#my friend used to joke that I was a medical mystery

[boomerang109]

WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN ITS OCTOBER TMRW

[esamastation]

Part fifty-one of Shizuroth, aka, the SOLDIER General's Self Saving Shizun.

Ao3 link.

Previous parts: forty, forty-one, forty-two, forty-three, forty-four, forty-five, forty-six, forty-seven forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty

-

"Angeal Hewley speaking."

"Well, you sound chipper tonight. Is Wutai not treating you right?"

"Oh. Hello, Genesis. How are things in Midgar?"

"Things are… they are such as they are. The work of a hero never ends. And so forth."

"That good, huh?"

"Mmm. Now do tell me why you sound like someone gone trampling all over your honour."

"Heh, nothing so bad, I promise. Just, you know. Sephiroth."

"More of his glowing Alignment practice?"

"..."

"Oh, so it's something new now? Do tell! All of us in Midgar are dying to know how things are developing. How is the Healer of Worlds doing?"

"... I guess the Turks have already reported it. Well. For one, he's learned how to fly."

"... Come again?"

"Sephiroth learned to fly. Or, I guess, it's more like weightlessness? He can make himself feather-light and just jump on tree tops and glide around."

"... Angeal, my dear friend, this isn't time for jokes."

"Oh, I'm not joking, Genesis, I'm really not. He can fly now. It's really something. He didn't so much explain as he insinuated, but I think it's some kind of gravity or mass manipulation that he can now do. Because of his Alignment practice. Apparently it's bearing fruit."

"... Wonderful. Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Goddess. We seek it thus, and take to the sky. Some of us literally."

"Suppose that's one interpretation of it."

"Tch. And I suppose by now the Good Professor has been informed, and we will be hearing of these developments from him directly."

"Probably, yeah."

"Tch. Well, I suppose it would be nice to know how to fly. How many of us will end up with our wings clipped before such heights are achieved, forever…"

"Genesis…"

"They still don't admit that there have been deaths. Janson was supposedly killed in action, but he wasn't even on a mission at the time. The others have been cadets, but it's only a matter of time."

"I'm sorry. I wish I was there."

"No you don't. Be glad you aren't - though, as G type SOLDIERs, you and I aren't compatible with these new methods anyway. Such fortune we have, such graces we have been granted."

"We all signed up for this. We all volunteered, in order to enter the program."

"Yes, and not a single one of us knew what that meant. Well, except perhaps for Sephiroth. Not that he ever truly signed up. You know, I have been looking into his history, I've dug out his medical records, trying to figure out what they are after -"

"Genesis, that's a breach of trust -"

"The lives of my men matter to me more than Sephiroth's secrets and pride. Not that the files were any help - the story they paint is more a horror story than anything. Whatever Hojo is trying to recreate, if it takes as many experiments as Sephiroth has gone through…"

"I thought they already nailed down the cause. The overdose, right?"

"That's the prevalent theory, yes. But after the first few cases of Mako Poisoning and death, they rather gave up on recreating that particular experiment at least."

"They gave up? But, aren't they still calling SOLDIERs in for extra doses?"

"They are, but there's not as much Mako in it. They're injecting something else, now - more of the carrier agent, supposedly - though Goddess alone knows how many had to be resuscitated for them to get the point."

"... What's the current total of casualties?"

"Four deaths including Janson and seven in coma, two of them SOLDIER. Oh, and one confirmed brain death, which is just lovely."

"A SOLDIER?"

"No… a cadet. What they're keeping him alive for I don't know, but… there we have it."

"... Shit."

"Angeal Hewley, is that cursing I hear?! What a day to be alive."

"Very funny. How do you know about what's going on in the labs? I thought they'd pretty much banned you from them?"

"They did, but I have my ways."

"... Right. Do your ways explain why Lazard isn't doing anything about this?"

"Not much he can do. Hojo will do what he wants, and he'd promised Heidegger a new, higher class of SOLDIER after this, so you can imagine his reaction. And of course the President is all for it!"

"Ah, I… see."

"Indeed. You know what they're saying in the labs now? They're saying that SOLDIERs were created to be the second coming of the Ancients. That we were supposed to be able to, among other things, cast spells without the need of Materia."

"I… heard something like that too, a long time ago, but I didn't put much stock in it. It sounded a bit too fantastical for me."

"Well, supposedly, that's exactly what they wanted. They gave up on it, because, well, it didn't work, and because the side effects were even more useful. Superhuman soldiers! Much better than Ancient myths, when you have a war to be fought. Only now the war is almost over, and Sephiroth has apparently figured out how to fly."

"Ah."

"I can only imagine the consequences this will have."

"Yes, um. There's something else."

"Something else? Angeal, please don't tell me you're been holding out for me."

"Well, not really, but, um. Did you know Sephiroth can speak and read the Wutai language?"

"... I didn't, but I'm not surprised. Among SOLDIERs he's spent the most time over there."

"Well, I didn't know. The Turks didn't know. I don't think it's in his file either."

"Another thing he's been keeping to himself and can no longer remember why?"

"Maybe, but, Genesis, there's… another thing. There was a group of Wutai warriors that we intercepted, and Sephiroth had a one-in-one duel with their captain - and then he spoke with him. In their language. Now, I can't understand written Wutai at all, but I can sort of follow the conversations…"

"I am duly impressed, my friend. Though more with the idea of Sephiroth having a conversation with a Wutai soldier - after having a duel with them. What, did he raise their spirit somehow?"

"Very funny, but no, he didn't kill the man. That's not the point - Genesis, the Wutai Captain called Sephiroth's accent ancient."

"... Angeal, you're kidding me."

"Not like Ancient ancient. I'm pretty sure the moniker they use for Ancients is different. Ancestor, maybe? Something like that. Anyway, Deng Yuto called Sephiroth's accent ancient, meaning really old."

"... Huh. So to recap, Sephiroth gets a massive dose of Mako, flatlines, comes back, forgets almost everything about himself, develops some new habits, has a bunch of strange questions about the way Materia, Mako, EXP and MP work… and now he's developing new magical abilities, and speaking a language like someone from a long time ago."

"That's about the size of it."

"Damn."

"... Yeah."

"... Hey, Angeal?"

"Yes, Genesis?"

"I think I have a theory of what's going on."

"I thought you might."

-

Lmao I have no idea where this is going 👀🍿

[fearfulachilles]

8. gossip & uncertainty.

chapter eight to buop (nanami kento x reader jjk medical au.) .

full contents here.

summary: you finish the week learning you'll be scribing for the mysterious dr. geto and hearing new gossip regarding kento. meanwhile, kento finished the week with being handed an offer he never thought he'd hear.

The clinic portion of the hospital is only open on weekdays, but Satoru had mentioned he’d like to open it for seven days a week in the future. You hope you’re off in med school when the time comes.

You work with Dr. Gojo again before the week ends. You’re fascinated by neurosurgery and he notices it. He tells you about his favorite surgical case during his fellowship here at Jujutsu Hospital and how he developed his own technique that helps reduce risk during brain surgery by 85%.

“That’s amazing.” You say, starstruck.

Satoru doesn't feel like a boss at times, he's easy to talk to. You ask when was the last time he had to use his technique and he says a year ago, around the time he last performed surgery.

There’s gossip of Satoru’s lack of surgery hours that you’ve heard…well, Nobara heard and told you. Some rumors say it’s because of malpractice and others say it’s because he’s been banned from the operating room by the chief of surgery. Satoru doesn’t hide the fact that he hasn’t been in the operating room in sometime, but he usually brushes it off it with a joke and never explains further.

You bite your lip and take a chance. “Can I ask why it's been so long?”

“You’re kidding, right? I have my hands full with this clinic. Surgery will be there when I’m done.” He answers, then changes the topic quickly after.

That's when Satoru shares information regarding your schedule next week. You’ll be scribing for Dr. Geto. 

“He's filling in for me, just for a day. I’ve got some bullshit meeting to go to.” The young doctor explains, rolling his eyes. 

When Satoru stopped performing surgery, Dr. Geto took over all his surgical cases, causing his surgery schedule to double. Because of that, Dr. Geto doesn’t have time to be in clinic, other than when Satoru absolutely needs him to be there.

It’ll be an exciting start to your week.

_________

You decided to Google Dr. Geto once you got home. You don’t know much of the physician, not even what he looks like. When pictures of him show up, you were taken back by how pretty Suguru Geto was. Was every doctor in that hospital good looking?

Then something catches your eye.

“Have you guys ever read this article? 'Dr. Satoru Gojo renounces titleship to famous Gojo technique.'” You read aloud to your roommates. “He gave credit to... Suguru Geto? It’s called the Geto technique now.”

“Weird. I wonder why he'd do that.” Yuji commented. 

“Maybe he stole it from Dr. Geto and finally got caught.” Nobara speculated. She always loved a scandal or drama that didn't involve her personally. You couldn't blame her, you did too. 

“I heard they're close friends, I doubt that happened.” Megumi chimed in. 

From your reading you learn that Suguru is also a gift to medicine, similar to Satoru. He was a couple years older and accomplished many things in med school, alongside Satoru, and during his fellowship in a Kyoto hospital.

Nobara decides to bring up some more gossip she's heard, her voice filled with juicy intention of trapping you into the topic. “I heard that Dr. Nanami was left on his wedding day.”

You take the bait.

“He what?” You whip your head around from your phone screen to look at her. 

Nobara nods. “Yup. He was getting married to some pharmaceutical rep, but she never showed.”

“That's probably why he looks so grumpy all the time.” Yuji says.

“Where did you hear that from?” You ask intrigued. 

“Maki told me. She's the cute nurse I told you about. She used to work there, then she quit, but Dr. Gojo hired her again.” Nobara explains. She met Maki Zenin when she got lost on her way to the cafeteria in the hospital on the very first day. Since then, the two had been texting. 

You've never bothered to learn the dating history of your past flings, but this was different. Being engagement and left at the alter are serious. You think, is he using me as a rebound?

You shake off the thought because you're not supposed to care, but you still feel something tugging deep within you. You ignore it.

_________

It had been the slowest week of Kento’s career, mentally. He had back to back surgeries scheduled and he stayed at the hospital until the early morning hours, busy with operative notes, but it had felt long and nearly tedious because you were on his mind.

The week is over and he arrives home tired. He drags himself to his kitchen and looks through his fridge. Kento feels the motivation to cook real food for the first time in a long, long time. He used to cook all the time, having a passion for it and always experimenting with new recipes.

He lost that side of him long ago, the side of him that looked forward to the things in his life and enjoyed them, as if he outgrew happiness. He thought he would never find it again. It had strained his relationship deep enough to be left stranded at an alter he never wanted to be at.

Then he met you, he talked to you, kissed you, and touched you. He saw the vibrant color of your hair, eyes, and body. He tasted your lips and felt your skin on his. It felt like he had been holding his breath for years, waiting for something to come along. Then, you came along. He made you laugh in that bar and thought this is how it feels to breathe again.

His microwavable dinners from the frozen aisle and instant coffee weren't enough to get him by anymore. He missed the spices of his home cooked meals and the richness of his favorite coffee beans. His days weren't dull anymore. He appreciated the rising sun in the sky on his way to work and the sound of chirping birds outside his bedroom window a little more. Your touch brought his senses back.

In the midst of his thoughts of you, he thinks back to when you mention your mother had Cordis Aneurisma, a slow killing disease of the heart and a medical mystery. The only fact known was that it is genetic, primarily in women, with a 50/50 chance of a mother passing it to her daughter.

Kento never really enjoyed taking chances like that. Though, he took one with you.

He had told you he didn't want anything serious, something he'd never done before. He was raised to be a traditional man, primarily by his grandfather. So, he worked towards a good and stable career with a great salary, and he was going to get married and settle down. After being with you, he knows he doesn't want to go return to that, even if it meant breaking his traditional values he was raised with, all for a chance you'll let him stay around for a little longer. He hopes you do.

He cooks something quick and easy for him before he digs up his old med school textbooks and begins searching for anything on Cordis Aneurisma. Two textbooks turn into five, and when his sixth one doesn't have anymore information than the others, he moves his research on to his laptop.

He doesn't hear the knocking on his front door until it's loud enough to bring him out of his thoughts. When he opens it, it's Asami, his ex-fiancée.

She greets him with a smile, but Kento stares blankly at her, blinking his eyes. He didn't expect her to come by today, but she has made it a habit of showing up unannounced, which usually led to them fucking on his couch.

Asami walks past him and makes herself at home, and he doesn't stop her. She places her handbag on his counter and walks further inside.

“Did you just get home from work?” Asami asks.

Kento looks down at his attire to see that he's still wearing his scrubs. He looks over at a clock in his home and realizes it has already been a few hours since he got home. He lost track of time reading up on the genetic illness.

She moves on, not taking notice of Kento’s cooked dinner. Asami was never good at noticing the small things in him. She peeks at all the opened textbooks and then over to what is on his laptop. “Do you have a patient with Cordis Aneurisma? How sad.”

Kento hadn't spoken a word yet. His face had turned back to the one Asami had known very well now, neutral to everything.

“What are you doing here?” Kento finally asks, speaking his first words to her. He dreaded thinking she was going to finally explain herself to him on why she left that day, something they both had been avoiding to acknowledge.

Asami steps her way over to Kento and places her hands on his broad chest. She's smaller than you, he doesn't like it. “I wanted to talk. I miss you.”

I miss you. She said that last time she was here, in the middle of sex. Kento had thought it was just in the moment of bliss, he had hoped it was.

“And I've been thinking about us…getting back together. I-I think we should try again.” Asami continues, sounding eager and unsure all at once. She's fidgeting with her fingers on his chest.

Her words make Kento run cold. He looks down at her face, uncertain of what to say or think. He spots her engagement ring on her finger, she had recently began putting it on again.

“We don't have to talk right now, I just wanted to tell you in person, but I'd like you to think about it.” Asami smiles with her lips closed and with a sense of uncertainty. She can’t read his face, he hardly gives her any sign of what he was thinking.

Asami removes herself from him and grabs her bag from the counter, knocking off the parking ticket Kento had taken from you. She picks it up to place it back, and reminds him, “oh—don't forget to pay that, Kento.”

She comes back to him, slipping her hand into his larger one and pulling him over to his front door once again as she makes her exit. She meant for this to be a quick visit. “You will think about it, right?”

Kento doesn't say anything in return, he just slowly nods at her words. She nods back, taking a chance and tugging him closer, raising herself on her tiptoes to kiss him. He kisses back for a moment, but all he could think about were your lips.

He didn't like comparing women to each other, but the feeling of you still lingers on him. He could only think about how much he would rather kiss you again instead of her. He abruptly breaks the kiss, pulling away, and it leaves Asami taken back.

Words don't need to be exchanged for what she felt as Kento pulled away from her, so she leaves him to think about her offer alone.

[zimithrus1]

10 Shows (gifs), 10 People 📺

Tagged by the lovely @isleofair, thank you so much for including me! This one looks like a super fun one! 💚💚 These aren't going to be in any particular order, just 10 shows that I liked enough to incorporate into my personality or just really really liked growing up 😆🌟

1 Inuyasha

My very first anime I watched with the actual knowledge of what anime even was. Shout-out to my big bro for getting me into it when I was 10. Helped me make one of my very best friends to this day and I have such fond memories of this anime. 💗

2 House MD

My favorite medical drama to watch! Some episodes had me thinking 'I can't believe my mom was okay with me watching this show' 😆 I still remember so many episodes vividly and I really want to re-watch it all again now that I'm an adult XD

3 Chrono Crusade

Oh lord the things this show did to my teenage brain 💗 I shit you not I would finish this series and then REWATCH IT ALL OVER AGAIN ON THE SAME DAY, I was hardcore obsessed with this show!! Permanently altered my brain chemistry, and unfortunately in the process I watched it so much I ruined it for my older brother 😂😂 To this date this show has one of the most powerful shows of intensity coupled with the most bittersweet ending I have ever seen 😭 Like literally, hmu about this show because there's no one else I know that even KNOWS what this show is and I am always down to talk about this one any time!! (This gif of Chrono was too cute not to use!!)

4 Tiger & Bunny

This show. These two. Holy shit. 💯 they've definitely altered my brain waves too XD This show has some of the most dynamic characterization, design and storytelling I've seen in a long time! I definitely got into it later in life but I'd say I got into it at just the right time. An anime about the nitty gritty of superhero life specifically made with adult audiences in mind 💚

5 Code Lyoko

I was obsessed with this show when it first launched on cartoon network! A unique blend of 2D and 3D animation with all kinds of dangers and hijinks. The 3D is definitely a little aged but I think it still holds up well for a show made in '03. Me and my brother used to quote this show all the time and giggle over the dumb jokes so much that my mom dropped the rule of needing to be excused from the dinner table for reasons I can't remember XD Shout-out to Odd for being my first introduction to a cat-like person with his 3D model 💜

6 Case Closed / Detective Conan

Murder mystery anime for the win!! Still ongoing even after 28 years of airing 💯 I'm going through and trying to complete an entire series watch!I didn't get into this one until 2011 with the 6th movie (they played it at our library's local anime club meeting) and only watched the dub until recently, but at least I have a lot to watch! 💚

7 Xiaolin Showdown

I loved this cartoon! Fun, exciting, well rounded characters and villains, amazing plots and fun times all around! I remember they even had a contest for this show to design your own weapon that would be later added into the show! Jack Spicer is a hilarious villain and shout-out to Chase Young for being my first fictional crush ever 💚

8 Pokemon

Raichu my beloved!!! 💚💚Aside from Raichu, I loved this show growing up. Ash was such a fun and likeable protagonist for me as a kid and heck this show is even the reason why I have my irl nickname in the first place. I legit teared up when Ash was finally no longer the main protagonist of the series anymore lol!

9 Avatar: The Last Airbender

Ironically, we did not have cable at the time this show was at the height of it's popularity, so I was only able to watch it when my parents took me and my brother over to our friends house. (Our parents were friends so naturally all us kids were friends too!) But we would all get super excited when this show was on, especially if the episode was new! I think we used to pretend to be the characters? XD And I remember the eldest sister of our friends came by one day with avatar fruit snacks for us all, it was awesome 💯💚 Zuko still has one of the best redemption arcs I've seen in a show 👌

10 Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles

A middle school favorite!! For months I wanted everyone in school to call me Sakura 😅 Still have my DVDs and a few manga books for this series. Loved it a ton even if the anime itself never did wrap up the story completely. The OVAs were bad-ass though, and a lot of the OST is still downloaded to my ipod 💯 (Yes I still use an ipod in 2024 lmao) (Looks familiar? The Manga artists of Cardcaptor Sakura, Magic Knight Rayearth, and Chobits also made this one - CLAMP!)

Holy fuck this took way longer to pull together than I thought it would! I think I spent over an hour?? XD But it was super fun anyway!! I will see if these cool cats would also like to do this one! (I can't think of 10 sorry! XD)

@prismaticpichu @up-sideand-down @kazeshxni @thatrandomartistyoufound @aerislei @enide-s-dear @waifujuju @nicoroni

And of course no pressure if you aren't feeling up to it!! 💚💚

[personalizationai]

Interested evil smirking skeleton image

If it wouldn't be a bother to you or the others in your group WHAT IS CLEANUP CREW SO SO SO COOL SO COOL ITS SO COOL!!!!!!! <- me forever abt all the goofy goobers

ok well, put simply cleanup crew is a selection of multiple ocs within a friendgroup of mine! essentially, its a collaborative project where in the free time we have, we craft a narrative through playing lethal company via improv with the only planned things being the basic ideas of events we may want to happen.

it started off as a JOKE initially. where @ballcrusher74 was watching everyone play together and playfully taunting our mutual friend to kill me (this was my first time playing mind you) for a promotion. ever since that event we started becoming more and more invested in this narrative we’ve made! there’s quite a few members here, but for a more comprehensive list take a glance at this:

this info is a little outdated! to correct some things:

- rookie has since turned 17

- spades was away for a good while, and when she returned she seems to have contracted a mysterious ailment. unsure about the details of this.

- specs no longer is a war vet, but now has a slowly unfolding plotline about their study of masks and how it will affect them personally. their author cites similarities to chujin from undertale yellow.

- BRAIN IS NOT AN OLD MAN BUT IN FACT IN HIS 20S. He has a lot of deep family issues and a lot of unprocessed trauma. He desperately wants to find his daughter, but hasn’t had any luck. That ghost girl looks awfully like her though. He always chases after it.

- Lieutenant has issues regarding memory post their deaths. It’s a “reset” of sorts. Lietenant was also gone for around the same time Spades was before returning to the crew. Lieutenant and Rookie are very good friends.

- FOUR… To attempt to summarize, Four was a member of the crew that Rookie’s father Lee was the defacto captain of. Lee was presumed dead and abandoned on a moon (on the same day he brought Rookie on a brief outing to show him his work because the kid wouldnt stop begging) and well. theres that connection. Later on after this though much much later, the navigator in their ship had gone haywire. The entire crew crashed into a nearby moon, and Four was the only survivor. He survived alone on March until the cleanup crew had found him.

- WE ALSO HAVE A NEW CHARACTER! She(?) is called Medic. Medic is a strong believer in hope and positivity, and tries their best to keep things together. They used to be on a different crew, but going off of things implied to me it was pretty bad. Medic also has a connection to Terrance. @codeopathy can explain further as I don’t wish to get any info wrong

[flowersandbirdsflyingfree]

With TF2 being a main focus again, I’ve decided to at least write my self-shipping stuff for fun for myself!

Although Excavator will likely star in future writing and/or comics, I have to admit I have more fun just slapping myself next to Medic because that is self-love to me. So the lines may blur a bit

Edelweiß (TF2 Storyline)

How did this happen? Excavator wasn’t sure herself. Seeing as Medic threw his hippocratic oath out the window, he isn’t the most reassuring. Yet they developed a close-bonded friendship with each other.

Excavator is the one who usually throws Medic a bone the most on the battlefield (and sometimes literally too). She’s fended him from near death experience many times. Her help extends in her free time to care for the baby baboon nursery and some voluntary projects.

Archimedes has taken a liking to the digging woman. She shares her sunflower seeds with him. There isn’t a day she doesn’t ask for him when seeing Medic.

It wasn’t until Archimedes had heard Ex open up about her feelings for Medic. Medic was intelligent, charismatic, energetic, surprisingly patient with her, incredibly dreamy… Archimedes spoiled this secret to the doctor!

At first, he thought it was endearing she found someone like him to be gush worthy. He might’ve playfully flirted with her in amusement to surprise her. But it’s not long until he realizes he felt the same way.

Excavator is his best friend. Ex always put him first and supported his dreams. But he also felt his efforts to protect her were fulfilled with being taken for granted. She was very sweet yet a force to be reckoned with. So much that factored in his deep-rooted affection for her. A grounding force for his racing mind.

Medic and Heavy already dated in the past, so he was worried of ruining another work relationship becoming awkward. He took the risk anyways, and luckily for him, everything turned out far better than expected.

Edelweiß (Modern AU)

Medic has cheated the devil before, so he WILL do it again! He not only lives in the same modern day as me, but he doesn’t look like he aged at all. Nothing genetic rewiring and black magic can’t fix! Doing so has allowed him to sneak into being a doctor again in a new state. He carries out his medical mysteries at home which may or may not include copious amounts of stealing for materials and tools.

We bump into each other in the middle of a HomeGoods. Although he got in to escape the cops in the evening, I’m just looking for a lamp to put in my new apartment since I just moved into town. We feel drawn to each other and exchange numbers. It’s not long at all until we become great friends.

It wasn’t long until I found out his dirty little secret in his… medical interests. However! I promised him I’d tell nobody about it. But in exchange, he found that I would have to help him as his partner in crime

Of course, feelings manifested regardless and the two of us became the world’s most unhinged power couple (well, second most compared to Zhanna and Soldier)

Now time for fun mushy stuff!

We definitely enjoy just sitting beside each other and reading our books. Usually we pick out our own separate novels. But we do like to occasionally read the same book together before bed. This will vary from a picture book to huge medical textbooks

Our main ship song is Here Is The House by Depeche Mode. Runner ups include Edelweiß (yes The Sound of Music one), Who Knows What Love Is by Strawberry Switchblade and My Heart Goes Bang (Take Me To The Doctor) by Dead or Alive

We pretty much bounce off each other’s playfulness. If you stood in another room all you’d hear is endless giggling and maniacal laughter. His energetic, kooky nature is one of my favorite things about him

Medic does enjoy teasing me for his amusement. Something about seeing me so shocked or horrified over his dark jokes or some sort of medical rambling is adorable. It's never anything mean thankfully, just lighthearted banter

I do have to chase after him sometimes if he's accidently caused anything life threatening.

We do work together. Enjoying one another's presence is a big thing for us. There are two desks down in the lab extension to our home. One for his studies and another for me to craft nearby him.

I'm genuinely surprised just how much of a hidden romantic he is. He never fails to surprise me with roses and never turns down the chance to cuddle at all. He's old fashioned but never fails to make me smile.

We both have a shared past trauma about dating partners. We used it as strength to be better people for ourselves and each other. There's at least an understanding of what we don't want to ever put each other through knowing the feeling of abuse. With my more complex childhood things however, he's not at all bitter about it.

Nothing's better than falling for your super best friend <3

[danceswithsporks]

Omg can I ask 9 with Echo??? Love your works 🖤

So sorry for the delay! I went with Bad Batch Echo for this! Please let me know if that was the wrong version to go with!

Echos disguise is based off of the ‘droid’ disguise he had in the bad batch when Hunter sold him!

Echo x Reader

"You're mine tonight, and that isn't ever gonna change."

Echo watched you flit around the ballroom in a gentle flurry of silk material. You were in your element. Born to a Senator and now following in her footsteps. One of the younger senators in the senate and one of the more outspoken against the war and the use of clones as fodder. How he’d ended up as your bodyguard was still a confusing mystery for him. One day he was working with the batch in the outer rim and the next day he was being shuttled off to Coruscant for a special assignment. That was over a year ago. Now he stood to the side of the room, disguised as a droid, watching you speak with countless other members of the Senate.

You were beautiful, a shining light in the darkness of his life. You welcomed him with open arms when Fox presented him to you. Happy to finally be working next to a clone. Cause that’s what you two were in your eyes, colleagues. Not a bodyguard and his charge, but friends. You’d told him as much in your first meeting too. Never once did Echo feel like you looked down on him, even with his special looks. He’d watched you stand up to countless sexist senators, defend him and his vod with passion, and help those in desperate need of help. Even now, when others were here at the banquet to have a good time, you were here to be the voice that so many desperately needed. While others were drinking and laughing, you were arranging medical supplies for families on the outer rim affected by the war.

Brown eyes watched as you forced a laugh at some joke spoken by the senator on your left. Echo had seen you laugh countless times and had made you laugh as well. That wasn’t a true laugh, that was your ‘I’m doing this for the sake of my program. You’re making me uncomfortable and I’d like you to go away but I can’t say that so instead I’m gonna laugh’ laugh. He watched as the man raised his hand to the small of your back and he seethed. You didn’t like being touched by people you didn’t know and seeing as this guy wasn’t moving his hand, it was time for him to step in.

“Oh, I firmly believe that this program is important. Children and families are being completely uprooted from their ancestral lands because of this war. They need our aid to help them survive.” With a shift of your weight, you tried to pull away from the man’s hand that was trying to stroke your back. You wanted to vomit from his touch.

“But do they require as much aid as you are requesting? Surely if we continue to simply give them everything, they will not survive on their own.” The Bothan senator crossed his arms as he stroked the long fur on his chin.

You fought the sigh that tried to escape your lips. This was always the hard part. So many didn’t care about those in need, they just feigned caring. “Part of the funds you’d be contributing would b-“ you coughed as a hand suddenly grabbed your ass. Did this guy really think you’d suddenly fall for him because of that? You turned to say something to him when you heard your favorite voice.

“Please refrain from laying hands on the Senator.” Echo moved the hand from your ass before sliding between the two, becoming your barrier. “Continued assault will result in removal from the premises.” He spoke in an almost monotone voice, trying to mimic the speech patterns of droids.

It made you smile the way he always seemed to perfectly time his sudden appearances. Just when you were about to go off on someone and probably look bad, he’d step in and save ya. It was hard to think about your life before him or even possibly without him now. In a way, you loved him being around. He made you smile and laugh and feel safe. Sure, safety was the main point of his job. But there was a difference between being safe and feeling safe. Echo made you feel safe and warm. You watched as eyebrows raised around the group at his remark, a few of the senators spoke to their assistants in their private languages.

The male senator seethed at the droid blatantly outing him. “And just what are you!”

“This is EC-HO. My bodyguard and assistant droid.” You patted his shoulder with a pleased smile. He’d definitely be getting thanked for this later.

The Bothan Senator tilted his head in surprise. “Interesting. I have not seen this model before. Is it new? Where did you acquire it?” He reached out to touch the droid but found his hand moved away.

Your hand went out and blocked the Senator from touching Echo. “He is a prototype designed by an acquaintance of mine. As you can imagine, he is very valuable to me.” Dropping your hand, you gripped Echo's wrist gently and squeezed it twice. The signal that you were ready to leave.

“Fascinating, I would love to discuss this droid with its creator. Perhaps you could give me their contact information.” The Bothan looked over EC-HO closely. He was very human-like.

“My creator wishes to remain anonymous until my design is finalized.” He returned the two squeezes, letting you know he understood.

Releasing his hand, you grasped both of yours in front of you. “There are still a few kinks that need to be worked out.”

Echo was so thankful for the make covering his reddening face. How dare you mention his kinks like this. “Madam, it is almost time for your call with my creator.”

You nodded, the hitch in his voice caught your attention. A smile crossed your lips as you tried not to let the blush on your cheeks become obvious. “I’m sorry, I must be going.”

“Perhaps I could escort you back to your room, Senator. It will give me a chance to properly apologize to you.” The male senator tried to live around Echo but found himself blocked once more.

“Thank you for the offer.” A hand was placed on Echo's upper arm as you prevented him from grabbing the Senator. “But I must discuss some important details with EC-HO. Goodbye.” Not waiting for a response from him, you made a speedy exit from the ballroom.

-*-

By the time you’d made it back to your room, it had begun to downpour. The balcony doors had been left open in your suite and the sweet smell of flowers and rain filled the room. That was one thing you loved about visiting Naboo. No matter what kind of weather the planet was experiencing, it was beautiful. While Echo secured your room and checked the adjoining room, technically his room, you made your way to the balcony to enjoy the rain.

The rain soaked your cream gown within moments, your hair sticking to your skin and your heels beginning to slip. You began to reach down to pull them off but found Echo already there. His real hand slipped around towards the latch on your pink heels. “Thank you, Echo.” A content sigh leaves your lips as you lean against the railing and feel your shoes slide off.

Echo ran his hand up your leg as he slowly stood, his fingers gliding across your smooth skin. “Of course, Mesh’la.” He pressed into you from behind as his lips found your shoulder. “Have I told you enough how beautiful you looked tonight?”

A shiver ran down your spine as his lips sprinkled kisses up your shoulder and onto your neck. “Just once more, my love.” Your head fell back against his shoulder when he pulled his teeth across your soft skin.

“You look absolutely stunning tonight. Especially right now.” His scomp slid forward and rested against one of your breasts. The darkened skin of your nipples almost visible through the soaked fabric.

“I bet that senator would say the same.” You felt him squeeze your side tightly, a growl leaving him as he ground the bulge in his pants against your ass. “Perhaps we should ask him to come in, so we can discuss his thoughts.” His grip became even tighter and you let out a pleasure-filled moan.

He knew you were doing this to get a rise out of him. Just like when the slit of your dress flashed his clone number tattoo that you had on your upper thigh at him while you were walking down the stairs earlier. You’d purposely bought the high-slit dress to tease him. “His only focus was fucking you because of how sexy you are in this dress.” His lips wrapped around the skin between your neck and shoulder before he sucked, a lovely mark being left behind.

“Too bad I’d rather fuck someone else tonight.” Stepping back, you rubbed your ass against his bulge. An airy moan left his lips, making you chuckle.

“Mmmm, that’s right.” His lips moved up to your earlobe. His teeth grazed against it as his voice became deeper, darker. “You're mine tonight,” his real hand snaked around your waist and dipped between your legs, playing with your clit. “and that isn't ever gonna change.”

A shaky breath left you as he began to tease you. “Wouldn’t have it…hnnng….any other way.” Your grip on the rail tightened as the rain continued to soak you two. “E-Echo.” A long moan left you as your upper body bent over the rail.

Just seeing how easily he could make you crumble sent a surge of pride through him. That was right. You belonged to him. It was his number on your thigh. His mark on your neck and on one of your breasts from the night before. And soon, it would be his seed inside your womb. “You’ve got two choices, Senator. Here, or the bed.”

Oh, fuck! You loved it when he spoke to you like this. Your room was at the back of the palace, no one else was near yours. The downpour outside was loud and muffling. “Here. Now. Please.” This could be one of your only chances to fuck outside like this, publicly. At any moment a starship could fly by and see you two together and the thought drove you insane.

“As you command, ma’am. Now be a good Senator and spread these luscious legs.” Echo fell to his knees behind you with an oomph, his hand pushing the fabric of your dress up to your hips displaying your ass and your cunt to him. “I believe you may have forgotten a piece of clothing tonight, Senator.” Leaning forward, he placed a long kick across your soaking heat. Fuck, he loved how you tasted. All hot and wet for him.

A squeak left you as you felt his hot tongue dip into your core. What that man could do with his tongue was mind-numbing. You rocked your hips back into him, loving the feeling. “I had plannnnnned” your words slurred as his thumb found your clit once more. Fuck, focusing was so hard right now. “On having…nnng… to fix my heel. Ugh!” Your mouth fell open in an ‘o’ as he sucked against your cunt. “And letting yoooouuuu.” Son of a bantha he was doing this on purpose. Your eyes screwed shut as you tried to focus on your sentence. “See that I wasn’t wearing any.” A scream of pleasure left you as his finger suddenly dipped inside of you.

“Mmm, so you planned on teasing me? You know how much I love it when you do that.” As he spoke, his hand moved from your heat and to his pocket. “I picked something up before we left Coruscant. Up for trying something new?”

“Always.” You forced the word out between ragged breaths. Echo had quickly become one of the reasons you’d started working out again. He was insatiable at times and with his enhanced stamina, you needed to train your stamina up. But even with your new workout regimens, it was hard to keep up with him. Especially when he worked you so nicely. Looking over your shoulder at him, you watched as he pulled something made out of rubber, possibly, from his pocket and slid it onto his scomp. The rain made it hard for you to see exactly what it looked like, but you could see that it was red. “W-what’s that?”

Echo smirked as he rolled the silicon cover down his scomp. “It’s designed to be a stimulating cover for sex toys. But after some research, I figured out that they also fit over my scomp.” Standing up, he moved his scomp toward your face, letting you get a good look at it. “Lick it, so I can try it in your pussy.”

Now that it was closer to your face, you could see all the ridges and textured parts of it. You let out a shuddered breath as you moved your head forward and took the appendage in your mouth. His hand found your clit once more and he began to work you vigorously. Your head bobbed up and down on his scomp until he pulled it away, an amused smile on his lips. “It’s not as big as you.” Your eyes fell on his bulge. Ugh, you wished he would just fuck you with it already. Yes, you enjoyed the foreplay and how he could make you cum with his tongue or fingers. But his cock filled you just right and you wanted to go to bed feeling full tonight.

“Mmm, couldn’t have you wanting my scomp more than my dick.” His scomp slid down your back, between your cheeks, and against your core. “Now, are you ready?” You nodded slowly. “And what’s the safe word?”

A gasp left you as you felt the scomp begin to push in. “F-Fives!” His lips found your neck once more and he peppered sweet kisses against your soaked skin while slowly moving the scomp into your heat.

“Good girl.” Looking down at his scomp, he watched it disappear into you. A groan left him as you keened into his ear. “How’s that feel?” He pulled it out slowly before pushing it back into you.

Another long moan left you as he continued to move in and out at an almost maddening slow speed. “G-good.” You weren’t sure it could feel any better until it suddenly began to vibrate and twist. “Oh, fuck! Echo! Fuck!” Your knees began to shake as the feeling rushed through you. Already that string deep inside you was tightening.

Echo’s hand moved to his pants and quickly pulled out his cock. His hand pumped in time with the chants leaving your lips. The way you were screaming his name and moaning was enough of a turn-on for him. “That’s right. Keep screaming my name. Cum on my scomp.” It was something he never expected to say but stars how he loved it.

That wasn’t going to take you long. Relaxing the railing, you moved your hand between your legs and started rubbing your clit. “C-close. Faster, please.” Your hips rocked back and forth as you chased your release. So close, you just needed that one thing to push you over the edge.

“Anything for you.” He fell to his knees and angled himself so he could suck on your clit while still fucking you with his scomp.

“Oh, shit!” That was exactly what you needed! Your head fell forward as you screamed his name. Your orgasm hitting you in a gloriously blinding light of ecstasy.

He loved watching you cum, loved hearing you scream because of him. The scomp continued to thrust into you as you rode out your high, his tongue running slow circles over your clit. After a few more thrusts, he pulled the scomp out and pushed his face into your cunt. His tongue danced against you, drinking up every drop of honey that he could. “This is my favorite dessert right here. I could eat you every day.” Sitting back on his heels, he watched as your hips sway side to side. Your slick ran down the back of your legs and he couldn’t stop from leaving forward and licking some of it away. “Ready for more?”

“Stars, yes!” You needed him to fill you up already. “Fill me and you can have me every night.” The sound of him chuckling drew your attention. Looking over your shoulder, you watched as he stood and lined himself up with your cunt. “W-wait!” He raised an eyebrow to you in surprise. “Kiss me? You haven’t this entire time.”

“How rude of me.” Echo turned you around and pulled you into a deep kiss. His hand slid into your soaked hair and gripped it tightly. Stars, how he adored you. Adored the taste of your lips and how perfectly both of you fit together. His tongue danced against yours as a happy sigh left you and you melted into his arms. A smile rested on his lips as he rested his forehead against yours. “Want to move this inside?”

“Not yet. Want you to fill me out here first.” Your hand slid down the front of him and gripped his hard cock. He was so damn big with the most perfect curve you’d ever seen. It hit that spot inside your perfectly every time.

Echo chuckled as he rubbed his nose against yours. “Keep talking like that and I might start thinking that ya me to breed you.”

You licked your lips at his words. “Maybe one day. For now, I just enjoy the practice rounds.”

His hand released your hair and fell to your ass. Giving it a tight squeeze, he listened to you squeak before turning you around once more. “Then let’s get back to practicing.” Lining himself up with you once more, he leaned over and whispered deeply to you. “After all, practice makes perfect.”

[luke-shywalker]

home again.

“Rey! Come down! You’re going to be late for school!”

“I’m coming, Mum! Geez!”

“Han, would you wash out the caf pot—no, wait, you broke it last time. Just leave it alone.”

“You could have a little faith in me, Your Highness.”

“Don’t ‘Your Highness’ me. Get that scrappy kid to school. And tell her not to beat up any more boys.”

“Rey, don’t beat up any more boys. Just tell ‘em who your dad is.”

“Right, Dad—and they’ll be all like, ‘Han Solo’ who?”

“For kriff’s sake, why am I getting the rough end from both my ladies today?”

“Han, language. But—sorry. Kiss! Mwah. Go upstairs and check on Ben when you come back, all right? Have a good day at school, Rey! Bye, flyboy.”

“Bye Mum!”

“See ya, sweetheart.”

The sound of the door closing.

“Oi. Mum’s always so stressed.”

“Rey. I know your mother doesn’t want you picking fights. But, as your father, I just wanna tell ya I’m proud of you for sticking up for yourself, and I want you to know that if you ever feel like you gotta—”

The door closed again, leaving the rest of the conversation a mystery.

Ben sighed and rolled over in bed. The house he’d grown up in had always been like that—you could hear everything that went on from any room.

He hadn’t lived here for a long time—seven years, about? And yet, it felt like he’d never left. Or, like he’d gone back in time.

There was evidence that Rey had started using his bedroom as kind of a garage—not that she didn’t have enough space in her own room (which required one to wade through knee-high levels of…just…stuff, and rather resembled the wasteland she had been rescued from). His desk, where he used to draw pictures of his own made-up ships and write himself into fictional stories about the Rebellion, was covered in mechanical pieces and bits of wiring from Rey’s projects. But other than that, his room was largely unchanged. The X-wing posters were still there. And so was the Sy Snootles pinup that Poe had given him as a joke. He was both surprised and amused that his mother had never taken it down.

But, then, it also felt like time had moved on without him. He’d been here for a few days now—consigned here by a freak medical crisis—and watching his mom and dad and sister play out the daily orchestration of their lives kind of made him feel like he had died after high school and his family had just kept on doing their thing.

Being around Rey was the weirdest part. The last time he had lived in the same house as his sister, she’d been seven, eight years old. Obviously, he’d seen her since then, every Life Day, and a few other times each year—but whenever Rey showed up in his dreams or in his mind, she was still seven.

But now she was fifteen, and she was…him. All those memories Ben had of being a teenager, of doing homework at the dinner table, fighting with his parents over nothing, using words that meant things to his peers but that his family didn’t understand, laughing on late night holocalls with friends and getting yelled at to go to bed—that was her, now. And now here he was, twenty-five and boring.

His boringness was evidenced by the fact that he missed buying groceries and making his own food. His parents couldn’t cook. They never could. Rey could eat literally anything, so that didn’t bother her. But Ben missed making his own dinner—maybe it was about the food, but maybe it was also just about the sense of control.

He couldn’t pilot a speeder in his current condition, so he was stuck here. He could go on walks, but he didn’t want to most of the time, because it made him dizzy.

He found himself alternating mostly between sleeping, and wandering the empty house during the day. Trying to spot things that had changed. Looking at the holopicture frames. There were still holos of him, but there were more and more holos of Rey. It was like getting caught up on her life since he’d left home.

Being off work felt like summer vacation. Only…bad. Because doing nothing all day was fun for a kid—but for a grownup, it was kind of like hell. The hours blurred together into sluggish, amorphous days, and he just kind of found himself places, doing things—oh, hey, I’m here now. Now he found himself downstairs in the kitchen, washing out the caf pot that his mom hadn’t trusted his dad not to break.

That was another thing—he didn’t like the caf his mom made. She used really cheap caf grounds that she bought in bulk, which was exactly what she would do, being practical—but ever since leaving home, Ben had discovered good caf, and it was hard to go back.

It was hard to go back to a lot of things.

He set the caf pot on the rack to dry, and for a second he just stood there, looking out the kitchen window. Is this who I thought I’d be as an adult…?

Am I an adult?

And then he noticed that Rey had left the blue milk uncapped and on the counter, and the carton was sweating and becoming lukewarm, and that really pissed him off, so he capped it and put it in the fridge like it was supposed to be—and that told him, yes, he was now just a boring adult.

…Well. Maybe being a boring adult was better than being a teenage psychological mess, which was what he had been before.

He filled a glass of tap water and drank cheers to that.

Ben heard the door open, and turned to see his father coming back in.

He gave a nod. “Hey, Dad.”

“Oh, you’re up,” Han said. “How ya feelin’, kid?”

Ben imagined his dad would probably still be calling him “kid” when he was forty-five.

“I’ve been better,” Ben said, then changed the subject, because he was kind of sick of talking about his health. “So. How’s being house husband?”

“Hey.” Han pointed a defensive finger. “I am not a house husband.”

“Hey, I never said there was anything wrong with it,” Ben chuckled into his glass of water. “You’re doin’ great, Dad. Maybe she’ll even let you wash the caf pot someday.”

“Listen, kid, that was one time.”

“Oh, I’m just givin’ ya a hard time, old man.”

“Uh-huh. And when are you getting married?”

“Never. Women find me intolerable.”

“Funny. I said the exact same thing, at your age.”

“You know, I can’t believe Mom settled for you,” Ben joked, curious to see how the jab would land.

But Han just grinned and inclined his head and spread his arms in humility. “That’s what I’m sayin’, kid. If there’s hope for me, there’s hope for anybody.” He paused mischievously, and then took a shot back. “Even if you never inherited my dashingly good looks.”

“Ha! You mean I was spared from them,” Ben snorted. “Well, thanks, Dad; I’ll keep it in mind.”

Han laughed too. Insults were kind of a love language in their family, as weird as that sounded. He came over to lean against the counter next to Ben, then clapped him on the back and looked him in the eyes, like he was studying the man Ben had grown up into.

“Hey. I know the circumstances aren’t great, but…it’s kinda nice, having you home, Ben. I miss ya.”

“You do?” Ben asked with a self-conscious laugh, feeling more sentimental about his father’s words than he was comfortable admitting. “Kind of seems like your lives all went on without me.”

“Well…yours went on without us, too,” Han said, then shook him by the shoulders a little. “You need to call home more often, little buddy.”

Little buddy—Ben was a couple inches taller.

“I know,” Ben said, patting the top of his father’s graying head. “I’m just bad at it.”

“That’s no excuse.” Han tilted his head conspiratorially. “A house husband gets lonely, ya know.”

“Heh. Well. Can’t have that, I guess.”

They stood there, together. Father and son. The Solo men, Leia called them, when she was feeling playful.

“…Wanna take the Falcon out for a spin?” Han asked suddenly.

Ben turned to look at him, so abruptly it made his head hurt. “What—like, right now? I can’t pilot, Dad. The medcenter told me—”

“You can co-pilot.”

“No, Dad, I so can’t.”

“What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Uh, I get us both killed? No, wait—what’s worse is if Mom finds out.”

“C’mon.”

“Dad.”

“C’mon!”

“No!”

“Come on—”

“Okay!”

“Okay?”

“Okay. Geez.”

“All right!” Han tousled his son’s hair as if he was twenty years younger and tossed him his boots, which Ben started putting on amidst a sea of complaints—

“For kriff’s sake, Dad, fine, but I’m tellin’ ya, I can’t see that good right now, and I haven’t even piloted the Falcon in ages even if I was healthy, and this was all your stupid idea in the first place, so don’t you go giving me hell if I happen to put a scratch on your beloved—”

Han only laughed, while Ben was still talking, and the door closed, leaving the Organa-Solo house quiet again.

[articskele]

YIPPEEE MEADOWCLAN INFODUMP :D

Basically I took the Tomodachi Life philosophy of shoving all of your OCs and favorite characters into Situations together and applied it to warrior cats to see what would happen and it’s so fun and I already have so much lore akjfldf!!!!

OK SO. Meadowclan! This grassy hilly area with lots of flowers, a river, and a forest off to the side! Cats often decorate their fur with flowers, both bc it’s pretty and to hide their scent so they can hunt more effectively.

Kits batting at butterflies and bees (and quickly learning not to attack the latter lol). Cats mostly hunting rabbits and birds and fish, with the occasional frog or deer or fox.

And then there's the Moontree, this big old cherry blossom tree at the edge of the territory, whose petals seem to glow in the light of the full moon. Maybe there's some water pooled at the roots, and when significant events happen, cats will look up to see cherry blossom petals blowing in the wind ouo

---

Mothstar arc, aka We Didn't Start The Fire:

It's a rough concept but basically there's a prophecy from Starclan about fire overtaking the valley, something about snow and flowers. It's around the time the clan was first founded so Stonestep (Stone) was going to be appointed leader, but he dies under mysterious circumstances.

Mothblaze (August) becomes Mothstar and is appointed leader, though I'm thinking he doesn't get any extra lives? Something something the clan is just starting out, Starclan is quiet, this is new territory so nobody's there to give the lives, I dunno.

He's charismatic and pretty good at keeping the place running since times are tough, but more suspicious things happen and the rules start to get bent and changed. Cats get exiled and poisoned.

Snowblossom (Artic) discovers the truth and tries to expose him for the murder of Stonestep, he tries to start a controlled fire as an exertion of power but it quickly gets out of control (a gas canister near twolegplace?) The fire is stopped and Mothstar gets kicked out, left to wander the forests beyond the territory.

Which actually lines up fairly well with canon August's story; founding a town, creating a well-managed but ultimately corrupt system, messing with forces outside of his control in an attempt to show power, and getting exiled once his lies are exposed.

(Except in the case of canon, August supposedly drives off this calamitous dragon and uses that to emphasize how dangerous the mountains are and that it's safer with him, until Artic figures out that this dragon is herbivorous and only acting this way because of people being aggressive to it and taking its territory.)

Shimmerwing (Estelle) becomes Shimmerstar as the new leader, and is given a second life by her ghost cat husband Stonestep. Also she was the one who discovered the Moontree!

Cherry blossom petals are seen flying in the breeze above camp, and Snowblossom keeps one in her fur ouo

At one point Mothstar tries to come back to take revenge, but Shimmerstar just stares him down like "this is my house now bitch" alksfjdf

I was joking around with a friend about her giving him coal BUT COAL IS USED FOR FIRE SO IT’S LIKE MAKING FUN OF ALL THE DAMAGE HE DID AAAAUGH

---

Birchfall arc, aka that time the Onceler invented cat capitalism. Catpitalism, if you will:

So cat Onceler starts out as a kittypet named Ollie but ends up in Meadowclan. He's loud and clumsy and easily grossed out, pretty rubbish at hunting and fighting, and he keeps sneaking into the medicine den to eat the mallow-

But what he does have is knowledge of twoleg stuff, and he invents a system using herbs as currency. It quickly catches on and spirals out of control, because now cats are picking so many herbs that they can't grow back.

And with all these herbs being stashed away or constantly in circulation, Nettlefur (Medic TF2 the medicine cat) can't get his paws on the plants he needs to Do His Job.

So it ends with Birchfall getting exiled and he just. Goes back home to being a kittypet like nothing happened akfjakdf

---

Misc character stuff:

- Mothstar is this longhaired splotchy mix of red-orange and brown, with markings on his sides that resemble a moth's eyespots!

- Snowblossom is a small floomfy white cat with blue-gray stripes and little spots on her face like freckles ouo!

- Daffodil is either a birman or ragdoll? She's Snowblossom's mom, currently in the elder's den getting some much needed rest ouo

- Shimmerstar is this sleek black cat with shiny fur that turns blue in the light, like a crow! And the classic white four-pointed star on her forehead

- Nettlefur is a silvery german longhair with the messiest fur alive. He brought a cat back to life once and Starclan HATES him for it

- Stonestep and Thornsong (Cedric) are tuxedo cats but Stonestep has gotten more and more white fur with age, like this! Also Stonestep has a missing arm like in canon + a bobbed tail, and Thornsong has a rose in his fur ouo

- Unlike canon Stone who died before Cedric was born, Stonestep is still alive by that point so he was able to mentor Thornsong and be there for him when his parents dipped out ouo

- Doveheart (Dove) is this cream point ragdoll (white heart mark on chest? White lily in fur?), Maple (Mel) is this BIG floomfy orange and white tabby loner, and they and Thornsong all meet up at the clan borders to hang out. They’re friends your honor

- Cloudpaw (Cloud) is an all white cat, and Dustpaw (Petra) is a sandy brown cat with long ears and a bobbed tail that make her look like a rabbit ouo

- Cloudpaw is super fast while Dustpaw can jump super high, so they work well together! And since they never got separated like in canon, they never had such a strained relationship and they love going on adventures together!

- Their warrior names are Cloudflight and Dustbite! Which is an Another One Bites The Dust joke but also fits the rabbit theme bc dust bunnies!

- Twinkie (Wink) is a red-pink kittypet with a shimmery light blue bow and polydactyl paws!

- Birchfall is a tall, lanky gray cat with white on his belly and socks and face, darker gray stripes on his tail and legs and back, and little freckles hehe ouo. As a kittypet he likes wearing tiny hats

- I haven’t fully decided on a name for Ink but I’m calling him Leafwhistle for now! He’s a calico that was originally a loner, joined for free food, but nothing really changed and he just comes and goes whenever he pleases and nobody has been able to stop him

- Harespring (Springtrap). Yknow that one post about the green cat? He looks like that, but with a lotta scars (including burn scars from the fire), longer ears and a bobbed tail like Dustpaw.

- Harespring is the guy that Mothstar framed and subsequently exiled for Stonestep's murder, but they brought him back after everything gets resolved lol. Currently in the elder's den telling the apprentices scary stories

- Hollypaw (Holly) is one of if not the most reckless cats in the clan- She got exiled during Mothstar's rule for snooping around too much, and she has a habit of eating berries without checking if they're safe

- Her warrior name is Hollydash! Also what if she's the one Nettlefur brought back from the dead bc she ate deadly berries alfkds

- Cloverleaf (Forgetica) is the mediator aka the much-needed therapist

- Spiderfang (Sylvain) is a gray-blue oriental shorthair, very angular shapes. He thinks Nettlefur is the coolest dude ever which is such a bad influence alkfsjd

- Sporeshade (Kieran) is this short and stocky brown maine coon, with a scar over his nose like in canon. He has a rogue partner named Concerto (The Escapist), but nobody knows what a concerto is or how to pronounce it so they just call him Connie for short akjfsdf

- I'm thinking Cloudpaw is being mentored by Thornsong, Dustpaw is being mentored by Doveheart, and Hollypaw is being mentored by Leafwhistle? Also maybe Spiderfang is a second medicine cat

Heeehehehe ouo

[mushroompapitheoriginal]

Me and my friends wrote this for school for project a while back and I just want to share my pride a joy. So enjoy:)

Tristan Lament, 34, a doctor specifically a neurosurgeon from Gretna, Louisiana known for his disoriented, knowledgeable personality by those who know him, but by just looking at him you wouldn’t guess that he has been battling Seasonal Affective Disorder or S.A.D. a form of depression that occurs depending on the season and appears around the same and ends the time each year. Now, in Tristan’ life there isn’t much to be saddened about with his high paying job, a ray of medical mystery books, two Saint Bernards, Tomato & Toma-to, three blind mice named Jose, Jorge, & Todd respectively, a lively Reddit platform and comfortable living arrangements in a cozy Gretna apartment with his roommate, Terrance, a convicted Felon. Tristan has the more common type of S.A.D. that appears during the winter months unlike his aunt who suffers from the same condition, but he S.AD. appears during the summer months. Though originally from Alaska, Tristan moved to Louisiana due to its short winter months, warm weather, and excellent job opportunities. Sometimes during the winter months which are naturally dark and gloomy, Tristan needs to take antidepressants to cope or he uses his personal light therapy lamp.

Dramatic Backstory HERE ( When Tristan was born he was a normal child from being born in the summer with an older sister. As soon as fall rolled around Tristan never wanted to leave his home as his dad left him at three years old. His best bud walked out with only the milk in hand. Yes you read that right. He didn't leave to get the milk. He stole the milk. Tristan watched him leave slowly and dramatically. That day he quickly became lactose intolerant and very homophobic.(This is JOKE) His mother after his fathers’s event became addicted to her lactose medication which worsened her schizophrenia causing violent outbursts of her. After a year of his mother's spiral, her custody was revoked and the kids were placed to live in the foster system until Tristan’s aunt was eligible to take care of the kids. Over the seven years Tristan spent in the foster system, his odd behavior during the winter was noted by his caregivers, resulting in when he was finally able to live with his aunt, that he was diagnosed with autism and deafness in his left ear. For the first year he spent with his aunt, she noticed the way his usual curious persona was changed with a low energy, withdrawn personality as the winter months closed in. As someone who had Seasonal depression she could spot it in the desperate little autistic child right away. At 13 he was taken to a doctor to get tested for his depression and the doctor said “Anapple a day keeps the depression away, you sad little depressed boy.” After that Tristan got very very upset and became determined to become a neurosurgeon to one day destroy that doctor in a single operation to destroy that tall caucasian doctor named Dr.Alan Joseph Julian-Emily-Jasmine-Mia-Hugo-Evan-Chevy-James-Urserious-Matthew. He was a very respected doctor. (Tristan will later destroy his fame.)

The white is me, the green is @annaleah223333 , & the blue is my mandated ginger

So hope ya'll enjoyed

[sentofight]

When Stacy had joined the UNSC, she had made countless friendships, protected the galaxy and all that lived in it. She was never prouder to have served but it was her time afterwards that would find her in the more…stranger situations. When a part of Alpha squad, she was the heavy gunner of the squad. It was her job to pin down enemies and give her squad covering fire. It didn’t give her much civilian job experience but she did work as a firearms instructor after her tenured in the UNSC. She still kept in contact with her old squadmates, including Rebecca though their communication was limited given Rebecca’s new position. To think she would be friends with royalty. They would hang out from time to time and she even babysat for the two when they would vacation in the UEG. She was always excited to see the little ones. At this point they called her Aunty Stacy and it was just the cutest thing.

So imagine her surprise when one day Spartan-197 and a mysterious woman who looked similar to Lucina but older appeared in her store one day. When she first heard that this mysterious woman was the same little girl that she had watched over was certainly out of left field. There was no way that the time went by that quickly. Stacy almost laughed thinking this was a joke but she saw that 197 would dead serious. Listening to this Lucina certainly made her realize that this was no joke. It was a lot to take in and one she would have to have Rebecca explain just what happened during her disappearance period. Though looking at this older It was then she heard the reason on why they were just here in the first place. This Lucina wanted to join the UNSC like her mother. She wasn’t really in a position to say no. Rebecca was one of her best friends and she owed 197 a lifetime debt after he had saved her. So when she heard that Lucina wanted to be trained to become a Marine, she was going to do it.

Stacy had been training Lucina for both her physical tests and aptitude test. It was important that she was taught on just what weapons she would be using as a Marine and the many different jobs. She could be a field medic like her mother, a sniper if range was more her thing, a navigator if she was more inclined to follow star charts. Something she would have time to figure out before going to boot camp. Stacy currently had Lucina running around a practice course. After making her go around the tract to go the distance of 4.82 kilometers, Stacy had clicked her stop watch that read a time of thirty one minutes forty seconds. It wasn’t a bad time but she would need to do a little better to make the cut. Stacy blew a whistle to signal to Lucina to take a rest. She walked over to her with a water bottle and the stopwatch.

“Not a bad time kid.” She said handing her the bottle. “thirty one minutes and forty seconds is pretty good though we will need to cut this by another minute for you to qualify. You’ve got your mother’s determination in you that’s for sure. Tell me. Why did you want to join the UNSC? I don’t want to dissuade you from this choice if it’s what you want to do but it’s not a decision to be made lightly. There’s a lot of choices to be made in it. Firstly which branch you want to join and then what job you want to apply for. I’m sure you are well aware that your mother was the field medic of the squad but there are other options as well. I was the heavy gunner of the squad. Got to deal with all sorts of heavy weapons. It was my job to cover my squad if we ever had to move from one position to the next. When you join you’ll be given a placement test that will show you which jobs you’ll fit in the best at according to different factors. Of course you can always choose something different than what the test suggested. It’s up to you to decide what you want to do.”

It was not strange that Lucina would favor one of her parent’s occupations. Hearing all about her mother’s glory days in the marine, made her grow fond and in awe of what she used to do. Lucina asked her parents and grandpa to help her get in that job like her mom and certainly it brought joy to Rebecca but a mixed feeling of concern and proudness. 

Spartan had brought her to whom who would help her achieve that dream--Stacy. Explaining that she wants to be like her mom and help in whatever she can, Stacy yielded and helped Lucina prepare for what will come to her in the future of this job.

Running was not bad but naga’s mercy achieving a certain time record is a tough job. Drenched in her sweat, Lucina was trying to take her breath when Stacy said she got a good record but she needs to do a little better.

“Huff... Gods ... this...is tough than I thought,” rubbing her sleeve against her forehead to wipe her sweat, she fixed her posture and took a deep breath. “I want to have different options to help people,” she is blessed by her natural father strength and her mother’s stamina, not to mention sword skills and other skill sets from her home realm. “I want to be able to do more than swing a blade to protect my family and friends.” 

She closed her eyes and opened them and you can tell the determination in her eyes. “I’d want to aim for a role like my grandfather, honestly, but I want to see where my abilities will be of use the best. Now, shall we go again, Miss Stacy?”

[cartoonus-maximus]

Notes and Observations on FNAF TFTP Vol 3: Somniphobia

So… Volume 3. It sure is a volume. Regrettably, I was bored through most of it. Like, I enjoyed it more than I did Volume 2, but that's an extremely low bar. I thought the Epilogue was the best part of the whole volume, tbh.

These are my notes and observations made while listening to the audiobook, which I borrowed from my local library. Fair warning: there will be spoilers. If you want the whole experience for yourself, you should skip this and go read/listen to the book yourself first.

I like the cover art, though. It's simple but fun. Just the way I like my silly children's horror books from Scholastic.

Note to any Moon fans who just happen to be here: he only shows up at the very end of the first story. He doesn't say anything. In fact he mainly just stands there and stares weirdly at the protagonist. However, he and the protag end up walking off together to "seek out adventures," so there's that. Do with that information what you will.

We also get a surprise appearance of Ballora in one of these stories! Which I found to be a very pleasant surprise and one of the highlights of this volume.

Here are my observations on the other books from this series, if you are interested.

That's enough intro. Let's get into it.

"Somniphobia"

Somniphobia -- the fear of sleep. Generally caused by bad experiences with nightmares, sleep paralysis, or other bad experiences had while sleeping.

The story opens at a yard sale, where an older married couple are scoping out the yard sale that their neighbors are putting on. They discuss the reason behind the yard sale, and tell us that their neighbor's son has mysteriously fallen into a coma, and because of this the neighbors are selling off a lot of their possessions in order to pay medical bills. One of the items being sold by the family is a toy that belonged to their son -- a snowglobe-like toy with a Daycare Attendant Moon figure inside. The implication is that this Moon globe is the reason for why this boy has mysteriously fallen into a coma.

We then transfer our attention over to our actual main character, a high school boy named Sam Barker. Sam and his friends are eating lunch and talking about weird fears that they each have, from cliffs to clowns to amusement park rides. Sam apparently has a long, extensive list of fears, so much so that his friends roll their eyes and make fun of him. (And no, none of the fears listed at this point will be important later. Wasted foreshadow potential.)

Later that evening, Sam and his friends go to a party at a classmate's house. He's too socially awkward to really engage much with the other party goers, so he mostly just… hangs out.

He ends up talking with Lydia, a girl he's had study group with before, and she flirts with him before trying to get him to try an alcoholic drink with him. Sam refuses the drink, talking about how unsafe and unhealthy alcohol is. When Lydia tries talking about how she wants to try cliff diving, Sam starts telling her what the statistic likelihood is of her being injured or dying from that hobby. Obviously uncomfortable, the girl politely ends the conversation and leaves.

Sam's friends all harangue him about being such a wet blanket. One boy, Jules, tries to force Sam to drink the alcohol (to lighten up!), and Sam has a panic attack. Sam goes home alone, and his friends, feeling bad about sending him into a spiral, leave shortly thereafter. Jules argues that he was "just joking" and didn't do anything wrong, but the other three boys in the friend group tell him off. (Well, at least these kids don't universally suck.)

Some time later, one of the members of the friend group, Raad, decides to spend his birthday at the Pizzaplex. (Because it's soooo common for high school seniors to spend hours at a Chuck E. Cheese place, I guess????) The whole group goes with him.

(The audiobook narrator mispronounces "Fazer-blast." Not important to the story, just mildly annoying.)

At the Pizzaplex, Glamrock Freddy and Roxanne Wolf walk around the building, interacting with visiting children. Sam wonders if they're human employees in costume or if they're the real animatronics. (Pretty sure those are the animatronics, pal.)

Despite wanting to hang out and have a good time with his friends, Sam feels overstimulated. He thinks of the Pizzaplex as "constant sensory overload." He thinks everything is too loud, surrounded by the noises of the arcade games, animatronic performers, music being pumped over loud speakers, and the general chatter of the patrons around him, and he can't escape the smells of pizza, popcorn, and cotton candy.

Raad takes them to an arcade room of the Pizzaplex. He says he wants to win a "Moondrop Dream Sphere," which is apparently a top prize in the Pizzaplex arcade. He explains that the thing -- a little ball with a figure of the Moon Daycare Attendant in it -- lights up and is supposed to 'help you slip into a hypnotic state and focus better on things.' The toy "is supposed to take things from your subconscious and bring it more clearly into view." He says he thinks it could be helpful for studying, as he is desperately failing physics and is willing to take any help he can get. (That's… so weird.)

The DA character is called "Moondrop the Jester" in this story.

The boys apparently come here often, and already have 790 tickets saved up. Since the Moondrop Dream Sphere costs 1,000 tickets, the boys are determined to earn them all today. They manage it, earning 1,001 tickets and earning their new toy. Thrilled with their winnings, the boys return back to Raad's house to try the thing out.

When Raad pauses to greet his pet dog, Sam immediately launches into a story about a man who had his face eaten off by his own dog. Raad does not enjoy the anecdote, or the implication that his own dog might do that. (Oh my god, Sam! Ya gotta install a mouth filter, buddy. Some thoughts need to stay in your head.)

(Sam gives me autistic vibes. Don't know if that's intentional or important or neither. And given the fate of the *last* character to give me autistic vibes, I'm a little wary at this point.)

The instructions on the toy advise only using it for 10 minutes a day. Setting a timer, the boys take the snowglobe/jester toy out, along with their school notebooks, and prepare a "hypno-study session."

Once the Dream Sphere is turned on, the boys are sucked into some sort of shared, lucid dream experience, where they're all sharing knowledge and memories from their textbooks. They walk around the Egyptian pyramids out of Jules' history notes, while also reading and memorizing physics facts. When the ten minutes are up, the Dream Sphere powers itself down, and the boys return to themselves.

Raad lets Sam borrow the Dream Sphere, and he takes it home with him. Sam uses it to study the next day, and it leaves him feeling so good and happy and energetic afterward, that he cleans up the apartment he and his mother live in and even cooks dinner for his mother.

The following day, Sam decides to use the Dream Sphere again, this time deciding to use it for 15 minutes, blatantly ignoring the instructions that came with it. (A strange thing for the "everything is dangerous and you could die, actually" guy to do.)

"Sam heard rock music blaring from his mom's bedroom. Mom was painting again." Lol. Anyone walking in on me doing art.

"… like a human computer downloading a file." … Interesting way to phrase that.

After staying in the Dream Sphere for 15 minutes, Sam finds himself reliving a memory from his own childhood, a memory of playing in the park with his late father. Something "blue and gray" shifts in the corner of his vision. (Hello, Moon!)

Over the next few days, Sam uses the Dream Sphere more and more, using it to re-experience the time he spent with his dad. He uses the sphere for longer than the instructions suggested each time. Every once in awhile, he thinks he sees a hat with a bell or something blue out of the corner of his eye, but it's always gone when he turns to look.

Sam's mom grows concerned about the toy when Sam mentions that it's supposed to put him in a suggestive state. She jokes that he's going to come out of it "clucking like a chicken" one of these days, but she also genuinely expresses concern about it, commenting that something like that can't be terribly healthy. Sam discounts her concerns, but also doesn't tell her the truth about his usage of the toy - that he's reliving the memories of his dad.

One night, Sam struggles to sleep, feeling keyed up and anxious. He only calms down once he takes the Dream Sphere in his hands.

The next day, Sam has "a bad case of brain fog" and is irritable and unfocused. He spaces out so badly at one point that he doesn't even realize a class is over, and ends up snapping at Lydia, his not-girlfriend, and picks fights with his friends. (This story is extremely obviously a metaphor for drug addictions.)

After being unfocused and irritable all day at school, Sam goes home and uses the Dream Sphere again. He finally relaxes, and feels like he belongs in the "lucid, dreamlike" world of the Dream Sphere.

The Sphere no longer makes him feel happy and energetic, like it did the first few times. Now it makes him feel relaxed and tired. When he looks in the mirror, he almost doesn't recognize himself: he looks paler than usual, with deep bags under his eyes, and has his fists clenched as if in preparation for a fight.

"He tried to smile, but it didn't look natural. He gave up on trying to look happy, and went out to meet his mother." (Paraphrased, but roughly what the text says at one point.)

Sam forgets a commitment he made to help a friend with something, and then blows off his mother when she reminds him to do his chores. She points out that he hasn't done his chores or worn clean clothes in days, even though he's usually so good about those things. She zeroes in on the Dream Sphere, the only thing new in his life that she knows about and something that she knows he's weirdly defensive about, and she tells him to give it back to Raad. They get in a fight about it.

"Are you doing something that you are not supposed to be doing?" (It's okay, Mrs. Barker, you can ask if he's using drugs. These books are rated for middle schoolers and up, you're allowed to reference drug use in this manner.)

Mad at his mother for her "wild accusation," Sam retreats to his room, where he uses the Dream Sphere again.

He has strange dreams that night and doesn't sleep very well. He feels bad enough the next morning that he tells his mother he thinks he needs to stay home from school, and, after checking him over and thinking he seems genuinely sick, his mother agrees.

Sam and his mother have a talk, both apologizing for the fight last night. They talk about Sam's late father and how they both miss him. (Weird to see a healthy family relationship in these books.)

Sam spends a long time with the Dream Sphere that day, reliving memories of his dad. He has a realization that his dad would probably be disappointed in some of Sam's recent choices.

Sam and the Dream Sphere go through all of his memories of his father, finally reaching the day his father dies in a motorcycle accident while Sam is still a young child. Sam doesn't want to relive the memory, and he forces himself out of the lucid state and shuts off the Dream Sphere.

Even with the Sphere shut off, Sam is still trapped in the memory, reliving his dad's death. He tries shutting the Sphere off again, and this time it works. Terrified of this experience, Sam finally snaps out of love with the Dream Sphere, and decides that he needs to return it to Raad immediately.

Catching sight of his reflection in a mirror, Sam sees that blood vessels have burst in his eyes, and he's bleeding in them.

Sam goes to Raad's house, only to find no one home but the dog, Brutus. To his surprise, the front door is unlocked, allowing him to walk directly into the house. No one is home. He calls Raad's cell phone, and Raad answers, saying that he and the other guys just got out of school; when Sam tells him the door was unlocked, Raad gets frustrated with himself for leaving it unlocked. Raad says that he and the other guys are heading back to his place after school, so if Sam wants to just wait around for them they should be there in about 25 minutes. Sam agrees.

Back with the other boys, Raad tells the others that it's Jules' turn with the Dream Sphere next. Jules, fully knowing that Sam is waiting for them at Raad's house, decides they should make Sam wait, and cajoles the other guys into coming with him to the Pizzaplex to try out a new arcade game. (Because obviously we can't have them being good friends or showing up to help their friend in any way. That would be too inconvenient.)

While waiting for them, Sam considers the Dream Sphere one last time. Against his better judgement, he decides to use it again. He doesn't even bother setting a timer this time.

This time, Sam lucid dreams a perfect world. He asks Lydia to go to prom with him. She readily agrees, seeming pleased that he specifically asked her. During the dream, he gets a phone call from his dad, who is still alive and tells him that his mom just sold her first painting, and the family is going out to celebrate. Sam can't remember ever feeling this happy before, and is thankful that the Moondrop toy gave him such a good dream this time.

He comes across the Moondrop Dream Sphere. He finds this strange, since he's never seen it as part of the dream before.

He also starts to hear sounds trickle in from the real world, and he realizes how long he's been in this dream world. He also realizes that he never actually plugged the Dream Sphere in anywhere when he arrived at Raad's house (it's an electrical device, so it shouldn't work unless it's plugged in), and that it just magically turned on by itself when he willed it to.

(… Really? We're doing this? Ugh, fine.) While Sam is trapped in the dream world, he can feel his face being eaten off by Raad's dog.

Moondrop the Jester appears in this dream world (yes, the full-size Daycare Attendant) and watches Sam while Sam writhes in pain. Shortly, the pain subsides, presumably telling us that Sam's body has died. No longer in pain, Sam no longer cares about that sort of thing, and purposefully turns his back on reality, choosing to follow the Daycare Attendant deeper into the dream world, "eager to see what new adventures they could create together."

I don't understand the ending. The story was set up for Sam to fall into a coma due to overuse of the Dream Sphere, likely due to drowning in the dream world, but instead he gets his face eaten off by a dog and (presumably) dies on his friend's couch? Why? What was the point of the opening scene then, if not to foreshadow the ending? What the point of introducing Sam being having him talk at length about how he can't swim and how he's afraid of water? Does the art of foreshadow mean nothing anymore?

And this may come as a surprise to (-checks author credits on wikia-) Kelly Parra, but dogs don't just randomly eats people's faces off while they're asleep! DX That's a dumb ending to the story!

I do like the idea of Sam essentially walking off into the sunset with the Daycare Attendant, though. That part of the ending amuses me greatly. (And I can think of several people I've seen online who wish they could walk off into the sunset with the DA, lol.)

Sam in this story be like: "Friendship ended with reality. Now Moondrop is my new best friend."

"Pressure"

(-tries to restrain self from humming "Under Pressure"- -fails miserably-)

This story centers around a group of high schools by names of Luca, Nolan, Maddy, and Asher. Luca is our protagonist, and, like any good FNAF book protagonist, Luca isn't particularly fond of his friend group. Also like any good FNAF teen group (or really just teens in any horror media, actually) these kids are all incredibly annoying and unlikeable as characters.

The group originally formed a friend group because the three boys -- Luca, Nolan, and Asher -- play together on the school football team and enjoy the same horror movies, and Maddy, one of the school cheerleaders, is both Nolan's girlfriend and Luca's childhood friend and crush. (There's an unnecessary amount of drama regarding Luca's feelings about Maddy.)

The teens are visiting "Urban Legend Roleplayers Auditorium," a section of the Mega Pizzaplex where customers can dress in costumes provided by Fazbear's and participate in a LARP game with other costumed customers. The game is specifically to act out the "rumors and ghost stories that had become associated with the Fazbear Entertainment brand over the years."

While other kids fight over costumes of the animatronic characters, Luca wants to play the night guard, citing that he wants to "play the hero."

Even though the murders are brushed off as fictitious, Luca believes they really happened. This makes him a bit of a conspiracy theorist. His friends think his beliefs and interest in the whole thing is weird, and Luca hates having to defend himself against them.

(Wow. Assuming the child murder *actually* happened in the past, Fazbear's really just looooovvvves making light of it, don't they? And, if the murders never happened, if it's all just rumors and hearsay and ficticious stories, Fazbear's is still really invested to using these stories are part of their brand. Because nothing says family fun like ritualistic child murder and deadly haunting, amirite?)

The kids look at different play scripts for roleplay games they could choose from. They gravitate toward one called "Green-Eared Killer," a short rp script about three teenagers who break into the Fazbear Frights haunted house and get stalked by Springtrap, with the kids having to try escaping before getting killed by Springtrap. (… I just had a flashback to an rp thread I wrote with a friend ages ago, with a very similar plotline.)

Despite wanting to play the nightguard in a different scenerio (and despite believing that the murders really happened and people really died), Luca gets bullied into playing Springtrap for the game. He's not into it, but the other three really want to play the teen victims in this slasher set-up.

(…. Luca. My good dude. If a girl calls your eyes "platinum magic," you should *absolutely* ask her for a second date.)

The Springtrap costume is extremely ugly, realistic, and smells terrible. It also feels gross and crusty.

Luca doesn't want to play a killer, even if it's fake, because one of his childhood friends really was kidnapped and found dead weeks later. Luca had thought of his friend like a little brother, and it hurt and horrified him that something so awful could happen to someone he knew. He still had nightmares about it. His friends don't know about this, and just harass him until he agrees to play Springtrap for them.

(If these kids don't shut up soon, I'm going to start stabbing them myself.)

On the way to the game room, Luca (in full Springtrap costume) passes by some younger girls who are playing. One of the girls is dressed as Foxy and is mock-lunging at the others, and they all seem to be enjoying their game, which Luca finds cute. He then notices an adult male employee also watching the girls, the grown man watching them too closely and smiling to himself about it. The man is very clearly a creeper, and it disgusts Luca. Luca starts to go confront the man, only to get distracted by some little boys running past him. Looking back at the man, Luca sees that the man has turned his attention to the boys, the same creepy, too-interested-for-comfort smile on his face. Luca decides to go confront the creep, but gets distracted by one of his friends calling to him. When he turns back, the man is gone.

(This creeper's description makes me think of Pinkypill's design for William Afton, since he's described as pale and thin and gaunt and having blue-eyes.) (Yes, I'm aware that Afton literally has silver eyes in those books, but it's specified that his eyes used to be blue, so I'm counting him as 'blue-eyed.')

(Also this scene is very reminiscent of the "Go Go Go, Foxy" minigame from FNAF2, with the imagery of Foxy playing with a bunch of children while a creepy, smiling guy stands nearby.)

The kids enter the game room they'll be using. The room, or rather set of rooms, has been designed to resemble something like the Fazbear's Fright horror attraction. Wall decor includes both old Freddy's memorabilia, children's drawings, and sets of fake knives (for some reason). One section of the rp stage shows what looks like children's birthday party that was abandoned midway through, with paper plates and party hats strewn across the table and floor. There are also other animatronics in this set-up - a Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica on a central stage, and a Foxy in Pirate's Cove. These animatronics are more like statues than anything else, but have some mobility, as they can move their arms up and down.

As Springtrap, Luca starts the game in a "safe room." He also has a prop knife.

(I love how there are no knives ever in any of the games, brandished by any character for any reason, but in every single book featuring a killer in a rabbit suit they are *always* portrayed with knives. And of course, Lillard's iconic knife usage in the movie. But the games get a total of 0 (zero) knives, and at this point, I just find it comical.)

The kids start their game. As Luca starts to stalk his friends, he feels something inside his costume "gauge his arm." Other parts of the costume start to poke and prod him at various points. Irritated, Luca can't wait to get out of this costume.

At one point, he hears Balloon Boy voice lines play over an intercom, the same way it plays in FNAF3; Luca recognizes this game as a VR game.

SpringLuca and Maddy both get jumpscared by Foxy, who almost brings his hook down on both of them. Luca jumps, and something inside the Springtrap costume clamps shut around his leg, puncturing him. Luca cries out in pain, but his friends think he's just playing the character and trying to scare them, so they run away like they're supposed to. Luca can feel his leg bleeding, and he tries and fails to get his friends' attention.

As the game progresses, Luca gets stabbed by more and more parts of the costume. His friends all find places to hide and Luca feels like he's alone in the rooms. He tries to take the costume off, but can't figure out how to. He only gets punctured more for his efforts, and ends up bleeding and in a lot of pain.

Luca grabs Maddy, trying to alert her to his injuries. As he does, metal parts of the costume clamp around his head, pressing against his skull and into his scalp and even pressing into his mouth, and several small hooks attaching the costume head to his own flesh. He almost falls to the ground screaming in pain.

A series of snaps sounds throughout the costume, and Luca feels himself getting pierced in several places. He howls in pain, and, for the first time in awhile, his friends all pause, staring at him. Maddy, Nolan, and Asher, thinking Luca is just playing and getting into character, pretend to be scared and all scramble away in mock fright. They laugh gleefully and run away while Luca suffers.

Luca considers just sitting down somewhere near the exit door and waiting for his friends to get bored. But he's been bleeding pretty heavily inside the costume from his injuries, and feeling woozy from the pain and blood-loss, so he decides his best course of action is to continue trying to get his friends' attention. (Because that's been working so well for him. -rolls eyes- )

(Shouldn't there be employees nearby? Like, this roleplay set-up is essentially an escape room for kids, so shouldn't there be a Fazbear employee nearby, just for safety? Couldn't Luca try to get the attention of an employee?)

"A row of pizza ovens… dark and empty…" (Well I should *hope* they're empty! Last time I saw a pizza oven in Fazbear's Fright, there was a whole man in it!)

Okay, and now we have a brief convo about mob mentality. (Well, group think, but y'know. Same difference. And I recognize that this story is trying really hard to be a warning about the dangers of peer pressure, but it's not doing a good job about it, and this whole convo feels very hamfisted.)

Luca gets separated from his friends so much, he can't find them anymore. Feeling too weak and woozy to continue looking for them, he collapses, curling up in the corner of one of the fake storage rooms.

Asher, Nolan, and Maddy leave the game, deciding it's over. They barely even notice that Luca isn't with them. Literally leaving their friend behind, they decide to go get a pizza. (I'm only slightly exaggerating when I say that I think each of these kids should have gotten stabbed in the leg with a big knife. Ugh, they're the worst.)

After taking a rest, Luca manages to get back up. His shoes are now soaked in his own blood. While Luca is wondering if his friends are still around, he notices prop costumes moving nearby, as though someone had brushed past them. He hears a door open and slam shut somewhere nearby, following by many small footsteps and children's voices. Luca realizes that this group of kids are taking their own turn at the "Green-Eared Killer" game. He then realizes that that means his friends have abandoned him.

"He would [wait for the kids to leave] before approaching the exit door, pounding on it until someone opened it. Or until he died. Whichever came first."

While waiting for the kids to move on, Luca ducks into a dark corner where they won't see him. From this new vantage point, Luca is able to see that creepy man from earlier has entered the game room, and is putting on a Springtrap costume himself.

"… the pervert in the rabbit suit." Idk why, I just thought this line was funny.

Even in severe pain and believing that he's actually dying, Luca makes up his mind to tackle the creep before he hurts anyone.

When he hears one of the kids screaming, Luca begins to fear the worst. He follows the sounds to where the terrified little girl is trying to escape the grasp of the creepy man. Having enough of this guy, Luca tackles the man, putting him in a choke hold.

(And it's made very clear that this isn't a misunderstanding or anything -- this man definitely has bad intentions for these kids. We're not told what those intentions are exactly, but clearly it's nothing good. The kids don't even seem to know him, and the little girl he grabs actually bites him to get away, something children usually only do with people they don't like or strangers.)

Luca dies while strangling this man, ensuring that they both die together. Luca's last thoughts are about how this, his final act, is the first time in a long time that's done something for himself, of his own accord, because he felt it was the right thing to do.

I have a few observations about parts of this story:

First, I need to say that the vibes of that ending scene made me think of this scenario from skeletoninthemelonland. Just, Luca embodying his new rabbit form so completely, while also deciding that he's going to take control of his body back, and using his last bit of control to take down a man who is an obvious threat… Made me think of the fan concept of Spring Bonnie not being happy with Afton using it to harm children.

Second, I find it interesting that the general public knows the story of the Fazbear murders and hauntings, but the facts around them are so murky that anyone who believes they really happened is labeled "a conspiracy theorist." Outside of the Fazbear higher-ups, no one knows for sure if the murders happened or not, or how much truth is attached to the stories, if any. I just find that interesting.

And thirdly, let's talk about Fazbear's business tactics. Whether the murders really happened or not doesn't matter -- Fazbear's is capitalizing off of the stories. Which is just… so gross and weird. Because whether the stories are true or not, this company, which markets itself to children and families with children, is attaching stories of child abductions and murders to its brand, and attaching it so openly that children are encouraged to act out these stories on the building's premises. Can you imagine going to Disneyland and they openly talk about some of the shadier goings-on in their industry, and were encouraging small children to act it out? Wouldn't that be weird and make you feel gross?

So yeah, just further confirmation that Fazbear's is a godawful company and is nothing but harmful to its customers and employees alike. What else is new?

"Cleithrophobia"

Cleithrophobia -- the fear of being trapped, or locked in a small space.

There are stained glass windows in the Pizzaplex. We are again told that the Pizzaplex is shaped like a giant pizza - circular, with wedge-shaped sections for different activities.

We open on a group of teens who are visiting the Pizzaplex together for the first time, and are exploring all the different activities they can try out. They pass by the roleplay section (as seen in "Pressure"), the climbing tubes (as seen in "HAPPS"), a Chica-themed Tilt-a-whirl, a broken down AR booth (as seen in "Under Construction"), a dining room, a carousel (as depicted in the "Help Wanted 2" game), an arcade, the laser tag arena. They also spot the theater, and remark that there is a "little kids play area under [the theater]."

The kids have acquired a map of the building, and are pouring over it to see if they missed any attractions during their initial walk-around. Eric points that the index lists a "Ballora's Fitness and Flex" section, but that it's not depicted anywhere on the map images. Deciding to ignore it, the kids get in line to ride the indoor roller coaster.

The story then flashes back to "Five Months Earlier," refocusing on a man named Grady, a technician who works at the newly built Pizzaplex. Our protag Grady is doing rounds through the building, checking each of the individual attractions before opening. While everything is dark and turned off, he thinks the building feels a bit like an empty circus tent.

Grady is part of a team of three technicians. The team are working under orders to stay together at all times, but, when the other two knock off early, Grady chooses to stay behind to get some extra work in; they're behind schedule, and Grady would rather do the work now than come in to do on the weekend.

The computer system of the Pizzaplex has recently been installed, but something is wrong with it. It was storing data just fine at first, but the system glitched for some reason and lost all the data at once. Because of this, a lot of the technical aspects and programming around the Pizzaplex is having to be re-coded again.

A use of the word "phenom" that feels very forced. (I don't know, that word's just weird to me. I've literally never heard it before in my life until FNAF started using it.)

Grady goes to work on "Ballora's Fitness and Flex." This attraction in the basement of the Pizzaplex, and features vertical climbing tubes that run up and down the walls, allowing kids to climb up and slide down them. There are ladders to reach the openings of the tubes. The tubes are narrow and strangely shaped, with the shape of them meant to encourage the climbers to slightly contort their bodies -- not enough to hurt, but enough to encourage a level of flexibility. (This sounds like a dumb idea, but okay.)

(Also this is just real life Chutes and Ladders / Snakes and Ladders.)

Because of a traumatic experience with a babysitter (who locked him in a closet for several hours instead of actually babysitting, an experience that caused child!Grady to injure himself, become dehydrated, and eventually pass out from lack of air), Grady has a severe fear of tight spaces.

Unfortunately for him, he's the only one of the technicians who can fit into the climbing tubes in Ballora's Fitness, so it's his job to enter them and check to make sure they're safe. (Which I have to say, is extremely dumb. They're plastic, see-through tubes. They either work or they don't. It's not like they're connected to the computer system.) He's also going to check on Ballora and make sure she's functioning, as the animatronic ballerina is present in this section of the Pizzaplex; to get to her, he's still going to have to go through the tubes. (Why does he have to go through the tubes, though? I don't understand any part of this set up.)

Almost as soon as Grady starts climbing, Ballora pops up through the floor on a platform sticking out from the wall. She turns to look at him (wow! Open eyed Ballora!) and greets him cheerfully. This version of Ballora is just her upper body (so torso, arms, and head) and is attached to a mechanism that moves her throughout the attraction. Her hair is styled in a bun and comb like a flamenco dancer. She also usually sings in short verses in lieu of regular speech.

"'I encourage you to slide on in,' Ballora started singing again. 'That's the best way to begin.'"

Grady doesn't like Ballora's singing; he thinks she sounds sinister.

Ballora assures Grady that she's here to make sure he doesn't get stuck in a tube. Soon enough, Grady does get stuck, and Ballora, mounted on the mechanical arm, enters the tube to pull him out. She pulls him too hard though, and it nearly wrenches his arms from their sockets. She pulls him all the way through the tube, cheerfully unaware of the injury she's causing to Grady, and drops him off on one of the wall platforms.

"Please, can I help? I want to help." (Big fan of this take on Ballora's character.)

As much as Ballora wants to help, she either wasn't programmed properly or has some sort of glitch in her system (possibly from the system-wide computer crash). The next time Grady needs her help, she grabs him too hard and ends up crushing his hands and shattering his finger bones. Further "help" from her ends up breaking other bones in his body, including those in his arms and legs. Unable to hold his hands properly anymore, Ballora tries to grab another part of Grady's body, leading to her accidentally stabbing one of her fingers through his eye, and then breaking his nose.

Grady's coworkers Ronan and Tate return, as they carpool together and Ronan forgot his housekeys at the Pizzaplex. While they're here, they realize that Grady is doing the check-up on Ballora's tonight, so they decide to check in on him.

(Unrelated to the story, but I am madly, desperately in love with Ronan. I need this fictional side-character man carnally.)

Ronan and Tate check on Grady. They come face to face with the mangled remains of Grady, still in a tube. His body is broken in many places, and he's been stretched to "nearly twice" as tall as he normally is. Ronan nearly throws up, while Tate looks closer at Grady, eventually determining that Grady is blinking and therefore still alive.

I know Tate is just supposed to be an annoying self-centered loser prick, but I think it's weird that he knows just a little too much about the legal workings at Fazbear's and is a little too comfortable around a mangled body. His knowledge and behaviors are super suspicious, and for no reason.

After some inspection of what's left of Grady, the two men think their coworker has mere minutes left. Tate believes it's worthless to call for help, as he doesn't think Grady would survive the rescue. Unknown to either of them, Grady is still alive and slightly lucid, able to hear their voices but not understand most of their words.

In the end, the two men leave, abandoning their coworker to his fate. In his dying moments, Grady is still being pulled and tugged on by Ballora, who is trying very hard to help him get unstuck.

As Ballora continues to drag his near-lifeless body around, she keeps repeating "You are stuck. Let me help you. I want to help you. You are stuck. I want to help you." She seems to be glitched out, and is either unaware that her charge is injured or knowing that he's injured and being unable to do anything about it.

I didn't have many notes to take for this story. Not much happens in it -- just a game of IRL Chutes and Ladders gone terribly wrong. That doesn't mean I don't have a few thoughts about it, though.

I like the inclusion of Ballora, though. I'm intrigued by the idea of Ballora being in the Pizzaplex somewhere, but she's been locked away, closed off from everything else.

I also liked the segment of the unrelated teenagers checking out all the attractions that the Pizzaplex has to offer. The segment gives us a clearer idea of what the Pizzaplex looks like in these books, and revisits some areas we've already seen (like the AR booth and the climbing tubes) while also showing us a few areas we haven't seen yet. Makes me wonder if we're going to a get story later down the line that focuses on the theater area.

The story mentions there being a weird glitch in the computer system at the Pizzaplex, telling us that the whole system -- including security systems, the arcade machines, the lights, and even the animatronics, since everything is connected to a single system -- all crashed and now behaving strangely, and the technicians are basically having to go through everything piece by piece and reprogram everything. Makes you wonder if this crash was random, or if it was directly caused by something… Like, for example, someone hacking into the system that shouldn't have been there (like Patient 46) or an AI entering the system (like the Mimic) or a virus being uploaded to the system (like Glitchtrap). Food for thought.

This story focuses really hard on Grady's trauma and its origins, when it absolutely doesn't need to. The most it needs to say is that Grady was locked in a small closet for several hours by his babysitter. But instead, we spend quite awhile reliving Grady's memory with him, as his babysitter and her boyfriend trick him into the closet, and Grady screams and cries for over an hour, only for help to nearly arrive too late. The story spends more time on this, Grady's original childhood trauma, than it does on his slow death by Ballora's attempts to help. I don't know if that's important or anything (and I only say this because it's not the first time we've seen a terrified child locked in a closet by a cruel teenager in this franchise), or if the writer/s simply focused on the wrong section of the story.

And again, suspicious Tate is suspicious. I don't know he's meant to stand out as a suspicious character or not, but… there's a weird amount of attention put on him. Grady thinking Tate looks uncannily like his original abuser, with similar facial features, similar mannerisms, and the same cocky smirk. It's made clear that Tate isn't interesting in doing his job well, but that he also know entirely too many specifics about the Fazbear's employee rules -- the same rules that he pretends not to know or care about when Grady asks him directly about them. He's shown to be oddly calm about Grady's predicament, so much so that he's described as "gawking at [Grady's remains] like he was looking at an exhibit at a zoo," and he's even the one to decide to just leave Grady to his fate.

(I also think Tate gives off Michael Afton energy, but maybe that's just me.) (Or maybe I'm getting wires crossed and thinking of Michael Tait. Who can say?)

(If you don't know who Michael Tait is already, all you need to know about him is he's a Christian performer who would definitely be on Scott's radar. All I'm really saying here is, if the character Tate is meant to be some sort of parallel for Michael, the real person Michael Tait may have inspired Scott or one of his team members to choose the name "Tate.")

Epilogue:

Lucia and her friends listen in fear to the monster's footsteps. The teens have locked themselves in a small store room, and they can hear the thing (the Mimic) stalking around outside, searching for them.

The teens decide to split up to look for possible exits. Team 1 is Hope and Nick, Team 2 is Adrian and Jase, Team 3 is Lucia and Kelly, and Team 4 is Joel and Wade. The teams are chosen largely based on which kids are already friends and work well together, with the exception of Lucia and Kelly, who don't know each other that well yet but don't dislike each other.

Jase is an artist and has a good memory, and draws them a map of the Pizzaplex and basement based on their earlier exploration of it. They divvy up all the rooms and areas in the Pizzaplex, each team being given a list of areas to search. (Pretty standard "teens in a horror story" explanations.) Once their stalker vanishes, the kids make it back upstairs, where they begin searching.

(I don't understand what they're looking for. I thought they were looking for a way out, but now Lucia and Kelly are searching the bathrooms, so I no longer know what they're doing.)

Wade and Joel search the employee lounge. They get scared out by a scraping sound coming from inside the vents in the walls. (I wish they had gotten jumped by a Mini Music Man. That would at least be funny.)

Nick and Hope search the backstage area of the theater. Hope feels like she's being watched. Nick opens a costume wardrobe, only to get grabbed by something and pulled inside. He's returned a moment later, but is now missing an arm. Metal arms reach out of the wardrobe to grab Nick again, this time twisting his head clean off his body. The metal creature steps into full view, and we get a description of it from Hope's point of view, telling us that it's definitely the Mimic as seen in the "Ruin" DLC. Hope runs away from the Mimic, surviving this initial encounter.

Meanwhile, Kelly and Lucia are now best friends. (Or they're flirting. Unclear.) They're interrupted by Hope running past them, screaming in terror. The two girls follow her, and are soon joined by the two pairs of boys. The rest of the teens try to get words out of her, but Hope is sobbing and shaking too hard to answer them, only wailing when they ask where Nick is.

The kids duck into the Parts and Service room and lock themselves into it, hoping to find a safe location or impromptu weapons they could use to defend themself.

Lucia describes the Parts and Service room as "looking like a beauty parlor for robots." She says there are three metal chairs in it that have clamps on the armrests, somehow looking like both salon chairs and torture devices. (Oh, like the Shreddy Fazchair from the movie, perhaps? Or maybe something akin to Roxanne's salon?) There are also several empty exoskeletons of Fazbear characters littering the room, though done of them resembling characters we've ever seen before -- there are dogs, and a cat, and another, undescribed character wearing green overalls.

Hope is finally able to tell the others what happened to Nick. When she finishes her story, one of the exoskeletons moves behind her, apparently not as empty as previously thought.

Wearing the suit of a dog character, the Mimic grabs Hope by the arms, tearing both her arms off in seconds. While the other kids scream, the Mimic turns Hope around, tearing off her legs, and then her head.

All at once and in a panic, the kids run to the door, too freaked out to open it at first. They finally get it open and run for their lives, the Mimic following slowly after them.

(It's weird that the Mimic tears off her legs. It wasn't programmed to do that.)

(But good… The epilogues are really getting interesting now. Love that for us.)

[paradoxcase]

The Mysterious Study of Dr. Sex

This feels like an Encyclopedia Brown book set in the Locked Tomb universe. I like it. I thought the title was going to be some reference to the Sex Pal joke, but no, there is actually a character named Dr. Sex. Of course there is a character named Dr. Sex, like the whole entire reason that there's a context in this world where people are given last names that mean "six" is so that there could be a character named Dr. Sex, isn't it? Honestly, I named the goddess in my current conworlding project Sapfita and then a whole-ass story came out of that name, so I would not be surprised

The real Dulcinea sounds like she'd be much more fun to be friends with than Cytherea, to be honest. Now I'm sad I didn't actually get to meet her. I got a little confused by "alveolar walls", but no, that's nothing to do with the alveolar ridge, that's in the lungs. And Palamedes is giving her medical advice long-distance and devoting all of his studying capacity to trying to help her, and I don't know. Gideon finds this tragic, but I find it kind of weird and concerning. And a little tragic, I guess. People in this universe don't seem to experience regular emotions, but emotions that consume their entire being and sometimes I can't quite empathize with that

Honestly, if this has been a perpetual issue with the Sixth House, how did it last for 10,000 years? Was there some recent Event that caused this?

...

Sorry, I don't have anything to say here

Ok, so the way you do your administrative stuff is that people put bloody thumbprints on forms, so there's a standard attachment to clipboards that's a spike so you can stab your thumb and generate a bloody thumbprint. But like, blood is a biohazard, right? Your stabbing your thumb, and creating a open wound that's interacting with this same place where a ton of other people also stabbed their thumb and bled all over the clipboard, I'm just saying, this seems like a really efficient way to infect your entire House with HIV

Ok, that's funny

So what I'm getting is that they control the skeletons through the thermal paste and cords, in a kind of flesh magic way, rather than how skeletons are animated on the Ninth, which is more of a bone magic way? Is that also true for the skeleton that was doing the Copper Garden maintenance? Is that outside?

So volcanos can be, in some sense, alive or dead, I guess maybe in the same sense that planets can be alive or dead or undead? The definitions of thalergy and thanergy specified that they were about cell division and death, but it doesn't make sense from just those definitions that things like planets and volcanos can be thalergenic or thanergenic. All of the necromancy we've seen has to do with actual organic matter and not things like rocks

So here's the thing about dating: when you're dating something organic, pretty much always the question you're asking is "when did this organism die?" But if we think about the history of this skeleton - at some point it was a living person, and then some time later that person died, and their skeleton was turned into a construct, all this happened before Dr. Sex came back as a revenant and possessed the skeleton, we'll say that was X years before that happened. Could be 5, could be 100, could be 1000. Dr Sex came back 200 years ago, so the date for these bones should actually be 200 + X, and not 200, unless X was very small and the skeleton had been created very recently at that point, but no one ever mentioned anything like that. They are measuring thalergy and its dissipation here, but that's not really that different than measuring the dissipation of carbon, is it? Except that you don't have to destroy your sample when you use necromancy, I guess. Would a reanimated skeleton continue to produce thalergy and thus register as a living being as far as the dating is concerned? I kind of think it wouldn't. Did Dr. Sex possessing the skeleton re-up its thalergy somehow? But he was also dead at that point

Also interesting that there's a lot of singular they in this story, even for people who have gendered names or are otherwise referred to by gendered terms

So I guess we're meant to assume that this puzzle sphere was some object that Dr. Sex had requested in order to test thalergy levels?

I guess maybe we'll find out something about the author and intended recipient of this letter in Harrow the Ninth?

[arrianna21]

~To Hell and Back~ Chapter X (M)

Never make a deal with the devil.  Easier said than done. Enter the world of demons where things are not what they seem.  Friend or foe, nobody knows. When mysterious and strange incidents come out of the darkness, will you be able to escape the depths of Hell alive and at what price?  

Rated M for Mature: This series will contain gore, mutilation, strong language, depictions of death, intense violence, sexual content, themes of horror, mention of miscarriage, medical procedures, minor character death

Please ensure you’re in a good headspace or avoid reading if the tags above make you uncomfortable. Specific tags that are italicized occur within the chapter. Viewer discretion is advised.  

demon!v x fem!reader

Word Count: 10,424

I | | II | | III | | IV | | V | | VI | | VII | | VIII | | IX | | X | |

As you sit in the lone chair, you watch Lhaine continue mopping the floor of the vacant ballroom while you can only quietly look around. It’s been about a week or so since Hallow’s Evening where you were ultimately shot. You find yourself glancing up at the balcony, at each pillar lined up near the walls, even at the dark plum curtains covering the windows. Anyplace where someone can possibly hide or stay out of sight. Despite all the people there, the assassin had a clean shot to the prince had you not interfered.

A loud clang echoes in the wide room, startling you from your pensive thoughts, and you see Lhaine setting her mop against the wall so she can pick up the set of fallen music stands. You get to your feet and don’t even take a step before she points a finger at you without bothering to look. “Don’t even think about it, I got it,” she says.

“I can at least help some with the mopping,” you insist. “This room is huge.”

She finishes resetting the row of music stands and resumes mopping. “It won’t take me much longer. Besides, you already helped me clean the restroom despite being given strict orders not to overexert yourself.”

“Yeah, but our bathrooms are small. And no one would even know, it’ll be just between the two of us.”

“Then you seriously underestimate our boss who’s probably tuning in on us now,” Lhaine scoffs.

“I’ll just use my good arm again.”

She continues dragging the mop across the floor, the marble glistening from the water. “As much as I appreciate your assistance, I don’t need to get reprimanded for when you inadvertently pull a muscle from straining your good arm.”

“Come on, you even side-eyed me when I was folding laundry. Can’t you give me one of your simpler tasks?” You pout from your spot in the chair.

“But I’m looking forward to dusting the paintings,” she mockingly pouts back.

“Please, Lhaine?” You plead in return. “Something, anything at this point.”

“Well I guess you could go feed your friend Zelda. Make sure the horses have their meal, and seriously, I was joking,” she shouts, but you’re already heading to the door. “If she bites you, I’m screwed!”

“I’ll be careful,” you reassure before rushing out the door in case she tries chasing you down. 

Outside, you make your way to the stables and gather the rotten fruit and vegetables into a bucket where you carry it towards the horses. They eat them quickly, teeth chomping the dead, mushy carrots and apples.  

Zelda is the last one at the end and you cautiously approach her, the zombie horse already standing and waiting for her food. You grab the soft carrot, tentatively holding it out to her. She moves slow in return, easing her head forward before biting into it. The bones of her jaw creaks as she chews. This continues while you feed her a few more. When she finishes, she takes a step back and bends her head in a downward motion.

You stare at her in return before dipping your head in a bow as well. “You’re welcome,” you murmur, surprised by the shift in her demeanor compared to the other times when she seemed more hostile.

She snorts and turns, retreating towards the pile of stiff red hay in the corner of her stall. “It seems she’s taken a liking to you,” you hear from the entrance.

You jump and turn towards the voice, ready to chunk the bucket in a poor attempt of self-defense only to find the prince standing by the wooden stable doors. He wears a silver cloak with the hood down and you catch a glimpse of his sword at his hip. “V,” you loudly say his name. “Here to visit the horses?”

He smiles as he approaches. “Actually I’m here to take Zelda out for some fresh air.”

“Oh. Is it safe for you to go out after what happened?” You quietly ask, not wanting to actually speak the words “attempted assassination”. From behind Zelda has snuck closer to you before giving you a strong nudge, her head pushing against your back and you’re flung forward as you stumble while V rushes to catch you. You latch onto his biceps to balance yourself while his hands steady you by holding onto your waist.

Your eyes meet as you stare at one another, lost in a myriad of thoughts without saying a word.  He breaks the spell first as he merely shrugs, breaking out into a mischievous smirk. “Technically no, but this cloak prevents me from being recognized or identified. And no one knows I’m going out except for you. Also, did I not give strict orders for you to not do any difficult tasks?” He asks, raising a brow at you.

“Feeding the horses doesn’t require a lot of exertion. Besides, Lhaine has made sure I barely do anything at all even though I’m feeling much better,” you reassure. With Kala’s exercises and plenty of forced rest, your shoulder doesn’t constantly ache or throb as much anymore.

“Good, now let’s not push yourself too hard, yes?”

Knowing both him and Lhaine only mean well for you, you can’t quite keep from rolling your eyes in return. “Of course, Your Highness,” you answer. There’s a brief pause and you suddenly remember that you’re still in his embrace. “I hope you enjoy your outing.”

“Thank you, little dove.” His smile widens, genuine happiness seeping into the playful expression. When you go to step back, his arms slowly slide away until they fall to his sides, his smile faltering briefly but doesn’t disappear. He eyes you for another moment, hidden emotions you can’t quite identify flickering from within before he turns his attention to Zelda as he gets her saddle ready. “Behave,” V tells you from atop her back as they pass by while she walks towards the stable entrance.

“Yes, sir,” you joke, bending to do a small curtsy for him in return which causes him to let out a chuckle.

He pulls the hood up until it covers his head before urging Zelda into a trot as they disappear from sight.

                                                               ~*~

The next morning as you head towards the kitchen for breakfast, you’re surprised to find energy buzzing throughout the castle. The other servants move quickly through the halls, rushing to their tasks as they whisper to each other. Even as you pass the guards stationed at their posts, you hear them mutter to one another and you catch a few words here and there about some politician.

Inside the kitchen, you don’t see Chef anywhere but there’s pots and pans cooking on the stove. Instead you find the Faegel huddled together eating their breakfast while they speak quietly amongst themselves. “And he was here for lunch not too long ago. My friend who lives in that realm wonders if it’s a possible coup,” Rae tells them, her eyes wide.

Mel rolls her eyes in annoyance. “Imbecile. If it were a coup, said leaders would’ve clearly taken credit for his death. No one has claimed any whatsoever. This is something else.”

“Whatever it is, it’s put the rest of the Senate on edge,” Bren responds.

“Do you think it’s another assassination like the one—ow!” As Rae speaks she’s cut off by Mel harshly pinching her arm as she jerks her head toward you.

All three immediately grow quiet, cleaning up their food before going to leave the room. “Too bad you weren’t there human,” Mel says as they pass by, “maybe you could’ve rescued him as well,” she notes with an acidic smirk. Neither Bren nor Rae say a word, instead quietly exiting as they walk beside Mel.

With a shake of your head, you fetch your own breakfast and begin eating as Lhaine comes in to join you. “So is it true a senator is dead?” You ask while she rifles for a few slices of bread.

Taking a bite, she sits down on the stool beside you. “Damn, you already heard too?” She asks around the food in her mouth as she chews. “Then it must true. I thought it was just a rumor or people exaggerating.”

“Apparently not. And nobody seems to know who could’ve done it.”

“Yeah, because it shouldn’t be possible,” she snorts.

Her statement confuses you as your brows draw together. “What do you mean? Wait,” you pause, “he had already ascended, hadn’t he?”

She nods. “Mmhmm. Which means someone has done the impossible,” she confirms.

Her words click in your head as you understand the true severity of the situation. “So, surely they’ll look into who did this and find them before they kill someone else.” Surely it can’t be a coincidence that someone tried to murder the prince right before a senator who was essentially immortal is now dead. Unless this is merely the common joys of demonic politics in Hell, rules be damned.

Lhaine shrugs as she drinks her water. “Hopefully. We don’t exactly have law enforcement down here. Murder is pretty much fair game, but if an ascended truly is dead then the playing field’s gotten a bit more leveled. No doubt the rest of the senators are losing their shit right now.” She snorts into her cup. “Wouldn’t mind seeing that,” you hear her mutter.

A thought occurs to you. “Isn’t RM also a part of the senate?”

“Yeah,” she nods, “but he’s exceptionally intelligent and more than capable of holding his own. Even if he wasn’t, he’s got Jeon who can easily annihilate enemies no problem.”

Chef returns at that moment and points to you. “Take the tea to Mr. Min and the other guests. They’re up in the library,” she orders, removing a kettle from the stove while she opens a cabinet which has a tea set inside. “Use this.”

You gently take out the porcelain tea set, pouring the crimson tea from the kettle and into the tea pot. The pretty set is white and decorated with little purple flowers that are painted on the outside. “I got it,” you quickly reassure Lhaine who eyes you dubiously. “Most of the weight is on my good arm.” While it’s both awkward and terrifying having to balance such delicate items using mostly one arm, you use the other to hold it in place, ensuring it won’t abruptly tip over.

“See you,” Lhaine calls after you, obvious skepticism and disapproval evident in her face as she watches you leave.

Carrying the tea set, you’re careful to keep the tray steady with your one arm while you open the door to the library. As you enter you find most of V’s friends inside. While Jay and Suga occupy one of the couches, Jin sits in one of the chairs by the table, an ornate mirror held in his hand. He admires his reflection, fixing a strand of black hair while the duo murmur softly to each other. Off to the side at another chair sits Min, seemingly staring off into space, either concentrating on his visions or listening into their conversation.

Min turns his head, facing your direction as you approach. “Thank you, Ms. Y/N,” he says as you set the porcelain tray down.

“You’re welcome,” you reply, setting each cup onto a saucer before reaching for the teapot as you slowly pour the steaming liquid. Jay, Suga, and Min each take their own while Jin leaves his, attention still focused on inspecting his face.

Arranging the remaining cups, you hesitate, wondering if you should prepare the tea for the others but Min addresses your unspoken question. “You can leave the rest and we’ll pour it once they arrive. That way it’ll be fresh,” he answers with a smile.

“Of course. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“No, we’re fine at the moment. How’s your shoulder?” He inquires.

“Better, thank you,” you tell him. There’s still soreness in your muscles when you move a certain way but otherwise it’s slowly improving.

“This is a tragedy,” Jin suddenly moans, everyone’s attention turning towards his abrupt exclamation.

“I wouldn’t call it a tragedy. Unfortunate, sure, but Cellhád was always trying to pass distasteful rules that would upset the balance,” Suga says.

Jin rolls his eyes. “I wasn’t talking about him,” he scoffs with a shake of his head. “I’m talking about the fact that I have a scar.” He points to his upper cheekbone where you can just barely see a crack in his skin, as though it’s about to break off.

Min’s forehead creases at that. “Strange. You’ve just recently shattered so you shouldn’t be losing pieces so soon.”

“Were you playing a little too rough on Hallow’s Evening, old man?” Suga chuckles, earning a glare from Jin in return.

“Tch, ridiculous,” is all he mutters.

“Maybe it’s because you’re still missing a piece of yourself,” Jay wonders, indicating to the fourth finger still absent from his hand. “It’s not like you to lose yourself, literally.”

“No, it’s not that. I’ve went a couple of weeks without a finger before I eventually found it. I just hope it’s nothing to do with my curse progressing or growing stronger,” Jin sighs, fingertips grazing along his skin just below the crack.

“Could there be a medicine or potion that can fix it?” You find yourself asking, drawing their attention to you and you flinch in return. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Min is the one that answers you. “No need to apologize, it’s an honest question. I’m sure you’re thinking of the healing salve that can fix minor cuts and scratches, yes?”

“Yeah, I think so. Miss had given me some the day I came here,” you say, remembering when you hit your head on Loom’s cart all those weeks ago in the Crooked Forest. It feels like a lifetime ago.

“Unfortunately, it wouldn’t do Jin any good because he’s not technically injured. It’s just a part of his curse so he can’t be healed,” Min explains.

“That’s an interesting thought though if we could just glue him back together,” Jay muses, thumb rubbing along his chin. He’s met with a scowl from Jin who seethes in his seat. “Sorry, sorry,” he’s quick to apologize, raising his hands in surrender. “I was just joking, honest.”

“You know this might be a sign that you’ll have to be proactive again in trying to break your curse, right?” Suga pipes in from beside Jay, his gaze fixated on the white butterfly with orange tipped wings that’s perched on the back of his hand.

The anger dissipates from Jin leaving only resignation in its wake as he sighs. “Yes, I was afraid of that.” He shakes his head as though ridding himself of his internal thoughts. “I’ll manage in the meantime. Besides we have more pressing matters at the moment.”

You take that as your queue to leave, realizing all too late that you’ve just been standing there listening in on their conversation. Bowing, you silently excuse yourself and make your way to the library entrance, hearing the discussion shift to the dead senator.

Only the topic switches briefly as Jay asks, “Is that why V’s been studying portals and whatnot?” His voice low, but enough for you to still hear even as you approach the door.

“Will you hush?” Min responds with a quiet snort.

It’s not hard to assume that they’re referring to you. Is that why V has been visiting the library more often?

“Hello, Ms. Y/N,” you hear and turn to find RM standing behind you at the entrance. Jeon stands just behind him, holding the door open for him. “It’s good to see you.”

“Nice to see you both too, sir,” you answer in return.

“How’s recovery been?”

“Going well, thank you. Kala has recommended some great exercises that are really helpful,” you say.

He nods with a smile, revealing two dimples on either cheek and a pair of fangs that peek out. “Yes, she’s a wonderful lady,” he agrees. “Very adept in her studies and work. Please give my regards next time you see her.” Stepping around you, he makes his way to the others with Jeon right at his heels and you softly call the younger boy’s name.

The vampire immediately freezes, gaze fixated straight ahead before he turns his head, crimson eyes meeting your own. He doesn’t say a word, merely staring at you in return.

“I just wanted to say thank you for the drawings. They’ve been really helpful,” you tell him.

Jeon gives a tentative nod, his throat bobbing as he swallows. “You’re welcome,” he quietly murmurs, voice low but also soft, much to your surprise. “Glad you’re feeling better.” And then he quickly walks away, following after RM who’s already seated in one of the lounge chairs, taking his position standing at the bookshelf just behind the group.

                                                               ~*~

Rough stone grazes against your skin as you slowly wake. Taking in your surroundings, you stare out into the pitch black space, and left to feel along the ground until you can stand upright. You hold your palm against the nearest wall of what feels like a cave, using it as a guide to lead you toward what you’re hoping is an exit. As you peer out into the darkness, you catch a glimpse of a faint blue light. It glows in the distance, so you focus on that while continuing to feel along the coarse granite with your hand.

Once you’re close enough, you find the light to be the glow of a lantern hanging from the ceiling. The cobalt flame flickers within the glass that houses it and when peering further ahead, there’s another one down the corridor. You continue towards the next one, losing your sight in the darkness of the cave in between each lantern. As you approach, there’s movement from the shadows and the sound of scrabbling echoes, causing you to flinch.

Moving slowly, you make out the outline of a figure that’s huddled just beyond the reach of the fire’s light. You swallow, voice unable to emerge from your throat besides a thin, whispery, “Hello?” Your muscles tense in preparation, body ready for flight or fight depending on how the person reacts.

But they don’t suddenly attack or scream, or even flinch in response either. Instead, they lift their head before turning to face in your direction. Familiar eyes, glazed with exhaustion, peek out from beneath their hair.

“Faith?”

The quiet call of her name causes your sister to squint as she stares up at you. Recognition is slow to seep in before she answers with your name, the word slow and unsure.

“Yeah, it’s me,” you confirm, resisting the urge to drop down on your knees beside her and hug her tightly. You haven’t seen or spoke to her since the night you nearly died, and while she seemed more coherent then, you’re not sure about the current state she’s in now. It could all be a ploy for her to get you close so she can attack you like all the other times.

Her facial expression lingers between confusion and realization. “You’re alive?”

“I am.”

“You’re alive,” she repeats, before understanding finally dawns. “You’re alive!” She pushes herself to her feet, standing upright so she can look at you directly. “Are you okay?” Her hands grasp your face, bony fingers pressing against your skin and you involuntarily flinch, expecting sharp nails to suddenly pierce through flesh.

“I’m fine,” you tell her while she inspects your face.

“Strange, I didn’t even recognize you. You look different,” she notes, gently pushing you backwards until you’re both standing beneath the glow of the lantern. With the light shining down, it illuminates your figures, including the prominent black in your veins that matches her own. “That’s right, they poisoned you too.”

Now you’re confused as you give her a quizzical look. “Wait, what are you talking about?”

She stares deep into your eyes, seeming to be searching for something. “The darkness inside you. It’s slowly draining you, feasting on your soul, and you won’t be able to fight it off for long.”

Darkness is feasting on your soul? Since when? How coherent is your sister actually? Rather than outright question her and risk possibly angering her, you opt to simply go along with it. “Yeah, you said that once right before trying to kill me,” you note.

A wave of concern sweeps across her features and she pauses, biting at her lip. “I did? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. Things have been fuzzy lately.” She lets out an unsteady breath, her hands shaking against you.

Carefully, you reach up and grab onto her shoulders, internally shuddering at the feel of bone jutting through her skin. “It’s okay, you’re not yourself right now. But everything’ll be fine soon. I’m going to find you a cure so you won’t be sick anymore,” you’re quick to reassure her while she anxiously glances around the space before refocusing on you.

“Wait, how are you going to do that? You can’t help both me and yourself.”

“Why not?”

Your sister winces before shaking her head. “Because they won’t let you. Once they’ve latched on, they won’t let go, not that easily. If you can get rid of the poison from yourself first, then you’ll be able to help me. But I’m glad my memory was useful,” she notes, a relieved smile forming on her lips.

“What memory?”

She blinks. “The one where we played hide and seek outside, silly,” she chuckles.

It takes you a minute as you wrack your brain before remembering the dream of you both playing in the forest as kids until the nightmare transformed it into a terrifying, haunted place. “That was you showing me that? But why? We were just playing around to pass the time.”

“Because that’s where it all began. Don’t you remember what happened in the woods?” She stares at you, worry filling her eyes. “Wait, where are you going?”

You blink and suddenly find yourself further away from her, all the way at another lantern. Glancing around you see you’re at a crossroads with multiple pathways. Each one has a blue lantern except for the one to your left. Instead it’s actually a soft purple.

“I don’t know how but I think I found a way out,” you tell her just as she catches up. You point to the light which causes her brows to furrow together. “Have you seen this before?”

“No, I haven’t. Weird.”

Taking her hand you begin heading down the tunnel, straight towards the odd flame. As you approach, you look further down the dark tunnel for the next lantern. There’s yet another one where the fire is glowing even brighter. You make your way towards it and see it’s now become a burning red.

“Ever seen a red lantern before?” You ask, staring up at it.

“What are you talking about?” She asks, looking at the lantern as well. “That’s blue.”

“Pretty sure I know my colors, sis,” you jokingly remark, voice light as you try to quell the uneasiness. “Okay, what about that one?” You point to the next one further down which is red as well.

“That’s blue too.”

“Why am I seeing red then?” You wonder, continuing towards the flame.

“I don’t know, but maybe we should head back—seriously?” You hear her sigh from behind as you continue heading for the strange lantern. “We don’t even know where we are.”

As you stand below the hanging light, you feel the texture of the floor change and you glance down to feel smooth purple carpet beneath your feet. Looking back up, you stare off into the distance, searching for the next light. Except it’s not a lantern nor is it attached to the ceiling but rather to the sides of the wall. And there’s multiple lamps all in a row emitting a familiar soft red glow.

Since when did the castle have a passageway leading to a dark cave, specifically in the northeast wing?

“We’re back in the castle,” you breathe, glancing around the space behind the thrones.

“What are you talking about? This isn’t a castle,” your sister says. You turn and see her giving you a concerned look.

“I know this place, it’s where I’ve been staying. Come on, I can take you back to my room,” you insist, but she stops you with a shake of her head.

“Y/N, seriously, a castle with red lights? It may be an improvement from this gloomy cave but there’s nothing here,” she answers.

She means it too, her eyes gazing at you with sympathy and it makes your stomach twist into knots. “You can’t see any of it? Not the trio of thrones or winding staircases on either side of us. Not even the red lights. Nothing?” The last word is a helpless plea, urging her the ability to see what you mean. Instead, she tells you something but no sound comes out. “What?”

“Y/N,” you hear the word slowly register within the quiet space as she gingerly grasps onto your wrist. “Are you alright, Ms. Y/N?”

The formal address of your name has you suddenly drawing a sharp breath, dizziness causing your head to spin as you rapidly blink in the dimly lit area. When you look towards your sister, she’s gone. Instead you find Hiss floating in the place where she once stood. Looking down, you see the black tendrils of her hair looped around your arm.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened,” you mumble, mind still hazy as you shake off the remnants of sleep.

Hiss hovers before you, red eyes staring with an intensity that sends a shiver up your neck. “Where were you headed?” She asks, voice bright and airy, yet there’s a hint of an accusatory tone underneath the cheerfulness.

“I don’t actually know.” You keep searching the area for a glimpse of your sister or even a glowing blue lantern. But there’s none of that, just the stairwell and the rest of the rooms.

“Do you always go wandering the castle this late at night?”

“No, not really. I have trouble sleeping sometimes,” you say, shifting uncomfortably when you feel the tendrils of her hair just barely tighten their hold on your wrist.

Hiss nods in understanding, the dark strands tethered to you moving along with her. “Hmm. I haven’t seen you up until now. Where do usually go?”

“Normally I just go to the kitchen for a drink and then back to bed,” you helplessly shrug, body stiffening as the seconds pass.

“And you don’t go anywhere else?”

You wordlessly shake your head in response.

She keeps staring back at you and the fact that she has no pupils, just full red eyes, builds tension that seems to fill the space. “You know things were normal around here, boring almost, until you suddenly showed up. Why is that?” Though she’s expecting an honest answer, there’s that accusatory undertone, one that’s laced with bitterness.

“You’re not the first to say something along those lines,” you answer humorlessly, remembering how Kala had mentioned something similar after you had been shot. Except she wasn’t distrustful of you nor had she blamed you for these series of strange and unfortunate events.

“Maybe your presence disrupted the balance. Certainly the natural order of things,” she notes harshly.

Her brewing anger has you wincing, shrinking beneath her searing gaze. “I’m sorry about Thia.” It’s the only thing you can think to say.

“Yeah, me too.” Even if she’s resentful, her words are filled with a resigned defeat as though she’s aged greatly and is left permanently exhausted.

“Hiss? What’re you doing?” Another voice asks as Cara floats forward as she comes around from the front of the thrones. “Oh, Y/N, I didn’t see you there,” she says upon taking notice of you. “Couldn’t sleep again?”

“Again? She does this often?” Hiss questions, her eyes boring incredulously at her sister who nods in confirmation.

“Yes, sometimes we sit and talk in the kitchen.”

“And you didn’t think this was crucial information to share with the King during that damned interrogation?” Hiss’s voice rising as her grip tightens even more around your wrist, causing you to grimace when your bones squeeze from the pressure.

“No, because she’s not the assassin and her nightly walks have nothing to do with what happened. Now let her go, Hiss. You’re hurting her,” she calmly suggests though Cara’s ruby eyes harden in contrast.

“So what? A little discomfort is nothing compared to what Thia felt that day,” Hiss spits.

Even if it’s not intended, her words do the expected damage as Cara visibly flinches, her face tormented by the painful reminder of the fresh wounds that have only just begun healing. “Hiss, that was cruel and completely uncalled for!” Cara shouts in return, aghast at her strong words and attitude.

“What is the meaning of this commotion?” Bell harshly whispers, her head appearing from the second floor as she descends down to where you all are. “Everyone is asleep and you’re having a spat in the middle of the main hall?”

Hiss is the first to respond. “I found her wandering the halls,” she states, tilting her head in your direction.

Bell hardly glances your way. “Yes, she works and lives here. Unless she was going somewhere off limits what does it matter? Otherwise, what of it?”

“Is this just common knowledge I just wasn’t aware of? Thia literally described a strange person the night of Hallow’s Evening and neither of you thought to mention it during the interrogation that she constantly wanders the halls quite often?”

“Because it had nothing to do with what happened during the ball,” Bell similarly repeats Cara’s earlier words. “And did you fail to recall that she was shot by the said assassin?”

“Which could’ve been part of the plan for all we know. She could be in league with them.”

“Oh, that’s ridiculous,” Cara suddenly interjects. “She wouldn’t do that. Besides she’s my friend so quit accusing her such things.”

“As if that matters! Just because she’s nice and all friendly to you doesn’t automatically make her trustworthy,” her sister retorts. “Did you know she also apparently sleepwalks?”

Cara pauses for a moment before she responds with, “She has recurring nightmares, you disembodied dimwit, so no, I’m not surprised.”

“Enough.” While not overly loud, Bell’s assertion is domineering enough to halt the strew of arguments being unleashed. “This bickering is nothing but childish and pointless.” She addresses Hiss first. “Nothing could’ve been done to save Thia that day. You know this even if you won’t accept it. Her fate was sealed the moment the King reached his decision.” She regards her sister’s hair which is still coiled tightly around your wrist to the point you’ve lost feeling in your fingers before she uses her own hair to free you from the strands.

“Cara, take Y/N back to her room,” Bell says to her though her gaze remains on Hiss until she turns to you. “And if you could please remain in your room for the rest of the night until morning call it would be much appreciated.”

“Of course. I’m sorry for the trouble I caused,” you answer, feeling guilty of being the cause of the tension between the sisters.

“No need to apologize, Y/N. Have a good rest of the night.”

When you stop at your door, you rest your hand on the handle but don’t open it. “Are you really not surprised by my sleepwalking?” You ask Cara who floats beside you. “I don’t remember doing it ever in my life until now.”

She gently smiles at you, warmth burning within the crimson of her eyes. “Your nightmares have slowly but surely become worse, so I assume that that’s the reason. Even if it somehow isn’t, I don’t believe you’re deceitful or involved in any malicious things.” A weight of sadness causes her smile to slightly wane. “Hiss is just taking Thia’s death especially hard. We’re all close, but those two were inseparable just like Bell and I are. She’ll be okay, so don’t worry,” she reassures you.

All you can do is nod, hoping that she’s right. “Thank you, Cara. You’re a good friend.”

Her smile lifts, revealing teeth as she beams. “I’m glad to hear it, that really means a lot.”

You both wave before you head inside, immediately heading to sit down on your bed. For a few minutes you simply stare down at the carpet beneath your feet, trying to remember the dream you were having while sleepwalking. Something pertaining to your sister but the details are foggy and incoherent.

Huffing in frustration, you’re about to lay down only to stop short upon noticing the pile of dust beside your nightstand. Bending down, you pick up the small navy pouch that’s next to it, recognizing it as the sleeping powder the Queen gave to you. You must’ve somehow knocked it over while you were sleepwalking you think as you dump the thin granules into the bin. As you lie down and burrow beneath the covers, you internally sigh in relief when sleep returns without issue.

When you wake up later on, you feel a twinge in your lower abdomen as you get out of bed. You soon find out the cause of discomfort once you use the restroom and see blood on the toilet paper. Oh joy. You feel a bit miffed that Mother Nature can visit you even down in Hell. Apparently your body has become acclimated enough to the environment, despite the constant stress.

Maybe this is why you suddenly sleepwalked and thought you were with your sister. The shift inside you could be causing strange dreams. One could only hope the answer is as simple as that. After putting some folded toilet paper into your underwear, you finish getting ready before heading downstairs.

                                                               ~*~

In the kitchen, you’re peacefully finishing the rest of your lunch with only Chef for company since Lhaine left to go finish her tasks. That is, until Bren enters the room along with Mel, the latter giving you a disgusted look while the former doesn’t even acknowledge your presence. Not that you’re complaining. As they pass by, you notice Bren has a black ribbon wrapped around her neck, entwined into a little bow at the back, just below her tied up hair. You’re not sure about the color but perhaps because it’s worn higher up it represents a greater status compared to the purple one given to you by the prince for your wrist. Unless this is more of a fashion choice instead.

Both girls head to the counter to eat lunch with Bren gathering food onto a plate while Mel preps the drinks. The latter catches you staring at them and sneers in return. “Can we help you?” She snaps.

You shrug, returning to your own food. “Nothing. Just noticed the new fashion accessory,” you softly compliment. “It’s pretty.”

Mel snorts under her breath, immediately pursing her lips as she focuses on pouring the water. Bren, on the other hand, delivers you with a scalding expression that would probably melt you faster than lava if she possessed that capability. “Oh, you mean this ribbon that signals my disgraced status? Why, how sweet of you to say. You’re probably so satisfied beneath that disgusting saccharine façade,” she spits, cheeks burning red as her eyes tear over.  

Shit, definitely screwed that up. As if she doesn’t already hate your guts. “No, that’s not what I meant. I thought it was by choice, I’m sorry,” you apologize, stumbling over the words, honestly not meaning to offend her or stir the pot. Should’ve just kept your mouth shut.

“Whatever,” Bren sighs, setting their plates on the table before taking her glass from Mel. She takes a sip, immediately frowning at the taste. “How can plain water be so bland and yet so gross?” She mumbles mostly to herself.

Mel shrugs in response. “I know. The wine back home was so much nicer. Ah, maybe one day we’ll get to have a bottle just for ourselves like we used to,” she sighs, reminiscing on past memories.

Her comment elicits another grimace from Bren who doesn’t say anything, instead pointedly keeping her gaze on her unsalted meat and bread. You take the opportunity to gather your plate, finishing off your own glass of water before quickly rinsing them in the sink. Once you’re done, you leave the kitchen so you can get back to your own tasks.

                                                               ~*~

After retrieving, the sheets from the laundry room, you drag the fraying wicker basket behind you, using the hook of the clothes hanger to tug it along. While washing and changing the prince’s bedsheets isn’t too strenuous, you’re not allowed to pick up heavy things as it’ll strain your shoulder and the basket isn’t exactly designed for resting against your hips so you’ve had to improvise in that regard.

Only when you get to the main hall and approach the stairs, you have to crouch down and pull the basket handle up step by step using your own hand so as to prevent the clean sheets from accidentally spilling out. You’re about halfway there when another hand appears and grabs a hold of the other handle. As you glance up, you’re taken by surprise that you can only blankly stare.

“Hurry up, will you? Before you throw out my back,” Rae complains, scowling at your dumbfounded state.

You move then, lifting up the handle with your good arm while she does the same and follows you up the rest of the steps. Instead of leaving you at the top of the staircase she continues walking behind you all the way into the prince’s bedroom which is vacant.  

The two of you set the basket on the ottoman and she already begins unloading the sheets, splaying them against the bare bed. “Thanks,” you say, unsure of how to process this situation.

“Don’t mention it,” she responds, and you take her words at face value.

While you walk to the other side of the bed, your eyes wander to V’s desk and all the books splayed across it. Though you deliberately avoid reading the open pages lest your eyes begin bleeding you happen to catch a glimpse of one book with the title Portaling. So he really has been researching possible ways to escape. The fact that he’s taking this extra time to help you, even though he clearly said he would, still warms your heart. It gives you a sense of relief that there’s someone who has more knowledge and resources, not to mention better luck than you in finding out how to escape from Hell.

Fabric hits the back of your head and you grab the pillowcase before it falls. “Quit snooping through the prince’s room and tuck the sheets in properly,” Rae snaps, her face pinched as she roughly begins working on her side.

Moving quicker, you do the same as you both work in silence, finishing the bed and then sliding the silken pillowcases onto the pillows. “While I appreciate you helping me carry the basket, why bother in the first place? I don’t get the impression I’m liked by you.”

She scoffs. “I don’t hate you if that’s what you’re implying.” Her hands deftly fold the excess pillowcases and blankets, stacking them into small piles.

“You and your friends aren’t exactly fond of me either,” you note, also folding the rest of the laundry.

“They’re not my friends,” she snaps before realizing what she said. “I mean, we’re cousins,” she amends.

You’re taken by surprised though you then remember that they’re all the same type of creature. “Either way, you’ve all hated me from the moment I got here. So I’m sorry if I’m a little apprehensive.”

Rae pauses her folding, blowing out a breath of exasperation as she looks away, avoiding eye contact. “I’m not doing this in an attempt to fulfill Bren’s debt to you, just as a favor for you since you saved her life.”

“Oh, well, thanks,” you awkwardly say. “I was just trying to help.”

“Right. And I meant it when I said don’t mention it. I doubt the prince would want me in here at all even if it’s for a task.”

“Why? I mean, isn’t this a part of our job?” You reason with her.

She hesitates, before answering, “Well, yes, but you have seniority over me. So you should be the one to take care of it first. Besides I’m sure he’d prefer asking you anyway,” she mutters that last part to herself.

“What do you mean? I haven’t been here that long at all.”

“Yeah, but remember what His Highness said after our little ‘tussle’? He demoted Bren and gave you her position as personal servant. So unless he wants something from me specifically, he’ll most likely ask you instead.”

“Is that why she hates me? Because she sees me as a threat?” Bren’s mentioned before how he’ll be hers soon. But with you getting closer to him recently, she probably assumes you’re taking over her territory.

Rae is about to answer yes, but stops short. “They’re close. Well, they had been until you came along,” she mumbles yet again.

All this animosity because they think you’re trying to sabotage a supposed romantic relationship? This is so stupid. You sigh before answering. “I don’t care about whatever connection they have or who’s interested in who, okay? I got kidnapped by demons and now just want out. That’s it. So can all of you just leave me out of this?”

She stares at you for a moment, a look of shock stuck in place until she shakes her head. “Well, Bren doesn’t exactly have a choice. She owes you for saving her from being executed.” As soon as she says it, she scrunches her nose and lets out a noise of frustration as she curses beneath her breath. “I mean, that’s traditionally how it goes, but that’s between you and her. I don’t care for you one way or another, so you stay out of my way and I’ll do the same.”

“Fine by me,” you agree, picking up the now empty basket as you get ready to leave.

“But I will say that you helping Bren be spared is, appreciated.” Rae is keeping her gaze fixated onto the ground and then she turns before quickly leaving the room.

You’re left awkwardly standing and staring at the spot she was just occupying. “You’re welcome,” you softly respond in the quiet space.

                                                               ~*~

Later on, you make a stop at the bathroom near the servants’ quarters, intent on relieving yourself and changing out your “pad.” Seriously, someone needs to start stealing from above ground or inventing proper hygiene products because this is just ridiculously primeval. As you go inside, you head for an open stall only to nearly crash into the restroom door when there’s a loud bang from inside one of the closed stalls.

“Are you kidding me?” A voice shouts, the sound followed by rustling from behind just before a toilet flushes. The stall door flies open, slamming against the wall as Bren emerges, her face red and clearly upset by something. She stops short when she sees you awkwardly standing at the entrance, ready to turn around and bolt. Her lips pinch together before she eventually mutters, “Period problems.” She walks towards the sink so she can wash her hands.

Nodding quietly, you walk behind her as you head towards one of the stalls. “I get it. Sorry, that might be my hormones setting your body’s off. I don’t know if the synchronization is a good or a bad thing,” you snort.

In the mirror, you catch a glimpse of her reflection as the muscles in her face tighten, nose beginning to protrude. Her hands, which were just about to turn on the water, are gripping onto the handles as she lets out a sharp exhale. “Whatever. It is what it is,” she whispers the last part, and you barely catch it though you don’t respond, going into the stall before locking the door as you do.

                                                               ~*~

Something tickles against your cheek causing your face to twitch. The irritating sensation returns and you reach a hand up to rub at your skin, finding it oddly wet. Opening your eyes, you’re greeted by surrounding darkness, a halo of dim blue light shining down on you. Another droplet hits your forehead and you realize it’s water.

Looking around the space, you hear the pool of water before you see it, the pinging droplets splashing every so often. You crawl towards it, nightgown scraping across the rough dirt and stone until you reach the end before peering down into it. There’s nothing to see except your own reflection. Until, through the depths emerges a face that floats closer. One you can immediately recognize despite the haggard look.

Her eyes meet yours and she parts her lips to which you lean closer.

“Boo,” you hear the word whispered right in your ear. Arms wrap around you as you jump, immediately turning to find your sister beside you.

“Faith,” you gasp, flinching at how cold her body is.

“Sis,” she greets in return with a grin. “Maybe this time don’t go running off, yeah?” While she may be smiling, the grip she has on you is tight and unrelenting.

“Right,” you breathe, an icy chill freezing in the pit of your stomach. “Sorry, I don’t know what happened.”

She pulls you up away from the water and starts guiding you down another path. “Come on, let’s stick together and not chase after strange lights,” she suggests. “Where’d you disappear off to last time? It’s like you completely vanished.”

How do you even begin to explain your current situation in Hell to her? “I woke up. For some reason we’ve been able to see each other but only in our dreams,” you tell her.

It’s silent except for the echoing droplets of water dripping into the miniscule puddles at your feet. Beneath the blue light that hangs above your heads as you pass by, you see confusion cloud your sister’s hazy eyes. She seems lost in distant thoughts before she finally speaks. “Our dreams? That can’t be.”

“But it’s true. That’s the only time I’ve been able to see and talk to you. You’re in the hospital in a coma.”

“Hospital.” She speaks the word slowly as though it’s foreign to her. “I barely remember but I think mom and dad took me. I haven’t been there in a while.”

“What?” Her words cause you to go painstakingly still as if your bones are stiffening in place. “That can’t be. It must be because you’re asleep. How else would we be able to see, I mean, I’d know if. . .” You trail off, the air being squeezed from your lungs, unable to draw it back in.

Faith grimaces, her arm ever so slightly tightening around your shoulders. “I haven’t seen mom or dad, or anyone remotely alive, besides you. Feels like I’ve been lost in these tunnels for ages. I don’t even know if I can leave, let alone get back.”

No, it can’t be. You shake your head. “We just haven’t found the right path. I saw the lights change color last time so surely that’s the key to getting out of here,” you tell her, turning your attention towards the next blue light in the distance.

“Sis,” she calls softly, “there’s nothing besides the blue orbs. Maybe you can somehow see something different but I can’t.”

“Then I’ll guide us by following the different colored lights. They must mean something important,” you insist, already heading off in one direction. Your sister follows close behind though she’s hesitant. As you approach the next blue orb, you see a red one hovering off in the distance. “See? There’s a red one down there. Come on,” you urge her, grabbing her arm as you tug her along.

And then you find yourself sprinting, dashing towards the red lights that float farther away. The grip you have on your sister’s arm loosens and you look back, seeing her all the way behind you. “Aren’t you coming?”

“There’s nothing down that way! It’s just a large precipice,” she yells.

You’re confused until you feel jagged stone touch your palms and you find yourself on your hands and knees, holding onto the protruding edge. Staring down below into the darkness, you barely make out the faint red glow all the way down at the bottom.

“Wait, stop!” You hear her shout from behind.

But it’s like your body has a mind of its own, and you’re just a spectator, as you suddenly lean forward before falling into the dark pit.

You hear your name called from behind but there’s nothing to stop your descent, that is, until something wraps around your waist and yanks you back.

The dark abyss falls back as it’s chased away by a soft glowing light of a chandelier you realize as you hit the ground with a grunt, suddenly finding yourself staring up at the high ceiling. Without looking, you know that you’re on the purple carpet that lines the second floor of the castle.

Not in bed like you’re supposed to be.

“Y/N?”

At the sound of your name, you turn your head and see V lying beside you, worry etched along his features. “Are you alright?” His ebony wings are out, curled up around him, bare chest heaving.

It takes you a second too late to realize you’re openly staring while he waits for your answer. You scramble to push yourself up into a sitting position and he follows suit. “I’m sorry,” you blurt out the apology before the uncomfortable silence can smother you. “I think I was caught in a dream and must’ve been sleepwalking again.”

He stares at you incredulously, seemingly at a loss for words while he rakes a hand through his hair, ruffling the blond locks. “I didn’t know your sleepwalking also meant climbing over the balcony railing and nearly falling to your death.”

“My death?”

“Yes,” he lets out a laugh of disbelief, void of any humor. “I was doing some work in the library when I thought I heard voices and movement so I came out to look then saw you balancing precariously on the railing before pulling you away. Thank goodness I happened upon you when I did.”

Why would you be climbing the railing you wonder as you glance over towards it. You vaguely remember trying to climb something in your dream but nothing’s distinct. Just a shroud of darkness that clouds the small pieces still at the forefront. Something about your sister and shadows. How are you forgetting your dreams all of a sudden?

“I’m glad you found me when you did. Thank you,” you say. “I’ve never sleepwalked before until now.”

He cocks his head slightly, chewing the inside of cheek. “Odd. I hope it’s not due to stress especially since Miss is supposed to be giving you a lighter workload. It’s not because of what happened at the celebration, is it?”

The memory of the bullet piercing your shoulder causes it to faintly twinge and you shudder slightly at the painful reminder. “No, it’s not that. I think my dreams have just been weird lately. Probably just worrying about my sister.” You trail off, thinking about what you could’ve been talking to her about until you suddenly remember her mention being lost in the tunnels. And then you recall the blue lights inside that empty cave with the never ending passageways. How can she possibly be trapped there? What state is she in back home if she thinks she’s stuck in the tunnels?

You know of one way to find out. Risking a glance at V, you see him still studying you, expression unreadable. “I know it’s late and I don’t mean to inconvenience you, but can you take me to your mother’s garden?”

“To see your sister I presume?”

You nod in return. “I’m sorry, I just want to see if she’s okay.”

His eyes soften then, a glimmer of sympathy flickering from within. “Alright.” V gets to his feet and carefully helps you up as well.

Neither of you speak a word as you cut through your room and fly down to the greenhouse rooftop with you held securely in his arms. Crouching down before the crystal clear waters, it unveils another part of your dream as you half expect your sister’s face to appear beside your own. But she doesn’t. Instead, your reflection is accompanied by V’s own, the prince resting against the rock by the pond.

As you hold your anklet above the undisturbed water, your hand trembles and you mentally steel yourself for what you might see. Will she just be an empty shell with hardly any remnants of the sister you once knew? Could she actually be that far gone? If so, then it’ll all be for nothing. You try forcing your hand to shove down and just get it over with, but your arm is locked in place.

“You don’t have to if you’re not comfortable, little dove,” V speaks from beside you. “Sometimes it’s easier to not know.” There’s a truth to his sentiment one that’s probably all too familiar for him.

“I know, but if she’s, gone,” you nearly choke on the word, “then is there any point in all this searching?”

“Yes, yourself,” he answers simply. “Even if she’s moved on, we’ll still keep searching for a way to get you home. I’m sure your parents are also missing you dearly.”

“Well, they assume I’m still a part of that internship with Sir. But you’re right.” They’d be devasted at losing not one, but both of their daughters. Staying with your head buried in the sand isn’t an option, at least one that isn’t sustainable in the slightest.

Swallowing, you lower your hand and let the anklet be submerged in the pond. Just like before the water ripples until cracks form along the surface and then shatters, revealing the shimmering glow of crystals. And just like last time, you see the dark hospital room with your dad asleep in the chair nearby. Your sister remains in her bed but nothing has really changed. She still looks the same, except her bones don’t seem to be as noticeable.

“Is it possible she’s getting better on her own?” You wonder aloud, refusing to allow hope to flourish.

“Perhaps. She could be healing on her own or they might’ve found a cure for her,” V says, sitting up slightly to peer into the water. “Do you feel a little better at least?”

“A little. I just wish I knew how much time I had. How much time she has,” you sigh, pulling your anklet out which causes the water to stop glittering before returning to its original state. “Thank you for bringing me here.” You slip the accessory back around your ankle, fingers pinching the strings while you remain staring at it.

“Of course, Y/N. It’s the least I can do,” he tells you. His hand reaches out and touches the fabric lightly as you feel him lean closer beside you. “You know, this would actually be a popular accessory here.”

Perplexed, you turn to face him and are startled by how close he actually is to you, your shoulders nearly brushing each other. “Really?”

He nods, a ghost of a smile forming on his lips. “Honest. These are the most favored colors to wear here.”

“That sounds about right,” you snort. As if Hell hasn’t always been associated with red and black since probably the beginning of time.

“Aesthetics aside, from a symbolic perspective, I think your sister chose well.”

“Red for danger and black for death? Yeah, that sounds about right in my case.”

He chuckles with a shake of his head, his fingers tracing along the skin of your ankle. “Colors can have a variety of meanings as I’m sure you’re already aware. I prefer to think of them as representing courage and power which better suits you,” he says, drawing your gaze to him with an undeniable pull.

Eyes interlocked, it takes full control for you to break the connection, focusing instead on the flowers sat on a table behind him. The literal bloodred roses are in full bloom with blood droplets dripping into the soil they’re planted in. Swallowing, you finally answer. “And you study the meaning of colors too? Fascinating.”

One shoulder lifts in a half-shrug. “I know a small bit. Otherwise how else would I be able to dress fashionably?” He jokes. “Actually, mother is the one who’s well-versed in the symbolic meaning of colors. I just know the most about red and black because of how much they pertain to our world.” His hand drops away from your ankle, the warmth escaping with him. “Are you ready to go back?” When you nod, he gathers you into his arms and stands before flying up through the opening in the ceiling.

The sudden change in gravity has you quickly wrapping your arms around his neck so you can hang on even if he has a secure grip on you. While there’s not much of a breeze, the night is still rather cool, enough to slowly sap the heat from your body especially with the thin nightgown you’re currently wearing. Thankfully the heat from V’s bare skin is more than enough to at least help you retain some warmth. And yet, despite being shirtless, he’s not fazed in the slightest by the night air.

It only takes a few seconds for you to reach the balcony of your room, but rather than setting you on your feet, he instead carries you to your bed and gently sets you down on the soft mattress. His arms don’t slide out from underneath you and you don’t release the hold you from around his neck. “Hopefully now that you’ve seen her, you can rest easier tonight. And I’ll let the heads know to keep an eye out in case you begin sleepwalking again. You’ve already survived one close call and I don’t want you getting hurt,” he says.

“Thanks, I hope that’ll be the last of it too.” With the close proximity, your noses almost brush and if you only lift your head a tad then your lips would touch. The notion has you wanting to draw closer, an innate urge to feel how soft they might be.

V also peers down at you with an intensity of his own before he moves first. He leans closer, lips drawing near and your mouth tingles in anticipation of making contact only for you to feel a gentle touch against your cheek. As he presses a kiss on your skin, your face feels hot, cheeks rapidly heating as a result and you know he must be able to feel the warmth radiating on his lips.

And then he pulls away much too soon, removing his arms from around you while your own limply fall into your lap. “Rest well, little dove,” he murmurs, his umber eyes now a molten onyx, with a longing that hides just below the surface.

“Good night, V.” You somehow manage to gain control of your voice, entire body now warm with no traces of the frigid night air left remaining.

Leaving you with one more smile, you watch him walk to the door, his wings the last that you see before the door closes shut. He just kissed you on the cheek. While the two of you have been nothing but amicable, once he dropped the initial flirtatious façade and arrogance, is he implying something different now? Or was that simply a friendly gesture? You can’t tell, having no idea what the demonic customs are and you’re not sure exactly how much of the human ones apply in this instance either.

Needless to say, sleep doesn’t come for the rest of the night. Even as you try tossing and turning, you only manage dozing off every so often. The hours drag by as you fidget beneath your covers before you finally just get up and dressed for the day. You’re walking down the hall towards the kitchen as you decide to go ahead and eat breakfast since morning call will be soon enough anyway. Besides, you want to talk to Lhaine and ask her about the prince’s display of affection. Or maybe you should hold off on telling her, not sure if you’re prepared for her onslaught of questions and comments.

Before you step onto the stairs, you hear voices and see a pair of figures standing just behind the thrones. Ducking down, you press against the wall, straining to hear what they’re saying.

“Any new information?” The first person asks and you recognize him as the King, only now able to catch a glimpse of his glowing red eye.

“No, I’m afraid information has been scarce and no one seems to know the exact coordinates,” the other person says. Though you crane your neck, their back faces you and they’re obscured in the shadows yet they seem to be male.

“Even at the last location?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“You’ve already failed me once,” the King growls. “Keep searching and only report back once you’ve discovered something useful to our quest. The gemstone mustn’t fall into the wrong hands.”

“Of course, Your Majesty, the family’s stability is of utmost importance and I will not rest until we succeed.” The other person gives a bow before walking off, disappearing into the dark shadows below the stairwell while the King heads off in the opposite direction. It’s only when they’re gone do you suddenly remember the strange shadowy figure you saw in the garden when you first began staying in your old room, realizing that that’s the same person.

You continuing waiting at the top of the stairs until the slightest sliver of twilight begins creeping through the windows before you finally stand up straight, knees stiff from being in that position. What in the world could the King possibly want with some gemstone?

— — — 

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A/N: Meant to post this yesterday, but editing took longer and I was reworking some scenes. Hope y’all enjoy! Thoughts and comments are always welcome. I’m hoping to be back on tumblr more often soon, just been busy with life but I’m doing my best to keep the momentum going on my writing. This turtle is still chugging along, slowly but surely. Thank you again for your patience! <3

[spacefinch]

Finch’s ramblings: Magic School Bus

This is a franchise I essentially grew up with. I spent hours reading the books in the classroom, and watched the entire classic series.

I used to own all 20 MSB chapter books. Each one was narrated in the first person from a student’s point of view. “Space Explorers” (narrated by Carlos) and “Penguin Puzzle” (narrated by Phoebe) were my favorites.

The first MSB episode I remember watching is “Goes Cellular”— aka the one where Arnold turns orange.

Phoebe was by far one of my favorite characters in the show. She’s kind and caring, and has red hair, just like me! Even better: she shares her name with one of my favorite birds. Naturally, I was very disappointed that the reboot excluded her.

For my 9th birthday, I had a Magic School Bus party— specifically rainbow themed. My friends and I walked around in a big cardboard bus, and we did lots of colorful activities.

I was more used to the show and the books published afterwards, so it came as a bit of a surprise when I read the OG books by Joanna Cole. Here were the main eight students, plus more that I still can’t keep track of.

Another one of my favorite characters (and possibly my first childhood crush) was Carlos. It’s partly thanks to him that I took an interest in telling jokes. (The other part that influenced my joke telling was my mom.)

The friendships in the show are the best: to this day, I’m still looking for those kind of friends.

Dorothy Ann was yet another favorite character of mine. I could definitely relate to her: always ready to infodump, and never comfortable without at least a few books on hand.

I found I could relate to pretty much all 8 students:

Arnold’s nervous/cautious personality and love of rocks

Ralphie’s imagination and energy

Keesha’s perceptiveness and common sense

Phoebe’s love of animals and her quiet, yet fierce spirit

Carlos’s sense of humor and stubbornness

Tim’s love of art and film

Wanda’s sense of adventure and unwillingness to back down

Dorothy Ann’s book smarts and curiosity

When I was 12, I had a seizure, which resulted in a bad fall and a stay at the hospital. It took several days to recover, and MSB was one of the things that kept me going during that time. While I did enjoy getting to watch multiple episodes in a row, I never want to have to go to the hospital again for a seizure. I’ve only had a few of them, and the only thing stopping me from having another is my prescription medication.

Looking back, I really appreciate the representation in the show.

It’s possible to headcanon all the main characters as neurodivergent.

Not one, not two, not three, but FOUR redheads (Ms. Frizzle, Arnold, Phoebe, and Janet.) And it’s some of the best rep I’ve seen.

I also liked how the POC students (Keesha, Tim, Carlos, and Wanda) were portrayed. They did have key trademark personality traits, but those weren’t based on stereotypes. Instead, you have: girl who’s super perceptive and good at getting to the bottom of a mystery (Keesha), guy who really likes to draw and photograph things (Tim), guy who tells the best dad jokes (Carlos), and a girl who’s more of a daredevil than any of the other students (Wanda.)

The disability rep was another plus. As I mentioned, I already consider the majority of characters in the show to be autistic or ADHD. I also enjoyed seeing Carlos’s little brother Mikey, even if he was in only two episodes. I like the fact that Mikey is a wheelchair user, but that isn’t his only personality trait. Given what I know now, I’d consider his personality to be: combination of Scotty from Star Trek TOS, Peter Parker from Marvel, and Hiro Hamada from Big Hero 6.

Other things I liked:

All the color! From the Friz’s dress designs to the kids’ outfits to all the places they explored, there was no shortage of color.

The references to other well-known things. By far my favorite is the entire “Out of This World” episode. The bus in its spaceship form looks just like the USS Enterprise, and the kids get to wear Star Trek style outfits. If you are a Trekkie, I would recommend you watch this episode if you only have time to watch one.

Well, it’s getting late, so I’d better turn in for the night. I hope you guys like this look at a key part of my childhood, and a tiny bit of personal lore.

[twocubes]

In my experience, for therapy:

Assuming you want a psychiatrist referral: focus heavily on ADHD symptoms. Say you've been treated already for anxiety/any relevant disorders that mimic ADHD and that it didn't work. If they give you more anxiety/depression "solutions", emphasize that they aren't working for you. Bring up family members with the same issue, possibly note their diagnosis (lying if necessary). Talk about how stuff started in childhood. If you directly bring up ADHD, shield it with "my family member was diagnosed..." Or "my friend said they were diagnosed and that my symptoms sound similar". Basically set them up to solve your "elusive" mystery via process of elimination and feel smart without coming across as drug seeking or "too knowledgeable" about ADHD. (Use this advice with judgement--it depends so much on the therapist/how knowledgeable they are. Some need to be baited, some can be told your suspicions directly.)

Assuming you just want to shit test them: ask them the questions you joked about in the form, just not in a literal form.

I went the "convince a therapist to speculate a diagnosis and then find a psychiatrist who took an intake interview + the opinion of my therapist as sufficient evidence" route, and my therapist was decent (and had a lot of experience with ADHD/autism). So if you're dealing with somebody more ignorant, it might be a lot more annoying. If you're familiar with the ADHD in adults questionnaire you might find luck approaching your PCP directly with it? It depends on if they just won't give stimulants, are unsure about medication interactions, or are unsure about diagnosis.

After you're medicated for ADHD, your therapist will probably let you quit therapy if you don't have other issues/need coaching, since the medication should basically solve them.

this was probably good advice but in the end the thing came and i was just extremely tired so i was just honest the whole time and don't remember what I said exactly