside the scope of what they're capable of right now, no matter how much they want to support gender diversity.

But all parents can teach their kids the art of questioning gender. If you want to raise kids who feel free to explore their identity with complete freedom, it starts with raising kids with access to the tools of curiosity and open-mindedness. Raise kids who are open to following their interests, willing to explore, and committed to noticing the meaning embedded in our culture. Although those may seem like a tall order for such young kids, these are traits that are easiest to internalize the younger they are.

Here are a few simple habits to consider introducing in your household and parenting style to encourage a culture of questioning gender:

Notice any gendered language (i.e., anytime someone says someone did something because "they are a boy or a girl"). Notice it, name it, and encourage your kids to get curious about what that means.

Offer all options to all children. Boys are welcome to play house, and girls are welcome to play in the dirt. If the children naturally segregate, split time in both activities.

Create mixed-gender groups at home, with friends, and at school. Avoid the desire to tease your kids about "having crushes" on their friends of other genders.

Especially with boys, empathize and validate emotion. Positively reinforce sharing of all emotion with words. Help boys build a strong sense of identity that includes caring for and loving others.

Manage your own discomfort when your child wants to explore something outside of their culturally prescribed behavior (i.e., Eve wanting to take her shirt off, or Ty wanting to sit on the toilet to pee). Children are honest and will give feedback if it makes others uncomfortable. Your job is not to promote or rescue but rather to follow your child's lead.

Notice how work is divided in your home. What nonverbal messages are you sending? Be self-aware and reflective and see if your behavior matches your intentions.

Lastly, be self-compassionate. Know you will make missteps. So will your kids. Be honest. Be curious. And create an open dialogue.

[blueaagave]

Pt. 1 I Won’t Shed A Tear, As Long As You Stand By Me

Keith was at the castle after a particularly strenuous mission for the blade, one which had also landed him a nasty cut across his cheek. After debriefing the mission to Kolivan and doing his best to ignore the worry pouring off of Krolia, Keith had practically stumbled his way all the way over to the castle, not that you could actually stumble while you were flying a ship, but, he was exhausted nonetheless.

After Allura had let him in, everyone had ran up to Keith, well, almost everyone. The ravenette hugged Pidge and Hunk, and nodded to Allura, Coran, and Shiro as he greeted them all. Hunk was the first to say anything other than hi or calling his name.

“Hey, what happened to your cheek?” The Yellow Paladin asked, clearly not wanting to be overbearing but still worried.

“Oh it happened on a mission earlier, it’s uh, it’s fine. Where’s Lance?”

Pidge answered before Hunk could, informing Keith that, “I think he’s in his room, he’s probably listening to music and didn’t hear Allura over the intercom,”

“Cool, thanks Pidge, I’m going to go talk to him. I’ve missed you guys, though,”

A strong hand rested itself on his shoulder. “We missed you too, Keith. It’s nice to see you again without it having to do with the Blade,” Shiro said reassuringly.

Allura and Coran nodded in agreement, the princess making direct eye contact as she spoke.

“You should do your best to convince Kolivan that you visiting us is good for diplomacy, maybe you’d be able to visit more often,”

Keith laughed, a single, yet hearty, chuckle escaping him.

“I’ll be sure to do that, princess. I’ll make sure I talk to you guys again before I leave to go back to the Blade tomorrow, too,”

Pidge wiggled her eyebrows at that.

“Oh? Spending the whole night Keith?”

“Yeah, yeah, Pidge, I get the joke,” he poked at her shoulder, “maybe I’ll avoid seeing you, and only you, tomorrow,”

A hand rising to her chest, Pidge feigned offense at his words.

“You wouldn’t dare!” She gasped.

“Oh, I would, ask Shiro,”

“I ate his fruit roll up at the Garrison once and he refused to talk to me for the rest of the day,”

This caused Hunk and Allura to laugh, the latter giggling into her hand as she looked at Shiro, who was shaking his head and smiling. Meanwhile Coran followed her gaze, yet said nothing.

“I’ll see you guys later!” Keith yelled as he, not too subtly, picked up into a jog and made his way towards the hallway that led to Lance’s room.

“Bye, buddy! see ya!” Hunk called after him.

***

Solid knuckles rapped against metal, and in response an uninterested voice called out.

“Who is it?”

“Me?” Keith answered, voice rising an octave as he said it.

“Holy shit, Keith?!”

The sounds of Lance nearly falling out of his bed soon greeted Keith warmly, feet quickly bounding to the door as it abruptly opened to reveal the broadly smiling face of his boyfriend.

Arms were soon wrapped around the black haired teen in a dangerously tight embrace that was nothing but love. Shaky hands found their way into the mess of black hair as Keith pulled Lance as close as he could. The silk of the Lance’s robe was cool against the ravenette’s fingertips and was a feeling that didn’t take him long to realize he missed. Both boys were hesitant to pull apart but before they inevitability did soft, quiet words floated from one ear to another.

“When’d you get here?”

“Not long ago, Allura announced I was here over the intercom, Pidge assumed you were wearing her headphones and didn’t hear,”

“Well, she wouldn’t be wrong,” Lance laughed.

The Cuban boy pulled away from Keith, fully taking him in. Keith could see his breath catch in his throat.

“Keith, what the hell did you do?”

Suddenly and without warning, our loverboy had taken hold of Keith’s wrist and was dragging him into the room, leaving Keith with barely enough time to exclaim before he was already sitting on Lance’s bed and Lance was briskly walking towards his bathroom, blue robe trailing behind him and all. Soon enough Lance was already sitting by Keith with a tin of salve in his hand that he was twisting open as fast as possible.

Scooping some of the cream up with an index and middle finger, Lance quickly got to work. Before Keith entirely knew what was happening, long fingers were turning his cheek to the side and pushing dark, barely tamed hair away from his cheek.

Cold. It was cold. Extremely cold. And it stung a little bit. Lance moved his hand away from Keith’s cheek at the slight flinch from the extreme chill that was spread over the cut.

“Your face wouldn’t be freezing if you were just more careful, mullet,”

“I didn’t mean to get a knife to the face today,”

Lance sighed heavily, “Yeah, no shit, Sherlock,”

Clearly upset, but trying to hide it, Lance went back to gently rubbing the salve into the shallow cut. His face grew darker and darker with thought, and it worried Keith. He rarely ever saw his partner acting anything but happy, partly as a way to hide his emotions, but even then, this seemed out of character for him. Keith just couldn’t tell if Lance was upset that he got hurt, or upset with him for getting hurt. Despite his best judgement, he couldn’t help but assume it was the latter.

Keith tentatively pulled Lance’s hand away from his face, thinking they should probably talk about whatever is making Lance so upset. That’s what people did with their boyfriend, right? Talked about their feelings and shit? Keith wasn’t completely sure but it seemed to make sense so he went with it.

“Babe, are you mad?”

“Well, I mean, yeah I’m mad, some bastard is gonna leave a scar on your cheek,”

“Okay, but are you mad at me?”

Keith looked down at their intertwined fingers, not completely wanting to look his boyfriend in the eyes. Lance’s hand tightened around his comfortingly.

“Of course not, never. I’m just shocked is all,”

Keith nodded, looking up at Lance, who hesitated.

“You’re still in your Blade gear, do you want to change into some of my clothes. Actually scratch that, please, please, go change into some of my clothes,”

Keith laughed, standing up and walking over to Lance’s plain dresser that he was all too familiar with. He pulled out his favorite oversized shirt Lance owned and a pair of shorts that were hot as hell on lancey lance but was a bit too long on Keith considering his boyfriend was unreasonably tall.

Keith stripped and changed while Lance put the salve back wherever he had it in his bathroom. By the time he made his return Keith was already in Lance’s angelically comfortable clothes and slipping on a pair of Lance’s fuzzy socks that he liked to steal. Which of course meant that he could be found wearing them whenever he was at the castle to the point that it might as well be a joke that they were still kept in Lance’s room.

“Hey, uh, Keith?” Lance asked from his bed with a semi-serious tone.

[shadesmaclean]

Tradewinds 21 CH 15

Of course, the kids all came back a couple hours after the deputy shooed them away, drifting back to the scene in ones and twos. And, of course, Travis Tully returned, as well, having just as much luck convincing them to leave as the last time. “They’re probably all dead by now,” Travis taunted them. “My old man says nobody comes back from that house! You should… just… give…” He faltered as the entire mansion rocked on its foundations. Windows cracked and shattered. Doors and shutters banged and flapped. Several shingles popped off the roof, spinning away in all directions, and the front doors flew wide open. An unseen force pushed everyone back a couple steps with all the strength of a hard gust of wind. In that moment, both the children and Travis stood there in awe-struck silence as the whole place fell still and quiet. None of them were sure quite how long they stood like that, waiting for something, anything, to happen in that eerie calm. Then, just as they were starting to pull themselves back together, Shades stepped out of the looming darkness of that doorway, Melissa in tow. The other kids gave such a might cheer, that if Travis had anything to say about this most recent upset, no one heard a word of it. For good measure, Melissa held the ball over her head in triumph, sticking her tongue out at the bully who dared her to go fetch it in the first place. “But… how?” Travis stammered. “No one’s… ever…” “I thought I told you to take a hike.” “I thought you said ‘get lost’.” “Same diff.” Shades shrugged. “Trust me, in those Woods, all you have to do to get lost is take a hike.” “Now, now… I didn’t make anybody go in there…” Travis backpedalled physically, as well as rhetorically. “You went in there all by yourself…” Melissa glared at him. “While you stood and watched,” Shades reminded him. “But… but… no one…” “Oh, it’s certainly a spooky old building,” Shades assured him, “but it’s not the first haunted place I’ve walked back out of.” He grinned at Travis. “Care to take a look for yourself?” “Uh…” If Travis had a watch, Shades figured he’d probably be glancing at it about then. “I, uh, think I’ll be going now…” “By the way,” Shades inquired, “what happened to your face?” Just something about that bruise, since he first laid eyes on it. Had an ugly guess about it, but was quickly proven wrong. “None of your business—” Travis started. “That’s from when Max beat him up!” one boy declared, the others backing him up. “Shut up, you little brat!” “Max went in there?” Shades froze for a moment at that possibility. “Justin, too?” “Yeah!” the other kids confirmed. “Ha! They’re all dead!” Travis sneered, all the while continuing to back away from them. “Go on, then! They’re both gonna die if they haven’t already! Guess I’ll have the last laugh, tough guy!” “Nah.” Shades relaxed. After the black cat thing ran off earlier, an intangible wind blew through the whole place, rippling, shimmering, an invisible wave leaving the entire mansion aged and dilapidated beyond its years, seeming withered in its wake. Even that creepy door in the hall no longer held any sense of menace, so they took their chances, finding it led to servant stairs, taking them straight down to the ground floor. Moved as quickly as Melissa was able, as he could already feel whatever power he had drawn upon up there slipping away, as well, right along with whatever malevolent force permeated the place up until now. “If I could handle it, Max should be just fine. And Justin did survive the Harken Building, and that haunted island…” Somehow he knew, just knew, his friends were still alive, and he suspected he owed them for doing something, whatever it was that bailed him out there at the end of that grim confrontation, just when it looked as if all was lost. And that was about when another figure stepped out the front door. “Well, speak of the devil…” Shades remarked as Justin emerged from the depths of Vineholdt. Hardly anyone would’ve noticed Travis bugging out at this point, if Melissa hadn’t chosen that moment to call out after him. “Off with you! Ya big fart-bag!” As the other kids laughed, Shades smiled, harboring the sneaking suspicion that nickname was going to haunt Travis for a long time to come. Then he laughed out-loud as he observed Justin struggling under an armload of Castle swag. Even the kids’ laughter trailed off in wide-eyed wonder at the jingling mass of jewelry he carried, and Shades sighed at how he always managed to find stuff like this. Now that he no longer needed to keep an eye on Travis, he just couldn’t help cracking up at seeing his friend loaded down with more bling than Mr T. “Where the hell did you find all that?” “In the basement,” Justin answered. “But wait! There’s more!” After draping some gold chains on his arm to free up one hand, he reached into his pocket and produced a jade disc. Shades’ breath caught in his throat, turning his laugh into a cough. “That was in there?” “What is that?” one girl asked. “Bad news,” Shades told them. The only good thing he could see about this was that removing it from wherever Justin found it seemed to confirm that the Evil in this place was down for good, not just for the count. “I’m pretty sure that’s what caused this whole mess in the first place, Woods and all.”. At that last, the kids all backed off as if he just announced that it was radioactive. “What happened to Max?” Shades brought up, recalling the kids saying that he and Justin came to the house together. “We got separated…” Justin blurted, his treasure momentarily forgotten as he remembered what he was doing before his run-in with Phantom Eleanor and her ghastly grandmother. “There was this painting, of Eleanor… and Max said something about a cat…” “We’d better go look for him,” Shades recommended, already bracing for Justin’s inevitable objections, surprised to see none. “Go and find your friend,” Melissa piped up. “You’ve already saved me.” The other kids added their own encouragement. “Very well. Maybe it’s not such a good idea to tell your parents about this little adventure,” Shades suggested with a wink. “Save it for your grandkids.” “What’s this all about now?” Sheriff Duhan demanded as he came upon the scene, a young woman in tow. After hearing something about some deputy running off some kids hanging around the Castle, without checking on things properly, especially after hearing a couple of those newcomers figured into it, he dropped everything to go investigate this personally. “So much for that idea…” Shades muttered, noting that Justin managed to shove the amulet in his pocket before they got close enough to see it. “Well, you see…” he began, drawing the sheriff’s attention even as he tried to figure out exactly where he should begin. And the kids immediately launched into a loud, overlapping complaint about Travis Tully, with Melissa holding up the ball again as Exhibit A, as Shades accepted that there would be no withholding anyone’s involvement in this matter anyway. As if we weren’t already the talk of the town… “You went in there?” the woman, who could only have been this Sister Clarice they’d heard about, gasped. Dressed in dark grey robes and a powder blue shawl, she still looked a bit under the weather, so it was hard to tell how much of her pallor to attribute to it. Despite that, she still came out here when she heard that both children, as well as those mysterious strangers who somehow survived the Woods, were involved in this. “Sister Clarice, I presume.” Shades noted her violet eyes, the mark of Cyexian lineage, but decided not to make a big deal out of it, given its total lack of relevance to the matters at hand. “Please, just Clarice… Are you… a Seer?” Clarice tilted her head, as if trying to measure him up in some way. “Just an educated guess,” Shades told her, not sure how to explain that he recognized her from that haunting vision in the great hall earlier. “I figured you would come, once you heard…” “I have bad memories of that house,” she explained, appearing visibly ill-at-ease just standing at its front gate. “Sister Leta, right?” Clarice blinked at him. “That house has some bad memories, too,” Shades informed her, “and it likes to share.” Max and Justin nodded in somber confirmation of that. “Where did you get all that?” Sheriff Duhan’s attention, meanwhile, had shifted to Justin and his stockpile of jewels. “Well, they were in the basement…” Justin struggled not to squirm under the lawman’s scrutiny. “Given that I believe he just lifted the curse on this place,” Shades interceded, “I daresay he’s earned it, hasn’t he?” “Lifted the curse?” Clarice’s eyes narrowed in sudden suspicion. “What do you mean?” Before either of them could elaborate, Max came strolling out the front door, holding a fluffy black cat in his arms, and they all jumped in spite of themselves. Shades stepped back for a moment at the sight of that cat, instinctively positioning himself between her and Melissa. Then he noticed that the cat was just resting, curled up in Max’s arms, purring even, merely gazing out at all these strangers with idle feline curiosity. No trace of the malevolence she exuded only a short while ago, a completely different kitty. “Lydia?” Justin gasped, trying to wrap his head around the fact that he was seeing Eleanor’s kitten, Poe’s, twin sister in the flesh, all grown up. “But where?…” “It’s a long story,” Max replied. One he was not too keen on telling most of. He looked at all of his friend’s loot and found the perfect cue to lighten up. “I found her wandering around the house a few minutes ago, after whatever happened… well, happened.” “But where do you know that name?” Clarice asked Justin. In her time in Pickford, she had taken it upon herself to learn as much as possible about the Rigbys, even after their failed bid to cleanse the house, and there were few left who were privy to that particular name. “I think I met Eleanor on a ship years ago,” Justin answered, “and Poe, too, and she told me about his sister, Lydia. Liddy-Kitty.” Lydia perked up at that name, as well as Eleanor’s, glancing about with a look of anticipation, as if she expected her kittenhood companion among those gathered here. Giving way to dismay and confusion after a long moment, for she found she recognized no one. “Kitty!” one of the other kids chimed in, and they all circled around Max, wanting to pet the cat. Melissa looked concerned at first, but could see no recognition in the cat’s eyes. Just another friendly stranger who wasn’t Eleanor. “Oh, that’s definitely Lydia, no mistake,” a gruff voice declared from behind them, Jarvis Tully having materialized while everyone was paying attention to the cat. Though his eyes also kept drifting to the gold and jewels Justin had found. “I never thought I’d see the day…” Having had an eyeful of both, he turned and strode toward the house. “Have a care, Jarvis,” Clarice cautioned him. “I know what I’m about,” Jarvis muttered as he entered. “Where is that no-good layabout when there’s work to be done?…” “Tully—” Duhan began, but the caretaker completely ignored him. “Let him be,” Shades suggested, figuring Justin already set the precedent in that matter. “After all, he lost his wife in there, and his son was the one who set all of this in motion in the first place. Besides, I think we’ve seen the last of Veronica Rigby.” “I almost forgot…” Max mumbled, reaching into his pocket. He fished out a grimy, crusty-looking sheriff’s badge, handing it to Duhan. “I think you might want to see this, Sheriff.” “Taggart…” Duhan breathed, even making out his predecessor’s name engraved beneath the Pickford town seal, even under all of the grime. He hesitated for a moment, unsure if he really want to know, then came out with it. “We searched all over… Where did you find this?” “In the fountain,” Max replied, “around that side of the house, where I was attacked by… something.” “You too?” Justin gasped. “Guess that makes three of us.” It was only now that Shades noticed the faint bruising around Max’s neck, vaguely shaped like a pair of hands wrapped around as if someone tried to throttle him, and concluded that perhaps avoiding the fountain was one of the best ideas he had all day. “That thing did a real number on you…” You don’t know the half of it… Max kept to himself, then said, “Then it just fell apart…” “Just about when you…” Shades was about to say took the amulet, but decided to keep a lid on it as long as Justin chose to. “Did whatever you did down there…” “Down where?” Duhan’s eyes narrowed. “There’s a secret door in that big staircase,” Justin explained, handing the sheriff the silver skeleton key he had reclaimed on his way back up. “There’s a bunch of skeletons and jewels down there, and this big circle with three more skeletons in the middle…” “You broke the ritual circle…” Clarice concluded. “That’s how you severed her power…” “I suppose I’ll have to… investigate…” Sheriff Duhan swallowed hard as he approached the house, key in hand. Neither Shades nor his friends could help but wonder just what he ran into in there back then. “Goddess, give me strength…” Clarice prayed as she steeled herself. To gaze upon this place, even in its diminished state, the form of all of her nightmares. “Let’s get this over with.” In spite of her words, though, the house was already starting to feel less ominous by the minute. The whole structure seemed to sag in on itself, deflated, as if some cosmic poison was draining out of it. Though Shades suspected the estate and grounds would always carry some lingering trace of it,, much like that haunted island after Justin carried a very similar amulet out of another entity’s reach, and he wondered if that thing still posed any threat to passing travelers anymore. All that emanated from the mansion now was a just a malevolent, but largely impotent, presence, glaring out at them from every window, silent, powerless. “Well, I doubt anyone’s gonna be moving in any time soon,” he commented. “What?” Max turned to him. “Nothing,” Shades mumbled. “Now what say we get the hell outta Dodge?” “If it means leaving this creepy place,” Justin replied, “then what you said.” That resolved, they turned and left the kids to their new feline companion, figuring they’d be safe enough now until Clarice and Duhan returned, all of them apparently wanting to hear all about Melissa’s adventures in Vineholdt. Along the way, they showed Max the other amulet, and he was also alarmed to find such a thing at the heart of all this horror. The one thing they could all agree on was that none of them felt like keeping it in their possession for long, not even Justin. Shades and Max were both in favor of dumping it way out at sea, in the hope that it might never be found again, but Justin continued to hold out, despite having seen the local marketplace, and what little it had to offer. There really was no one around here who could afford market value for such a thing, and no one who would want it, if they had even the slightest inkling where it came from, or what it had been used for, but then he recalled one place that might. “Ya know,” Justin told them, and Max seemed to remember now, as well, perking up as he said it, “I think I might just know a place where we can sell this thing.”

[vrheadsets]

VR vs. A Busman’s Holiday

Some people don’t learn, do they? If you recall the first part of last week’s column you might remember me discussing someone getting all bent out of shape because a story about a videogame where the developers specifically mentioned the possibility they would be developing it as a PlayStation VR title was tagged witrh the PlayStation VR tag. (I know, it sounds stupid to even have to write it.)  Well, this last week they got all antsy again.

This time they were upset by a story, the latter part of which discussed a trailer being released for said videogame that was labelled up as PlayStation VR in the title – despite no official declaration of a console version yet. That’s pretty newsworthy I would say. Of course, no it wasn’t according to our friend, and no, this wasn’t to do with the PSVR either. Apparently. Despite, you know, the PlayStation VR trailer. Instead it was, we were informed, just clickbait.

Umm, I’m pretty sure that’s now how that works. Especially when a) it’s not mentioned in the title or description at all and b) the subject complained about not existing actually exists plain as day and there’s even an external video about it.

Unfortunately, their “J’accuse!” behaviour at our foul crime of labelling something what it was about ended up with Disqus deciding it was spam. I can’t blame it frankly. But the accusation was so ridiculous I was actually quite happy to leave it there to entertain people at the logic – or lack thereof. But no, they then got riled up when they found it was gone and kicked off with the ALL CAPS and F-bombs annnnnd… managing to get themselves banned. So well done there, fella.  If you’d waited another hour you’d’ve seen it reappear again.

It was a similar sense of bemusement that I felt a couple of months ago when we were in Malta. A sense that somehow this was all just an inevitability of the situation.

This of course gives me an excuse to go back (finally…) to the story of the team’s festive trip to Malta, first chronicled in VR vs. Travel.  As you might recall the entire team for once was off on a trip, including, amazingly, #TeamLeftBehind. Myself and Rebecca were going somewhere! Although where Rebecca really needed to go was hospital to have surgery – and she still very much does.

Meanwhile Peter was also far from 100% as he had some sort of chest infection/flu, and the fact he managed to review Fallout 4 VR when the code came through, spending hours in VR when the last thing he needed was to have a headset on (we had taken a HTC Vive out with us, incidentally) was nothing short of miraculous. Seeing the coughing, wheezing Peter animatedly trying to get radroaches away from his legs was one of the highlights of the trip. Sadly, Peter’s act of review heroism wasn’t thought of so highly in the comments as he never came across some of the graphical issues other did, and subsequently didn’t mark the title down for such an issue. C’est la vie! Or should that be ‘c’est la vay air’?

Anyway…

After several days hard graft and much wondering about whether we were going to blow ourselves up with the gas cylinder powered heaters that were a necessity to survive the apartments in the evening. We finally had pushed ahead enough on content that we were to be able to spend the last day actually out looking around the northern island of Gozo.  We decided to take a bus into the city of Victoria, which is Gozo’s capital and found that doing so was something of a wait. Looking around the dusty landscape, rocky outcrops and hedges full of cacti some considerable time later, I was convinced that we were more likely to have a roadrunner and a coyote come tearing past than something with wheels on it. Eventually, of course, one did. But a little seed of doubt had entered my mind. Something was off. Something was wrong.  I wasn’t familiar with public transport in foreign lands, but still, for a weekday service it felt somewhat… limited.

Arriving in Victoria after the trip in a very stuffy bus, saw me and Rebecca dodge around all the various stray cats that filled the city. Cats are to Gozo as Barbary monkeys are to Gibraltar. They’re everywhere and they’ll happily scamper off with anything remotely resembling food if they think you’re offering it to them. (I.e. you own any food whatsoever.)  Our first tourist stop was the pharmacist though, as now I was feeling pretty awful myself and Rebecca was in an awful lot of pain. Travelling through a little shopping centre of sorts, the team were surprised to find all the shops closed. That seed of doubt was germinating fast.

“Maybe they’re having a siesta?” Nina suggested. Peter and I looked at each other dubiously.

More wandering found an open pharmacist, thank goodness, and some open souvenir shops too – but even more closed stores. As we trudged down some back streets to find more and more closed businesses my seed of doubt was at this point a 50 foot tall oak tree filled with a variety of cheery woodland creatures. With a sense of dread, I opened Google on my phone.

As I’d suspected in our great wisdom we’d managed to pick, of all days to come out, Republic Day on Gozo. It was a bank holiday. No one was going to be doing much of anything.

Well… arse.

The group visibly deflated, groaning loudly. All except Nina who looked at me like I’d grown an extra head, “How did you know that?” I looked pointedly at my phone, but she didn’t get the gist so I suggested I could read perfect Maltese and pointed at a random road sign. This explanation was deemed acceptable. Resigned to making the best of things, Kevin and Peter led the way as we plodded off in the direction of the citadel.

It was a reasonably sure bet that Victoria’s Cittadella wasn’t closed – and if it was we were probably going to launch a 5-person siege of the battlements in protest. So, we marched up the various hills (much to Rebecca’s discomfort) before a final very steep road indeed.  As the rest got to the top however, Peter and Rebecca realised I wasn’t with them.  I was at the bottom still reading a pamphlet. Reading and laughing. They looked confused.

I walked up to join them, brandishing it in the air. It was for a sort of tiny private cinema. What were they showing? A 360 degree video of Gozo from the air.

“No way!” Peter laughed, “Is it open?”

“Nope!”

“Aww, damn it.”

As we chuckled over the possibility of engaging in a proper virtual reality (VR) ‘‘busman’s holiday‘, something else caught my eye halfway up the same hill. It was a picture of a Samsung Gear VR. I went over… and nearly went over. ‘Did you know that you could download a companion app to find out all about the Cittadella – as well as see it in VR?’ asked the poster. I initially thought this was the same item as the 360 degree video. But no – it was a completely different thing.

Less than twenty metres apart, up a hill, in the middle of Northern Malta we’d stumbled across two different VR items in a matter of seconds. We weren’t even deliberately looking. What was that about VR and mainstream, again? And the hilarious thing was we couldn’t try out either of them!

The day wrapped up after a trip up to the battlements, lunch at a cafe which I turned down as I wasn’t feeling hungry.  On the way back there was one final laugh. In the UK as part of us having a monarchy still you may have seen the letters ER associated with a crest. This is the Royal Crest and the letters represent the reigning monarch at the time. You can see different ones on post boxes and older buildings. Currently it is ER which stands for Elizabeth Regina; the R often referred to mistakenly as ‘royal’ but in this instance specifically Regina means ‘queen’ . I’d forgotten the place had obviously been renamed after Queen Victoria, and so her version of the crest appears in the city’s coat of arms.

Or, as I put it on Twitter…

Malta seems to be on brand… pic.twitter.com/7f0apjcUKS

— VRFocus (@VRFocus) December 13, 2017

from VRFocus http://ift.tt/2Hwfk2f

[doycetopia]

Masks "Menagerie" Campaign - Session 6 to 10

It’s been awhile since I’ve written about our ongoing Masks game (superhero antics in the vein of Young Justice, Teen Titans, or Avengers Academy), but that in no way means the game itself has slowed. Quite the opposite.

So, if only for the sake of bragging, I thought I’d catch things up.

The last time, I covered sessions 0 though 5. This time, it’s sessions 6 to 15, so buckle up.

Before I get rolling, I want to recognize two resources that have made this broad overview far more manageable.

The first is the forum that is automatically made available for any campaign you set up on Roll20.net. (Our game is played online, and while the voice chat isn’t able to handle our group’s particular challenges, the other tools it provides are invaluable.) The forum lives here, and sees continuous, nigh-daily activity in the form of fiction, world-building, general discussion, and (of course) the blow-by-blow Actual Play summaries – usually authored by Dave Hill – which supplement if not completely stand in for my spotty recollection.

(Said forum has been made even more valuable with the addition of a custom coded search/scraper that Bill forced around roll20’s forum code at great personal effort.)

The second tool is a more recent addition to our electronic tool box, a wiki built and customized (again, mostly) by two of the players, Bill and Mike. Thanks to the organization of the wiki (and downright sexy layout), I’m able to excavate all kinds of trivia and bits of game lore that might otherwise have flared and died within minutes of being introduced into a session.

With that out of the way…

When We Last Left Our Heroes…

Sessions 1 though 5 were mostly about introducing the heroes to the people of Halcyon, and the players (and myself) to the Masks system. They had a morning show interview, a downtown brawl with some bad guys, and then rode the fallout from those events, (including the speedster getting temporarily lost in an alternate, devastated version of Earth.)

Session five saw the team looking forward or inward – taking stock of the problems they had on their plate and making plans to deal with them.

It also saw their team coming to the attention of AEGIS, the SHIELD-esque organization of the Masks universe.

Issue 6

Issue 6 recording on YouTube

AP Report

One of the directives for a Masks GM is presenting adults as supportive but short-sighted; willing to help but always pushing their own vision and agenda on the teen heroes – help with strings attached. Okay.

Enter Agent Ted Waters (who’s probably going to be the most supportive, least strings-attached adult in the game – though that’s a low bar), an experienced AEGIS agent and the father-figure/handler for Link (whose actual father is super-villain Rossum the Minion Maker). Waters shows up at Quill Industries (the ‘sanctum’ for the team’s Doomed character) with paperwork in hand that will officially recognize the team by AEGIS… a move AEGIS hasn’t… umm…. actually sanctioned?

This paperwork is simple – it merely requires the team pick a name and an official leader. Easy, right?

The name had been under discussion via in-character posts on the forum, but we hadn’t brought it to the forefront yet. This was meant to facilitate that. They tell Ted the team will be the Menagerie and it gets the expected, bemused response from the older man (a good sign you’re on the right track in a teen-oriented game).

The ‘strings’ attached to this bit of help were more meta-level than an actual condition offered by Waters – the team had to pick a leader; a requirement I thought might generate some drama/angst/hand-wringing/reflection/et cetera.

It did all those things, so yay. 🙂

The team eventually settled on Jason Quill (the Doomed, played by Dave), a decision which the team treated with varying levels of seriousness. (Jason on one end of the panic-stricken-with-the-weighty-responsibility spectrum; speedster Mercury (Kay) providing the ‘whatever man paperwork is boring just write something in it doesn’t matter’ counterbalance.)

While Jason continued to process this development, Ghost Girl went and got herself in one kind of trouble (attacked by someone who saw her as a dangerous menace, starting both an arc and introducing her current Mundane-vs-Freak Hook), while Like found another (investigating a mutual friend’s disappearance and running afoul their supernatural kidnapper).

This development brought us to the end of the session with the team rushing to help GG, but split (“where the hell is Link?”), and under a leader (technically) who was still a bit in shock.

Issue 7: If the Graveyard Be My Destiny!

Issue 7 on YouTube

AP Report

(All credit to Dave for the comic-book-classic session titles.

This session was meant to introduce one of Ghost Girl’s issues and a sort-of nemesis; Ghostheart (one of the characters from the Masks Deck of Villains) whose main deal is obsessively keeping living people over THERE, and dead people over THERE, and NO TOUCHING NO TOUCHING NOT EVER.

Charlotte is all about connecting with people amongst both the living and dead (she’s playing the Outsider playbook, and filled with wonder at the modern world in which she now finds herself), so Ghostheart seemed almost a custom-written enemy for her.

Most of the session was a nighttime fight at GG’s home cemetery against Ghostheart and a couple of his summoned demonic henchthings – Rawhide and I-Didnt-Catch-the-Other-Guy’s-Name. After the fight (and some really stilted, useless, uncomfortable leadership, beautifully delivered by Dave), the heroes (reunited, since Link was tussling with Rawhide on his own, initially) tracked down and rescued the kidnappee “@powerpony” – an online-mutual of both Link and GG’s (PC-NPC-PC relationship triangles are good – need more of those).

Offscreen

The players conducted a couple Google-Doc-based scenes after this session, simply to get them done in satisfying fashion without taking up too much in-game time.

The first was Link talking with green-lantern/Blue-beetle-esque Concord about the details of the kid’s powers.

The second was between Link and Jason – an often tense but ultimately fruitful and relationship-building ‘discussion’ about what kind of leadership the team really needed (and what kind Jason could legitimately provide).

Both scenes were great, and the ‘offline’ RP option proved a good one, though we try not to use it too much, as it tends to move characters whose players have the mid-week bandwidth for such things further center stage, in a play environment (online, short sessions) where it already seems someone ends up drawing the Spotlight Short Straw every week.

Issue 8: Lo, There Shall Be an Evening of Character Interaction!

Issue 8 on YouTube

AP Report

As a means of exploring GG’s current Hook (her Mundane connections with others, versus the Freak nature of her powers), we also learned a bit more about why Ghostheart wanted GG out of public circulation – her interactions with the Living were creating some kind of ectoplasmic catnip that would inevitably attract a terrible entity known as Pandemonium to the material world.

The only way she could guarantee her living friends’ safety was stay away from them. Which sucks.

AEGIS rolled back into the picture much sooner than anyone expected, as the team called them back to take Ghostheart into custody. (The team opts NOT to go the morally-and logically-questionable route of the Flash CW show, with villains held without due process, inside a particle accelerator, and fed Big Belly Burgers on a… mostly daily schedule.)

The rest of the session involved the team either trying to help each other out with Comfort and Support-based roleplaying (with mixed but fascinating and sometimes hilarious results), or working through their own problems; Link’s robotic not-girlfriend Pneuma announced she was departing Halcyon for a bit to visit ‘someone’ in Japan, while Jason went down a digital rabbit hole, investigating how and why his nemesis Alycia Chin infiltrated Quill Compound as a lowly warehouse employee for a month.

Jason’s investigation led to a great scene where he uses his nanobots and latent genius to analyze Alycia Chin’s actions, and gets knocked cold in the process via some kind of latent … mental … something … Alycia left behind in the video recordings of her activities. Remote Memetic Programming, maybe? Image-gestalt boobytrap? That would be bad.

Issue 9: Sizzling Big Adult-Influence Issue!

The Beginning of the Day From Hell

Issue 9 on YouTube

AP Report

Morning! The second Weekday of the campaign, and time once again for all good heroes to… get to school.

(Assuming they aren’t a ghost from the civil war, or unconscious, of course.)

A while back, Concord’s player had started a discussion on the forum where we all talked about whether the Nova playbook was working for him, and we collectively came to the conclusion that the Janus playbook worked better. So we retconned it.

This session was the one where we started to get into that ‘dual identity’ drama a bit more, very literally in this case (because I am a ham-fisted hack) with Concord trying to help Link with an unconscious Jason (via an energy construct copy of himself) while simultaneously attending school in his ‘real’ body. He didn’t exactly balance this out well, and ended up being sent to the principal’s office when he confused his multiple mouths and remonstrated his English teacher for being a ‘walking deceit’ when he meant to be talking to the vision of Alycia Chin in Jason’s head.

I’d call this situation a solid B effort on my part. Maybe a B-. We get better at this in short order, though, so I’m not going to beat myself up too much.

Meanwhile, Mercury and Ghost Girl spent the morning reaching out to adults for advice and input, before Mercury had to get to school.

Harry’s dad-joking, eggplant-emoji-texting dad, Silver Streak.

This is always a fraught situation in Masks – going into a scene with an adult or adults in Masks carries an undercurrent of threat akin to an armed parley with A-level super-villains. Honestly I’ve never done as much broad-spectrum damage to the team with a bad guy as I have in scenes with their well-meaning mentors dispensing advice, constructive feedback, and (horror of horrors) heartfelt praise.

It didn’t really go better here, with both Harry’s dad and the retired ‘grail knight’ Armiger (Lucius, owner/operator of the Has Beans coffee shop, downtown) kicking in their two cents about Ghost Girl’s ongoing Ghostheart/Pandemonium problem, what they thought the kids should do about it (and, ultimately, who they thought the kids should be.) They got what they were after, but Ghost Girl at least wasn’t feeling great about it afterwards, which lead to some Condition-clearing reckless behavior later. (As it should.)

Issue 10: Halcyon High-Jinks (Hell Day, Part 2)

Issue 10 on Youtube

AP Report

Dave, Margie, and Katherine were all out of town, which left Jason recovering from his tussle with not-Alycia, Ghost Girl roaming the city doing reckless things without consulting the team, and Harry actually attending Gardner Academy (the private high school that tends to specialize in rich kids and publicly recognized supers).

Concord and Link, on the other hand, are on their way to HHS – Halcyon High South – part of the public school system, where they academically toil in relative anonymity.

Bill and Mike (and I) were excited to play around with that classic of teen superhero comics, the high school, so we had a good time with this. First order of business was to establish the normal day, and I had fun introducing some of the faculty, and went to the players to fill in NPCs (which gave us the wonderful Ms. “No!” Rodriguez, Leo’s lab partner.

I also introduced Taz, a new transfer and tech-nerd who seemed to either be a bit on the spectrum or way over-informed about Leo, or both. She showed up both in Leo’s chem class as well as at lunch with Leo and Adam, and was generally fun to play, freaked out the players a skosh, and has more going on that I’m looking forward to getting into.

With the norm established, it was time to get some Concord-grade villains on the stage, and that mean “galactic” villains. For this, I went back to the Deck of Villainy and pulled out The Farlander (who is just too weird looking and fun to play) and Sablestar who, by sheer coincidence in visual design, seemed to be … related to Concord and his powers in some way. There’s some vague hand-waving on her card about being a member of the Void Collective and something of a space-anarchist, but I already have an anarchist villain, so Sablestar and the VC became a kind of counter-(if not anti-)Concordance, in my head. We’ll see how that fleshes out over time.

So: a bit of fighting at the school with The Farlander, and the introduction of Sablestar, and as things get complicated we call it for the night, ready to bring in the rest of the team next session as things heat up.

That’s five of the ten sessions I wanted to cover, so I’ll stop here and do 11 to 15 in the next post. More soon!

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