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spookyserenades · 1 year

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Trouvaille - Drabble #1

Pairing(s); BTS OT7 x Reader

Genre/Themes; Hybrid!AU, themes of the supernatural and the occult, religious themes, violence, hurt/comfort, horror, romance

Rated; 18+ for swearing, violence/gore, future sexual themes. Reader discretion is advised.

Word Count; 2.2k

Trouvaille Masterlist

Trouvaille playlist

Drabble Prompt from @oopscoop

The last of Y/N’s family were bidding their goodnights by the gate, her heady, flowery scent mingling with various other, less enticing, smells of the backyard. Though she was yards away, and the voices of her and her relatives weren’t audible apart from distinguishing who was speaking even with hybrid ears, it didn’t stop the seven hybrids waiting for her to return from trying to catch onto every word she uttered. Tension was palpable between several of them, but there was nothing to do but endure– this was how it was going to be from now on, and for most of them, they hoped it lasted. Time spent with Y/N, that is; the tension, the other hybrids… Well, it was a package deal.

“Fucksake, Jimin,” Yoongi hissed, the tipsy coyote hybrid grasping a fistful of Yoongi’s long hair to lower himself down onto one of the picnic blankets Y/N had laid out for them. “You think you had enough whiskey? You reek.”

The fabric of the blankets were well worn, threadbare, and Y/N’s scent clung to them tantalizingly so. It was enough to drive any hybrid crazy, but Y/N could hardly know that. She had admitted to each of them that she wasn’t well versed in the behaviors of hybrids, which was proving to be a tricky sort of situation to navigate.

Everything about their adoptions was unconventional. It was rare that a normal human would ever adopt more than two hybrids, especially of the exotic variety. Adoptions of more than two hybrids (all at once, not to mention) usually spelled trouble for the hybrid; certain death or exploitation, usually. But here they were, with a seemingly average young woman– who was either out of her head or far too much of a champion for the underdog for her own good– in a sleepy suburban town outside of Boston, with shelter, food, and care. It seemed far too good to believe, and in fact, Jeongguk, Hoseok, and Namjoon were waiting for the other shoe to drop.

She was pleasant, though– Y/N. Hoseok admired her ability to stay upbeat no matter what sort of stumbling block the others threw her way. Seokjin appreciated the fact that she didn’t pry for information, and Yoongi had never met a human so quick to treat a hybrid like an equal, rather than a pet or a wild animal.

None of the hybrids had ever been formally adopted before, so it was hard to know what to expect from Y/N. She was a young woman, younger than all of the hybrids she adopted, and lived in a rickety old house all by herself. Did she adopt them out of loneliness, pity, or boredom? Sure, she hadn’t done anything to warrant too much suspicion yet, but letting guards down was something Jeongguk and Namjoon were hesitant to do.

But she was somewhat irresistible. Her scent, her smile, the sound of her voice calling their names… there was no one in the world quite like her. Perhaps it was instinct, to stake claim over their adoptive guardian, to react so viscerally to the sound of their names leaving her lips, the concentration of her scent when she was near. Maybe it was her kindness, or her acceptance; maybe they’d never know.

“That was a blast. Y/N has some cool friends, and little Daisy was so cute…” Hoseok sighed, grinning from ear to ear as he recalled some of the interactions he had throughout the day. He had never had such an opportunity; to simply mingle and have fun, enjoy the summer afternoon, and drink and eat to his heart’s content. It had his heart soaring in his chest.

“Yeah, you seemed in your element with what’s-her-name,” Jeongguk drawled from the other blanket, aiming his exhale of cigarette smoke towards the back of Taehyung’s head. Jeongguk didn’t trust any of the other hybrids he had been stuck with after being “adopted”, but he distrusted Taehyung the most. There was something off about him, for sure, and Jeongguk wasn’t a fan of wildcards. “Alison?”

“Alice, was her name. She was one of the twins, Y/N’s best friends,” Seokjin volunteered, trying his best to keep his voice steady in the presence of the raging bonfire. He focused by recalling facts, which he found kept him calm and collected, particularly when they involved the details of Y/N’s life. While she was still quite a mystery to him, he couldn’t help but feel drawn like a moth to a flame– everything about her seemed interesting, and he wanted to know what she liked, disliked, and how she thought.

“Yeah, she’s cute. Hysterical, too. She was telling me about some of her adventures with Y/N in high school. They used to be pretty wild, from what she told me,” Hoseok chuckled, remembering a story Alice told him about her and Y/N’s trips to deserted MBTA tracks with smuggled Jack Daniels in plastic water bottles, a portable speaker, and pinky finger sized joints on Friday nights in high school.

“That’s what humans tend to do in high school, is it not? Rebel, be reckless?” Namjoon commented, a note of agitation and perhaps envy coloring his rich voice.

Everything about the situation he was in rubbed Namjoon the wrong way. He never wanted to be adopted, let alone surrounded by other hybrids he’d have to share a guardian with God forbid he was put in that kind of situation. Besides, Namjoon could hardly fathom that he’d been adopted by a frivolous young girl, no matter that she was the daughter of someone he had grown to respect and admire. Humans ended up all being the same, to him. Selfish, wasteful, and foolish.

“That’s what people do, in general, at that age, Namjoon,” Jimin managed, though his speech was a bit more slurred than he would have hoped.

Jimin felt for the hybrids around him, he truly did. They had entirely different upbringings than he, and guilt festered in his gut over that fact since he had gotten to know each of them over the past week. He wasn’t very used to being around hybrids that were so… untamed. At the ranch, the hybrids he worked with were closer to humans in behavior than anything else, perhaps because they constantly dealt with the public in the park. Really, hybrids weren’t so different from humans, and he couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that the others he lived with now didn’t seem to agree.

Namjoon rolled his eyes, frankly tired of dealing with the rest of the hybrids that night. He’d had his fill at the cookout, where he watched them prance around and get wasted with humans, strangers. He stuck with Y/N’s mother for most of the afternoon, her presence truly the only comforting one. While she was a little strange, he found the older woman wise and quite kind, which was rare for a human.

Taehyung was good at turning others out. He found it easy to ignore the voices around him, choosing to focus on just one, alluring voice from across the yard. The Kodiak hybrid had no intentions of befriending any of the other hybrids he’d been adopted with, but Y/N– she was a different story. Gentle, sweet, and understanding. Taehyung worried that with everything that had happened to him, everything that he had done in the past, would drive her away. And that was one of the only things that had ever, truly, scared him.

Aware of the other two hybrids behind him keeping their distance, Taehyung shrunk to make himself smaller, picking at the silky material of his ruby button-down. Y/N thought it looked nice on him, and that it went well with his eyes; no one had gotten close enough to him to notice the color of them. Something curled in his gut, a fluttering sensation, and he desperately tried to squash the butterflies battering around in there.

“What’s she holding, Seokjin? Can you see from here?” Yoongi grimaced, not thrilled with his current task of holding up an intoxicated coyote hybrid on his shoulder.

He’d do it for Y/N, though– the thought of Jimin hanging off of her in his tipsy state had a fair bit of fury coursing through his bloodstream. Counting his breaths and holding onto sanity, Yoongi tried to squint through the orange flames of the bonfire, catching the soft, wispy lavender fabric of Y/N’s dress. She was hugging her mother goodbye, which made the leopard hybrid’s heart twang painfully, but he couldn’t help but study her figure from head to toe, no matter how far away she was.

“I can’t tell. She’s got sticks, or something,” Seokjin replied quizzically, his fiery eyes narrowing in Y/N’s direction.

“It’s a s’mores kit, you bunch of dumbasses,” Jeongguk stubbed out his cigarette on the bottom of his shoe, tossing the butt into his empty drink cup. “Aren’t you all predators? You should be able to smell the chocolate better than I can.”

Jeongguk had gotten past Y/N’s incessant need to treat all of them to sweets and surprises. At first, it felt cheap, or perhaps forced. After his little… departure from dinner when he first arrived and he tore her head off just a tad, he realized that her intentions weren’t forced at all. That’s just the way she was, maybe too indulgent in them, and definitely a little naive. At least she was harmless, Jeongguk concluded, and he’d gotten to learn some of the practices of a witch while he lived there, however long that was.

“God, you are such an asshole,” Yoongi griped, honestly ready to throw the elk hybrid through a window. Y/N, though, would be horrified, so he had to hold back the overwhelming urge.

“Hey, stop swearing! She’s coming,” Jimin suddenly seemed to have a moment of sobriety, not fond of the way the other hybrids let expletives fly free around Y/N.

All ears perked up at once, the sound of the old wooden gate latching shut and Y/N somewhat stomping over to them, though a bright smile was stretching across her pretty face as she registered all the hybrids clumped together on the blankets. She seemed to be a touch on the tipsy side still; a flush to her skin, wobble in her step, and the slight scent of booze mingling with her sweet fragrance. Humming, her eyes swept over each of them slowly, each hybrid stiffening a degree when eye contact was made, but Y/N was oblivious to that.

“My boys, hope you had a nice day,” Y/N spoke, as if she had been saying that to them their whole lives.

Too quietly for her to hear, Seokjin purred in surprise, heat spreading through his cheeks, while Hoseok’s russet tail from beside him began to wag a little in response to her words. Jimin found himself incredibly flustered, between seeing her in that dress again so close and the way she looked so endeared, and he was thankful Yoongi was holding him up.

The leopard hybrid, however, felt a twinge of jealousy– it was regrettable, really, that he’d have to share her with the others. Outweighing the jealousy, though, was the pounding of his heart, having to look away from the girl bending in a crouch to pass him a lengthened stake.

Meanwhile, Namjoon felt like someone just attempted to choke him, scandalized and taken off guard. He hadn’t even known this girl for much more than a handful of days, but he could smell genuine affection coming off of her in tangible waves. Perhaps that scent is what he was choking on. And Jeongguk, next to him, was in a similar state of disbelief– ‘my boys’? She must have drank more than he thought, or that last gin seltzer she had stolen from him tipped her right over the edge of lucidity. He took his stake stiffly, forgetting about how annoyed he was to be in this situation in the first place as he watched her tear open a pack of marshmallows with her teeth.

“One last treat, just for us though!” Y/N sat beside Taehyung, who realized the butterflies in his stomach had turned into vicious bats, battering his insides with an emotion he’d never felt before.

Guilt crawled up his throat, knowing that he was hiding something huge from her, potentially life-threatening, especially when she traded her stake already loaded up with marshmallows for his empty one. She was considerate, and didn’t even have to exchange words with him to make him feel at ease. Studying the side of her face, he noticed an underlying thread of anxiety buried deep under her content facade, and startlingly, it worried him almost immediately. He wondered if he should ask her what was causing her anxiety, but didn’t quite know how.

The moon was full, and it reflected off of her face and hair and illuminated her in a way that made her appear to glow, and it was almost overwhelmingly distracting how completely her scent filled the evening air. The hybrids distracted themselves with conversations between themselves, making their desserts, and soaking in the strange comfort that they had a place to call home, at the end of the night.

Please do not repost or translate my work. Thank you!

#bts fanfiction #bts fanfic #bts ot7 x reader #hybrid x reader #bts ot7 x y/n #bts hybrid au #bts fic #bts au #bts hybrid x reader #bts hybrid fanfic #namjoon fanfic #seokjin fanfic #yoongi fanfic #hoseok fanfic #jimin fanfic #taehyung fanfic #jungkook fanfic #trouvaille drabbles #bts drabbles

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melpherno · 6 months

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Hihi!! Can I request some Lovebrush headcanons please?

How would MLs deal with a little painter who’s usually always bright and happy but is suddenly withdrawn and quiet. (The horrors)

𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡 𝐂𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬 ♡

All the boys x reader .

A/N: thank you for the ask, anon! This was kinda fun to imagine.

Note: the reader is referred to as "the little painter".

• Alkaid is a perceptive fellow, it doesn't take him long to notice the difference in the little painter's behaviour. He might as well catch it as soon as he sees the painter's smile droop a little; he also tends to notice how her smile feels more forced, or more ingenuine, or perhaps slightly out of place.

• He reacts coolly on the surface. He is concerned, yes, but he shows it via his actions. He'd tactfully ask her questions about her day, or how she was feeling – trying to get an idea of what was bothering her before giving her advice or trying to help her alleviate this issue flashing a kind smile.

• He suggests the little painter take a break. He either takes her out on walks or a quick trip around the island. He's going to go on a bike ride with her or go bungee jumping, maybe try out a new restaurant, or even watch a new movie together – or perhaps they could stargaze together, that would be the best. After all, he's happy if she is happy with him.

• Ayn is going to pretend like he didn't see that, while he definitely did. He takes in how the little painter simply smiled and waved at him when entering the practice room, sharing a few pleasantries before she quietly sat down on a chair, listening to him play the piano in utter silence. He does appreciate the silence, but this... This is concerning.

• He won't directly ask her in person, but he will send her a message after a few hours when she will probably be resting at home. He won't panic or anything, but he will be very concerned – spamming her with messages. And if he just notices her being online, ignoring his messages, then he will spam a little more. Just a little...

• He will suggest the little painter come over and listen to him playing the piano. And if she is unable to come over at the moment, then he'll happily record himself playing the piano and send it to her via text. Also, he might suggest playing games together; that'll be fun.

• When Clarence starts caring for the little painter, he becomes the second most perceptive person after Alkaid. He picks up the little painter's mood when she walks into the Student Council Office and greets him with a wry smile. She seems rather tired this morning, has she been staying up late again? Has she been working too hard? Has she gone out of her usual routine again? His brain would be rattling with all these questions, raking around to find an answer and come up with a practical solution to them as well.

• He finds the perfect opportunity to ask the little painter about what has been bothering her as of late and then reassures her that he'll help her out with whatever she wants. He'd always keep a calm and collected mind, never panicking.

• He suggests the little painter make lists of her issues and start working on them one by one. Efficient and methodical as always, Clarence provides the little painter with a new schedule to tackle her hobbies, classes, and other activities with ease. Also, he reminds her to take care of herself and take breaks when needed; he also sneaks in a little "date" day in the schedule, expecting the little painter to go all flustered if she ever notices that.

• Being the guardian of the little painter, Cael is the most knowledgeable about her mood and how she's feeling. He notices the little painter's mood being down sooner than anyone else.

• He always keeps a calm mind and asks her what's bothering her, lending an ear to her and listening to her troubles – giving her advice now and then.

• He discusses the issue with the little painter and decides how to make her happy. Oh, the little painter wishes to go on a trip to relax? Sure; he'd plan out an itinerary for her. Or perhaps the little painter wants to be left alone to her thoughts? Sure; he can do that, but he will still keep an eye on her, doting on her until her energy is rejuvenated. Oh, does the little painter want to spend time with Cael? Sure, he'd be more than happy to spend the afternoon accompanying her. (He might even cuddle the little painter if she ever manages to persuade him perfectly)

• He'd be excited at first; greeting the little painter happily when he gets to see her. But then he notices how the little painter responds with less energy than usual – then he concludes that something is wrong.

• He immediately asks the painter what's wrong. He seems slightly panicky on the process as well, waiting for the little painter's response.

• He'd plan a trip for the little painter, or take her out on a little date. He'd do anything to make the little painter smile: buy new art supplies, buy new merchandise or whatever she wants – he'd be more generous and loving than ever; because he'd give away everything just to see his sweet little painter smile and regain her energetic nature again.

#♡. mel's archive // elegant brushstrokes.#lovebrush chronicles #lovebrush chronicles x reader #lbc x reader #headcanons #lbc headcanons #lovebrush chronicles headcanons #alkaid mcgrath #clarence clayden #ayn alwyn #lars rorschach #cael anselm

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factual-fantasy · 8 months

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23 ASKS! THANK YOU! :DD 🐟

@timestorm04

1: Captain Barnacles! :DD

2: One of the reasons why I redrew them suddenly was because I was thinking of re-writing my Octonauts Sea dwellers AU :0 But I'm going back on that now tbh.. :///

They didn't figure it out and they did end up booking it. I mean,, can you really blame them?

We know Papyrus, and all of us would absolutely give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he was innocent. But Seam and Jevil don't know the Papyrus we know.

All Seam sees is an absolute mountain of bodies and an state of utter decay all around him.. with suspiciously the last man standing being a very clearly mentally unstable skeleton.. would you assume he was innocent?

Add onto that all the stress Seam was under, how unstable he was as well. Seam couldn't see the situation any other way and he was not taking any chances.

AAA THANK YOU!! IM SO GLAD TO HEAR THAT YOU LIKE THEM!! :DDDD

@foxythefox711

I don't watch Adventure time currently and I don't know all the nitty gritty of the shows lore.. but my favorite characters from what I've seen is Simon! With Jake as a close second. :} Also Prismo is 3rd I think-

f...fank youu!!

(Also the protons joke got a laugh outa me XDD )

:DD Thank you so much! I'm glad you like how I draw them!! :}}

@couchwow

oh ok

Wait are the characters from the game actually baked in an oven to be "born"?? I didn't know that--

@taizarack

:DD I'm glad you like them! And although I don't have either game, I hope to learn a little more about the games lore :0

@chickenheadguy (Link in question)

Oh! Thank you! Lemme just take a look an--

170 VIDEOS??

GORL THEY WEREN'T LYING THOSE COOKIES GOT LORE-

(Also thank you for the compliments and the link! :DD )

@luna-purple454

NO HE DOESN'T GET KILLED-- Seam and Jevil just jump to another AU as soon as Jevil had the strength to. Leaving Papyrus behind in the process..

(Also thank you!! :DD )

@torriderrelic44

I don't have any plans to draw any art like that, no.. sorry! <:/

YES. YES IT DOES. But its not the people who go "ohmygosh I LOVE this (AU/thing) you made! Its wonderful! Do you have any plans to continue it someday.? If not that's ok! Just wondering!" Those guys are fine and I take it as a compliment actually!

Its the people who say things like "When are you gonna finish this" "Why did you stop drawing this" "How long until you draw this again" "I don't like what you're drawing, now go back to this it was better" comments like THOSE, suck. And its always about the same comics/subjects that I stopped drawing months ago. Looking at you Octonauts crab comic

As for my AUs, its not too hard for me to remember all of them. I never have more than 5-6 per fandom. I can usually list them off by memory! :0

Tbh the animatronics would probably just register that as a mess/hazard and would notify an employee about the issue. In which the employee would dispatch a mop bot to go clean it up. I imagine it unfortunately happens often enough that the bots aren't really fazed. Kids amirite-

I have drawn her at least twice from recent memory! Once in this horror post, and she makes an appearance in part 1 of my FNAF AU recap/repair! :00

The reason why I rarely draw her is becuase of the plans I have for her in my AU. She is meant to be very mysterious and I want the changes I made to her in my re-write to be a surprise-

Also thank you! I'm glad you like my cookie run creatures! :}}}

WAAAA THAK YOU SO MUCH!!!😭😭💖😭

I'm not sure actually.. idk if the characters from the games are aware that they are "cookies" in the sense that they are meant to be eaten- So I'm not sure how my characters would react either-

Its related to the names of the drivers, I cant share anything else! :x

@mumble-jumble-gallery (Post in question)

Magic candy..? Huh- well I'm glad it isn't world shattering at least-- <XDD

@ravenslog

THANK YIU!! :DDD

:DD Thank you so much! I'll be sure to draw them again sometime XD

@beryl-shade

Sorry for the late reply! This ask got buried-

If you look to this post for reference, I was thinking that Fredbear would be as tall as Bonnie. Maybe a little taller.? And Spring Bonnie would be about as tall as Foxy :00

#my response #fnaf security breach #octonauts #undertale #deltarune #seam deltarune #cookie run #cookie run kingdom #cookie run ocs #my ocs

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novankenn · 3 months

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Winning Hand Au: So we seen Ozpin side of things but what about Salem side? I imagine Cinder reacting poorly to losing Neo. Extra Ideas (Salem gets a far away look in her eyes as she tells Cinder to avoid them at all cost remembering the horrors before.)

A Winning Hand AU -- Past Horrors

/== Master Post List ==/

The events of terror and horror seizing Beacon did not go unnoticed to Cinder Fall, and when one of her "teammates" fell victim to it she was forced to reconsider her plans. Neo as much as Cinder hated to admit it was a partial lynch pin in her schemes. Neo's abilities were sorely needed... so despite the dread it filled her with... Cinder slid out Vale unnoticed to make a "special" call.

????: Cinder? this is an unexpected, and potentially troublesome call. What do you want?

Cinder: (Head bowed in supplication) My Queen Salem... there has been... developments and they have... compromised my schemes.

Salem: Developments? Cinder I trained you better than to fret over minor...

Cinder: I HAVE to bring you this to your attention. one of my "team' has been... abducted...

Salem: Cinder, this is trivial. Go get her ba...

Cinder: You don't understand my Queen. She was snatched by a CULT! One that is growing almost daily!

Salem: Then destroy it, and bring your "teammate" back into the fold.

Cinder raises her head and looks Salem directly in the eyes. There is concern and hints of fear across Cinder's face.

Cinder: You don't understand! This... this... cult is centered around a lone male... the rest of the membership are all females! Everyone of them either a blond or red-head!

Salem: Did you say it's all made up of Blonds and Red-heads?

Cinder: YES! But what's worse is...

Salem: They're all Baby-Crazy...

Cinder: YES! Wait how did you know that?

Cinder that took a step back in shock, at the shadow of utter terror and horror that crossed Salem's face. Her eyes had a faraway look to them. Cinder knew the signs of someone getting trapped in their memories...

Cinder: My Queen?

Salem: Avoid them at ALL COSTS! In fact withdraw! Get yourself and the remainder of your team out of there... NOW!

Cinder: My Queen? What is...

Salem: What is now forming, has happened once before... a family of such immense strength, power and devotion that it took the combined forces of myself and Ozama to reign them it...

Cinder's hand rose and covered her mouth...

Salem: And STILL we couldn't stop them. We only delayed them... barely delayed them... it was only... only...

Cinder: Only what my queen?

Salem: The Brother Gods... it was them that put an end to that plague... get out of there not Cinder. Grab the remainder of your team and return to EverNight... we must prepare our defenses!

Cinder stood there in utter shock at the revelations that Salem had dumped upon her. The call ended at that point, leaving Cinder trying to come up with a viable escape plan.

She was lucky... she and Emerald did not meet the "criteria" to be snatched... and Mercury was of the wrong gender to interest the group.

Cinder: If my Queen is that scared... is there any hope for any of us?

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petitelepus · 1 year

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FOX'S WEDDING, PART 11

KITSUNE!RENGUKO KYOJURO X FEM!READER

Summary: It's the morning after your movie night and you get unexpected visitors.

Warnings: Kissing

A/N: Female Reader, Kitsune Kyojuro, Kitsune Senjuro, Kitsune Rengoku, Monster Musume!AU

PART 1 II PART 2 II PART 3 II PART 4 II PART 5 II PART 6 II PART 7 II PART 8 II PART 9 II PART 10 II PART 11 II PART 12 II PART 13 II PART 14 II PART 15 II PART 16 II PART 17 II PART 18 II PART 19

You groaned tiredly as you slowly started to wake up. You were so tired. What had you done earlier night? Oh yeah, you watched a movie with the Kitsune brothers and you had taken a couple of hard lemonades, and gotten tipsy, and then-!

You heard a soft sigh coming beside you and you nearly jumped out of your skin when you remembered the rest. You had gone to sleep with your fiance!

You glanced over your shoulder and blushed at the sight of Kyojuro sleeping there soundly next to you, but to your confusion, you heard another voice. You glanced over at your fiance and saw his little brother sleeping there with you guys. When did Senjuro get there?

Either way, you had to take the chance and get the fuck out. Carefully, you attempted to sneak out of bed, but the moment you tried to move, Kyojuro's hold on you tightened and you found yourself stuck there by his side.

"Kyojuro…?" You tried to whisper but the man didn't react at all. He was soundly asleep and no matter how much you tried to wiggle your way out, you got nowhere. Sighing, you decided that you should just continue sleeping and wait until the foxes would wake up.

Time passed and you had time to think about your life with the Kitsune brothers.

You and Senjuro were like siblings that the two of you never got and you loved him dearly. The two of you got along so well and had many shared interests such as books, horror-related stuff, and games. He was also a huge help around the house and just the sweetest thing there was.

Then there was Kyojuro, your fiance and the man you were supposed to marry at some point in time. When exactly, you had no clue yet. So far the two of you had gone out on dates, and just recently the two of you confessed that you had feelings for each other.

So far all one of you needed to do was ask if you wanted to kiss each other. A thing you had been a little too shy to ask for. Then, the full moon a little while ago happened and you had pleased yourself against your fiance's thigh. He had been a gentleman about the whole thing but you couldn't shake off the intense kisses you shared that night.

After the night of the full moon, you had been stealing glances at him and you admit it to yourself that you wanted to kiss him more… But it was easier to think about it than actually do it.

That's when you realized, you had Kyojuro sleeping right there next to you! You doubted that he would mind if you stole a couple of kisses from him or gave him some…?

Carefully, you twisted your body so you were facing your handsome fiance and you paused to take in his gorgeous peaceful sleeping face. God, he was so… Handsome.

Leaning forward, you gently pressed your lips against his collarbone. Salty. You licked your lips before leaning forward and kissing the same spot again, only this time you applied a little suction and flicked your tongue over his naked skin. He was a little sweaty, but you didn't mind it one bit.

No, you started to kiss every spot you could reach from your position by his side. In a way, you were worshipping him with your kisses. It was bold, yes, but he was asleep so it was safe-!

"Hm!"

"Yip!" You yelped and looked up and to your utter horror Kyojuro's eyes were open and he was wide awake. You tried to speak, but no words left your mouth.

"S- sorry!" You cried out finally as you turned and attempted to jump up and make a run for it, but the moment you turned, Kyojuro wrapped his arm around you and yanked your back against his chest.

"Where does my gorgeous bride think she is going?" He asked as loudly as he dared without disturbing his little brother's sleep. You whined in embarrassment as you used your hands to cover your beet red face, "Ho- how long have you been awake?"

"A little while," He confessed as he nuzzled his face against the back of your head, "How can I sleep when my beloved bride showers me with affection?"

"This is so embarrassing, I'm so embarrassed…!" You cried out against the palms of your hands, but Kyojuro just smiled, "My bride is so cute!"

"Your bride is horrible!" You whined, "What kind of person kisses another when they sleep!?"

"You can kiss me now if you want?" He asked, "I'm awake now so won't it be okay?"

"I…" Your heart was still beating like crazy in your chest, but you were a little calmer when you heard his reasoning. Slowly, you pulled your hands off enough to glance at the fox over your shoulder, "You want me to kiss you?"

"Hm!" He nodded with a wide smile, "If you want, of course!"

"But…" You frowned, "My morning breath…"

"It doesn't matter to me!"

You stared at him as if expecting him to laugh and joke, but he just looked at you earnestly. You realized that he was serious and not about to mock you. Slowly, you turned around in his arms and it took all the courage you had to place the palms of your hands against his hard chest.

Your hands trembled against his skin and you swallowed nervously. Seeing this, Kyojuro smiled and gently grasped one of your hands on his chest and raised it to his lips, and kissed your hand.

"You don't have to do anything you don't want to." He murmured softly against your hand and you felt your eyes widen as your heart beat harder in your chest. Slowly, you pulled the hand he was holding and gently used it to cup his cheek.

"May I kiss you?" You whispered and he smiled, "Hm!"

With his permission, you leaned forward and he leaned down, meeting you midway as your lips pressed against each other's. The kiss was innocent or at least started as one. As you kissed him, you felt your body heat up and you grew eager for more.

You swiped the tip of your tongue over his lips before you gently bit his lip. Sensing what you wanted, Kyojuro opened his mouth and your tongues met in the middle, pressing and moving against each other. Soon the two of you were holding each other's faces in your hands as you kissed passionately.

"Ghhh…" You and Kyojuro heard Senjuro groan and the two of you pulled apart quicker than you had ever moved before. You quickly laid back down, faking sleep, and just in time as the young Kitsune sat up and sleepily rubbed his eyes. "Big brother…?"

"Good morning Senjuro!" Kyojuro greeted his younger brother who smiled, "Morning. Is big sis still sleeping?"

No, you weren't, but you sure as fuck were going to fake that you were. Your fiance nodded, "Yes, we better get up and get breakfast started!"

Senjuro nodded, but then he frowned, much to his brother's confusion, "What is it?"

"I don't know?" The young fox asked as looked at his brother, "You're red. Like, really red! Are you alright?"

You bet your face was also red as a beet, but you were glad you had quickly turned and faked sleep. Senjuro might have been innocent, but you feared that even he would put two and two together if he saw his big brother and his bride panting with red faces.

"I'm fine!" Kyojuro nodded with a tight smile, "I just woke up, that's all!"

"I see," Senjuro seemed to believe his brother, "Would you like to surprise big sis with breakfast?"

"That sounds brilliant!" Your fiance shouted maybe a little too loudly and if you really had been asleep he would no doubt have woken you up. Senjuro hushed his brother who apologized and the two of them got up and left the room. You peeked and once you were sure that the brothers were already downstairs, you got up and sneaked out of your fiance's room and into your own.

You changed your clothes and then used the toilet and freshened up, like brushing your hair and teeth. You were still a little devastated that Kyojuro was willing and actually wanted to kiss you right after waking up. You shook your head and splashed some cool water on your face before leaving the restroom and joining the brothers downstairs in the kitchen.

"Good morning!" You said as you entered the kitchen and the brothers turned to greet you. You took notice that they had dressed up while you were freshening up.

"Good morning my beloved Hime!" Kyojuro shouted excitedly and Senjuro smiled, "Good morning big sis. How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling good, thank you for asking. No hungover or anything." You replied with a smile and then awed at the breakfast that they had set on the table, "Ooh, everything looks so good!"

"Please sit and eat!" Your fiance said and you nodded and joined them at the breakfast table. The three of you enjoyed the delicious breakfast that the boys prepared, but you could tell that Senjuro probably did the most since his older brother wasn't really that handy when it came to cooking.

You were eating when suddenly the doorbell rang. All three of you glanced at the front door but before the brothers could do anything, you were already standing.

"I'll go get it!" You said and the brothers nodded. You hummed as you made your way to the door. You were pretty sure that it was probably Mister Smith, but you could never tell for sure, the man visited every now and then without a warning.

You wished that someone had warned you when you opened the front door and saw your identical twin big brothers standing there.

"What the-!?" You gasped and before you could slam the door shut, your eldest brother put his foot between the door.

"Sissy!" He cheered as he forced the door open and you rolled your eyes as you saw no reason in fighting against him.

"What are you guys doing here?" You shook your head, "How did you even know where I was?"

"What, can't your big brothers visit their little sister?" Your eldest brother asked, and your second one frowned, "We came to visit you, but when we got to your place your roommate told us that you had moved out."

"Funny," You crossed your arms, "Did she also tell you how she basically kicked me out with no warning whatsoever?"

"Why didn't you tell us?" Your eldest asked and you frowned, "It wasn't your problem!"

"You are our problem." Your second one grunted and you glared at him, "How dare you?!"

"You know what we mean!" Your eldest exclaimed, "You are our baby sister, it's our job to look after you!"

You were about to object but you heard footsteps coming behind you and you turned around just in time to see Kyoujuro join you guys, "My Hime, is there something wrong?"

"Uuh, sis?" Your brother glanced at the fox and then at you, "Who is this?"

"Ah, you must be my bride's brothers!" Kyojuro smiled as he offered his hand to your brothers to shake, "I'm Rengoku Kyojuro! Pleased to meet you!"

Oh no. He went and said it. You could feel the tension in the air and how it was about to blow up-!

"What?" Your brothers exclaimed and you rubbed your eyes. "Come in and I'll explain everything…"

Your brother stepped inside, and after taking off their shoes, you took them to the living room to sit down while you went to make some coffee for all of you. Senjuro and Kyojuro were in the kitchen with you, the younger brother being shy around your brothers and the older one was feeling worried.

"My bride, did I say something I shouldn't have?" Kyojuro asked and you were nearly startled by how he sounded sorry. You shook your head as you took out coffee cups, "No, it's not your fault. You didn't know that I hadn't told about us to my family."

"If I may ask, is there a reason why you haven't told them?" He asked and you shook your head, "I was going to… When I was sure about us…"

That sounded horrible, why did you say that? You immediately felt bad, and you turned to look at Kyojuro who was still smiling, but you had been living with him long enough now that you could tell that it was a forced smile.

"Kyojuro, I didn't mean anything bad, I just-!"

"No no, I understand!" He nodded and grabbed the coffee mugs, "Let's talk with your brothers now!"

He carried the mugs to the living room and you frowned a little as you grabbed milk and sugar, but before you could take them to the living room you noticed Senjuro looking at you worriedly.

"Is everything alright?" The young Kitsune asked and you forced on a smile, "Yes. We are just going to talk a little with my brothers. You can join us if you want to but you don't have to."

"Maybe I'll go to my room if that is okay?" He asked and you nodded, "Yeah, go ahead."

Senjuro nodded as he left and you grabbed the coffee pot, milk, and sugar and carried them to the living room's coffee table. You were about to sit next to Kyojuro, but due to your earlier hurting words, you asked for his permission, which he granted. As you sat next to the Kitsune, your eldest brother poured himself coffee.

"So, Sissy…" He nodded and glanced at your fiance before looking at you again, "You're engaged?"

"It's a long story." You said and your brothers nodded.

"If I may ask," Kyojuro smiled as he looked at you, "Why are you called Sissy?"

"They are nicknames these douchebags came up with when we got older." You explained, "I'm Sissy, big bro is Silver and the eldest is Gold."

"What interesting names!"

"Yeah, I was originally Bronze because I was born last."

"She hated it so much that we started just calling her Sissy because she used to be a crybaby." Gold laughed and Silver grunted as he poured himself coffee.

"What are you guys doing here? I remember telling you guys on the phone that I was doing just fine?" You asked and Silver grunted, "You didn't tell us you moved out and got engaged."

"As I said, my roommate kicked me out and then I met Kyojuro and one thing led to another and now we are engaged and live together with his little brother Senjuro." You explained as you took a sip of your own coffee.

"Are you pregnant?" Gold asked and you nearly spat your coffee out in shock, but luckily you didn't. Instead, you choked and Kyojuro gently patted your back and looked at your brothers.

"I assure you, that is not the case!" Kyojuro exclaimed and you kinda wished that the ground would swallow you, but if it did that then you wouldn't be able to clear your name.

"What even are you? I know you are a demihuman but what kind?" Silver asked as he glared at your fiance, who just smiled, "I'm a Kitsune or as you may call my kind, a nine-tailed fox!"

"You're from Japan?" Gold asked and the Kyojuro nodded proudly, "I am!"

"Sis loves Japan!" Your eldest suddenly said with a huge smile, "She had this phase where she called everything she found cute kawaii and then attended these meetings dressed as her favorite characters and-!"

"Oh my God, shut up!" You cried out in embarrassment and threw a sugar cube at your brother. "I know you guys didn't drop by just to talk! What are you doing here?"

Gold glanced at Silver who just grunted, "I'm getting married."

Okay now if you had been drinking coffee you would have spat it out. Silver, your gloomy quiet brother was getting married!?

"Wh- wha-!?" You couldn't get the words out and Gold nodded with you, "Trust me, no one expected it. Me neither and we share the same face."

"How- Who?" You gasped and Gold grinned, "Yeah, that's how we reacted."

"Congratulations!" Kyojuro said but you weren't exactly reacting the same way he was, "Why didn't you tell any of us?!"

"You didn't ask." Silver grunted as he glared at you, "And you didn't tell us that you were engaged also."

Ouch, he was right on that, but you had your reasons! Not knowing really what to do, you decided to be the responsible one. You took a deep breath and calmed yourself so you wouldn't make a scene.

"Okay, I'm sorry I didn't tell you guys. Who is he?" You asked and Kyojuro raised his eyebrow in confusion, "He?"

"Ah, Silver is gay." You blurted and your fiance's eyes widened in surprise. Silver glared at him, "You gotta problem with that?"

"Not at all!" Kyojuro shook his head. "I think it's great!"

Silver grunted, apparently and utterly ignoring your fiance. Instead, he raised his left hand for you guys to see, and sure enough, there was a ring on his finger, "His name is Brams Steelforge. He is a dwarf jewelcrafter and the love of my life."

"Show them the picture!" Gold nudged your brother's side and he grunted as he dug out his smartphone and showed you guys a picture of him and this dwarf with handsome braided beard.

"He looks nice?" You thought out loud and Silver nodded, "Yeah."

"When is the wedding?" You asked and your brother grunted, "Next week."

"What!?" You exclaimed, "So soon!?"

"We've known each other ever since the interspecies programs started." Silver said as he put his phone away. "I thought we could do this on the phone, but Brams insisted that I should ask you in person because you are my sister."

"Ask me what?" You blinked, confused and your brother rolled his eyes, "That if you would be my bridesmaid?"

"Wh- what!?"

"This one is already my best man," Silver grunted as he pointed at your oldest brother, "And Brams and I wanted to include you also."

"Wow…" You awed quietly and your brother rolled his eyes, "It's not that big deal if you don't want to."

"No, I'll do it!" You nodded, smiling, "There is so much to be done if the wedding is next week! What should I wear and- and- and-!"

"Calm down sis!" Gold laughed, "Everything is prepared. We just need you to try on the dress bro picked and make yourself look pretty for the wedding."

"Hey, I always look pretty." You said and your brothers snorted. "Yeah, sure."

The three of you went through the wedding plan and venue, but then you started to talk about other quests and you thought about Kyojuro who was sitting next to you.

"Can I…" You glanced at your fiance who had been quietly listening to you and your brothers talk about the wedding with each other, "Can I take Kyojuro to the wedding with me?"

Hearing your request, your brothers glanced at Kyojuro and then at each other before Silver nodded, "If you want to."

"Would you like to come to the wedding with me Kyojuro?" You asked and he nodded happily, "Hm! That would be my honor!"

"Then it's settled!" Gold laughed, as he pulled out his own phone and then yours peeped. Before you could pick up your phone, Gold smiled, "I just messaged you the place where you can get your dress. I suggest you go there as early as possible, so if there is trouble with the size then they can fix it in time."

"Okay, thank you," You nodded and your brothers nodded, "We better get going! Silver still needs to have a talk about the wedding cake that he and Brams both would like."

"Alright, I'll take you to the door." You said as you got up and to your confusion, Kyojuro got up also. You were about to ask, but he smiled as he reached for the empty coffee cups, "I'll clean here so don't worry!"

"Aww, thank you!" You smiled and walked around the couch to take your brothers to the doorway. As they put their shoes on you remembered your parents, "Are mom and dad going to attend the wedding?"

"Duh, of course," Silver rolled his eyes and you rolled yours back, "Okay, but don't tell them about me and Kyojuro just yet."

"Why?" Gold asked and you frowned a little as you whispered, "We didn't exactly meet at the park or on the internet or something like that."

"Hold on, he isn't some pervert, is he?"

"No!" You whispered as loudly as you dared, "I signed papers that I would marry him so that-!"

"Wait, this is an arranged marriage?" Gold asked and even Silver's eyes widened at that, "So you are forced to marry him?"

"We are engaged-" You were saying but then Silver grunted, "What the Hell did you sign!?"

"I-!"

"Do you like him?" Gold asked and you blinked, "What-!"

"If you don't even like him then you shouldn't get married"

"Even worse, you-!"

"Shut up!" You snapped and your brothers both looked like they weren't done scolding and such, but neither were you.

"That's the thing, guys!" You snapped and they both looked at you as you blushed, "I think I… I think I love him now."

"You think or you don't know?" Silver grunted and Gold frowned, "Sissy if you aren't sure then you shouldn't hurry things."

"I have been taking snail's pace with this, I think I'm done with pushing on breaks in this relationship between me and Kyojuro." You said as you looked at your older brothers seriously, "I'm his bride and damn proud of it. I don't know when or how, but he is the man I'm going to marry!"

Your brothers shared a glance with each other before sighing, "If that is how you feel then it should be okay."

"But if he hurts you then we do what he does to you a thousand times worst."

"I know you are only looking after me and my well-being." You nodded, "But this is my life and my decision. If I get hurt then I get hurt, but I have no doubt in my mind that Kyojuro would never hurt me intentionally."

Your brothers looked like they still wanted to argue, but ultimately they sighed and finally nodded, "Okay, just, be careful?"

"I'm always careful." You grinned and you all bid each other goodbye before you closed the door behind them. As soon as the door clicked shut, you sighed, but before you could even turn around someone suddenly hugged you from behind and you could tell it was Kyojuro.

"You love me?" He asked as he nuzzled against the top of your head and you felt your blood boil under your skin. Had he heard how you told your brothers that you actually loved him? Who were you kidding, he must have heard if he asked about it!

"I- I…!" You wiggled nervously in his arms before you went still in defeat and you came clean, "I do."

You felt him nod against your head before letting you go but just as you turned to face him he grabbed your face and kissed you. Your eyes widened in shock, but Kyojuro had no intention of just letting you go after telling your own brothers that you loved him.

Carefully, you placed your hand over his hand that held your cheek and gently kissed him back. Finally, after kissing for a moment, the two of you pulled apart and smiled at each other.

"My beloved bride, you make me so happy, I apologize for ever doubting you!" Kyojuro exclaimed and you shook your head, "No, I should never have said what I did! I truly do like you, no, I truly love you!"

"That makes me so happy!" The Kitsune smiled like the sun as he grabbed you and twirled you around with him in joy. When he placed you back on the ground, he kissed your forehead.

"What a wonderful bride I have!"

"What a kind fiance I have!"

Okay, now the two of you were just being too cute, but when you loved someone like you did it kinda came naturally.

"Well, now we gotta get you a new tracksuit and something for the wedding!" You thought out loud.

"I'm excited!" Kyojuro admitted happily, "I've never been to a wedding before!"

"That makes two of us." You nodded as you leaned forward and quickly kissed him on the lips, "But I think we will manage somehow."

"We will." You were both smiling when you suddenly remembered something important!

"Oh shit, what about Senjuro?"

"Could he come with us?" Your fiance asked and you hummed thoughtfully. "I need to ask my brother. Just give me a second!"

You pulled your phone out and quickly dialed your second eldest brother. You explained the situation to him and after changing a couple of words you thanked him and closed the phone. Kyojuro raised his eyebrows as he looked at you, "Well?"

"Well, he called me with a certain name I don't care to repeat to you in fear you get mad-"

"What?" Kyojuro blinked and you continued, "But Senjuro can come also!"

"Where?"

You and Kyojuro looked and saw Senjuro himself standing by the stairs. The young fox looked at you two uncertainly, "I'm sorry, I was coming to see if your brothers were still here?"

"No, they just left." You said before smiling, "My brother is actually getting married next week and we were invited!"

"Wait, me too?" Senjuro asked and you nodded, "If you want to come, then you are welcome also?"

"I…" He swallowed a little nervously, "I've never been to a wedding before."

"That makes three of us!" Kyojuro smiled and you grinned as you grabbed your purse and keys, "Who wants to go clothes shopping?"

#rengoku #demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #rengoku kyojuro #rengoku x reader #rengoku senjuro #writing #my writing #reader #reader insert #Fem!Reader #kitsune #nine tailed fox #kitsune!rengoku #brothers #story #my story #monster musume #monster musume!AU

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awlimagines · 1 year

Text

How they react to ghost stories/jump scares.

CELIA/CECILIA

She is torn between believing you and chalking it up as simply stories. Cecilia hangs on every word you utter either way. She starts to hesitate when visiting areas like the manor where you said a ghost was. You see her walking near the river when you call to her and she shrieks catching sight of something white moving in the dark. You calm her and immediately apologize for the scare (you’ll never wear white at night again) and the stories putting her on edge. Cecilia does her best to assure you she enjoys them and doesn’t want you to stop. She just gets a little worried they may be true. You find a compromise to let her know all your ghost stories are fiction and always tell her a happier story before you leave.

CODY/GORDY

He listens to you intently but doesn’t show even a remote trace of fear. Gordy sometimes asks for more details than the stories provide. Trying to spook him in other ways doesn’t garner much reaction from the large man. Sighing in defeat, you leave one evening to fish before turning in. In the darkness, an inhuman shape looms around the pond. You stumble back to bump into something that grabs you. Gordy does his best to steady you even as you turn, screaming and scrambling to flee. Once you’ve calmed, he explains he felt inspired by your stories and apologizes for the structure he built that scared you.

DARYL

Have you seen the creature in the story? Honestly, you should have expected him to take you seriously. Daryl was one of the few who openly acknowledged Mukumuku and had numerous plans and attempts at catching the cryptid. The eager glint in his eye made you hesitate to tell him it was just a story. Daryl began to appear on your farm with questions about what more you knew. You liked seeing him focused on something other than harassing your cattle. You excitedly share every story you know and makeup details when you’re not sure. Daryl says he’s almost done with an invention to see the ghost at the manor and invites you to come along. Nothing was supposed to appear when you went. Daryl was ecstatic to receive some results and went to the lab to analyze them while you hurried to the safety of your home.

FLORA

You decide the dig site is the best place to try and scare Flora. She listens as you dig alongside her telling her about a terrifying monster that lives underground. The creature has no eyes and is translucent, blood red. It uses the tentacle-like appendages on its face to burrow through the ground in search of prey to feed on their blood. Flora frowns. She’s never heard of such a creature but would certainly keep an eye out. You were shocked when Flora took you to an underground spring a few days later to show you the exact thing, albeit smaller. Flora told you the animal was an airbreathing catfish though you were wrong on some details.

GUSTAFA

Gustafa listened absentmindedly, strumming a few chords before asking you to wait a moment. He soon returns with a waterphone. Gustafa doesn’t use the strange-looking instrument often but he was really digging your story. At his urging, you resume telling him the ghost story. The first note he played startled you into stopping again. It sounded like noises from the grainy horror movies in the city. When you excitedly tell him this, his big grin brought forth one of your own. There’s a small crowd around the both of you by the time you finish the story. Gustafa blushes slightly as he whispers about doing this again soon.

LUMINA

Lumina is the type to act like she’s not scared. She will politely point out such things are NOT real. Beneath this thin layer of bravado, she is terrified. Lumina startles easily, even more so after hearing something spooky. Lumina would act upset with you for a bit before chastising you for telling such stories. Her heart wasn’t completely in the lecture like when she got mad at Rock for the same thing. Your grin and gentle laugh as Lumina clings to you in fear warms her heart too much to remain mad.

MARLIN/MATTHEW

“Okay, I’ll play with you instead,” you smirked mischievously at Marlin. He had just finished scolding you for startling Cecilia again. To say Marling was exhausted after the following week was an understatement. He didn’t openly show that your stories and pranks had phased him, but he did spend a bit longer trying to get to sleep. Marlin didn’t take you seriously when you said you heard something weird at the farm. He scoffed but agreed to check in tonight and see if it happened again. A clattering in the shed had you both jumping slightly and you clung closely to his back as Marlin went to investigate. The angry chicken flew out earning a gasp from you before it stalked back towards the coop. Marlin decided on his way home that maybe being scared wasn’t always bad.

MUFFY/MOLLY

She is an excellent actress you learn after a few days. Molly had you convinced she was terrified as she clung to you and begged you to walk her around for errands in the evening. She seemed so scared you were concerned and asked Griffin how she was doing one day. He didn’t know what you were talking about, Molly hadn’t been acting any differently around the cafe. Molly smiled at you when you asked her about later. “Oh sweetheart, you were just so cute telling your stories I couldn’t resist.”

NAMI

Nami listens silently the first few nights, occasionally giving her opinions. Then she starts to share tales here and there that she heard from her travels. When you feel sad they’re coming to an end, Nami and you begin creating your own stories. She provides exciting and spooky locations for the monsters to exist. Nami tries to remain aloof, as you mention how much fun sharing these stories are with her.

ROCK

Ha! He’s already heard that story and can give you one better. Rock is lazy, but he could make a decent storyteller if he wanted. He knows exactly when to pause and how to have your heart thumping in anticipation. You switch to trying to surprise him with jump scares, only to be laughed off. Rock tries to surprise you one night; after almost getting hit with your sickle as you cut grass, you both agree to stick to stories.

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runawaymun · 11 months

Note

Trick or treat! What about a line or two from something that'll likely never see the light of day from the WIP folder?

Ohhhh this is a fun question!

Ok so with @the-commonplace-book's permission, I shall share quite a few chunks of a little story we wrote together for fun, mostly just to take a break from some of our more serious joint projects, which is the MGME trope, but make it a couple of kids and their shitty parents -- who are some longstanding OCs which have been knocking about for years from a different, really cool project that she's working on. Mostly this whole thing began with, "what if Torin and Finley met Elrond and he could maybe dad them a bit? Wouldn't that be fun?"

The first section includes Glorfindel rescuing the parents from some Trolls (classic) after they fall into Middle Earth, and then I'll just select chunks at random. We wound up dropping it because we got to a point where we got bored, but it was a really good time while it lasted and spawned a totally different (but similar) idea which we poke at every once in a while.

This could get quite long :D

Neil and Deidre had been bickering so loudly and incessantly, that they hadn’t heard the thud! thud! thud! approaching until it was just behind them. They spun around just in time to see an enormous grey monster reaching for them.

They scrambled to escape, but it had them in their clutches - one in each giant hand. It was as rank as it was ugly, and no matter how much they squirmed and screamed, it wouldn’t let them go.

It carried them a ways through the woods, to a camp just outside a cave, where another giant grey creature sat tending a fire proportionate to their size. They began to chat.

If they had spoken the local tongue they might have understood the conversation as:

“What do you have there, Art?”

“Oh just some tasty morsels for tonight’s stew! Caught them scrambling about the edge of the moor, I did.”

“That one’s got a good bit of fat on him.” The second troll said, poking Deirdre with a thick grimy finger.

Art yanked her back, sending Deirdre screeching anew. “Hands to yourself, Wildo. I found them. I’m cooking them up.”

“There’s plenty to share! With that one at least.”

“This one’s mine. You can have the skinny one.” He tossed Neil to Wildo, who fumbled the catch, much to Neil’s increasing distress.

Of course, Neil and Deirdre Brady couldn’t speak this language, and so they were left in a fright, with monstrous creatures tossing them about and speaking utter nonsense. Perhaps it was for the best. No one, of course, wants to know that they are about to be roasted alive for lunch.

Trolls were nothing to sniff at.

They raised such a horrid stink.

Glorfindel had been waiting just at the edge of the cave this lot was living in, having been drawn by the orange glow this side of the hill. A glow that bright in the middle of the night in the Trollshaws only meant one thing. And these trolls were too close to the main road not to be a nuisance to travelers.

He’d been waiting because he had only counted one troll at the fire and they generally never lived alone if they could help it. It would be better to bag them both at once.

He was handsomely rewarded when the troll’s companion returned with dinner.

A very loud dinner.

The screeching was warranted, but hard to listen to. Glorfindel winced. No time to waste!

He left Asfaloth where he was –there was no sense risking him with the trolls– and strode into the ring of light, Aurë flashing in his hands, and called out jovially:

“Ho, my friends! What a nice catch you have!”

Both trolls froze and turned to look at the intruder.

Glorfindel gave Aurë a whirl and then gripped the hilt with both hands. “Mind if I join you for dinner?”

Before either Art or Wildo could decide how to react (trolls were, of course, rather slow creatures), Glorfindel raised his voice in a battle Song which forced both to drop their prizes and clutch their ears in horror. He sprinted toward them, Singing, and cut Art down with one long slice to his belly. Wildo recovered quicker, and grabbed the wicked-looking knife from his belt– which was about the size of Aurë– and waved it wildly in Glorfindel’s direction with a terrified shout.

Glorfindel neatly sidestepped each cut, parried, and then stabbed Wildo straight in the knee.

The troll howled in pain and sank to his knees. Glorfindel took the opportunity to plunge Aurë straight into the beast’s eye, right up to the hilt.

It took a bit of a yank to get the sword out again, which was tiresome. He had to put a boot to the creature’s skull to get enough leverage.

Panting, he cleaned Aurë and sheathed it, then turned and held out a gloved hand, glowing with golden light, to the woman first.

“Right. I hope you are not terribly hurt. Nasty things, trolls.”

(and later, the twins find the two boys in the forest and, after discovering that they speak no recognizable language, bring them to Rivendell to see if Elrond can figure out how to communicate with them)

The twins led the boys up to the house. It was buzzing with activity this time of day, elves going to-and-from the healing halls or the kitchen, some Dunedain guests milling about. They passed a group of hunters heading out for the diurnal prey that would be out soon.

Elrohir would have liked to get the boys another meal before doing anything else, but it was best to figure out what language they were speaking first. They climbed the stairs to the second floor, then went out to the garden and passed Lindir, who greeted them with a bow.

“Ada’s in his study?” Elladan asked.

Lindir nodded. “I have just come from there.” His eyes fell to the boys with curiosity, and then flicked back up to the twins.

“Uh…we’ll explain later. We really have to talk to him,” Elladan said again, and said goodbye and continued on past the courtyard to knock on the door to his father’s study and then went inside.

Elrond was indeed there, bent over some letters with Erestor at his side. Both of them looked over and Elrond straightened. He probably meant inquire after the hunt, but paused at once when he saw the boys.

Before the inevitable could be asked, Elrohir cut in: “We found them at the edge of the trollshaws alone and lost. No sign of any adults. Um– and I have no idea what language they’re speaking.”

“He tried everything,” Elladan added. “They don’t speak common. Elrohir even tried Khuzdul and Haradi but they recognized nothing.”

Elrond held up a hand to still them both and slowly came over. The boys had dark hair and light eyes. If he didn’t know any better, he would think they were Elros’ kin. But if what Elladan and Elrohir said was true, then he couldn’t imagine how that could be.

“The trollshaws?” From behind him, Erestor was incredulous. “What were they doing in the trollshaws? That is a long way from any Mannish settlement in the area.”

“I imagine we shall find out if we talk to them,” Elrond said evenly. He wished to hear them speak, if only to take a stab at a language root. He sank down to their level (his height was hard to handle for some grown men, let alone two children), and then put a hand to his chest and introduced, “Elrond.” And gestured to the eldest.

Torin kept his feet firmly planted on the floor, despite the way this man’s presence made him want to cower. He was tall - taller than any man Torin had ever met. His grey eyes looked old beyond his years and when he knelt to Finley’s level with those careful, gentle motions and that disarming tone, a profound sense of unease and acute distrust churned in Torin’s gut.

“Torin. We’re just looking for a phone.” He held his hand to his ear, fingers extended to pantomime it, and searched the man’s face for any sign of understanding. “Phone? Cell? Ring ring?”

Finley shrunk behind his brother.

Elrond cocked his head. The gesture was completely unfamiliar. The language…he supposed he didn’t have enough information to discern a root, though if he had to guess it might be Rohirric in nature.

The three questions in quick succession were clearly an attempt at some sort of clarification. Synonyms. But unfortunately he hadn’t the faintest idea of what any of it meant.

He glanced up at the twins, who looked baffled, and then sat back on his haunches and decided on: “Well met, Torin. I am afraid I don’t know how to help you,” because regardless of whether or not they understood each other, he was still going to give him the respect of speaking to him. “But I promise I will do my best to find how.”

“You don’t know what they’re speaking?” Elladan was astounded.

“Unfortunately I do not. It is a puzzle,” Elrond replied back.

The only thing Torin understood out of all that was his name. It was swiftly become clear they either had no idea what a phone was, or simply didn’t have any here and were trying to explain that.

“Fuck,” he said, guessing that was as gibberish to them as anything else in English. If he hadn’t left his damn phone charging in his room they wouldn’t be in this mess.

“Okay, uh, Plan B,” he said, not even bothering to whisper. They couldn’t understand what he was saying to his brother anyway. “We’re gonna get some more food and figure out where the hell we are, and then figure out the real Plan B.”

Finley nodded mutely.

Torin took out the little wrapped bread from earlier and held it up, pointing to it. “Food?”

At that, Elrond lit up into a warm smile. It was an easily understood question.

“That was going to be my next suggestion, in fact. Food,” he repeated the unfamiliar word. “Yes.”

The letters were entirely forgotten with his attention entirely diverted onto this new puzzle. Erestor let out a long-suffering sigh and gathered them up into a neat stack. Elrond stood and started for the door beckoning.

“I’ll go get them something,” Elladan said, heading down to the kitchen. “Terrace?”

Elrond hummed in assent, and started up the walkway to the third floor, Elrohir following behind.

Elrond led them back downstairs, all the way to the first floor of the library. He waved to Iûldis as they passed her desk on their way in. She paid him a polite nod of her head. Elrond led them through the rows of books until they came to the selection of maps. He took one down and rolled it out on the nearest table large enough to accommodate it, took a moment to orient himself, and then pointed to Rivendell.

“We’re here. Rivendell.” He then traced over the mountains to: “Dale,” then downward, “Rohan,” further south. “Gondor. Minas Tirith.” And finally, back over the mountains, being sure to trace slowly all the way west. “Bree.” Then, “Ered Luin.”

Torin may not have been a geography whiz, but he knew a map of world and knew this sure as hell wasn’t it.

“Are you fucking joking?” Torin shook his head. “You don’t even have a real map. That’s grand. Fantastic. Fuck!” He grabbed the map and threw it off the table like the useless piece of garbage it was.

Finley flinched and shrunk back, worrying at his sleeves, stiff with shoulder hunched up to his ears.

Torin pointed an angry finger at Elrond. “Tell us where the hell we are!”

“Riv–” Finley tried to say Rivendell. He’d picked up that much. Not that he knew where or what Rivendell was, but it was where they were. The word couldn’t form. It tangled up in his mouth. “Ri–” Rivendell. Rivendell. Rivendell. It was right there caught in his throat behind a lump of anxiety.

Elrond took the outburst in stride. He watched the map drift to the floor, and then returned his attention to Torin. Iûldis had crept over at the commotion and was leaning around to glare at them all disapprovingly from around the bookcase. He shot her an apologetic smile and bent to retrieve the map. Thankfully, it was not damaged.

He rolled it up and reshelved it.

“Rivendell,” he repeated, because the question was clear and Torin’s little brother’s answer was also predictable. “That is where you are. And if you dislike the map we can look at others, but I am not sure if they will be of any use to you.”

He had begun to radiate a gentle flow of calm through the floor, if only because he could feel how fast the little one’s heartbeat was. It also may help keep the surrounding books intact.

Torin couldn’t pinpoint how, but he got the sense Elrond was trying to calm him down and that only put him further on edge. “ Ireland. Europe. British Isles. Dublin. Any of that mean anything to you?!”

He couldn’t tell if this was an elaborate act of if they really were that disconnected from society. For concerning recent events, the cosmic phenomenon they experienced yesterday had nothing on the presence of these pointy-eared bastards.

Elladan and Elrohir decided to go upstairs and get some sleep. They had slept little on their hunt, especially the night before, and it was beginning to catch up with them. On their way in, though, they stopped to check on the boys.

“Torin screamed at Ada,” Elladan muttered with a laugh. “Everyone’s talking about it.”

Elrohir’s eyes grew wide. “He’s lucky Erestor wasn’t there. He would have put him over his knee. Ai, I can still remember the first and last time I ever did that.”

Erestor had never done anything of the sort, of course, but the scathing disapproval had hurt just as much. He’d been in the room at the time. Ada had simply taken it in stride, asked him if he was finished, and then sent him to study a corner of the nursery for three hours. The boredom had been another kind of pain.

(Glorfindel arrives with Neil and Deidre, and they go to "reunite" with the boys but uhhhhh it does not go well... partially due to the language barrier but also due to the shitty family dynamic which the elves have no way of knowing about)

Celebrían led the boys upstairs. Elrond and Glorfindel came in before they could make it all the way to the terrace, meeting them in the hall. They had to sorely bedraggled adults with them who, Celebrían guessed, looked quite a lot like both boys.

“Glorfindel! It’s good to see you back!” she shot him a bright smile.

Glorfindel’s smile that he gave her in return was radiant as ever. “It’s good to be back.”

Torin froze. His body went stiff and he planted his feet. No. No, no no.

There were their parents, tired, with muddy clothes and tired eyes. Relief washed over their faces at the sight of him, but Torin didn’t share the sentiment. He knew it was a lie.

“Torin!” His mum went to hug him and he shrugged her off. His dad placed a hand on his shoulder and he stiffened.

“We’ve been looking for you for over a day. We were worried sick.”

“Yeah I’ll bet you were,” Torin grumbled.

“Where’s your brother?” The concern carried a nearly imperceptible edge.

Torin looked to his side. Finley was gone. Fuck. His eyes turned to his dad’s with a sharp glare. “What do you care?”

Neil sighed, like dealing with a petulant child, and tried to ask after Finley. “The smaller one? Finley?” He indicated the height, hoping one of the strangers (and they truly were strange) could help.

No one knew what to make of the strange encounter. This was not how they had expected it to go. Torin did not look glad to see his parents. Elrond began to wonder if it had not been an accident that they had been separated.

So focused were they all on the conversation that it came as a terrible surprise when Torin’s father (whom Glorfindel had introduced as Neil) asked about Finley. Before Elrond could register what he meant, Celebrían frowned, looking around.

“He was just here–”

Ah. Finley was the little one. And he had gone missing in a matter of seconds. Elrond’s heart jumped. He craned his neck. Sure enough, Finley was nowhere in sight.

He shot Neil an apologetic smile and said, “I will look for him. Celebrían, could you have Lindir make up a room?”

A little shaken, Celebrían nodded. She couldn’t imagine how Finley had been so quiet, nor so quick, that no one had noticed him disappear.

Elrond set off. Glorfindel took it upon himself to introduce: “Lady Celebrían, this is Neil, and his fucking cunt Deidre.” He said it cheerily, gesturing between the two of them, looking very proud of himself for picking up on the word for spouse from all of their bickering.

Celebrían shot them a smile and touched her hand to her chest and inclined her head. “Well met. Celebrían,” she introduced herself.

Deirdre, however, squawked in offense and, before Neil could stop her, slapped Glorfindel. “How dare you!”

“Deirdre!” He reached her a moment too late.

“You heard what he called me!”

“You really think he knows what that means?”

“Well– Well then it’s your fault! He must have picked it up from you!”

Meanwhile, Torin burst into laughter the moment Glorfindel said it. “No, no.” He gave a thumbs up to Glorfindel and pointed to his mum, still laughing. “His fucking cunt.”

“WIFE! I’m his wife!” Deirdre screeched.

“Torin.” Neil shot him a warning glare, but then those eyes flicked around their company.

Torin, knowing his dad couldn’t do shit in public, just shrugged and gave him a shit-eating grin. “You said it first.”

Glorfindel was so surprised by this entire thing that he froze. Celebrían’s eyebrows rose. She put her hands on her hips, ready to lash out at Deidre despite her being a guest because they most certainly did not allow anyone to strike anyone in her house– but at Torin’s reaction and Deidre’s apparently correction, the situation became clear.

“Glorfindel– I think that doesn’t mean what you think it means,” she said slowly.

Glorfindel looked between Torin, Celebrían, Neil, and Deidre. “He called her that the whole time!”

“Maybe they don’t get along as well as you thought,” Celebrían said with a thin, albeit amused, smile.

Glorfindel blushed and ducked his head in Deidre’s direction. “I misunderstood. My deepest apologies.”

Deirdre huffed, but accepted what she hoped was an apology. “Does anyone here speak English?” she demanded.

“Nope,” Torin said. “No English. No phones. No maps. We’re fucking stranded with these weirdos in this godforsaken larping compound.”

(one last little snippet here, after Finley bolts to get away from his parents, Elrond goes off to find him).

Elrond set off from the group. When he turned the corner in the hall, he stopped, shut his eyes, took a deep breath, and blocked everything out to attune to the floor beneath his feet.

Sure enough, it was faint, but there was a tiny heartbeat some distance away, racing at breakneck speed.

He followed it down to the second floor, past the rows and rows of guest rooms, hardly saying hello to anyone as he passed them. It grew stronger and stronger until he came to his study. The corners of his mouth twitched. Silently, he slipped in and padded over. The source of the heartbeat came from behind his desk.

If Finley’s first reaction upon seeing his parents was to hide, that was a bad sign. Torin had, really, reacted no better. Elrond was in no hurry to return Finley to them at present. More than likely it was only out of anxiety that they would be angry with him for running off, or getting lost, or any number of things. But this was such a strong reaction that Elrond worried it might be something more than that.

He sank down to the floor to sit on the other side of his desk, resting his back against it and reclining.

“Finley, is it?”

He was glad that he finally knew the little one’s name. He kept his voice soft, hardly above a whisper, and began to radiate a gentle pool of calm, hoping that Finley might come out on his own.

Finley wasn’t sure how he got here, or where here even was. His arms wrapped around his knees, squeezing so, so tight; he felt he might crumble into a million little pieces if he let go. He couldn’t stop shaking, his head was spinning, his chest wound tight, and he could barely breathe.

I shouldn’t have run. I shouldn’t have run. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I’m sorry.

The words filled his thoughts to the brim like swelling pressure against a frail dam. The door opened. His whimpers silenced and he pressed against the corner of the wood.

I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Go away. Please go away. Please don’t–

The footsteps stopped on the other side of the wood. A pause, then a voice. That wasn’t his dad. He felt like he should know who it was, but couldn’t remember through the screaming mess in his head. Whoever it was, he had a gentle voice. Finley felt the air come back into his lungs. Tears sprung from his eyes.

He opened his mouth, but not words would come out. They all tangled up in his clenching chest.

It was quiet for a long time, save only for the sound of Finley’s still-racing heart, his sniffling, and the little sounds of distress he was making every so often. Panic. Elrond’s chest twisted. He briefly considered going to fetch Torin, but that might mean alerting Finley’s parents that he had been found. He had no intention of doing so until Finley was calm and they had a chance to…

…what, talk? They couldn’t. Elrond bit the inside of his cheek, frustrated. He squashed the feeling as soon as it rose before it could bleed out of him.

Finley neither spoke nor came out from under the desk, though his heart did slow somewhat. Elrond fished out a handkerchief from his pocket and carefully reached behind him to set it at the corner of the desk, within reach without forcing Finley to come out before he was ready.

After another long stretch, an idea occurred to him. It was risky– especially in the state Finley was in– but there was a chance they might be able to communicate.

Tentatively, with the upmost care to be gentle, Elrond reached out and brushed Finley’s whirring, anxious mind with his own.

‘I am not here to make you come out,’ he told him, hoping that at least something would be intelligible, ‘don’t fret.’

The voice, or… impression of a voice, was warm. It felt the same as the calming presence that had begun to ease his fear. Not banish it, but lessen it at least. What he imagining things? He figured he must be. His dad said his grandma used to hear things that weren’t there.

Whatever he was, a real or not, Finley’s thoughts tumbled back to him.

‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have run away. I just got really scared. I don’t know where I am or if Torin’s okay. He was probably so mad and it’s my fault. It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have run away. I’m sorry.’

The response was remarkably clear, for all its rushing current of fear which choked the words. Elrond let out a relieved breath.

‘Torin is well. He is safe,’ he told him at once. ‘And to my knowledge no one is angry with you. Only worried.’

Finley buried his face in his knees and pulled them closer to his chest, biting his lip so hard he tasted blood. ‘No. No he’s angry. He’s really really angry and it’s my fault. It’s my fault because I ran away and now he’s gonna hurt Torin and it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have run away or hid the rings or taken the rings or anything. I’m sorry. I’m sorry!’

“I’m– I– I– I’m s–” the words stumbled weakly out of his mouth. “‘m sorry. I’m sorry.”

Elrond shifted, rounding the desk to settle down once more a fair distance away, within Finley’s line of sight, but neither blocking his exits nor forcing either of them to look directly at each other.

‘No one will hurt Torin in my house. I will not let them,’ he replied back, firm and steadfast, but still gentle and warm. ‘is it your father that scares you so much, tithen pen?’

Finley didn’t look up when he moved around the desk. He kept his face buried in his knees, but nodded, just a little.

‘He was really angry, ‘cause I took something I wasn’t supposed to and now we’re here and it’s my fault.’

Elrond tilted his head, still radiating that flow of calm and relieved beyond words that this was working.

‘predicaments so unfortunate and tangled as this are hardly ever any one person’s fault, let alone someone so small as you. And in any case I am certain you did not intend to cause harm. And a second I promise: I will not let anyone hurt your brother. Neither will I let anyone hurt you. No matter how angry they might be.’

Finley couldn’t say why he believed him, but he did. He was just one of those people who made you feel safe. Finley was scared to look up, because he wanted so badly for him to be real, but was so scared he wasn’t.

It took a few minutes to muster up the courage to lift his head and open his eyes.

There, sitting on the floor, was Elrond.

He was warm like summer and had a presence so much bigger than Finley’s dad, but so much kinder.

anyway, that's the gist! I know that's quite bit more than a "line or two" but this will likely never go up anywhere, since we don't plan on finishing it. It's a fun idea, but we wound up doing a similar thing with the same characters a little to the left, and we like that better.

#this is huge #but we wrote quite a bit of this before we got bored lol #the bradys in middle earth #(small cw for child abuse. nothing graphic. Only implied)#elrond #not my OCs but borrowed with permission!#also includes:#elladan #elrohir #erestor #lindir #and plenty of:#glorfindel #and also Celebrian #of course

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elegyofdionysus · 2 years

Text

Adulteration & Decay

PART ONE

BATMAN x READER

SUMMARY: Y/N is about to be thrown into the Gotham City underbelly and she already knows she’s in way over her head.

Gotham City with all its rain and cold and rot should be uninhabitable. The shoebox apartments, the ridiculously high cost of…well everything, it should be suffocating. And it is.

You stood in the dimly lit streets made ominous by the midnight fog, fingers tight around a switchblade, hands stuffed into the pockets of your drenched black hoodie. It wasn’t safe at night in Gotham. It wasn’t safe anytime of the day really. Barbarity hid away in its many crevices from the harsh glare of day and then bled through its streets emboldened by the night.

At least it used to before him. You didn’t know exactly what he was supposed to be. He walked around with a mask much like that of a Gotham delinquent, yet he wore a cape like a superhero. You could just ask him. Afterall, he was standing about seven feet away from you. Right in the puddle of blood oozing out of the man who had tried to mug you only minutes before.

It was jarring how much could change in just a couple of moments. From clean, long fingered, soft hands to blistered knuckles and bloodstained purity rings. You and the Batman stared at each other. Before now you had never seen life leave anyone’s eyes. You wondered if the Batman thought yours looked just as hollow. Or maybe he recognized something else in them, something savage and cruel. Either way, he’d be right.

“My door won’t open,” was all you could to say. The Batman regarded you with a look akin to confusion, it was difficult to tell with the mask on.

“My door won’t open,” you repeated.

“You need to leave,” he warned as he prowled towards you, his tall frame obstructing your gaze from the body on the ground.

“My door w-,” a sob, “won’t open.” You tried again. Mascara-coloured tears streaming down your face. “It won’t…it won’t.” You wanted to tell him that the knife you carried was for the purpose of unjamming your door, never to be jammed into human flash, that the thought of using it as a tool to steal life from someone else had been unimaginable, but the harrowing guilt had a vice grip around your neck, strangling you before you could force the words out.

The Batman raised his arms and for a second you thought he might hug you. You could use a hug right now. He was a stranger and he didn’t seem like the sort who hugged but his arms were more inviting than the prickling horror itching beneath your skin. Instead, Batman places his hands on your shoulders and steers you away from the crime scene. Crime. Criminal.

“We have to call the police,” you uttered weakly.

“I’ll do that, you stay here.”

By the time the flashing lights of the police cars came into view, you’d descended from manic shock to catatonic numbness. You barely reacted when the police officers handcuffed you and read out your rights, your eyes trained on your victim.

“It’s just a phone,” you told the detective later in the interrogation room. You stared at the darned thing like it had been touched by the devil. It wasn’t even a smart one, something left over from the late 2000s. Nothing worth killing for. And yet….

It wasn’t even yours. You’d found it slotted between the cushions of one of the booths at the bar you worked at just earlier that evening. The battery was dead, your manager told you to throw it away but you’d planned to recharge it, and see if you could return it to its rightful owner. Here it sat atop the cold metal table, antiqued and coated with blood. It must hold some sort of significance though if he thought it was worth dying for.

#battison #batman #bruce wayne #bruce wayne reader insert #batman x reader #musicians #bruce wayne x fem!reader #gore #angst #barely any romance #batman 2022 #gotham #chubby reader #batman x chubby reader #black reader #batman x black!reader

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corner-stories · 1 year

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plus-one

Mia Dearden. Dinah Lance. Courtney Whitmore. Gatherings. Dancing. Charcuterie Boards. 2275 words. (ao3.)

Being the only Arrow Family member available that weekend, Mia Dearden was granted the privilege of being Dinah Lance’s plus-one for a certain JSA event. Although, there was a slight chance that Ollie’s peculiar… acquaintanceship with Hawkman was a reason why Dinah hadn’t extended her invite to him.

Nonetheless, Ted Grant’s birthday party had — thankfully — gone on without a hitch. After a dinner at a New York hotel ballroom, several members of the Justice Society had taken to the stage to give a speech to the old fart.

Besides, how else could one pay tribute to a man who spent most of his life in a catsuit?

Said members included the usual fossils — such as the Flash, Green Lantern, and the less good-looking Hourman — as well as fresher meat — like Black Canary, the other Wildcat, and the more good-looking Hourman.

And of course, Ted himself gave a small speech of his own. Ted being Ted, he made sure that the phrases “old as fuck,” and “you little shits” were used liberally, as well as a comment about three generations of Doctor Mid-Nites giving him a prostate exam.

Unsurprisingly, Courtney had made sure to record the startled reactions of Jay and Alan with her smartphone.

Once the formalities were done, the events of the night shifted from a simple, sensible evening dinner, to something that a good chunk of the guests in attendance would actually be interested in.

Apparently, the younger members of the Justice Society of America really loved to dance.

Despite reaching the base expectations of how a human should act in most — but not all — social situations, Mia wasn’t sure what to do with herself. As wall-mounted speakers blasted a steady flow of music into the room, she could only sit on the sides like an awkward potato as the many members of the JSA took to the ballroom dance floor.

Despite the music being akin to that of an early 2000s middle school dance, it seemed that even the most stoic members of the JSA could admit that the rhythm was infectious.

Suffice to say, everyone’s wildly different reactions to the lyrics “cha cha real smooth” had Mia either stifling her laughter or reacting in utter horror.

Despite not knowing most of the room, there were at least some people that Mia recognized.

Several members of the Flash Family were present in the ballroom, Bart being the one she was the most familiar with. He was currently dancing the night away alongside a redheaded member of the JSA, whom Mia had yet to properly meet, but via eavesdropping learned was Maxine.

Across the dance floor were more JSA members and associates that Mia had only read about in articles, magazines, and occasionally on computer files.

The former members of the defunct Infinity Inc. had formed a dance circle in their little corner of the room. The older Green Lantern that wasn’t Uncle Hal was currently engaged in a drinking contest against Wildcat, the older Hourman was cheering both of them on. The hero Mia knew as Citizen Steel was dancing in a sea of little children that clung to him like tiny kittens.

And most interestingly of all, Black Canary was currently dancing with her ex.

Every once in a while Mia would glance to where Dinah was, as she had spent the last few songs next to Doctor Pieter A. Cross. Every article and interview Mia had seen with the man had put an image of a stoic, calculating physician in her head.

However, seeing him smiling as he and his ex shared a friendly dance in a ballroom made Mia think otherwise.

When the current song ended, Mia remained in her chair and took a sip of sparkling apple cider from a glass flute. As much as an adult beverage would make the evening a bit more tolerable, Mia was fully aware that living in the States again meant that she had to abide by certain rules.

Plus, being in a room filled with the biggest boy scouts and old fogies of the superhero world didn’t help either.

Just as the next song began to play — a classic tune about a milkshake that could bring several boys to a yard — Mia saw Dinah enter her line of sight.

The older not-blonde stumbled off the dance floor with all the grace of a baby giraffe learning to walk. After tumbling onto the chair beside Mia, she began removing her heels.

“Hey, Kid, do me a favor and hold these?” asked Dinah as she handed a shoe to Mia.

Mia let out a chuckle as she accepted the sparkly footwear. “Wow, you’re really having fun out there, aren’t you?”

“What did I tell you?” Dinah replied, stretching her arm out. Despite the music, the cracks and pops of her aging joints were as audible as ever. “These JSA folk really love to dance.”

Mia laid back in her chair and kept her arms crossed, then gave Dinah a smirk. “So… does Ollie know you’re dancing with your ex?”

“Of course,” Dinah answered in a rather casual tone. “He’s met Pieter a few times so it’s not awkward. Well, not as awkward as it could be.”

Suddenly, Mia was very tempted to ponder just how awkward the circumstances could be, and to what extent Dinah had initially expected. But after a moment’s thought, she decided it was best to keep her smart mouth shut. Just for tonight.

After a few seconds, a server carrying a tray of filled champagne flutes walked past the table, prompting Dinah to take advantage of the moment and snag a glass of bubbly for herself.

“Why don’t you get out there?” she asked just as she swiped the drink from the waiter.

Mia shrugged and shook her head. She tried to ignore the uncomfortable knot now forming in her gut.

“I dunno, I don’t know anyone here.”

“Yeah, I get that,” Dinah said, then took a sip from her glass. “The roster just seems to be getting bigger every day. There’s about… 20 people here that I’ve never even met.”

Mia managed a chuckle. As Dinah nursed her drink, the young archer looked towards the dance floor. The music had transitioned into something with a much faster tempo, a song from the 90s that expressed a fondness for rear ends and an inability to lie.

It was certainly not Mia’s first choice for a gathering that involved so many 90-year-old men, but she had seen stranger things in the past. Much stranger things than one of the former Infinitors unironically yelling the phrase, “This is my jam!”

Mia didn’t see exactly which Infinitor had said it, but her instincts were telling her that it was the green one.

Dinah took another pull of her champagne, leaving half the glass full, then handed the flute to Mia.

“I’m going back in,” she announced like a soldier preparing to re-enter the front lines. “Wish me luck.”

Mia raised an eyebrow, but accepted the glass without question.

From her seat she watched as Dinah returned to the floor, slipping into the crowd of dancing Justice Society members, whether they be the younglings, the old fogies, or something in between.

To Mia’s amusement, the Justice Society seemed to hold a rather strong passion for such an iconic, American tune.

Never in Mia’s life did she think she would witness Power Girl dancing like she had been waiting for the moment since 1992, yet there Karen stood in a crowd of excited JSA-ers.

After Mia drank the remaining bits of bubbly from Dinah’s glass, she stood up and made her way around the dance floor. Once she arrived at the snack table on the other side of the room, she began perusing the array of h’orderves the Justice Society had set up for the occasion.

If two things could be said about the team, it was that they really liked songs about rear ends and knew how to make a killer charcuterie board.

As Mia snacked on a slice of cold smoked pork, another person walked up next to her and reached for the same platter.

Mia looked beside her and laid eyes on one of the more recognizable members of the Justice Society of America.

Courtney Whitmore — or Stargirl, as the hero community knew her — reached for a piece of cheese on the corner of the serving board.

“Sweet! There’s still some brie!” she cheered with an almost child-like grin.

Mia had heard a few things about Stargirl, mainly that she was the successor to both Jack Knight and Sylvester Pemberton, a wielder of some mystical somewhat-sentient staff, and the modern Justice Society’s pride and joy.

Most peculiarly, Stargirl was considered a role model for countless heroes in the society despite being one of the youngest members of the roster.

With a reputation like that, Mia began to wonder why the Titans never bothered trying to recruit her into their ranks.

Looking at her now, Stargirl seemed to be at ease during the event. She was donning a blue dress that wouldn’t be out of place during a mid-west senior prom, and aptly she was also sporting a pair of star-shaped earrings. If anything, she certainly knew how to be on-brand.

As Mia reached for another morsel from the table, she noticed Courtney glancing over to her, then a surprised expression coming upon the other blonde’s face.

“Oh!” Courtney explained, quickly looking the archer up and down. “Arrowette, right?!”

Although a part of Mia suddenly died inside like a beached whale, a quick breath helped her regain her composure. After reminding herself to smile, she shook her head.

“No, I’m the other one,” she answered almost playfully. “Uh… Speedy?”

“Oh… oh ,” Courtney blinked, then appeared to be going through the seven stages of grief all at once. “Oh… oh god, Jesus take the wheel! I’m so sorry!”

Mia had to admit that there was something amusing about the pride and joy of the JSA looking utterly mortified.

“Nah, it’s fine,” Mia assured with a casual smile. “I get that a lot. My name’s Mia, by the way. I’m Dinah’s plus-one.”

Courtney was in the process of taking a piece of brie and shoving it into her dumb mouth. After swallowing an excess of cheese, she gave Mia a smile that was tinged with just the slightest bit of unease.

“I’m Courtney!” she said, covering her mouth as she spoke. “Been havin’ fun so far?”

Mia gave a nod. “Yeah, definitely. Didn’t expect so much swearing from the speeches — but hey, there’s a first for everything.”

Courtney laughed. “Yeah, that’s Ted for you.” With a fond smile, she rolled her eyes. “Jay told him to stop, but that just makes him do it more.”

Mia let out a chuckle, suddenly feeling a little more comfortable than she was minutes before. Additionally, the jitters and unrest that had plagued Courtney before seemed to have disappeared along with her mouthful of brie.

“So uh… you know anyone here?” asked Courtney. “Aside from Dinah?”

Mia took in a breath and held it as she scanned the room. Even now she could only recognize about a quarter of the room, and that was just the people who didn’t wear masks in their hero lives.

“Uh… not exactly. I mean… I know Bart,” Mia soon said, her lips now pressed into a straight line. “Been meaning to talk to him all night. Seems a bit busy though.”

The Star and the Archer looked to the dance floor to see the youngest member of the Flash Family in the place he had been all night, dancing his troubles away alongside Maxine. The fact that the two had finally met was either a miracle of nature or a disaster waiting to happen.

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Courtney replied, nodding. “But hey, at least Maxine’s got a partner for the next time she puts on an impromptu experimental modern dance show.”

With her eyes now widened, Mia looked at Courtney in surprise. The more she learned about the JSA the more intrigued she was getting to know the team.

“Damn, I gotta hang out with you guys more often…”

After a few moments the current song finished, then transitioned to something just as upbeat. The tune had just enough low-end synthesizers to make Mia feel the vibrations in her chest.

“Ohhhhh, I love this song!” Courtney cheered, grinning from ear to ear. She looked at Mia and gently took her hand. “Come on! Let’s dance together!”

The sensation of Courtney’s hand on Mia’s made her heart skip a beat. She felt her brain go blank for a few seconds, then finally brought herself back to reality with another quick breath.

“Uhhh… sure, why not?” she tried.

Courtney was certainly the most enthusiastic regarding the scenario. With an even wider smile she happily pulled Mia onto the floor.

And suddenly Mia was where she thought she would never be all night, in between a group of people she didn’t really know, yet truly wished to.

Looking forward now, Mia noted that Courtney Whitmore — as open and cheery as she could be — was still full of surprises, whether it be from the immediate kindness she was showing Dinah’s plus-one, or the fact that she danced in a way that could remind one of a chicken.

Nonetheless, Mia tried not to think of trivial things and instead thought of anything else, like how to move her limbs to the rhythm booming throughout a New York hotel ballroom, or how her night with the JSA was going a lot better than she expected.

#Mia Dearden #Dinah Lance #Courtney Whitmore #Ted Grant #Pieter Cross #JSA #Maxine Hunkel #Bart Allen #DC #things i edited at 5AM

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adamwatchesmovies · 8 months

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The Stepfather (2009)

2009’s The Stepfather is the dead-beat, absentee dad’s equivalent of horror thrillers: it does the bare minimum. Even if that were enough, its utter lack of thrills and creativity means it scores low. If you’re young and you’ve seen no other films of this kind, it might entertain you. Anyone else will be calling out every single development a half hour before it occurs.

Michael Harding (Penn Badgley) is suspicious of his soon-to-be stepfather. His mom (Sela Ward) just met him six months ago and certain things just don’t seem to add up. The teen is right to be suspicious. David Harris (Dylan Walsh) is actually a serial killer named Grady Edwards.

You know every one of this movie’s tricks from the title. Michael is a formerly troubled teen who thinks his mother is moving too fast. To his mom, Grady seems like the nicest man on Earth - the total antithesis to her ex-husband, Jay (Jon Tenney). Michael's girlfriend, Kelly (Amber Heard) also thinks he's over-reacting. Cue the mysterious incident in the neighborhood. Maybe it’s a dead cat or a nosy neighbor that turns up dead. Either way, isn’t it convenient for Grady that the one thing he was complaining about not so long ago has suddenly been solved through violence? Cue the failed attempts to gather clues as Grady leaves the house but suddenly has to turn around because he forgot something. Do I need to say more?

Once you begin watching The Stepfather, you will develop precognitive abilities and foresee everything long before it happens. Even if you don't, this still isn’t an effective thriller. There’s no subtlety, sense of humor, ironic twist or any commentary in its 101 minutes. All you can think of is how much smarter you are than Susan Harding. I don’t know if it’s a US thing, but her house has a lock on the door in the basement. Is it to prevent someone from sneaking ice cream? One must assume it was there before the stepfather moved in because otherwise, what kind of irresponsible woman would let someone install latches willy-nilly in her home? Anyone with half a brain should be able to tell the man’s as dodgy as a locked cellphone sold without its charging cable. The Stepfather can’t even keep his own lies straight and his attempts to cover up his fake identity are as weak as a kitten. In his defense, this film is set in the late 2000s, when it should obviously take place in the 80s, like the original. You’ll be yelling at the screen in frustration as characters’ phones constantly fall on the ground, are left unattended or run out of battery to prevent the story from ending prematurely.

If there's one good thing to say about this picture by Nelson McCormick, it's that the performances are fine. Dylan Walsh is quite good at flipping the switch between charming and menacing. Penn Badgley and Amber Heard are believable as a couple of teenage sleuths and while Sela Ward is too beautiful to completely sell her role as a single woman desperate for love, she does a fine job with the material.

The Stepfather does not fall into the usual pitfalls of bad slasher films. Its killer may be unusually quiet when sneaking around but he’s not invincible or capable of teleporting. It’s well made enough to be described as “basic”, which I suppose is better than “terrible” but far less memorable and by no means an acceptable substitute for “good”. This remake is destined to be forgotten and no one will care. (On DVD, October 24, 2021)

#The Stepfather #movies #films #movie reviews #film reviews #Nelson McCormick #J.S. Cardone #Dylan Walsh #Sela Ward #Penn Badgley #Amber Heard #Jon Tenney #2009 movies #2009 films

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hellsite-hungergames · 2 years

Note

My mum reacts really poorly to most strong painkillers. So every medical procedure she's had for a long time that she was meant to be conscious for, she's either used nitrous oxide or nothing. Giving birth took her over 40 hours, and then they finally decided on an emergency c-section, and she used nitrous oxide. There've been a lot of times when she insisted on it to the slight horror of others ("what do you mean you got a colonoscopy with only nitrous oxide"). It sounds like a hell of a drug.

...that sounds like utter hell oh my god

like I can still feel things with nitrous and literally the only thing it does is help me to not focus on the pain so much and even then it isn't that strong unless the dentist can tell that I'm feeling too much so I can't imagine getting something big done with laughing gas-

#I think my family also has a weird tolerance to most anesthetics though #well not tolerance #increased tolerance?#maybe?#my grandma has had multiple operations done and the anesthetic always takes like 30 seconds to kick in #capitol ask #I've never had anesthesia (yet. I'll need it when I get implants) so idk how it affects me

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dorn-queen-of-thorns · 1 year

Text

"A farewell for a beginning"

Happened after ch. 138

Prolog

Eren' s and Armin' s point of view

The two friends sit under the dark blue sky, which can change the colour depending on how the viewer feels. In the distance you can see every single path that is bundled towards the horizon and looks like the trunk of a tree. There is an oppressive tension in the air between the two childhood friends.

“Eren! What have you done? ”, You can see Armin's horror on his face. The boy with the chestnut-brown hair and the emerald - green eyes, who has a deep vein in which you can sink. He looks for the right words, Armin notices that Eren is about to cry and is unsure .

“I know Armin, but please believe me. I've tried everything to save all of you. If I hadn't started this genocide, Marley would declare war on Paradise in a year and destroyed it to the last ", he speaks in a fragile voice," Mikasa will decide to cut my head off and she will ask you and the captain for help . There is and there was never another way out and I'm so tired of this. I want to be free from suffering ... ", the tears run down Eren's cheeks. He wishes that everything had gone differently and that he would come back to Mikasa for talk things out. But it doesn't work if he wants at least, that she can survive as one of the few.

“You could have talked to us. We would have found a solution together ”, Armin tries to understand his best friend.

Eren shakes his head desperately, doesn't know how to explain to Armin what suffering he has felt and seen. As an explanation, he takes Armin's hand and gives him the view of the founding Titan, which gives him a view of all paths. This means that Armin can see every possibility in the future, past and present at this moment. Paths that can be changed, but also paths that are referred to as fixed points and are therefore firmly written.

Armin sees all the options that Eren can choose and which in most cases lead to the death of all members of the alliance. The shock is deep in Armin and Eren understands his desperation.

“There is so much more that I have to explain to you, Armin. At that moment I will become a father and it breaks my heart never to see or hold my own child. "

Armin looks at Eren in surprise, “what? Who? What about Mikasa? "

Armin notices that Eren is struggling for the right words, "Historia ..." Armin's answer follows by giving him one slap. Eren makes no move to defend himself. He can even understand his best friend for how he treated Armin and Mikasa when they last met.

“You know that Mikasa loves you! Why did you never tell her anything? She still loves you and has not been able to move on until now, hoping to save you and can’t take other people into her heart, ”, at this utterance Armin comes Jean and the Captain into his mind. Both of them tried in their own way to take care of Mikasa and to help over her pain. Jean in his direct and self-sacrificing way, while the captain reacted very subtly, indirectly and carefully. Always a watching eye on her.

Eren rubs his cheek thoughtfully, “I know Armin, but please believe me. I tried. I have wandered the paths so often and saw two scenarios, these have always been the same. Either Historia and her child will die during childbirth, or you will all die and Historia survive with her child. I can't accept either ... "Eren's tears run," I've seen you all die so often. I just simply can not anymore…"

Armin realizes that it is his old friend Eren and not the ice-cold Eren who left Mikasa so badly hurt and destroyed with his words. “I wish she could see you now, Eren. She could make peace with it. "

“I know, Armin. But that doesn't work. With this wish everything would repeat itself. At least few of you, including Mikasa and Historia, survive this path that she is now taking ... It is the only way ... ", Eren looks thoughtfully into the distance," I want, that both have the opportunity to lead a long and peaceful life. "

"How do you know that it is the path that you have been looking for so long?", Armin looks at his best friend from childhood.

“Armin, there is a point that repeats itself over and over again. It is the point when I am with you for the first time in Liberio and I ask Mikasa how she thinks about me. And before that she had always confessed her love and the last time she gave me a different answer and said , that I was family to her and then you came with the others to join us... "

Eren looks melancholy.

“ I couldn't say goodbye to her. Besides telling her that she forget me and that she should have a long life, "he looks sadly into the distance.

“Please take care of Mikasa. She will immediately enter the paths and look for me ", he takes Armin's hand, "send her back. PLEASE PROMISE ME!

I don't want to have to go through everything again and I want at least a few of you to be able to survive. "

Armin recognizes Eren's desperation and nods in understanding to his friend, "I promise you." Armin feels that their time is approaching. "Will we meet again here, Eren?"

Eren looks at Armin and nods in understanding: "We will from time to time."

He scratches his neck thoughtfully, "Both Marley children will survive on this path, as well as Mikasa and ..." Armin looks at Eren curiously. "The captain ..." Armin's eyes widen and he has to grin.

“If I'm honest, Armin. I am glad that he can survive on this path. So she will be caught in her depression and will find a new task in this world. But there was never a way out that Mikasa and I could end up together. I asked her to forget me. She will try to fight it as I know her, but with the current situation, everything will turn for the better for her and shortly after our last meeting at the Survey Corps headquarters, she made her own decisions and decided to do more with the captain work. I'm proud of her. "

Armin remembers that at the end of the day, Mikasa was always close to her superior and trusted him more. It's just sad that he'll never see them like that again. He wonders how their work together could have developed in other aspects of life.

“Our ways will now part. I'll take care of the Marley girl now. Rainer asked me to send her back in exchange for his tank titans ", he looks at Armin again in goodbye," see you soon. "

#rivamika #levi x mikasa #levimika

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stormbreaker101 · 2 years

Text

Downfall

It’s the end. Dirk and their crew have made it to Kane’s Machine. Subodai had once vowed to help Dirk win their destiny. Now it is time to prove it, to fight by his captain’s side until either Kane falls, or they fall.

Will this be their final battle? It is a good day to die...

Yeah, this would probably fit better for Day 31, but if you pair the prompts Mooshu and Horse together I will write about my boy Su. It’s my birthday today; I can do what I want.

Content Warnings: Canon violence, canon-atypical gore.

Word Count: 5633

The Machine towers over us. Your destiny. Everything you’ve ever done since we first met, and perhaps even before then, leads now to this. A history of epic proportions, contained in but a few months. There will be a great and terrible battle here; all epics end so.

Will this be our final battle?, I cannot help but wonder. This will be either the end of the Armada, or the end of us. It is a good day to die…

“Su-” Your face holds pain. The earring I gave you glints almost as bright as your eyes. You look like you might cry. I realize that I’d spoken my thoughts aloud. Shit, I didn’t mean to.

“There’s the elevator,” Gracie cuts in, pointing ahead. “Let’s get to the top of this thing!”

We rush ahead and all step into the lift at once. The lift is crammed. I press myself against the walls so I don’t crush anybody else with my armor. The wall scrapes my armor. The constant rumble and creaking of wood and metal, and the closeness of the space, reminds me of the prison ship we’d escaped. I struggle to breathe.

The lift reaches its peak, rising into the heart of the Machine, an overwhelmingly large room with a grand platform in the middle. I vault over the metal railing around the lift’s platform. You follow me. Fan and Monkey King do too. Everybody else walks off the platform normally.

“Look at this thing,” Gracie gasps. “I can’t believe it!” Her tail swishes like she’s mad, but her voice is one of wonder.

Old Scratch taps your shoulder. “Captain! There be the crystals from the Gold Monkey Valley!” He points up to the structure in the middle of the room, and I see what he sees. The crystals are small and glow with energy stark against the Machine’s metal. “Kane brought them here,” Old Scratch continues, “but why?”

You say nothing. You don’t even look up at what Old Scratch points out.

“There be bad mojo in this place, Captain. Believe it!” Old Scratch insisted. He’s noticing your unresponsiveness.

Gazpaccio steps forward, holding the Golden Heart in his hand. “Kane!” he calls, his voice barely sounding over the Machine’s constant noise. I hear Monkey King let out a low tsk-tsk-tsk. I cannot help but agree with the old trickster. Charing upfront into battle is one thing. Stepping out and calling for the enemy to reveal himself is suicide. “The time has come, my son, for all of this madness to end! I-I come to repair your soul; to bring you into the light!”

Hesitation.

“Kane?” Gazpaccio asks again. “Where are you?”

I hear Kane before he speaks. He steps up to the edge of the central platform. “Here.” He takes aim and shoots the Golden Heart. Gazpaccio didn’t react in time; he couldn’t.

“The Heart! No!” Gazpaccio yelps.

“Yes, that’s finally out of the way,” Kane said. His voice is level and cold as any leader’s. It’s chilling. “Thank you for bringing the Heart into the open. But why stop at only one heart?” He takes aim at the other heart Gazpaccio holds; his beating human heart.

Nobody makes any move to stop it. We are all frozen in shock, or something.

Gazpaccio falls to the ground. “My son… how could you…?” His voice peters out. I’m familiar with the sound of men taking their last breaths and uttering their last words. He is dead.

The crew erupts in panic. “NO!” “YOU FIEND!” But you are silent as a corpse. You watch, unreacting. There’s a distant stare in your eyes. I recognize it. My father had the same distant stare before he was shot in the throat. The horrors you see around you are so deafening you cannot hear them anymore. The white snow turns red as strawberries in the summertime and you cannot see the spilt blood anymore.

Have you seen this before?

Kane begins to monologue. Proud and haughty. He reminds me of Toghon. “Children are meant to replace their fathers,” I hear him say clearly. That sentence weighs so heavy on my mind that it sinks before I can think about it. No doubt, that sentence will resurface when I try to sleep.

He keeps talking. He reveals his dark plans, to rush to El Dorado with the map he remade from scratch and then to ‘perfect’ the Spiral.

I look to you again. You don’t seem to even care. This isn’t like you. What’s going on?

A group of four Armada soldiers appear, blocking the stairs leading up to the central platform. Where had they come from? Kane snaps his fingers. “Destroy the intruders,” he orders the soldiers. Then he sneers to you, “Goodbye, pirate.”

You look at the soldiers. “Mob fight. Tío, Fan, Bon, to me.”

I’m not surprised that you call them forth. They’re not surprised either. You’ve fought with Fan and Bonnie at your side ever since it was just the four of us on your crew, and El Toro is a strong fighter too, good in quicker fights. You expect this scuffle to go by quickly, then.

And it does. You all leap into battle. I never understand what keeps the rest of us from getting involved and outnumbering the enemies you fight, but those details don’t matter now. Bonnie gets hurt but you heal her with a touch of your magic. I’ve learned a long while ago not to question where your magic comes from; you’ve always insisted you’re a typical child who just got their hands on some knives, but you’re neither typical nor a child. Extraordinary in too many ways for me to count right now. I must stay focused; we all do.

As the last soldier, a Battle Angel, buckles under your strike, Ratbeard cheers, “Now there’s none left. None but the king!” He gives the center platform a stink-eye. I take a step back. I see Kane standing on the platform. He hadn’t retreated after killing his creator; he had kept fiddling with this monster of a machine as we were distracted by the fight!

“Yes, and now he is in danger. Check!” El Toro quips.

I feel the beginnings of a headache build in me. Now is no time for chess puns!

You lead the way up onto the central platform. Your gaze is sharp and you hold your finger up as you walk, as if you’re pointing at something only you can see.

Kane stands on the platform, waiting for us. “My, but you have grown stronger,” he says. From any other person, it would’ve been a compliment. “Your victory was highly unlikely-” as if; we can take on the Armada’s soldiers any time! What the fuck kind of weaklings does he think we are!? “- but I’ve accounted for it.”

Words echo from nowhere and everywhere at once: “Preparations complete.” It must be the Machine itself speaking. We are truly within the belly of the beast, now. “Deconstruction fleet ready to launch.”

“Hold launch,” Kane commanded the Machine. “This was the least favorable scenario, but still acceptable. Prepare my escape craft and destroy this chamber.”

I can feel everyone start to panic. The tensing of muscles and short gasp of breath, as they get ready to fight or flee. I look to the lift; it’s a fair dash away. Would we make it before the entire room is destroyed? Even if we get onto it, would we be safe or would we still die? I don’t want to die like this, caught within the Machine’s destruction. If I am to die, it will be by another’s blade or arrow or gun or magic!

I sneak a glance back at you. You are still reactionless. You fear this less than I. Do you know something nobody else does? Is Kane bluffing? Will we not be destroyed helplessly?

“No,” says the Machine.

Against all odds and dying hope, we are spared a helpless death. How did you know?

Not even Kane seems to expect it. He acts like any other person, flinching at words. “What?” he demands of his creation.

“Destroying this chamber will render me inoperative,” the Machine speaks. “My purpose must be fulfilled. Any delay is unacceptable.”

Oho, Kane is pissed! It warms my heart to see his steel-cold demeanor snap into brittle shards. “I have given you an order! You will obey!” he barks at the Machine.

“No,” says the Machine again. “My purpose is all that matters. I am ready to achieve it. You are no longer required.”

El Toro laughs. “Children are meant to replace their fathers, eh? How does it feel, you monster?” There is a slight growl in his voice, more than his accent normally gives. Of course he would take that quote of Kane’s and twist it into a witty one-liner. His taunts will be the death of him, I swear to God.

The Machine’s voice booms once more: “Initiating defensive sequence. Beginning launch of Deconstructor Fleet.”

Kane storms to a lift on the platform and ascends to some other room. He is running away, delaying his inevitable. The coward! My hunger for the chase burns hot enough to melt metal, but we have other issues. Like, the entire Machine being about to explode.

“NO! We’ve gotta stop it!” Gracie shouts. She grabs your arm and points out three boxy devices rooted into the platform. “Destroy the main mechanism- hurry!”

El Toro, Fan, and Bonnie Anne step up. You hold a finger up as Bon approaches. “Take a breather, Bonnie. Sarah, you up?”

“Of course,” Sarah Steele says.

The four of you step forward, staying close to each other. As the clockworks approach (wait, where did they come from? They just spawned out of thin air!), you all brace yourselves. You cloak yourself (I must wonder, why is it that sometimes you can bring everybody into your invisibility, and other times you can only summon your fog over yourself? Is it strategy, or are you randomly hindered?) Two of the robots charge at Toro and Sarah, the other two hang back. It seems they will strike later; a semblance of strategy from these mindless machines.

You direct your crew before darting to the furthest of the Machine’s mechanisms. Fan destroys another of the mechanisms on her own. A Dragoon thrashes her badly but she holds on and does some damage to it as well. El Toro and Sarah rush towards the third- they’re intercepted! A marine restrains Sarah, and a battle angel, blasted thing, swoops down on Toro. They trade blows, but he’s cut down. You cry out.

I want to rush into the fight to avenge Toro. No doubt I’m not alone in the thought. But something holds me back. What’s holding me back!?

You destroy the second part of the Machine. Sarah gets closer to the last mechanism, attacking a clockwork Marine first. Fan runs around the Machine’s center column, getting closer to you and Sarah. The Marine targets Fan. It knows she’s weak. I shout at her to watch out but even with my warning she’s taken down. You enact vengeance upon the Marine. You and Sarah destroy the last of the Machine’s mechanisms.

The Machine’s voice thrums one last time, its voice petering out. “Core mechanism… compromised… Can not…” The constant creaking of gears quiets down, as if the Machine sighed its last breath. A lamentation of the moment.

You rush to Fan and helped her stand. She leans against you. Sarah and Bon help El Toro rise. He’s extra shaky from bleeding out. His white cape and pants are stained red with his blood. “Y-You did it,” he gasps as he gathers his bearings. “The Spiral is saved.”

“Wait, isn’t this place gonna explode or somethin’?” Ratbeard asks. That was still a possibility? I thought destroying the Machine would keep it from self-destructing.

“I think not,” Gracie promises. “Evil strongholds don’t automatically do that, you know.”

“Excuse me, what happened to Kane?” Monkey King asks. He points to the lift that Kane had risen up on earlier.

Kane’s voice rings through the Machine, overwhelming as the Machine’s voice itself. “You think you’ve won!? This is only a delay! I can rebuild my machine- that’s a trivial matter!” It really doesn’t seem like it, with how pissed he sounds. We are really striking him where it hurts! He can’t run anymore. “But first I must become perfect in El Dorado. Come try to stop me, pirate! Come to your doom!”

“After him, capitane! For the Spiral-!” El Toro encourages. He takes a step forward. His leg buckles under him.

Bonnie Anne catches him. “Careful!”

“I’ll be fine, I promise you, Bonnie.”

You sigh, “I’m not bringing you into the final fight, Toro.” Your gaze lands on him, then goes distant again. Your finger moves, again as if pointing to something only you can see. “I’m not bringing you either, Fan. You both deserve rest.”

“Bring?” I finally ask. I can’t keep my questions inside anymore. “We’ll all fight alongside you, Dirk. You don’t have to fight with just your three best.”

You give me an expression that I cannot read. It’s… melancholic and pained and distant and serene all at once. Am I wrong? Are you forced to fight with only three of us at a time? Why? What restrains you? “Come on. Let’s get this run over with, once and for all.”

We step onto the second lift. Somehow it feels even smaller than the first. I can’t let my discomfort show. We have a war to win.

The lift makes it to the final room. The floor is made of black-and-white marble, in a chessboard pattern. A massive Valencia-centric map of the Spiral is on the far wall, stone inlaid with gold. This is the closest to a throne room that Kane would construct for himself.

The last time we stood in a throne room was Duomo hall. A painful memory. I still bear the wounds from the guards, I think. I should still have them. Is adrenaline driving me to ignore the pain?

Kane watches us ascend. By his side are all of his elites, including the ones we’ve destroyed. I blink. This can’t be real, can it? I’d kicked Deacon’s broken body down into the waters in the mines of Cool Ranch! And Rooke was left to burn and fall in the Trafalgar vortex!

It’s real.

“We’ve played a long chess game, you and I,” Kane taunts, “and you’ve done far better than I expected. But now it’s time I was rid of you.” He sounds so fucking smug. I want to bash his goddamn face in. “How about one final match? To be sporting, I’ll only use half my pieces.” He laughs. Cocky piece of shit. I’ll make him eat those words! He’s not even physically capable of eating! “Is that not generous?”

“Deacon! Rooke! But how!?” El Toro asks. It seems the wounds from the last fight are addling him, if he’s only noticing the rest of the elites after Kane’s opening speech.

“They’re only machines,” Kane explains dismissively. “It was expensive to replace the children you destroyed, but I managed.” More children. That’s all they are to him. Children. Not even tools, respectable and useful in their department. Children. What the fuck is wrong with him!?

More like what the fuck isn’t wrong with him.

“Bishop, of course, you already know,” Kane keeps explaining. I wonder what’s stopping Bon from just shooting Kane right now, while he’s distracted by his own ego and desire to narrate. It’d be a real asshole move, but this is Kane we’re talking about! He doesn’t deserve anything but the worst. “Allow me to introduce Queen, greatest of my creations!”

Queen, the clockwork next to him, with a sword in one hand and her mask held by a stick in another and a dress far too long to be practical, chuckles, “You flatter me, darling.” Her voice is what you would call sweet. An insult. Sickly like sap, with no real love behind it, no matter what petname she uses for her creator.

“Not at all,” Kane deflects. He raises his sword. “Kill them, my children. Kill them all.”

We all look to you. You said it yourself, you are restrained to only fight with three of us. So the question stands; who?

“Subodai. Scratch. Gracie.” Your voice is certain. You are fearless. You have been so unflinchingly fearless, it amazes and baffles me.

We step to the chessboard. We all have the same thought, to stand in front of you. If you die, then we are doomed. We cannot let that happen.

“Right. Slow techniques,” you command as your magic surrounds us. “Su, Gracie, hold back. Scratch, mojo flows.”

Old Scratch’s magic doesn’t feel at all like yours. Your magic settles on my skin and armor like snow. His flows through my veins like ice water. I cannot even use magic, but standing next to him I can still feel it.

We are hidden, and the Elites know it. So instead of charging towards us, making swings in the dark, they simply try to get a positional advantage. Kane retreats to the edge of the battlefield. Queen rushes along the edge, standing towards your left. Rooke follows, but only makes half the distance between us. A pair of Marines that had appeared alongside the Elites take a few steps forward, with Deacon and Bishop behind them.

“Steady…” you say. “One more turn of buffing.” You adjust your stance, shaking out any tension you can, and Scratch raises more magic.

Kane takes a step forward. Queen takes a step back, keeping her eyes trained on us like a falcon. Rooke stands next to her. Deacon and Bishop go against the edge of the board, and their marines go with them, flanking them in an L shape almost.

“Su. Can you 1v1 Rooke?” you ask me.

I would rather target Queen; we don’t know how she fights, which makes her more dangerous to me. But that doesn’t mean I can’t attack Rooke. Whether I can take him on alone… it would be a spar for the ages. “Yes.”

“Go for it.” Each of the tiles of the chessboard is large enough for one person to comfortably stand in while also small enough for one person to comfortably attack a person adjacent to them. You point me to one of the tiles. Adjacent to Rooke, diagonal to Queen. “Scratch, last mojo. Gracie, mine up.” You point her towards the tile next to the one I’ll stand on. “I’m gonna work on the Marines,” you finish explaining before darting off.

I swallow my fear, seeing you run into enemy lines. You know what you’re doing. I trust you.

I rush to Rooke. Thanks to your hide, I can get to his weaker spots without him able to defend against it.

I hear the whispers of magic. With a flash of light, Kane appears next to Rooke! Oh fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK- In a bit of a blind panic I attack Kane. My blade cuts up his robe, revealing metal. He strikes back in vengeance. His blade glances off the armor on my shoulder and up at my chin. I kick him in the chest and slash at his robe again, exposing more of his metal guts.

Rooke attacks me at once. I try my best to fend against him. I feel regrets bubble in me. I cannot 1v1 Rooke. I was cocky. I made a mistake. I should’ve said no. But I didn’t. And now I’m here.

Gracie’s mine appears next to me. I hope that by some miracle, when it goes off, it doesn’t hurt me. That makes no sense, of course Gracie’s mine will damage everything around it. Including me. But I want to trust you, and all of your planning.

Looking away for too long was a mistake. Left me vulnerable. Kane attacks me, pulling me away from one source of panic and directly into another. He’s relentless. I try to strike back when I can, when there’s an opening, but he’s in a mad frenzy! He’s ruthless!

The pain piles up. I feel the blood welling from my wounds.

He kicks me in the chest. I feel something crack. Bone? Armor? I don’t have the time to tell which. He leaps with a twirl. I try to raise my sword against him but my arm is too heavy.

He cuts me down.

My hand goes to my neck. I feel the blood. I see it. Red. I fall. I hear you scream my name. Fearful, mournful.

My head is turned away from the battlefield as I collapse. My hand is pinned between my neck and the floor. The blood is sticky, clotting. I struggle to breathe.

Wait. I’m still breathing?

I try to get up. My armor is too heavy and I am in too much pain. I’m as good as dead. But I’m not dead. Yet.

Queen and Rooke step around me. I can hear another clockwork approach. Gracie’s mine explodes as it gets near me, but the clockwork hasn't fallen.

I hear you curse. “Shit- Gracie! Get that marine! Scratch, your summon!”

Gracie runs next to where I lie. She attacks, and the marine collapses. Its body slumps over and pins my leg. The weight is a bother, but nowhere near the pain I’m already feeling.

Kane steps over by body. I think my heart’s stopped from the panic. Don’t move don’t move don’t fucking move if he notices me move I am SO FUCKING DEAD. He’s attacking Gracie! Damn my torpor! If I were stronger, I’d perhaps be able to prevent this. Somehow. I wouldn’t be on the floor and trying to play dead for my survival, at least. That would have to count for something! If I were weaker, then I’d be entirely dead and unaware of everything happening around me. But I’m in the middle. Alive, weak, helpless, unable to do fucking ANYTHING! It’s more agony than my wounds themselves! Gracie falls with a pained whimper.

You shout her name in fear and mourning.

Rooke walks to his right. I can’t see him anymore.

I hear a sparkthrower shot, and the other marine falls somewhere on the board.

Scratch does some magic. It’s cold and deathly and it makes my fur prickle. It hurts the Elites, I hear them all wince. Kane’s weight disappears off of me. I want to sigh in relief, but I can’t. They’re all still so close to me. If one of them even thinks they hear me…

I hear Rooke attack Scratch. Scratch grimaces. I hear dry bones clatter against the floor, but I don’t hear Scratch’s voice cry out as he falls. Scratch lives. The minion he summoned must’ve been the one to be destroyed.

“Attack Deacon,” you command Scratch. “He’s low!” I hear you running. You jump over my body. I look at you. You don’t look at me. Do you think I’m already dead? I promise, I’m not! I’m still here! I’m still alive! I will still fight! I just… can’t. Not yet. Not now. I’m sorry.

I hear you weave some magic. It entangles Queen and Rooke. Scratch slings spells at Deacon.

I hear Scratch fall.

It’s just you now. Oh fuck.

The battle becomes strangely silent. You must be hidden. That’s the only way they’re not ganging up on you right now. They wouldn’t be able to aim at you. So they bide their time. You bide your time. I hope you know what you’re doing. What are you planning? What are you preparing?

I see Rooke and Deacon and Bishop gather in the corner of the battlefield. Deacon’s body convulses, twitching mechanically as something invisible overtakes him. Probably more of your magic, I think. He falls flat onto the floor. I am so glad to see him fall gain, even if I wasn’t the one to deal the final blow this time.

Queen stands over Deacon’s remains. Bishop walks to the space right above my head. I can barely see him from the corner of my eye. Rooke walks past my head, beyond what I can see.

You step over me, and I see Bishop flinch away from your attack! Your blades tear into him, then glance off into Rooke. He attacks you. I hear you laugh. You’re dodging his strikes!

Kane teleports on top of me. I stiffen. I’m getting real fucking annoyed of him standing on my fucking body. I’m not strong enough to try and stand and knock him off his feet without the rest of the Elite swooping down on me like a pack of bloodthirsty falcons. I just have to fucking grit my teeth and bear it.

That motto has helped me survive the slavery I suffered for some years, and the great khan game that I was made a pawn in back when we were in Mooshu a few weeks ago. I hoped to never have to rely on that motto again. But it seems my hopes and dreams and all my other sentimental bullshit are just made to die. Sucks.

Your shout pulls me from my thoughts. You go from laughing to panting quick and heavy. You’re scared. Queen is standing over Bishop’s corpse now, holding her bloodied. sword at the ready. Wait shit that’s your blood. That’s a Good Fucking Reason to be scared actually I’m not fucking judging you holy SHIT. I feel some of your blood drip onto my face.

“Oh fuck oh god I only have 33 HP shit shit shit-” I hear you panic. What the fuck does that even mean? 33 HP? What does HP stand for? How do you have 33 of these things? Where are you getting that number from?! Are you saying random shit to try and calm down!? Come on, pull yourself together! “AND NO HIDES ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!” you screech. What the fuck does THAT mean!?

You run for your life. Queen runs after you. I hear Queen cry out in pain. You laugh in victory and relief. It’s the sweetest sound I’ve heard today.

You quiet down. You’re calming down. I hear you barely chuckle and say something. It vaguely sounds like “Found a hide”, but that doesn’t make any sense. In any case, are things suddenly under control? It’s just you versus Rooke and Kane. Can you 2v1 them? With your agility and magic and resilience, can you outlast them better than I?

I first hear, then see Rooke retreat into the same corner Deacon died in. I am so confused. He seems very confused too. Wait. You’re hidden and biding your time again, are you? Rooke wouldn’t know where you are, or where you’ll end up, so he’s just lying in wait it seems.

You rush to him, a cloaked blur. Your knives catch the light. You tear into Rooke’s inner workings. He shudders and collapses. Kane teleports to the square in front of me.

You smile. You attack him. He doesn’t go down. He kicks you in the chest. I hear a loud crack. Bone? Armor? Wait, you don’t wear heavy armor that can crack.

My eyes widen. He’s going to strike you with the same move he cut me down with!

He leaps with a twirl. You try to raise your knives against him.

I reach with my left arm. I grab his leg. I pull him down. “NOW, DIRK!” You don’t even need the command; I just want to shout.

You plunge your knives down at Kane. The blades land in his mask, crumpling the metal and nicking something important. He lets out a tortured scream and drops his sword. “No!” Kane shouts. His voice dwindles, breaking down. “Not like this…! I must… not…”

“Checkmate, you devil. Check. Mate,” someone else spits. I think it’s Bonnie Anne, but my head is still spinning from the adrenaline and blood loss, I really can’t tell.

Kane falls flat onto the floor, with only his left leg held up by me.

Our breaths are tense and ragged. You laugh heartily and swoop down to hug me. I let go of Kane’s leg. “We did it,” you gasp, a laugh bubbling in your throat. “G.G.”

You rush over to Gracie and Scratch. I pick up my sword and try to stand. It’s hard, with one hand still holding a wound shut. The rest of the crew come in and help the three of us stand. I lean against Ratbeard. Sarah lends a shoulder to Gracie. You pick up Scratch’s bones and reassemble him. I don’t think I’ll ever understand how he works, physically. I don’t have to, though. He’s as much a friend and crewmate as anybody else, and that’s all that matters, in the end.

As we all gather and help each other up, I hear the Machine begin to creak and groan. A bright purple bolt of electricity and magic strikes from the roof to Kane’s broken body. It pulls him up. I strain my eyes and neck to watch this next bit. The bolt pulls him almost to the ceiling. His mask falls off his face and onto the floor with a painful rattling loud thud. The bolt takes something from his head: the Golden Brain. The rest of his body falls, even louder than his mask, and the Brain disappears in the light. Or something. I stop looking. My neck hurts.

“What the devil’s going on here?” Bonnie asks, her voice low.

“Kane’s Golden Brain, something take it far away from here,” Old Scratch answers. His voice sounds a bit rougher and quieter than normal. He’s weak from the fight too. “I an’ I cannot see where it gone. Mighty mojo indeed…” He then tilts his head to the side, like he’s hearing something nobody else can. “Captain! The crystals!”

You look at the corners of the room. I look too. I see more of the magic crystals mounted on… devices or something in the corners. I didn’t notice them initially. You walk over to them, without a lick of hesitation… or curiosity. You don’t even have your arm outstretched.

The crystals light up as you approach. How were you so certain that just approaching them would make them react? A voice we haven’t heard in a long time echoes around the room. “Kin, hear me!” It’s your mother’s voice. Her voice is faint. I can’t hear her too clearly. She may have said something else.

“Hear us!” your father’s voice echoes.

“Bless my soul!” Milo exclaims. He brings his hand to his heart. “Your parents’ ghosts have come back!” He walks up to you and puts his arm around your shoulders. The rest of us approach too, though slower.

“El Dorado… let it go, my child,” your mother begs you. “Gold is nothing. The Spiral is everything. You have saved it.”

“We are so proud of you. Now, we shall know peace…” Your father’s voice fades.

“Oh Captain my Captain it be true,” Old Scratch vows. “The ghosts of your parents, they be home.”

“I can’t tell you how much this means to me,” Milo cries. He pulls you even closer. He wipes some tears from his eyes.. He knew your parents before they died too. Of course this is an emotional moment for him. I give him space. “I’m proud of you too.”

“They may be gone, but you’ll always have a family,” Sarah promises. She rests her tail on your shoulder. You bring your hand to her tail.

“Arr… it’s true,” Ratbeard says. His tail wraps around you and Sarah and Milo. “Cap’n, you’re the best… the best… the best…” I hear him sniffle. He’s crying too. All the sentimentality is starting to get to me.

“Aw, take heart, ye old rascal,” Bonnie Anne chuckles. She elbows Ratbeard lighty in the side. “Captain, I don’t know about you, but I’m getting tired of Valencia. It’s time to go home. What say we tell Avery the good news?”

You sigh and let your shoulders hang. “Yeah, let’s get outta here.”

We slowly make our way out of the Machine. I notice Gazpaccio’s corpse on the way out. Are none of us going to take him with us?

You say nothing about it. And none of us are in the mood to carry dead bodies, so we do nothing about it.

At least it makes the lift ride down a little less cramped, with one less person. I’m trying to hold onto the little things. I’m still reeling from the fight. We did that! I did that! The Armada fell! The war is won. Your destiny is won.

We stagger to the ship. Monkey King lends his staff to Gracie to brace herself against.

I look to you. Your gaze is distant. Your blood stains your shirt. “Just hold on, Dirk, we can wrap our wounds onboard,” I try to reassure you.

You nod. You grab onto the rope ladder hanging off the side of our ship. You climb up. The ladder sways with the wind.

You miss a step! I reach with my left arm. I try to grab you. Between the swaying and the panic, I miss. The rest of the crew try to help too. But we can’t reach. We can’t get on the ladder at the same time as you. It can’t hold the weight of two people. It would only break.

Your aim gets even shakier until your hands let go of the ladder. You-

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You fell.

Off of the docks and into the cloudy skies below.

I screamed. We all screamed. But there was nothing we could do.

#pirate101 #pittyober 2022 #pittyober2022 #subodai #oc: dirk #kane #the machine

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